The Commentariat -- March 25, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Lemire & Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden at his first news conference Thursday left the door open to pushing for fundamental changes in Senate procedures to muscle key elements of his agenda such as immigration and voting rights past firm Republican opposition 'if there's complete lockdown and chaos.' The 78-year-old president also, for the first time, said his 'plan is to run for reelection, that is my expectation.'" ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "President Biden used [his first presidential news conference] to pledge that 200 million covid-19 vaccinations would be administered by the end of his first 100 days, double his original goal.... He also announced that a survey showed nearly half of K-12 schools are open full-time for in-person learning.... Certainly, that should be near the top of any news coverage.... On immigration, he made clear that crowded facilities at the southern border are not the result of a policy change from his administration or the fact that migrants see him as a 'nice guy.' He pointed out that there was a higher surge under his predecessor last spring, which certainly was not because migrants believed the former president was a 'nice' guy.... Try as they might to seem 'tough,' the media did not succeed in knocking Biden off message. Biden spoke in great detail and length to show not only his mastery of the issues but also to suck tension and conflict out of the room.... The media did not distinguish themselves. They pleaded for a news conference and then showed themselves to be unserious." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I agree with Rubin. Most reporters were looking for gotcha questions, and they figured immigration was the best place to pounce. Therefore, they asked overlapping questions; after many questions -- asked & answered -- of a similar vein, one reporter cited a horror story of a 9-year-old walking from Honduras to the U.S.-Mexican border, & what would he do about that child? Biden's answer, BTW, was spot on: since the reporter mentioned the child's mother in Honduras, Biden said he would send the child back to mom. ~~~

     ~~~ A reporter asked President Biden if he agreed with President Obama that the filibuster was a relic of the Jim Crow era. Biden said "Yes." Zack Beauchamp of Vox explains that "the modern version [of the filibuster], created in 1917, really does have a racist history.... The defenders of Jim Crow pioneered this new filibuster, successfully deploying it again and again to block civil rights bills.... 'It's been a tool used overwhelmingly by racists,' says Kevin Kruse, a historian of race and American politics...."

David Goodman & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "An impeachment investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo widened on Thursday to include revelations that the governor's family and other influential people were given special access to state-run coronavirus tests early in the pandemic. The judiciary committee of the New York State Assembly has been looking into several allegations of sexual harassment made in recent weeks against Mr. Cuomo, as well as the manipulation by his senior staff of data related to nursing home deaths. On Thursday, the chair of the committee, Assemblyman Charles D. Lavine, said the preferential access for Mr. Cuomo's family to hard-to-get tests in the beginning of the pandemic would also become part of the inquiry. Those who got tests, mostly during last March when few were available, included the governor's brother, the CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, their mother, Matilda Cuomo, and at least one of their sisters." MB: Things are not looking good for our own Randy Andy.

Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "The United States on Thursday imposed what it calls its most significant sanctions to date over the military coup in Myanmar, restricting American dealings with two giant Myanmar military holding companies that dominate much of that country's economy. The sanctions are the latest that the Biden administration and European governments have laid on Myanmar since Feb. 1, when the country's generals seized power on the day a newly elected parliament was due to be sworn in. Security forces since then have killed and detained street protesters amid demands for a return to civilian government."

Zach Montellaro & Eugene Daniels of Politico: "Black civil rights leaders, voting rights advocates and elected officials are ramping up their lobbying of Senate Democrats to nix the filibuster, arguing that they can keep the rule in place or pass voting rights legislation, but not both. In a half-dozen interviews, top officials framed the choice as existential for a party that depends on Black and brown voters -- and they are planning pressure campaigns privately and publicly to make that clear.... 'The pressure that we are going to put on [Sens.] Sinema and Manchin is calling [the filibuster] racist and saying that they are, in effect, supporting racism,' Sharpton said. 'Why would they be wedded to something that has those results? Their voters need to know that.'"

Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "As tugboats strained against the weight of the mammoth ship and dredgers worked to clear sand and mud, a salvage company working on the operation warned on Thursday that releasing the container vessel blocking traffic in the Suez Canal could take days or even weeks. Dozens of ships laden with oil and goods destined for ports around the world are stranded in the canal, and with each passing hour, the economic cost of the disruption grows more consequential. The stuck ship, the Ever Given, has been wedged in the canal since running aground amid the heavy winds of a sandstorm on Tuesday. Its bow is lodged in the canal's eastern bank and its stern in the western bank." The AP's story is here.

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** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Democrats began pushing on Wednesday for the most substantial expansion of voting rights in a half-century, laying the groundwork in the Senate for what would be a fundamental change to the ways voters get to the polls and elections are run. At a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders made a passionate case for a bill that would mandate automatic voter registration nationwide, expand early and mail-in voting, end gerrymandering that skews congressional districts for maximum partisan advantage and curb the influence of money in politics.... Republicans have introduced more than 250 bills to restrict voting in 43 states and have continued to spread false accusations of fraud and impropriety in the 2020 election.... Conceding that allowing more people to vote would probably hurt their candidates, [Senate Republicans] denounced the legislation, passed by the House this month, as a power grab by Democrats intent on federalizing elections to give themselves a permanent political advantage.... ~~~

"'Any American who thinks that the fight for a full and fair democracy is over is sadly and sorely mistaken,' said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. 'Today, in the 21st century, there is a concerted, nationwide effort to limit the rights of citizens to vote and to truly have a voice in their own government.' Mr. Schumer's rare appearance at a committee meeting underscored the stakes, not just for the election process but for his party's own political future. He called the proposed voting rollbacks in dozens of states ... an 'existential threat to our democracy' reminiscent of the Jim Crow segregationist laws of the past. He chanted 'Shame! Shame! Shame!' at Republicans who were promoting them." ~~~

An ABC News "both sides" story is here.

This is a solution in search of problem. States are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever. This is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system.... With all [due] respect, this is nonsense. This is a power grab. This is all about taking over the American election system. -- Sen. Mitch McConnell, lying through his teeth at a Senate Rules Committee hearing ~~~

~~~ Hannah Maio of CNBC: "Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell skirmished over election reform during a Senate Rules Committee hearing on a bill that Democrats argue would strengthen voting rights.... McConnell shot back [at Schumer]: 'Talk about shame. If anybody ought to be feeling any shame around here, it's turning the FEC into a partisan prosecutor. The majority controlled by the president's party to harass and intimidate the other side -- that's what you ought to be ashamed about.' The legislation would reform the Federal Election Commission to have five commissioners, down from the current six, 'in order to break gridlock,' according to a Democratic description of the legislation." ~~~

~~~ Jim Spencer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The debate over a massive federal voting rights act erupted in tense exchanges Wednesday as Sen. Amy Klobuchar faced withering GOP criticism that the changes would cause chaos and undermine states' rights. The Minnesota Democrat, a lead sponsor of the For the People Act, said at a hearing of the Rules Committee she chairs that the measure is essential as GOP legislators in states across the country have drafted more than 250 measures to restrict voting access. She pointed to the chaos of hourslong waits at polling places, new limitations on early voting and new restrictions on who can cast mail-in ballots. 'The bill simply tries to make it easier to vote,' Klobuchar said. 'The For the People Act is the best chance to stop the rollback of voting rights.' Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Rules ... Committee..., insisted, repeatedly, that many of the proposals to restrict voting access will not pass. He called allegations of voter suppression by Klobuchar and other Democrats 'a false narrative.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the GOP pushback is "But, but, these Republican state bills are so bad they won't pass"? First, many will pass in GOP-controlled states, and second, that's a pretty stupid argument.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead the administration's efforts to deter migration to the southwestern border by working to improve conditions in Central America, plunging her into one of the most politically fraught issues facing the White House. The president said he had directed Ms. Harris to oversee the administration's plans to pump billions of dollars into the ravaged economies of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. She will work with the leaders of Central American governments to bolster the region's economy in the hopes of reducing the violence and poverty that often drive families in those countries to seek refuge in the United States.... The announcement underscores the sense of urgency at the border, where the administration has struggled to move thousands of young migrants from detention centers meant for adults into shelters managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.... Ms. Harris acknowledged on Wednesday that 'no question this is a challenging situation,' but said that she was looking forward to engaging in discussions with leaders of Central American countries." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While the appointment of the Vice President signals the importance of the effort, it would have been easier for a person who was fluent in Spanish to "engage in discussions." Harris does not speak Spanish.

Des Bieler & Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "Megan Rapinoe took the U.S. women's national soccer team's battle for equal pay to the White House on Wednesday, declaring while on a stage with President Biden and first lady Jill Biden that, despite her enormous success with the team, 'I have been devalued, I've been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman.' Speaking at an event marking Equal Pay Day, Rapinoe declared: 'Despite all of the wins, I am still paid less than men who do the same job that I do. For each trophy -- of which there are many -- for each win, each tie and for each time that we play, it's less.' Rapinoe, who testified earlier in the day about gender discrimination at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, introduced President Biden as 'one of our greatest allies.' In his remarks, Biden spoke of how the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequalities for women in the workplace, touted the benefits of the American Rescue Plan and called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Dr. Rachel Levine, President Biden's pick to be assistant secretary for health, made history on Wednesday by becoming the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate to a federal position, and immediately vowed to 'promote policies that advance the health and well-being of all Americans' and to fight for transgender youth. The Senate vote, 52 to 48, followed a contentious confirmation hearing that became a flash point in the battle over transgender rights." An AP story is here.

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is taking the unusual step of making a public accounting of the Trump administration's political interference in science, drawing up a list of dozens of regulatory decisions that may have been warped by political interference in objective research. The effort could buttress efforts to unwind pro-business regulations of the past four years, while uplifting science staff battered by four years of disregard. It is particularly explicit at the Environmental Protection Agency, where President Biden's political appointees said they felt that an honest accounting of past problems was necessary to assure career scientists that their findings would no longer be buried or manipulated. In a blunt memo this month, one senior Biden appointee said political tampering under the Trump administration had 'compromised the integrity' of some agency science." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "Millions of disabled and retired Americans are still waiting for their $1,400 stimulus payments because of a holdup at the Social Security Administration, House Democrats said Wednesday. Social Security hasn't handed over payment information that the Internal Revenue Service needs to send the coronavirus relief checks to nearly 30 million people receiving retirement or disability benefits, Democrats said." The Social Security Commissione is Andrew Saul, a Trump appointee.

Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "A tiny fraction of the Trump administration's coronavirus relief for American farmers -- just 0.1 percent of the overall package -- went to Black farmers, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.... In an interview with The Washington Post, Vilsack for the first time noted the extent to which the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated existing disparities across the American economy. The distribution of coronavirus relief increased those gaps, he said.... 'We saw 99 percent of the money going to White farmers and 1 percent going to socially disadvantaged farmers and if you break that down to how much went to Black farmers, it's 0.1 percent,' he said. 'Look at it another way: The top 10 percent of farmers in the country received 60 percent of the value of the covid payments. And the bottom 10 percent received 0.26 percent.'"

Wait for the 6th when we are all in DC to insurrection.... Tell your friend this isn't a Rally!! -- Kelly Meggs, Oath Keepers leader, to recruits, December 19, 2020 & January 3, coining an infinitive verb, "to insurrection" ~~~

~~~ Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal investigators have been building conspiracy cases against associates of two organized right-wing groups accused of breaking into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 -- the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Now, they say members of the two groups coordinated beforehand, preparing for violence. 'This week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys,' Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs wrote Dec. 19, in one of a string of Facebook communications included by prosecutors in a detention memo filed Tuesday in his case. 'We have decided to work together and shut this [expletive] ... down.'... A week later, Meggs allegedly said he had 'orchestrated a plan with the proud boys' for Jan. 6.... The discussion centered not on invading the Capitol but on attacking left-wing 'antifa' supporters in case ... Donald Trump called in the military or Republican lawmakers otherwise blocked the certification of Joe Biden's victory as president."

Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "Sidney Powell..., Donald Trump's former lawyer, filed an eye-popping brief this week that could potentially doom her chances of dismissing a $1.3 billion defamation suit and provide ammunition in a separate lawsuit seeking her disbarment. Powell, who repeatedly pressed unfounded claims of voter fraud on the airwaves and in court, now says that 'reasonable' people would not accept her statements as 'fact' because the legal process hadn't yet played out. It was a stunning admission from a woman who served for a time as one of Trump's top legal lieutenants. It could also put her in real legal jeopardy as she fights the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems -- a manufacturer that provides election equipment used by more than 40% of US voters -- as well as a motion for sanctions in Michigan as a part of a case she brought there alleging election fraud."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Defense Department's top watchdog has found that a senior Navy official sexually harassed women in his office for years, a pattern of behavior that employees described to investigators as an 'open secret,' according to a new report released Wednesday. Several women said that Ronnie J. Booth, the former auditor general of the Navy, propositioned them sexually, and one employee said she had a years-long sexual relationship with him. Seven women said they either transferred out from under his supervision or requested to do so.... On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks also announced the beginning of a 90-day review of sexual assault and harassment in the military by a new,independent commission established by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin."

Sabrina Rodriguez, et al., of Politico: "As Senate Republicans continued to torch the Biden administration over its handling of the border situation this week..., a bipartisan group of senators met to discuss immigration reform. The meeting, convened Wednesday by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, was the first time this Congress that Democrats and Republicans have actually sat in the same room to discuss the issue.... And while Democrats have long pushed for legislation to offer permanent legal protections to undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children, Republicans are making it clear that they won't support anything without additional border security."

Congressmen, Heal Thyselves. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “A Washington Post analysis found that seven Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who are scheduled to grill the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter about election misinformation on Thursday sent tweets that advanced baseless narratives of election fraud, or otherwise supported ... Donald Trump's efforts to challenge the results of the presidential election. They were among 15 of the 26 Republican members of the committee who voted to overturn President Biden's election victory.... 'It would be very difficult to call what will happen tomorrow oversight, given that any number of those involved in oversight were actively spreading disinformation and misinformation on the platforms they're theoretically overseeing,' [Graham] Brookie [of the Atlantic Council] said in an interview.... These lawmakers' posts remain available on Twitter, despite promises from the tech companies to crack down on posts that challenge the integrity of the election." A Raw Story summary report is here.

GOP Buffoon of the Day. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "As the House Armed Services Committee met Wednesday to consider extreism in the U.S. military, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.) tried to push back on the credibility of the hate-group researcher testifying before the lawmakers. 'Has your organization named the American Legion as a hate group?' Fallon asked a puzzled Lecia Brooks, chief of staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center. 'Were you aware that the organization named the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as a hate group?' he continued. 'You had in the past.' A spokesperson for the SPLC confirmed to The Washington Post that it has never listed either veterans organization on its 'hate map,' a much-cited, sometimes challenged list of extremist groups. But as Brooks pointed out later in the hearing, Fallon's claim wasn't just false -- it had been fabricated by a satirical news site, Duffel Blog, that lampoons the U.S. military.... The fake Duffel Blog story on the SPLC, which appeared under the byline 'Dick Scuttlebutt'..., said [the former president of the SPLC] had been interviewed in 'his corporate think-tank steam room, where Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Moscow) was seen relaxing in the nude.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, you'd have to be really stupid not to recognize the story as a spoof even if you had never heard of Duffel Blog. In fairness to Fallon, he is an exemplary Republican. Most of them seldom "consider the source," and even when they do, they don't choose the most reliable sources. For instance, on the topic of election fraud, millions of Republicans believed the Liar-in-Chief, but not, say, the New York Times. Or they believe the guy at the diner over a report in the Topeka Capital-Journal. They just don't know any better. ~~~

     ~~~ A Task & Purpose story is here. Duffel Blog is a satirical site run by the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "An updated company analysis of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford showed that the two-shot regimen was robustly effective -- 76 percent a preventing symptomatic illness -- according to a news release from the drugmaker late Wednesday. The finding, only slightly lower than results announced days earlier, underscores that the vaccine being widely used by many countries appears to be a powerful tool to help end the pandemic. No severe cases of illness were reported in study volunteers who received the vaccine. Among people 65 and older, the vaccine was 85 percent effective, the company reported."

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

Illinois. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The chief operating officer of a small Chicago hospital resigned on Wednesday after reports that he used coronavirus vaccines meant for low-income residents to vaccinate employees at his luxury wristwatch dealer, his regular steakhouse and his condo building -- which is former president Donald Trump's Chicago tower. The resignation of Anosh Ahmed was announced late Wednesday by Loretto Hospital, a hospital serving a majority-Black neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. Ahmed's actions -- reported over the past week by the news site Block Club Chicago -- had raised concerns that Loretto executives were putting their friends ahead of their patients. The city of Chicago had already cut off Loretto's supply of new vaccines while it investigated."

Christopher Rowland & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Moncef Slaoui, the pharmaceutical industry veteran and vaccine specialist who led ... Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, was fired from the board of a medical company Wednesday over allegations of sexual misconduct. GlaxoSmithKline, the majority shareholder of Galvani Bioelectronics and Slaoui's former longtime employer where he led vaccine development, announced it terminated Slaoui as Galvani chairman following an investigation triggered by a letter sent last month detailing alleged `sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct." The alleged misconduct occurred `several years ago' and was aimed at another employee of GlaxoSmithKline while Slaoui also worked for the pharmaceutical giant, the company said in a statement." A USA Today story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. David Goodman & Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration arranged special access to government-run coronavirus testing for members of his family and other influential people as the pandemic descended on New York last year, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The move to make testing of people closely tied to Mr. Cuomo a priority was carried out by high-ranking state health officials, one of the people said. It came as the seriousness of the virus was still becoming clear to the broader public and testing was not widely available to most people. Among those who benefited from the special treatment was the governor's brother, the CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, and his family, who were tested several times in the pandemic's early phase, this person said. The governor's mother, Matilda Cuomo, and at least one of his sisters were also able to take advantage of the state-administered tests, the two people said." The Albany Times Union story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Charles Russell was shopping ... inside a Publix supermarket in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon when he saw a man with a rifle walking into a bathroom. 'I saw an AR-15,' Russell told WSB-TV, referring to a similar style of semiautomatic weapon that a gunman used to kill 10 in a Boulder, Colo., supermarket on Monday.... Russell told a store manager about the gun, and an employee phoned police, who arrested Rico Marley, 22, after he exited the bathroom, the Atlanta Police Department said in a news release on Wednesday. Officers found at least five firearms in Marley's possession, including two long guns and three pistols, police said. They also found body armor, ammunition and a knife, according to a police photo of the weapons, WSB-TV reported."

New York. Amy Harris of the New York Times: "The former head of one of the largest homeless shelter networks in New York was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from contractors working with his organization. The arrest of the executive, Victor Rivera, the former president and founder of the Bronx Parent Housing Network, came less than two months after a New York Times investigation found that he had engaged in a long pattern of sexual abuse and financial impropriety that stretched back almost a decade. Mr. Rivera was fired by the nonprofit last month, following The Times report. The organization is one of dozens of nonprofit groups that operate the city's $2 billion system to shelter the homeless, whose numbers have reached record levels."

Virginia. Hailey Fuchs of the New York Times: "Gov. Ralph S. Northam on Wednesday signed a bill that abolished the death penalty in Virginia, making it the first Southern state and the 23rd overall to end capital punishment amid rising opposition to the practice. Before signing the bill, Mr. Northam pointed to Virginia's 413-year history of capital punishment, during which it executed more than 1,300 inmates more than any other state. He also noted racial disparities in the use of the death penalty: During the 20th century, he said, 296 of the 377 inmates Virginia executed for murder -- or about 79 percent -- were Black."

Way Beyond

Egypt. Martin Farrer & Michael Safi of the Guardian: "One of the largest container ships in the world has been partially refloated after it ran aground in the Suez canal, causing a huge jam of vessels at either end of the vital international trade artery. The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given -- a so-called megaship operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen -- became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it had lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm. Eight tugboats were working to free the vessel, blocking a lane key to Asia-Europe trade through which about 50 ships a day passed in 2019, according to Egyptian government statistics." (Also linked yesterday.)

Israel. Laurie Kellman of the AP: "Uncertainty hovered over the outcome of Israel's parliamentary election Wednesday, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him apparently lacking a clear path to a governing coalition. Deadlock in the 120-seat parliament was a real possibility a day after the election, which had been dominated by Netanyahu's polarizing leadership. With about 90% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning, Netanyahu's Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority -- even if the Yamina party of Netanyahu ally-turned-critic Naftali Bennett were to join a Netanyahu-led government. Bennett has refused to endorse either side." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Myanmar. AP: "Hundreds of people imprisoned for demonstrating against last month's coup in Myanmar were released Wednesday, a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that appeared aimed at placating the protest movement. Witnesses outside Insein Prison in Yangon saw busloads of mostly young people, looking happy with some flashing the three-finger gesture of defiance adopted by protesters. State-run TV said a total of 628 were freed. Also Wednesday, Thein Zaw, a journalist for The Associated Press who was arrested last month while covering an anti-coup protest, was released." (Also linked yesterday.)

North Korea. Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, in its first significant provocation against the United States under President Biden, United States and Japanese officials said. South Korea confirmed North Korea had launched two unidentified projectiles, but Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan was the first regional leader to identify them as 'ballistic missiles.' A senior United States official also confirmed that the projectiles were ballistic missiles. 'It threatens the peace and security of Japan and the region, and is a violation of United Nations resolutions,' the Japanese leader said on Twitter, referring to the United Nations Security Council's ban on the North's developing and testing ballistic missile technologies. 'I strongly protest and strongly condemn it.'"

News Ledes

CNBC: "First-time claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly fell sharply last week amid signs that hiring has picked up in the U.S. economy, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Claims totaled 684,000 for the week ended March 20, the first time the number has been below 700,000 during the Covid-19 era. The level was a substantial decline from the 781,000 from a week earlier and was the lowest since March 14, 2020, just as the pandemic had begun."

AP: "Three days after he was led away in handcuffs from a Boulder supermarket where 10 people were fatally shot, the suspect appeared in court Thursday for the first time and his defense lawyer asked for a health assessment 'to address his mental illness.'... During the brief hearing, Alissa appeared in court wearing a mask. He didn't speak other than to say 'yes' to a question from the judge and was advised of the 10 charges of first-degree murder he faces. He did not enter a plea, which will come later in the judicial process."

The Commentariat -- March 24, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is taking the unusual step of making a public accounting of the Trump administration's political interference in science, drawing up a list of dozens of regulatory decisions that may have been warped by political interference in objective research. The effort could buttress efforts to unwind pro-business regulations of the past four years, while uplifting science staff battered by four years of disregard. It is particularly explicit at the Environmental Protection Agency, where President Biden's political appointees said they felt that an honest accounting of past problems was necessary to assure career scientists that their findings would no longer be buried or manipulated. In a blunt memo this month, one senior Biden appointee said political tampering under the Trump administration had 'compromised the integrity' of some agency science."

Martin Farrer & Michael Safi of the Guardian: "One of the largest container ships in the world has been partially refloated after it ran aground in the Suez canal, causing a huge jam of vessels at either end of the vital international trade artery. The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given -- a so-called megaship operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen -- became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it had lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm. Eight tugboats were working to free the vessel, blocking a lane key to Asia-Europe trade through which about 50 ships a day passed in 2019, according to Egyptian government statistics."

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

Christopher Rowland & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Moncef Slaoui, the pharmaceutical industry veteran and vaccine specialist who led ... Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, was fired from the board of a medical company Wednesday over allegations of sexual misconduct. GlaxoSmithKline, the majority shareholder of Galvani Bioelectronics and Slaoui's former longtime employer where he led vaccine development, announced it terminated Slaoui as Galvani chairman following an investigation triggered by a letter sent last month detailing alleged `sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.' The alleged misconduct occurred `several years ago' and was aimed at another employee of GlaxoSmithKline while Slaoui also worked for the pharmaceutical giant, the company said in a statement." A USA Today story is here.

Israel. Laurie Kellman of the AP: "Uncertainty hovered over the outcome of Israel's parliamentary election Wednesday, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him apparently lacking a clear path to a governing coalition. Deadlock in the 120-seat parliament was a real possibility a day after the election, which had been dominated by Netanyahu's polarizing leadership. With about 90% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning, Netanyahu's Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority -- even if the Yamina party of Netanyahu ally-turned-critic Naftali Bennett were to join a Netanyahu-led government. Bennett has refused to endorse either side." A Washington Post story is here.

Myanmar. AP: "Hundreds of people imprisoned for demonstrating against last month's coup in Myanmar were released Wednesday, a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that appeared aimed at placating the protest movement. Witnesses outside Insein Prison in Yangon saw busloads of mostly young people, looking happy with some flashing the three-finger gesture of defiance adopted by protesters. State-run TV said a total of 628 were freed. Also Wednesday, Thein Zaw, a journalist for The Associated Press who was arrested last month while covering an anti-coup protest, was released."

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Article Two: Armed vigilantes being necessary to the security of slaveholders, the right of white people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. -- P.D. Pepe reads the Second Amendment

     ~~~ Thanks to RockyGirl for the link.

After January 6, nothing seems impossible. -- Jeanne, in today's Comments

Annie Karni & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Faced with the second mass shooting in a week, President Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill called on Tuesday for fast action to enact stricter gun laws, a plea that was immediately met with a blockade of opposition by Republicans. In brief, somber remarks from the White House, Mr. Biden called on the Senate to pass a ban on assault weapons and to close background check loopholes, saying that doing so would be 'common sense steps that will save lives in the future.'... Mr. Biden noted that he had to draft a proclamation to keep the White House flags at half-staff because they had already been lowered to honor eight people killed by a gunman in the Atlanta area less than a week earlier...." ~~~

"But while polling regularly shows broad support for tighter gun laws and specific policies like a ban on assault weapons, Republicans in Congress remained all but immovable on the issue, repeating longstanding arguments on Tuesday that gun violence should be addressed through steps like more policing rather than limiting gun rights."

     ~~~ Marie: Isn't it time to quit focusing on deranged men who commit mass murders and start blaming Republican legislators who enable them? ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... on Tuesday Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) angrily hit back at those pushing new restrictions and those who criticized the restrictions' opponents, accusing them of 'ridiculous theater.' Democrats have increasingly criticized the 'thoughts and prayers' response to such tragedies, arguing that's insufficient and a cop-out, but Cruz took exception when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) made that point.... Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) echoed that point, saying: 'Every time that there's an incident like this, the people who don't want to protect the Second Amendment use it as an excuse to further erode Second Amendment rights.' And Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) set the line at any increased background checks, saying, 'I think we've got enough background checks.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sen. Potato Head doesn't know what's in the Constitution; I doubt if he has the slightest idea of the scope of federal background-check laws and proposed bills. (To be fair, Potato Head probably believes the Second Amendment reads exactly as P.D. Pepe suggested.) Cruz, BTW, took great umbrage at Democrats' "odd" failure to appreciate the power of prayer. ~~~

~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senators quickly splintered along partisan lines over gun control measures on Tuesday as Democrats demanded action in the wake of two mass shootings in the past week and Republicans denounced their calls, highlighting the political divide that has fueled a decades-long cycle of inaction on gun violence. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was scheduled before shootings in Atlanta and Boulder that left at least 18 people dead, Democrats argued that the latest carnage left Congress no choice but to enact stricter policies. They lamented the grim pattern of anguish and outrage followed by partisanship and paralysis had become the norm following mass shootings.... Even before the recent shootings, Democrats had already begun advancing stricter gun control measures that face long odds in the 50-50 Senate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "The city of Boulder, Colo., barred assault weapons in 2018, as a way to prevent mass shootings like the one that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland., Fla., earlier that year. But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city's south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.... With unanimous support from the council, the law banned the possession, transfer and sale of most shotguns and certain pistols and semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, a thumbhole stock, or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.... On March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman ... [ruled] that, according to a 2003 Colorado state law, cities and counties cannot restrict guns that are otherwise legal under federal and state law.... The National Rifle Association cheered the ruling on Twitter last week, noting that its lobbying arm had supported the lawsuit against the ban." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, the "thoughts and prayers" cliche makes me sick, too. Here's another one that's even more insidious, because its purpose is to shut up gun-control advocates masked behind the calculated pretext of expressing respect for the victims of gun violence. We hear this after every mass shooting:

There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. There will be a time for the discussion on motives. There will be a time for a conversation on how this could have been prevented. But today is not the time. -- Colorado State Shooting Association, a plaintiff in the Boulder assault weapons ban, in a statement

Max Fisher & Josh Keller of the New York Times: "The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns.... Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world's guns.... And gun control legislation tends to reduce gun murders.... This suggests that the guns themselves cause the violence."

Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House agreed late Tuesday to add a senior-level Asian American Pacific Islander liaison after two Democratic senators threatened to vote no on nominees because of what they said was a lack of sufficient AAPI representation in President Biden's Cabinet.... The decision came after Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) vowed Tuesday afternoon to vote no on Biden's 'non-diversity' Cabinet nominees until the White House addressed the issue. Lawmakers have been pushing Biden for months for greater AAPI representation in the most senior levels of his administration." MB: While there are a number of other factors that determine suitability for a presidential appointment, when you consider the fact that Asian-Americans are better-educated than any other ethnic group, you do have to wonder why they aren't better-represented in the top government jobs.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: Shalanda Young "was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, 63 to 37, to serve as President Biden's deputy budget director. As the first Black woman to serve as staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, Ms. Young played critical roles on Capitol Hill in negotiating not only the dozen annual spending bills, but also a series of five pandemic relief packages that together totaled $3 trillion and represented the leading edge of a sweeping federal response to the crisis.... After Mr. Biden's pick to lead the agency, Neera Tanden, withdrew amid bipartisan opposition, Ms. Young will have a leading role steering the office in the coming weeks as the administration begins to prepare its first budget proposal and pursue an ambitious infrastructure plan."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge lambasted the Justice Department on Tuesday, warning that top officials' comments in recent media interviews threatened to taint the prosecution of some of the most notorious participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. In a hastily assembled video conference, District Court Judge Amit Mehta declared he was 'surprised, to say the least' by a CBS '60 Minutes' interview with Michael Sherwin, who recently stepped aside as the lead prosecutor in the Capitol attack and as the acting U.S. attorney in Washington. In the interview aired Sunday, Sherwin said he believed the facts gathered by investigators would support a charge of 'seditious conspiracy' against some of the Capitol rioters.... Mehta also referenced a Monday evening article in The New York Times that described internal Justice Department deliberations about seditious conspiracy charges.... 'These defendants are entitled to a fair trial, not one that is conducted in the media,' Mehta said as he opened the conference, which included senior supervisors in the U.S. Attorney's office. 'I will not tolerate continued publicity in the media.'" ~~~

~~~ Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "The Justice Department has launched internal probes into a recent spate of apparently unauthorized comments to the media about the status of the Capitol insurrection investigation, a supervisor in the US attorney's office in Washington told a judge on Tuesday.... John Crabb, the head of the Criminal Division in the DC US attorney's office, told [Judge Amit] Mehta it appeared that [Michael] Sherwin had failed to comply with the department's rules and policies that govern contacts with the press. Crabb said Sherwin had been referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct allegations against DOJ lawyers and officials.... Sherwin returned to his former position as a federal prosecutor in Miami earlier this month...; he had served as the acting US attorney in DC since May 2020 and was appointed by ... Donald Trump's attorney general, Bill Barr."

Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and a former Army Special Forces soldier were ordered jailed pending trial Tuesday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while a veteran New York Police Department officer turned herself in to face trespassing charges.... [Timothy] Hale-Cusanelli ran an antisemitic podcast, wore a Hitler mustache to work and shared violent, racist fantasies with colleagues, prosecutors said.... Separately, a federal magistrate denied bond for Jeffrey McKellop, 55, of Augusta County, Va., who served two enlistments totaling 22 years in the Army, including as a Special Forces communications sergeant.... Also Tuesday, retired veteran New York Police Department officer Sara Carpenter surrendered to authorities and was released on personal recognizance to face trespassing and disorderly conduct charges after she was allegedly seen in the U.S. Capitol carrying a tambourine."

Evan Hill, et al., of the New York Times: "New videos obtained by The New York Times show publicly for the first time how the U.S. Capitol Police officer who died after facing off with rioters on Jan. 6 was attacked with chemical spray. The officer, Brian D. Sicknick, who had been guarding the west side of the Capitol, collapsed later that day and died the next night. Little had been known about what happened to Officer Sicknick during the assault, and the previously unpublished videos provide new details about when, where and how he was attacked, as well as about the events leading up to the encounter." Includes videos & descriptions of what the videos portray or suggest.

The "Big Lie Was Just a Joke!" Defense. Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell is claiming in a new court filing that reasonable people wouldn't have believed as fact her assertions of fraud after the 2020 presidential election. The election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems sued Powell for defamation after she pushed lawsuits and made appearances in conservative media on behalf of ... Donald Trump to sow doubt about the 2020 election results. Dominion claims that Powell knew her election fraud accusations were false and hurtful to the company. In a new court filing, Powell's attorneys write that she was sharing her 'opinion' and that the public could reach 'their own conclusions' about whether votes were changed by election machines.... '... Plaintiffs themselves characterize the statements at issue as "wild accusations" and "outlandish claims." They are repeatedly labelled "inherently improbable" and even "impossible." Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support Defendants' position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.', [Powell's lawyers argued]."

Luxury Hotel Agency Dumps Trump. Hannah Sampson & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Virtuoso, a global network of luxury travel agencies, no longer considers Trump Hotels a preferred partner. The Texas-based company, which includes 20,000 luxury travel advisers, said the change was effective March 8; it applies to the six Trump hotels that were considered partners." ~~~

~~~ Michael D'Antonio in a CNN opinion piece: "While Federal Election Commission filings show Trump directed millions to pay Trump organizations for campaign-related expenses during both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, his net worth is now down $700 million since he became president, according to a Bloomberg News report. And much of what ails Trump's bottom line is his own fault. According to Bloomberg, revenues are down in every corner of the Trump empire and most of his assets have lost value.... According to Bloomberg, the Trump fortune has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, [which he purposely downplayed]. The deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which he fomented, has also sullied the Trump brand and cost him business.... If the Trump name ever was his business organization's biggest asset, it may now be its worst liability."

Beyond the Beltway

Massachusetts. Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "On a September morning in 1976, an 11-year-old Black girl climbed onto a yellow school bus, one of tens of thousands of children sent crisscrossing [Boston] by court order and deposited in the insular neighborhoods of Boston in an effort to force them to integrate. As her bus swung uphill into the heart of the Irish-American enclave of Charlestown, she could see police officers taking protective positions around the bus. After that, the mob: white teenagers and adults, shouting and throwing rocks, telling them to go back to Africa. That girl, Kim Janey, became acting mayor of Boston on Monday, making her the first Black person to occupy the position, at a moment of uncommon opportunity for people of color in this city. With the confirmation of her predecessor, Martin J<. Walsh, as U.S. labor secretary, the 91-year succession of Irish-American and Italian-American mayors appears to be ending, creating an opening for communities long shut out of the city's power politics.

Montana. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [R-Bully] of Montana violated a state hunting requirement last month when he trapped and killed a wolf near Yellowstone National Park without first taking a mandated trapper education course, state officials said on Tuesday. Mr. Gianforte, who has a license to hunt wolves, received a written warning for the violation, according to Greg Lemon, a spokesman for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. 'We've treated this as we would anybody' in a similar situation, he said." MB: Greg, I know you're going to be a terrible governor, but you'll always be an out-of-control body-slamming bully to me.

Texas. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "National Guardsmen transporting Covid-19 vaccines through Texas on Monday were held at gunpoint, police said. Larry Harris is accused of following a convoy of National Guard soldiers before attempting to run them off the highway with his truck several times in Lubbock County, according to Idalou police Chief Eric C. Williams. Harris, 66, of Willcox, Arizona, eventually turned his truck into oncoming traffic, stopping three National Guard vans near Idalou, Williams said. He then pointed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanded to search their vans, according to police. Idalou police responded and were able to arrest Harris without incident, Williams said. He had a loaded .45-caliber Colt 1911 pistol, an additional loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck. None of the guardsmen were [was!] injured, and the vaccines eventually made it to Matador. [Harris] He told police that he thought people in the vans had kidnapped a woman and child...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chief Williams described Harris as appearing to be "mentally disturbed." He sounds like a QAnon adherent to me.

Way Beyond

Saudi Arabia. Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A senior Saudi official issued what was perceived to be a death threat against the independent United Nations investigator, Agnès Callamard, after her investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In an interview with the Guardian, the outgoing special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings said that a UN colleague alerted her in January 2020 that a senior Saudi official had twice threatened in a meeting with other senior UN officials in Geneva that month to have Callamard 'taken care of' if she was not reined in by the UN.... Callamard's 100-page report, published in June 2019, concluded that there was 'credible evidence' that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other senior Saudi officials were liable for the killing, and called the murder an 'international crime'.... The Guardian independently corroborated Callamard's account...."

The Commentariat -- March 23, 2021

Afternoon Update:

After January 6, nothing seems impossible. -- Jeanne, in today's Comments

President Biden speaks about the mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado (first 6:27 min. of video):

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "The city of Boulder, Colo., barred assault weapons in 2018, as a way to prevent mass shootings like the one that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland., Fla., earlier that year. But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city's south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.... With unanimous support from the council, the law banned the possession, transfer and sale of most shotguns and certain pistols and semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, a thumbhole stock, or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.... On March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman ... [ruled] that, according to a 2003 Colorado state law, cities and counties cannot restrict guns that are otherwise legal under federal and state law.... The National Rifle Association cheered the ruling on Twitter last week, noting that its lobbying arm had supported the lawsuit against the ban." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, the "thoughts and prayers" cliche makes me sick, too. Here's another one that's even more insidious, because its purpose is to shut up gun-control advocates masked behind the calculated pretext of expressing respect for the victims of gun violence. We hear this after every mass shooting:

There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. There will be a time for the discussion on motives. There will be a time for a conversation on how this could have been prevented. But today is not the time. -- Colorado State Shooting Association, a plaintiff in the Boulder assault weapons ban, in a statement

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senators quickly splintered along partisan lines over gun control measures on Tuesday as Democrats demanded action in the wake of two mass shootings in the past week and Republicans denounced their calls, highlighting the political divide that has fueled a decades-long cycle of inaction on gun violence. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was scheduled before shootings in Atlanta and Boulder that left at least 18 people dead, Democrats argued that the latest carnage left Congress no choice but to enact stricter policies. They lamented the grim pattern of anguish and outrage followed by partisanship and paralysis had become the norm following mass shootings.... Even before the recent shootings, Democrats had already begun advancing stricter gun control measures that face long odds in the 50-50 Senate."

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: When I wrote a couple of days ago that the country was getting back to normal, I didn't fully comprehend that "normal" meant two mass murders within a week.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden's economic advisers are pulling together a sweeping $3 trillion package to boost the economy, reduce carbon emissions and narrow economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. After months of internal debate, Mr. Biden's advisers are expected to present the spending proposal to the president and congressional leaders this week, as well as begin outreach to industry and labor groups. On Monday, Mr. Biden's national climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, discussed his infrastructure plans -- and their role in combating climate change -- in a meeting with oil and gas industry executives. Administration officials caution that details remain in flux." An AP story is here.

Sean Sullivan & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is searching for new ways to stem the surge of migrants at the southern border, dispatching officials to Mexico and Guatemala to seek their governments' help, sending sterner warnings to would-be migrants not to come, and devising alternative pathways to apply for legal entry without showing up in person. The strategies, which administration officials outlined Monday, reflect the growing pressure on President Biden and his advisers to slow the increase in illegal crossings that has accelerated since he took office. Biden is navigating sometimes competing demands: pleas from border lawmakers to more aggressively dissuade would-be migrants, and exhortations from human rights advocates to treat them humanely. The sharpest challenge is how to deal with thousands of children taken into custody under a policy of not turning away unaccompanied minors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I know the problems seem insurmountable, but it is such a comfort & relief that we have an administration that is trying to the right thing in the right ways instead of what we experience for four years with an administration that knocked itself out to do everything wrong -- and the crueler the better. ~~~

~~~ Stef Kight of Axios: "Exclusive photos from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas, reveal the crowded, makeshift conditions at the border as the government's longer-term child shelters and family detention centers fill up.... Each of eight 'pods' in the so-called soft-sided facility has a 260-person occupancy, said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who provided the photos to Axios to raise awareness about the situation. But as of Sunday, he said, one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors. Because the Biden administration has restricted media coverage at housing facilities, images like these offer a rare window into conditions." Includes photos. ~~~

~~~ Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Border agents in the Rio Grande Valley, the center of the migrant surge, were authorized Saturday to begin releasing adult migrants and families from custody before they have been given dates to appear in court, according to an internal document obtained by NBC News. The move is 'intended to mitigate operational challenges, including risk to national security, during significant surges of illegal migration as currently exist in the Rio Grande Valley' by reducing the time immigrants spend in custody, according to the document. Some immigrants said they were being released without knowing how they would be contacted."

Rebecca Rainey of Politico: "The Senate on Monday confirmed Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor, clearing him to take the helm of the agency amid historic unemployment and economic uncertainty.... The Chamber voted 68-29 to approve Walsh, a former union leader who enjoyed Republican support for his commitment to working with the business community.... Walsh said during the Monday press conference that he would be traveling to Washington on Tuesday to be sworn in and was officially resigning as Boston mayor that evening.... Unions hailed Walsh's confirmation as a transition to a more worker-friendly Labor Department.... Walsh is the last Cabinet-level official to be confirmed, and the vote followed a blitz of Senate action on Biden's Cabinet nominees in the last few weeks...." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden is the first president in more than 30 years to have all of his original Cabinet secretary nominees confirmed to their posts.... While Biden did withdraw one nominee that he had designated Cabinet-level -- Neera Tanden, who he had selected as his budget chief -- the people now serving atop all the major administration agencies are his first pick." ~~~

~~~ BUT.  Ben LeFebvre of Politico: "The White House has withdrawn its nomination of Elizabeth Klein to become the Interior Department's deputy secretary, as the Biden administration faced push back from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, sources familiar with the situation said Monday.... Klein is a former Obama administration official and deputy director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at the New York University School of Law who focused on renewable energy and climate change issues. The Biden administration pulled her nomination after hearing of opposition coming from Murkowski, a moderate Republican whose vote is crucial to Biden's legislative agenda and who has sought to expand the oil and gas industry in her state, one of the sources familiar with the matter said."

Washington Post Editors: "After Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the regime of Xi Jinping as a 'threat to global stability' and criticized its repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang province, China's Yang Jiechi responded with a 17-minute tirade that, among other things, advised the United States to 'stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world.'... Mr. Blinken's speech and other tough opening moves by the Biden team were exactly the reset that was needed after the Trump administration's confused and often contradictory treatment of China.... The administration has made clear that its strong opposition to China's human rights abuses and belligerence toward Taiwan and other neighbors does not preclude cooperation on matters of mutual interest.... China and the United States lead opposing camps in a global contest over the future of human governance."

We Are Not Amused. Evan Perez of CNN: "Attorney General Merrick Garland is quietly ushering in a change in tone at the Justice Department, making few public comments and staying out of sight -- and unlike his predecessor -- eschewing commentary about ongoing investigations. That's one reason why an interview by Michael Sherwin, the former acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, discussing his push to use a rarely used sedition law to charge January 6 rioters and the possible culpability of ... Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection, reverberated in the new no-drama Justice Department.... David Laufman, a former Justice prosecutor echoed some of the internal criticism, saying, 'It's flat out improper,' adding 'I don't think it's OK for an [assistant US attorney] to be talking to the media about what charges are appropriate in a case under investigation.' Sherwin didn't get prior approval from his Justice Department bosses before the 60 Minutes interview, according to people briefed on the matter, a break with protocol." See yesterday's Commentariat for links to stories re: Sherwin's remarks. MB: Neal Katyal pointed out on MSNBC that Sherwin was a Trump appointee.

The New York Times synced audio & video of the Capitol insurrection:

Spencer Hsu & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Two months into one of the biggest criminal investigations in U.S. history, prosecutors are preparing to start plea discussions as early as this week with many of the more than 300 suspects charged in the U.S. Capitol riot -- even as investigators race to piece together larger conspiracy cases against those suspected of the most serious crimes, according to people familiar with the discussions. The planned plea talks follow efforts by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which is overseeing the prosecutions, to first create a system for efficiently organizing what they expect will be upward of 400 criminal cases and the growing pile of associated evidence, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Although investigators continue to bump into [Roger] Stone as they probe members of the Oath Keepers and of the Proud Boys..., it remains unclear what that means as prosecutors review what, if any, influence Stone, other high-profile right-wing figures or Trump associates had on them.... Five Oath Keepers in ... [recently-filed] photos and court filings are among 10 members and associates charged with conspiring to obstruct Congress's confirmation of the 2020 presidential election results. The Justice Department and FBI are now weighing whether a larger conspiracy case can be made.... Stone, who has consistently said he was not involved in the Capitol riot and did not have advance knowledge of the breach, is not charged and has not been accused of any crime." The article details some of the "cameos" in which Stone has appeared with Proud Boys & Oath Keepers. MB: Because Stone's face is blocked out of some court-filed photos, they have presented a sort of "Is That Roger?" game for reporters.

Divorce in the Time of Sedition. Carly Roman of the Washington Examiner: "Detective Michael Heinl, a 30-year member of the Shaler Township Police Department, filed for divorce from his wife, Jennifer, in February in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, according to records cited by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.... Jennifer Heinl, 55, told the FBI that she traveled to Washington, D.C., alone and participated in the Stop the Steal' rally..., but she denied involvement in the storming of Capitol Hill.... [But] agents reviewing security footage from inside the Capitol Rotunda saw Heinl [there and charged her].... [The man she apparently accompanied to D.C., Kenneth] Grayson was arrested on Jan. 26 on charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct impeding government business; disruptive conduct in the Capitol building; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol; and obstructing an official proceeding."

Louis DeJoy's Ten-Year Fail Plan. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will unveil the largest rollback of consumer mail services in a generation as part of his 10-year plan for the U.S. Postal Service..., including longer first-class delivery windows, reduced post office hours and higher postage prices.... DeJoy is expected to emphasize the need for austerity to ensure more consistent delivery and rein in billions of dollars in financial losses, according to the people.... The plan, which he told the panel was eight months in the making, is meant to reset expectations for the Postal Service and its place in the express-shipping market." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is one thing that in retrospect, we may thank DeJoy for. His "vision" is so grim that it could force Congress to stop making impossible demands of the USPS and start treating the postal service as a vital, Constitutionally-mandated government service. It's true that subsidizing the USPS could put private carriers at a disadvantage they don't currently suffer. But how bad is that? After all, the USPS has obligations these private companies don't have: a stamp costs the same whether you're sending a letter from Brooklyn to Brooklyn or from Brooklyn to an island in Alaska. And by developing partnerships with private carriers, the postal service might not hurt these private entities at all. A USPB board & postmaster general with actual vision could work it all out.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Of all Donald Trump's prophecies and predictions ... at least one wasn't entirely wrong. 'Newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I'm not there,' he augured in 2017, 'because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes.' Barely two months into the post-Trump era, news outlets are indeed losing much of the audience and readership they gained during his chaotic presidency.... After a record-setting January, traffic to the nation's most popular mainstream news sites, including The Washington Post, plummeted in February, according to the audience tracking firm ComScore. The top sites were also generally doing worse than in February of last year, when the pandemic became a major international news story.... Yet news organizations plainly benefited from a 'Trump effect' long before the pandemic set in." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now, if only there were some way to gauge Americans' anxiety level. I can tell you that even though I remain essentially locked in my house after more than a year (tho I'll be getting out more soon) and have the same sort of personal difficulties that we all have over the course of life, I feel so much more relaxed and hopeful than I did for the entire four years Trump had access to the Oval Office. People were reading & watching the news so much for the same reason they slow down to gawk at an accident. Whether a dumpster fire, an auto crash or a train wreck, it's a lot like Donald Trump. ~~~

~~~ Marie BTW: If you are interested in learning about Donald Trump's big plans to start his own social media network, there have been stories about it here and there over the past two days. I guess you could Google them. Because I don't care enough to look 'em up.

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel & Caitlin Moniz of CREW: "Betsy DeVos[..., Donald Trump's wealthiest cabinet member...,] reported at least $225 million -- and potentially well over $414 million -- in outside income while working as Donald Trump's education secretary, according to an analysis of DeVos's financial disclosures by CREW.... [While a big chuck of Betsy's cash haul came from her family's pyramid scheme Amway,] she maintained a stake in Neurocore, a brain performance company targeting children, and failed to recuse from matters related to the company despite the potential for conflicts of interest. She pledged that her husband would stop making political donations for the duration of her tenure, but he continued to donate throughout the 2018 and 2020 election cycles."

"The Substance of Their Cause." Michael Gerson of the Washington Post faces one true thing about his political party of preference: &"... the case of Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) remains ... instructive and disturbing. Johnson is a Republican who prefers his racism raw...: : Whites who propagate a destructive lie, attack the democratic process and commit violence are Johnson's kind of people; African Americans who protest a history of injustice are a scary horde.... But... Johnson did not face the hygienic repudiation of his party.... Republicans have abolished their ideological police. The reason is simple. After four years of Donald Trump, Johnson's sentiments are not out of the Republican mainstream. They are an application of the prevailing Republican ideology -- that the 'real' America is under assault by the dangerous other.... Under Trump's cover, this has been revealed as the majority position of Republicans.... One of the United States' venerable, powerful political parties has been overtaken by people who make resentment against outsiders the central element of their appeal. Inciting fear is not an excess of their zeal; it is the substance of their cause." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have felt a little slimy for repeatedly calling the Republican party "the party of racists," even though the evidence is there. There are white Republicans who are not particularly racist, even if few of that ilk hold public office. So I'd like to thank Gerson for giving me "permission" to keep up the slimy work.

Senate Races 2022

Alabama. As If to Make Gerson's Point. Isaac Arnsdorf of ProPublica: "... in hours of right-wing media interviews before and after the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6..., Mo Brooks, the Alabama congressman who is about to launch a campaign for Senate..., repeatedly raised the prospect of violence as a possible response to Donald Trump losing the 2020 presidential election. 'This is pretty much it for our country,' Brooks said in a December podcast interview that has not been previously reported. 'In my judgment, it rivals the election of 1860,' he added, referring to the election of Abraham Lincoln, 'and we saw what ensued from that' -- meaning the Civil War.... Brooks was outspoken in baselessly accusing Democrats of 'stealing' the presidential election and seeking ways to keep Donald Trump in power.... Brooks is set to make his announcement alongside Stephen Miller, the former White House adviser who drove Trump's hardline immigration policies, including family separation. As an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, Miller frequently drew from white nationalist and white supremacist websites.... On Dec. 2, Brooks became the first member of Congress to say he would object to the Electoral College votes from key states that delivered Biden's victory." MB: I wonder if JeffBo will lend MoBro his Confederate army uniform to set the desired tone from Mo's campaign.

Missouri, Too, Has Choices! Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "Nearly three years ago, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens left the state capitol in disgrace as he faced down two criminal charges, an ethics probe and public fallout over reports that he'd had an affair with a hairdresser and then allegedly tried to blackmail her with nude photos. Now, the criminal charges have been dropped, the ethics case has been closed and Greitens is aiming for a Lazarus-esque comeback. The Republican announced on Fox News on Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat opening next year with the retirement of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) -- a move that quickly froze out some other GOP figures angling for the seat." MB: Remember that Missouri dumped the solidly middle-of-road Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill for the seditionist Repubican brat Josh Hawley, so we know how this could go.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it would review an appeals court's decision that threw out the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, upheld Mr. Tsarnaev's convictions on 27 counts. But the appeals court ruled that his death sentence should be overturned because the trial judge had not questioned jurors closely enough about their exposure to pretrial publicity and had excluded evidence concerning Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar's older brother and accomplice.... Lawyers for the federal government urged the Supreme Court to hear the case even though it did not satisfy some of the usual criteria for review.... Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge who now teaches at Harvard Law School, said the Biden administration should consider whether it wants to pursue the appeal, noting that the Trump administration had sought Supreme Court review." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.: "Federal health officials said early Tuesday that results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine may have relied on 'outdated information' that 'may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,' casting doubt on an announcement on Monday that had been seen as good news for the British-Swedish company as well as the global vaccination drive. In a highly unusual statement released after midnight, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that the data and safety monitoring board, an independent panel of medical experts under the National Institutes of Health that has been helping to oversee AstraZeneca’s U.S. trial, had notified government agencies and AstraZeneca late Monday that it was 'concerned' by information the company had released that morning." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Richard Lyons of the New York Times: "Colorado has been the scene of a number of multiple fatal shootings in recent years, including these that made national headlines[.]" More on the Boulder mass murder under today's and yesterday's News Ledes.

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "A man who survived the shooting that killed his wife at an Atlanta-area massage business last week said police detained him in handcuffs for four hours after the attack. Mario Gonzalez said he was held in a patrol car outside the spa. The revelation, in an interview with Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish-language news website, follows other criticism of Cherokee County officials investigating the March 16 attack, which killed four people. Four others were killed about an hour later at two spas in Atlanta. Gonzalez's accusation would also mean that he remained detained after police released security video images of the suspected gunman and after authorities captured that suspect about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Atlanta. Gonzalez questioned whether his treatment by authorities was because he's Mexican."

Illinois. Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "The proposal in Evanston, a lakefront suburb of Chicago, on Monday was both pioneering and rare: a blueprint to begin distributing $10 million in reparations to Black residents of the city in the form of housing grants.... But as the details of how the money would be distributed are beginning to take shape, elected officials, residents and activists for racial equity in the city say they are far from united on the specifics.... In Evanston, the housing grants are more narrowly targeted to residents who can show that they or their ancestors were victims of redlining and other discriminatory 20th-century housing practices in the city that limited the neighborhoods where Black people could live. Eligible applicants could be descendants of an Evanston resident who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969; or they could have experienced housing discrimination because of city policies after 1969." MB: This is the kind of reparations I can support, as it targets specific, provable instances of racist discrimination. So naturally, people don't like it. ~~~

~~~ Dorothy Brown in a New York Times op-ed (March 20): "Black Americans are often unable to build wealth from homeownership in the same way their white peers are, in large part because home prices are generally set by the people who make up the majority of buyers: white Americans. White families typically prefer to live in predominantly white neighborhoods with very few or no Black neighbors. Homes in these neighborhoods tend to have the highest market values because most prospective purchasers -- who happen to be white -- find them most desirable. Black Americans, on the other hand, tend to prefer to live in racially diverse or all-Black neighborhoods.... 'There's a carry-over of the redlining and steering days, before the fair housing laws were passed. So the difference in property values almost tracks 100 percent with the demographics of the area,' said Wayne Early, an Atlanta-based realtor and community economic activist." A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In 2000 and again in 2014, I was house-shopping. (A big difference in the two searches was that in the first, I was looking for a fairly large house and in the second for a small house.) My choice location was pretty broad: East Coast. In both instances, my ideal find would have been (1) a stone house (real stone-built, not a stone facade), (2) with some kind of water view, (3) in a racially-diverse neighborhood.In both searches, I could find only two out of three.

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of news developments about the mass shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket are here: "The Boulder Police chief said on Tuesday that a 21-year-old man from a Denver suburb had been charged with 10 counts of murder in the shooting on Monday at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., that left 10 people dead. Police Chief Maris Herold identified the suspect as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Arvada, a suburb of Denver about 20 miles from Boulder. Michael Dougherty, the district attorney in Boulder County, said he had 'lived most of his life in the United States.' Chief Herold said the suspect had been taken into custody with a leg injury but was in stable condition and was expected to be taken to jail later on Tuesday."

New York Times: "Elgin Baylor, the Lakers' Hall of Fame forward who became one of the N.B.A.'s greatest players, displaying acrobatic brilliance that foreshadowed the athleticism of later generations of stars, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 86."

New York Times: "George Segal, whose long career began in serious drama but who became one of America's most reliable and familiar comic actors, first in the movies and later on television, died on Tuesday in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 87."