The Commentariat -- March 1, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Brian Slodysko of the AP: "As Congress begins debate this week on sweeping voting and ethics legislation, Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: If signed into law, it would usher in the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections law in at least a generation. House Resolution 1, Democrats' 791-page bill, would touch virtually every aspect of the electoral process -- striking down hurdles to voting erected in the name of election security, curbing partisan gerrymandering and curtailing the influence of big money in politics. Republicans see those very measures as threats that would both limit the power of states to conduct elections and ultimately benefit Democrats, notably wit higher turnout among minority voters.... Despite staunch GOP opposition, the bill is all but certain to pass the House when it's scheduled for a floor vote Wednesday. But challenges lie ahead in the Senate...."

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, introduced legislation on Monday that would tax the net worth of the wealthiest people in America, a proposal aimed at persuading President Biden and other Democrats to fund sweeping new federal spending programs by taxing the richest Americans. Ms. Warren's wealth tax would apply a 2 percent tax to individual net worth -- including the value of stocks, houses, boats and anything else a person owns, after subtracting out any debts -- above $50 million. It would add an additional 1 percent surcharge for net worth above $1 billion. It is co-sponsored in the House by two Democratic representatives, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, a moderate."

Alayna Treene of Axios: "Former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were both vaccinated at the White House in January, a Trump adviser tells Axios..... Trump declared at CPAC on Sunday that "everybody" should get the coronavirus vaccine -- the first time he's encouraged his supporters, who have been more skeptical of getting vaccinated, to do so."

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Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Senior Democrats are abandoning a backup plan to increase the minimum wage through a corporate tax penalty, after encountering numerous practical and political challenges in drafting their proposal over the weekend, according to two people familiar with the internal deliberations. On Thursday, the Senate parliamentarian said that the $15-an-hour minimum wage included in President Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan was inadmissible under the rules Democrats are using to pass the bill through the Senate. After that decision, Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said they would instead seek to add tax penalties on large corporations that fail to pay $15 an hour -- an idea viewed as less likely to be struck down by the parliamentarian and still helpful to some minimum-wage workers. But now senior Democrats -- including Wyden and Sanders -- are walking away from that backup effort.... Economists and tax experts have said that the tax outlined by Sanders and Wyden could be easily avoided and difficult to implement, with large corporations able to reclassify workers as contractors to avoid potential penalties."

Alex Marquardt of CNN: "Shortly after the US intelligence community published its long-awaited report on Friday afternoon on the Saudis who were responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, it was taken down without explanation and replaced with another version that removed the names of three men it had initially said were complicit. The quiet switch by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence went largely unnoticed as the outcry grew that the Biden administration was failing to punish the prince in any way, despite having just declared in no uncertain terms that MBS was responsible. The first link to the report that was sent out by ODNI went dead. It was then replaced with a second version that removed three of the men it had just announced 'participated in, ordered, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi.' The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to clarify why the names were originally on the list and what roles, if any, they may have had in Khashoggi's killing."

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department has charged a Texas man who was allegedly caught on video attacking a dozen police officers with a chemical spray during the Capitol insurrection, according to court records. Federal prosecutors say Daniel Caldwell, 49, used a chemical spray against a line of officers that were blocking rioters from entering the Capitol. It happened amid a massive melee with police, who used batons and pepper spray to fend off the crowd, according to footage of the incident that was cited in court filings.... He has been charged with four crimes: assaulting federal officers, obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering a restricted building, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."

Let's See if This New Story Holds Up. Edmund DeMarche of Fox "News": "Former President Trump told Fox News late Sunday that he expressed concern over the crowd size near the Capitol days before last month's deadly riots and personally requested 10,000 National Guard troops be deployed in response. Trump told 'The Next Revolution With Steve Hilton' that his team alerted the Department of Defense days before the rally that crowds might be larger than anticipated and 10,000 national guardsmen should be ready to deploy. He said that -- from what he understands -- the warning was passed along to leaders at the Capitol, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- and he heard that the request was rejected because these leaders did not like the optics of 10,000 troops at the Capitol.... Trump told Steve Hilton, the show's host, that he "hated" to see what unfolded on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol." ~~~

~~~ Maybe this is the inspiration for Trump's new story: ~~~

Capitol Police requested National Guard help prior to January 6th. That request was denied by Speaker Pelosi and her Sergeant at Arms. -- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in a tweet, Feb. 15

Without evidence, Jordan asserted that House Speaker Pelosi had denied a request for National Guard troops two days before the insurrection. Instead, public testimony shows she did not even hear about the request until two days later. Jordan also tried to pin the blame on the House sergeant-at-arms, but testimony shows the Senate sergeant-at-arms also was not keen about the idea. We will keep an eye on this issue in case new information emerges that would result in a new rating. But ... speculation is not the same as evidence. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

Elaina Plott & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: Donald Trump "captured the 2024 presidential straw poll of the Conservative Political Action Conference, while Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida finished first in a second 2024 straw poll covering a field of potential candidates that did not include Mr. Trump. But in a surprise bit of downbeat news for Mr. Trump, only 68 percent of those at the conference said they wanted the former president to run again in 2024." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: CPAC is just about as Trumpy a bunch of Republicans as you'll find. CNN had some pundit on who said that 68% figure was a shocker; he would have expected Trump to get 95% on the question of whether or not he should run again. The pundit also said he watched Trump's speech & felt he was in some kind of time warp because it was just a regurgitation of earlier Trump speeches (aren't they all?). I thought I recognized the pundit's voice so I went to see who he was: well, he was John Bolton. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Sunday used his first public appearance since leaving office and moving to Florida to lash President Biden and insist that there are no divisions within the Republican Party -- before he proceeded to name every Republican who voted in support of his second impeachment and call for their ouster from office." Politico's report, by David Siders, is here.

Whistlin' Dixie. Casey Michel in an NBC News opinion piece: "For the past few months, a long-buried idea has been creeping from the fringe into mainstream Republican discourse: secession.... In the wake of the failed pro-Trump insurrection in Washington, far-right American militias, buoyed by ... Donald Trump's empty claims that the election was 'stolen,' have increasingly agitated for the break-up of the U.S. As the head of one paramilitary group that has worked closely with conspiratorial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., recently revealed, they'd formed alliances with other far-right groups to advocate for Georgia's secession.'... One-third of Republicans said they support secession.... Half of Republicans across the former Confederacy (plus Kentucky and Oklahoma) are now willing to break off to form a newly independent country. Perhaps not surprisingly, Texas is leading this charge.... Just like so much of Trumpian America, secession in places like Texas is rooted in a combination of nativism, xenophobia and white racial grievance.... But this month's disastrous winter storm in Texas also points to how idiotic such secessionist dreams truly are."

Oh, Lordy, Steve Inskeep of NPR, a prince of both-siderism, lets on that Joe Biden won the presidential election, claims to the contrary are "false," and Republicans are "fixing" election laws that were not broken "in ways that could make it harder to vote." Way down in Para. 17, he even gives space to a representative of the Brennan Center, who lets the cat out of the bag at least for anyone who reads that far: "'There was very little attempt to hide the racialized nature' of the attacks on mail balloting in 2020, [Myrna Pérez] said, noting that Trump allies constantly claimed corruption in big diverse cities such as Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit." MB: Inskeep of the mellifluous, upbeat voice, is the reason I can't listen to NPR.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "As Republican state lawmakers around the nation are working furiously to enact laws making it harder to vote, the Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear its most important election case in almost a decade, one that will determine what sort of judicial scrutiny those restrictions will face. The case centers on a crucial remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race. Civil rights groups are nervous that the court, now with a six-justice conservative majority, will use the opportunity to render that provision, Section 2, toothless. The provision has taken on greater importance in election disputes since 2013, when the court effectively struck down the heart of the 1965 law, its Section 5, which required prior federal approval of changes to voting procedures in parts of the country with a history of racial and other discrimination." Section 2 allows "litigation after the fact." ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Barnes has the Washington Post story here.

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Iran has rejected an early meeting with the United States and the other signatories to the Iran nuclear deal, according to Iranian and Western officials. Because of 'recent positions and actions of the U.S. and three European countries,' Iran 'does not deem the time suitable for holding' the proposed meeting, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement Sunday. Western officials, however, said that Iran's private response late last week to the invitation, extended through the European Union, was more 'nuanced' than an outright refusal and that it sought assurances that the talks would be limited to the nuclear deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, it signed in 2015 with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. On the occasion of Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron's retirement, Sarah Ellision of the Washington Post (here) and Marc Tracy of the New York Times (here) examine the evolution of the Post during the time Baron was running the Post & Jeff Bezos was publishing and financing it.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "The chaotic vaccine rollout has come with a maze of confusing registration pages and clunky health care websites. And the technological savvy required to navigate the text alerts, push notifications and email reminders that are second nature to the digital generation has put older adults..., who need the vaccine the most, at a disadvantage. As a result, seniors who lack tech skills are missing out on potentially lifesaving shots.... Advocates for older Americans, 22 million of whom lack wired broadband access at home, say it is ridiculous that a program mostly aimed at vaccinating vulnerable seniors is so dependent on internet know-how, Twitter announcements and online event pages." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It doesn't help that some states messed up their vaccination registration systems. New Hampshire is one of them. Not only did I have to fill out the same very long questionnaire twice -- once for the state & once for the CDC -- the CDC also sent me misinformation about my second vaccination. The CDC never corrected the misinformation: I found out only because a friend told me about it, and I then double-checked with the state to make sure the friend was right. If I didn't surf the Web all day and do a lot of shopping & other business online, I would have found completing the application quite challenging (especially because, as Browning writes, the Websites are "clunky." And, as Browning adds, the state sends a lot of follow-up notices, some of which must be answered to maintain your appointment. I'm sure the challenges are equally frustrating & tedious in other states.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Dana Rubinstein of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday retreated from his plan to have a former federal judge who has close ties to one of the governor's closest allies investigate sexual harassment claims against him. Mr. Cuomo said that he would ask Letitia James, New York's attorney general, and Janet DiFiore, the chief judge on New York State's highest court, to jointly pick someone to investigate sexual harassment accusations lodged by two women who worked in the Cuomo administration.... [Ms. James] rejected the governor's proposal, publicly demanding that Mr. Cuomo give her what's known as a 'referral,' so that she could vest an investigator with subpoena power and begin an inquiry.... The political fallout followed a New York Times article that detailed the accusations of Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former aide to the governor." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Karen Matthews & Marina Villeneuve of the AP: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged for the first time Sunday that some of his behavior with women 'may have been insensitive or too personal,' and said he would cooperate with a sexual harassment investigation led by the state's attorney general. In a statement released amid mounting criticism from within his own party, the Democrat maintained he had never inappropriately touched or propositioned anyone. But he said he had teased people about their personal lives in an attempt to be 'playful.'" MB: Uh-huh.

Way Beyond

France. Kim Willsher of the Guardian: "A court has found Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced the former French president to three years in prison with two of them suspended. The former president was said to have forged a 'corruption pact' with his lawyer and a senior magistrate. Judges said there was 'serious evidence' of collaboration between the three men to break the law. The court had heard how Sarkozy instructed his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, to offer the magistrate a cushy job on the Côte d'Azur in return for information on a separate investigation centred on the rightwing politician. It is unlikely the former president will spend a day in jail. The one-year prison sentence can be served with certain conditions, including the wearing of an electronic bracelet, or limited home confinement. Sarkozy is expected to appeal against the conviction." The New York Times' story is here. Thanks to RockyGirl for the lead. "Could it happen here??," she asks. "We can only hope." MB: Except we do want WhozIt to do hard time in a cold, damp cell with no TV & only a pot to piss in.

Myanmar. AP: "Police in Myanmar's biggest city on Monday fired tear gas at defiant crowds who returned to the streets to protest the military's seizure of power a month ago, despite reports that security forces had killed at least 18 people around the country a day earlier. The protesters in Yangon were chased as they tried to gather at their usual meeting spot at the Hledan Center intersection. Demonstrators scattered and sought to rinse their faces with water in vain attempts to ease the irritating effects of the gas. In the capital, Naypyitaw, the country's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi made a court appearance Monday via videoconference, the independent Myanmar Now online news agency reported. It said she received a charge under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for allegedly inciting unrest. Further details of the court appearance were not immediately available."

Russia. Irina Reznik & Henry Meyer of Bloomberg News, republished in the Day: "Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who survived a chemical poisoning last year that he called a Kremlin attempt to kill him, has begun serving his two-and-a-half-year sentence at a notorious penal camp. Navalny, who was removed from his Moscow jail cell Thursday, is being held at a detention facility in the prison in the Vladimir region, about 60 miles east of the Russian capital, Alexey Melnikov, secretary of the civil oversight commission of Moscow, told Bloomberg.... The jail, where inmates are housed in barracks and typically do manual labor, is classified as a 'red zone' where the administration controls every aspect of life. 'It's a tough penal camp with very strict rules, to put it mildly,' said Eva Merkacheva, a member of a civic-oversight group for the prison system."

The Commentariat -- February 28, 2021

Bethan McKernan of the Guardian & Agencies: "Joe Biden has carried out his first military action as president, with airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed fighters in Syria, in what the Pentagon said was retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops. The overnight strikes killed 22 people after hitting three trucks loaded with munitions near the border town of Abu Kamal, a war monitor said on Friday." MB: A report I ran Friday said at least one person was killed. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"These People Are Dangerous." Mike Lillis & Scott Wong of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said her proposal to install a Democratic majority on the investigative Jan. 6 commission is rooted in historic precedent and the simple prerogatives of sitting presidents. But rank-and-file Democrats are citing a very different reason they don't want the panel's power split evenly between the parties: They simply don't trust Republicans to investigate an attack on the Capitol that, in the eyes of livid Democrats, was kindled by those same GOP lawmakers. 'We do not owe delusional deniers a role or a platform in a commission designed to try to ferret out extremism and violence to prevent its recurrence,' said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who had predicted the Jan. 6 violence based on the rhetoric from then-President Trump and his GOP allies. 'These people are dangerous.'"

Helaine Olen of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders wants you to know the high cost of our low minimum wage.... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) [held] his debut hearing [Thursday] as chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. Sanders, a longtime champion of the Fight for $15, made the consequences of our much-too-low federal minimum wage, set at $7.25 an hour since 2009, his focus.... All too many Americans work full-time, but are paid so little that they still need to rely on such government benefits as food stamps and Medicaid to get by. In his view, that amounts to corporate welfare.... Last year, the Government Accountability Office -- at Sanders's behest -- released a survey showing that Walmart employees were the largest group of employees using safety-net benefits in the 11 states it studied. McDonald's came in second.... Sanders invited the chief executives of McDonald's and Walmart to testify at the hearing and talk the issue out. Both turned the invitation down."

Right Wing World

The Great GOP Plot Against Democracy, Ctd. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Led by loyalists who embrace ... Donald J. Trump's baseless claims of a stolen election, Republicans in state legislatures nationwide are mounting extraordinary efforts to change the rules of voting and representation -- and enhance their own political clout. At the top of those efforts is a slew of bills raising new barriers to casting votes, particularly the mail ballots that Democrats flocked to in the 2020 election. But other measures go well beyond that, including tweaking Electoral College and judicial election rules for the benefit of Republicans; clamping down on citizen-led ballot initiatives; and outlawing private donations that provide resources for administering elections, which were crucial to the smooth November vote. And although the decennial redrawing of political maps has been pushed to the fall because of delays in delivering 2020 census totals, there are already signs of an aggressive drive to further gerrymander political districts, particularly in states under complete Republican control."

Trump de Oro: Hecho en Mexico. Guardian: "A golden statue of Donald Trump that has caused a stir at the annual US gathering of conservatives was made in Mexico -- a country the former president frequently demonized. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "A former chair of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday slammed what the event has now become.... Mickey Edwards -- who led the American Conservative Union, which organizes the event, for five years until 1983 -- ripped Republicans attending this year's CPAC in Orlando for their devotion to ... Donald Trump. In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Edwards likened the GOP to a cult whose members are living in an alternate reality. Edwards served as a GOP representative for Oklahoma for 16 years until 1993 but quit the GOP in January following the deadly U.S. Capitol riot." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "The Republican Party on display at CPAC this weekend was anti-monopoly, anti-free trade, skeptical of foreign wars, girded for economic conflict with China -- and frequently invested in things that aren't true. Election myths were mentioned often, though rarely the damage they'd led to on Jan. 6, when hordes of Trump supporters fueled by the falsehoods and seeking to block Joe Biden's election stormed the Capitol.... They suggested that the election had not been honest -- a topic that spilled from panel to panel, fact or no fact."

Worse Than CPAC. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "A sitting member of Congress appeared at a white nationalist convention Friday night, marking new GOP support for the racist movement. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) spoke in Orlando, Florida, at the America First Political Action conference, a far-right event meant to mimic the establishment Republican Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). After Gosar's speech, AFPAC organizer Nick Fuentes, who marched in the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and was outside the Capitol with his supporters during the Jan. 6 riot, took the podium that warned that 'white people are done being bullied.' Fuentes praised the fatal riot as 'awesome,' describing it as 'light-hearted mischief.' He also mocked Gosar's colleague, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), for needing a wheelchair, saying Cawthorn couldn't 'stand up' for his constituents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "... an examination by The Post of how [Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.)] ascended so quickly shows how even one of the most neophyte elected Republicans is adopting the Trump playbook, making false statements about his background, issuing baseless allegations about voter fraud and demonizing his political opponents.... [He told multiple lies about an auto accident that left him wheelchair-bound.] A campaign video ad repeated his false claim that the car wreck had derailed his plans to attend the Naval Academy. He promptly used his newfound fame to push baseless allegations about voting fraud on Twitter in a video viewed 4 million times, which... Donald Trump retweeted, saying, 'Thank you Madison!' Then Cawthorn spoke at the Jan. 6 rally where a mob was incited to storm the U.S. Capitol, again alleging fraud and extolling the crowd's courage in comparison with the 'cowards' in Congress. He returned to the Capitol, where he falsely claimed that insurrectionists had been 'paid by the Democratic machine.' Cawthorn won his campaign with a brief résumé that included working at a Chick-fil-A, a part-time role in a congressional office, the single semester of college [where his grades were mostly D's,] and fledgling work as a real estate investor.... Republican House leaders, meanwhile, rewarded Cawthorn with assignments that belied his background of a single college semester of mostly D's and rejection by the Naval Academy. He now serves on the Education Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A good deal of what Kranish has put together about Cawthorn cam out before the 2020 general election. So if you'd like to know what to think of the voters of Western North Carolina, here's the Wiki page on Cawthorn's general election opponent, Democrat Moe Davis.

~~~ Addy Baird & Brianna Sacks of BuzzFeed News: Former students former Patrick Henry College, a small, Christian school in Northern Virginia, "aid it didn't take long for women on campus to start warning one another: You don't want to be alone with [fellow student Madison Cawthorn], especially in his car. BuzzFeed News spoke with more than three dozen people ... who described or corroborated instances of sexual harassment and misconduct on campus, in Cawthorn's car, and at his house near campus. Four women told BuzzFeed News that Cawthorn, now a rising Republican star, was aggressive, misogynistic, or predatory toward them. Their allegations include calling them derogatory names in public in front of their peers, including calling one woman 'slutty,' asking them inappropriate questions about their sex lives, grabbing their thighs, forcing them to sit in his lap, and kissing and touching them without their consent.... According to more than a dozen people ... Cawthorn often used his car as a way to entrap and harass his women classmates, taking them on what he could call 'fun drives' off campus. Two said he would drive recklessly and ask them about their virginity and sexual experiences while they were locked in the moving vehicle." Madison became a student at the college when he was 21, so older than most of the women he allegedly harassed. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Keith Coffman of Reuters: "An avowed white supremacist was sentenced on Friday to 19-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty months ago to a federal hate-crimes case stemming from a botched plot to bomb a historic Colorado synagogue in 2019. Richard Holzer, 28, appeared in a federal courtroom in Denver for a sentencing that capped an undercover FBI investigation of a plan to blow up Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, Colorado, the second-oldest synagogue in the state. Although the plot was thwarted, U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore said Holzer had sought 'to terrorize the Jewish community' of Pueblo...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Lauran Neergaard & Matthew Perrone of the AP: "The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two. Health experts are anxiously awaiting a one-and-done option to help speed vaccinations, as they race against a virus that already has killed more than 510,000 people in the U.S. and is mutating in increasingly worrisome ways. The FDA said J&J's vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. One dose was 85% protective against the most severe COVID-19 illness, in a massive study that spanned three continents -- protection that remained strong even in countries such as South Africa, where the variants of most concern are spreading."

Matt Egan of CNN: "A former Republican operative who now leads one of the nation's most powerful business groups is praising President Joe Biden's efforts to defeat the coronavirus pandemic. 'It is fantastic to have a partner in the White House,' Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, told CNN Business. 'We felt like we were fighting this fight, frankly, all alone for the last year.' NAM, which represents more than 130,000 manufacturers, announced Friday it is planning to partner with the Biden administration to help fight the pandemic. Timmons, who said his father died from Covid, criticized the Trump administration's track record on the health crisis." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "A second former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is accusing him of sexual harassment, saying that he asked her questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had ever had sex with older men. The aide, Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration until she left in November, told The New York Times that the governor had harassed her late last spring, during the height of the state's fight against the coronavirus. Ms. Bennett, 25, said the most unsettling episode occurred on June 5, when she was alone with Mr. Cuomo in his State Capitol office. In a series of interviews this week, she said the governor had asked her numerous questions about her personal life, including whether she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, and had said that he was open to relationships with women in their 20s -- comments she interpreted as clear overtures to a sexual relationship. Mr. Cuomo said in a statement to The Times on Saturday that he believed he had been acting as a mentor and had 'never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate. He said he had requested an independent review of the matter and asked that New Yorkers await the findings 'before making any judgments.'" The Daily Beast has a summary report here. The AP's story relies on the NYT reporting, but adds some content.

New York. Paul Liotta of the Staten Island Advance: "Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate and current frontrunner in the race for NYC mayor, came to the rescue of a photojournalist who was attacked Friday on the Staten Island Ferry.... When a ferry passenger carrying what appeared to be a metal pole approached the photographer, shoved him, and threateningly raised the implement, Yang sprang into action.... The man recognized Yang, who engaged and calmed him, speaking with him briefly and allowing the photographer to get away from the tense situation.... The incident happened at about 11:15 a.m., on an outdoor portion of the ferry's top deck. [Spencer] Platt, the photographer, expressed gratitude to Yang and his team." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Will Englund & Neena Satija of the Washington Post: "As millions of Texans went days without heat, light or water, as store shelves were emptied, as deaths blamed on the cold began to add up, Texas' frenzied and deregulated electricity market opened the door for some companies to reap windfalls that may mount into the billions of dollars. The nation's most deregulated energy economy was supposed to be a win for consumers and for energy companies nimble enough to do business in a bustling, cacophonous market. But the cold snap -- rare but by no means unprecedented -- shattered it last week, plunging consumers into misery and leaving a badly prepared and dislocated energy sector in pieces. Wholesale prices for electricity spiked 300-fold, and for natural gas almost as much, and when supplies dwindled firms that had some of either commodity to sell were in line for tremendous short-term profits. But other companies are looking at stupendous losses." ~~~

~~~ Return of the Sea Turtles/Best Waterslide. Thanks to RAS for the lead:

The Commentariat -- February 27, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Bethan McKernan of the Guardian & Agencies: "Joe Biden has carried out his first military action as president, with airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed fighters in Syria, in what the Pentagon said was retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops. The overnight strikes killed 22 people after hitting three trucks loaded with munitions near the border town of Abu Kamal, a war monitor said on Friday." MB: A report I ran yesterday said at least one person was killed.

Matt Egan of CNN: "A former Republican operative who now leads one of the nation's most powerful business groups is praising President Joe Biden's efforts to defeat the coronavirus pandemic. 'It is fantastic to have a partner in the White House,' Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, told CNN Business. 'We felt like we were fighting this fight, frankly, all alone for the last year.' NAM, which represents more than 130,000 manufacturers, announced Friday it is planning to partner with the Biden administration to help fight the pandemic. Timmons, who said his father died from Covid, criticized the Trump administration's track record on the health crisis."

Trump de Oro: Hecho en Mexico. Guardian: "A golden statue of Donald Trump that has caused a stir at the annual US gathering of conservatives was made in Mexico -- a country the former president frequently demonized. ~~~

~~~ Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "A former chair of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday slammed what the event has now become.... Mickey Edwards -- who led the American Conservative Union, which organizes the event, for five years until 1983 -- ripped Republicans attending this year's CPAC in Orlando for their devotion to ... Donald Trump. In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Edwards likened the GOP to a cult whose members are living in an alternate reality. Edwards served as a GOP representative for Oklahoma for 16 years until 1993 but quit the GOP in January following the deadly U.S. Capitol riot."

Worse Than CPAC. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "A sitting member of Congress appeared at a white nationalist convention Friday night, marking new GOP support for the racist movement. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) spoke in Orlando, Florida, at the America First Political Action conference, a far-right event meant to mimic the establishment Republican Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). After Gosar's speech, AFPAC organizer Nick Fuentes, who marched in the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and was outside the Capitol with his supporters during the Jan. 6 riot, took the podium that warned that 'white people are done being bullied.' Fuentes praised the fatal riot as 'awesome,' describing it as 'light-hearted mischief.' He also mocked Gosar's colleague, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), for needing a wheelchair, saying Cawthorn couldn't 'stand up' for his constituents." ~~~

~~~ Addy Baird & Brianna Sacks of BuzzFeed News: Former students former Patrick Henry College, a small, Christian school in Northern Virginia, "said it didn't take long for women on campus to start warning one another: You don't want to be alone with [fellow student Madison Cawthorn], especially in his car. BuzzFeed News spoke with more than three dozen people ... who described or corroborated instances of sexual harassment and misconduct on campus, in Cawthorn's car, and at his house near campus. Four women told BuzzFeed News that Cawthorn, now a rising Republican star, was aggressive, misogynistic, or predatory toward them. Their allegations include calling them derogatory names in public in front of their peers, including calling one woman 'slutty,' asking them inappropriate questions about their sex lives, grabbing their thighs, forcing them to sit in his lap, and kissing and touching them without their consent.... According to more than a dozen people ... Cawthorn often used his car as a way to entrap and harass his women classmates, taking them on what he could call 'fun drives' off campus. Two said he would drive recklessly and ask them about their virginity and sexual experiences while they were locked in the moving vehicle." Madison became a student at the college when he was 21, so older than most of the women he allegedly harassed.

Keith Coffman of Reuters: "An avowed white supremacist was sentenced on Friday to 19-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty months ago to a federal hate-crimes case stemming from a botched plot to bomb a historic Colorado synagogue in 2019. Richard Holzer, 28, appeared in a federal courtroom in Denver for a sentencing that capped an undercover FBI investigation of a plan to blow up Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, Colorado, the second-oldest synagogue in the state. Although the plot was thwarted, U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore said Holzer had sought 'to terrorize the Jewish community' of Pueblo...."

New York. Paul Liotta of the Staten Island Advance: "Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate and current frontrunner in the race for NYC mayor, came to the rescue of a photojournalist who was attacked Friday on the Staten Island Ferry.... When a ferry passenger carrying what appeared to be a metal pole approached the photographer, shoved him, and threateningly raised the implement, Yang sprang into action.... The man recognized Yang, who engaged and calmed him, speaking with him briefly and allowing the photographer to get away from the tense situation.... The incident happened at about 11:15 a.m., on an outdoor portion of the ferry's top deck. [Spencer] Platt, the photographer, expressed gratitude to Yang and his team."

Return of the Sea Turtles/Best Waterslide. Thanks to RAS for the lead:

~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney Ember & Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "The American economic recovery came perilously close to falling off a cliff at the end of last year. But government aid arrived just in time to prevent a disaster -- and possibly paved the way for a dynamic rebound. Personal income surged a remarkable 10 percent in January, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. Spending increased last month, too, by a healthy 2.4 percent, largely fueled by a rise in purchases of goods. The report was the latest sign of the economy's slow but steady march forward after a series of setbacks. Yet the data also underscored the extent to which government aid is buoying the economy. The rise in income last month was almost entirely attributable to the $600 government relief checks approved in December and to unemployment insurance payments. And while spending ticked up, purchases of services remained depressed as the pandemic continued to weigh heavily on the leisure and hospitality industries even as coronavirus cases fell."

Lauren Egan & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "President Joe Biden traveled to Houston on Friday to survey the damage from Texas' recent historic winter storm, the president's first trip as commander in chief to a state following a natural disaster. Biden met with state and local officials about the recovery efforts at the Harris County Emergency Operations Center in Houston, commending them for putting together a 'hell of an operation,' before he and first lady Jill Biden toured a local food bank to thank volunteers." ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "... when he traveled to Houston with Jill Biden, the first lady, the president used the power of his office for the first time to show support for a community ravaged by twin crises.... At an emergency response center in Houston on Friday, President Biden praised officials who had slept in stairwells as they worked around the clock to help people with no power or drinkable water because of the devastating storms, low temperatures and breakdown of basic utilities that had paralyzed Texas. At a food bank, Mr. Biden hugged a little girl who was volunteering, then talked to a woman about the death of his eldest son, once again plugging into the pain of others by accessing his own. Later, when visiting a stadium converted into a mass-vaccination site that will administer shots into the arms of some 6,000 Texans a day, Mr. Biden offered reassurance that the federal government would be working to provide clean water, blankets, food, fuel and shelter to people struggling to rebuild their lives in the state. 'We will be true partners to help you recover,' Mr. Biden said. 'We're in for the long haul.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Daly of the AP: "The deadly winter storm that caused widespread power outages in Texas and other states is a 'wake-up call' for the United States to build energy systems and other infrastructure that are more reliable and resilient in the face of extreme-weather events linked to climate change, President Joe Biden's national climate adviser says. In an interview with The Associated Press, Gina McCarthy said Friday that the storm that devastated Texas and other states 'is not going to be as unusual as people had hoped. It is going to happen, and we need to be as resilient and working together as much as possible. We need systems of energy that are reliable and resilient as well.'"

Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the plan for operatives to assassinate the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to a previously classified intelligence report released on Friday, a step by the Biden administration to remind the world of the brutal killing and temper relations with the Saudi government. Much of the evidence the C.I.A. used to draw that conclusion remains classified, including recordings of Mr. Khashoggi's killing and dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that were obtained by Turkish intelligence. But the report does outline who carried out the killing, describe what Prince Mohammed knew about the operation and lay out how the C.I.A. concluded that he ordered it and bears responsibility for Mr. Khashoggi's death. The release of the report also signaled that President Biden, unlike his predecessor, would not set aside the killing of Mr. Khashoggi and that his administration intended to attempt to isolate the crown prince, although it will avoid any measures that would threaten ties to the kingdom.... The Biden administration also announced penalties against Saudi officials, including a travel ban and freezing of assets of the kingdom's former intelligence chief and sanctions against members of a paramilitary unit that took part in the assassination." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The unclassified report, by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), confirmed classified conclusions reached by the CIA just weeks after the killing of the dissident writer, a Virginia resident and contributing columnist for The Washington Post.... The State Department ... announced a new visa restriction policy against anyone 'acting on behalf of a foreign government' involved in 'serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities.' But in a reflection of what officials described as the complications of bilateral relations with a traditional partner nation, the restrictions will not be applied against the 35-year-old crown prince.... Failure to impose direct penalties on Mohammed is not likely to sit well with lawmakers who for years have pushed for him to be held accountable.... Donald Trump, who had also been briefed [on the classified report], continued to [MB: falsely] insist there no firm conclusions, asking, 'Well, will anybody really know?'... In an early 2019 measure..., Congress demanded that the ODNI produce an unclassified report of U.S. intelligence conclusions, including names of involved Saudi officials at all levels, and passed legislation giving the administration 30 days to release it. For the next two years, Trump ignored the law, while he and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner..., continued to develop a close relationships with Mohammed."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post and others reported in November 2018 that the CIA had concluded with high confidence that the crown prince was behind [the murder of Jamal Khashoggi]. Trump repeatedly questioned that intelligence, as he did with other intelligence he didn't like. He also suggested in a bizarre statement that we might never know the truth.... He also conveniently inserted allegations from Saudi Arabia that Khashoggi was aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood -- as if Khashoggi actually might have deserved what befell him.... Trump made a clear choice.... Despite all the evidence Trump was being fed, it was met with a shrug from the leader of the free world. On Friday, we learned that shrug was as ill-founded as it appeared. And if it wasn't clear two years ago, it became even clearer that it didn't exactly project his message of American strength." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: "The United States government publicly identified Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia as the murderer of an American resident, and then President Biden choked. Instead of imposing sanctions on M.B.S., Biden appears ready to let the murderer walk. The weak message to other thuggish dictators considering such a murder is: Please don't do it, but we'll still work with you if we have to. The message to Saudi Arabia is: Go ahead and elevate M.B.S. to be the country's next king if you must. All this is a betrayal of my friend Jamal Khashoggi and of his values and ours. But even through the lens of realpolitik it's a missed opportunity to help Saudi Arabia understand that its own interest lies in finding a new crown prince who isn't reckless and doesn't kill and dismember journalists."

Juliet Eilperin & Dennis Brady of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday dramatically altered the way the U.S. government calculates the real-world cost of climate change, a move that could reshape a range of consequential decisions, from whether to allow new coal leasing on federal land to what sort of steel is used in taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects. The administration plans to boost the figure it will use to assess the damage that greenhouse gas pollution inflicts on society to $51 per ton of carbon dioxide -- a rate more than seven times higher than that used by ... Donald Trump's administration. But the number, known as the 'social cost of carbon,' could reach as high as $125 per ton once the administration conducts a more thorough analysis.... While this is not a new tax that consumers would have to pay, it would make it harder for fossil fuel projects to win government approval by factoring in their long-term costs to society." A Politico report is here.

Helluva a Job, Louie. Jacob Bogage & Hannah Denham of the Washington Post: "As the service crisis at the U.S. Postal Service drags into its eighth month, complaints are reaching a fever pitch. Consumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills -- and the late fees they've absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers. Large-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further undercut the agency's biggest revenue stream. The growing outcry adds another dimension to the agency's myriad crises: a clogged processing and transportation network, severe staffing shortages and $188.4 billion in liabilities. The prolonged performance declines have eroded the reputation of the few government agencies that boasts generations of broad public support.... The agency's delivery times have sunk to historic lows since [Louis] DeJoy took over last June.... The delays stem from DeJoy's abrupt reorganization of the Postal Service last July and residual holiday backlogs...." ~~~

~~~ Tanya Snyder of Politico: "United Airlines has been fined more than $49 million for fraud on postal service contracts for transportation of international mail.... The Justice Department announced on Friday that United had entered into a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to pay $17 million in criminal penalties and to return funds that were received through a fraud scheme perpetrated by former employees of United's Cargo Division. United will pay an additional $32 million as part of the settlement of a separate civil complaint.... From 2012 to 2015, United submitted false delivery scan data, which it owed USPS as part of its contract both when the airline took possession of the mail receptacles and when they delivered them. United was submitting automated delivery scans 'based on aspirational delivery times,' not the actual time of pickup or delivery. 'Through this data automation scheme, United secured millions of dollars in payments from the USPS to which United was not entitled under the [International Commercial Air] contracts,' the Justice Department said.... United employees 'knew that the data being transmitted was fabricated' and 'that the transmission of false data violated the terms of the ICAIR contracts.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There's no indication in the report that any United employees or management staff suffered any consequences from the fraud they perpetrated.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other utility records while pursuing immigration violations, according to public documents uncovered by Georgetown Law researchers and shared with The Washington Post. ICE's use of the private database is another example of how government agencies have exploited commercial sources to access information they are not authorized to compile on their own. It also highlights how real-world surveillance efforts are being fueled by information people may never have expected would land in the hands of law enforcement. The database, CLEAR, includes more than 400 million names, addresses and service records from more than 80 utility companies covering all the staples of modern life, including water, gas and electricity, and phone, Internet and cable TV.... On Friday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent letters to the chief executives of Thomson Reuters and Equifax seeking documents and other information on how ICE has used the utility data in recent years."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "A State Department official for several years has been publicly calling for the establishment of Christian nation-states, warning that white people face 'elimination' and railing against Jews as well as Black Lives Matter and other social movements. Fritz Berggren, a mid-ranking Foreign Service officer, openly uses his name and image as he espouses these and other controversial views, according to a review of his online postings.... According to a directory viewed by Politico, Berggren is currently assigned to a State Department unit that handles special immigrant visas for Afghans.... The State Department's options for addressing Berggren's online postings may be limited. There are rules that govern diplomats' on- and off-duty behavior that could be grounds for punishment or dismissal in similar instances -- rules that can differ based on whether a person is serving overseas or in the United States. But the federal government, for First Amendment reasons, is not supposed to dictate its employees' religious views." MB: If State really can't get rid of Fritz, it should stick him in a windowless room counting paperclips.

Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "Progressives are willing to accept defeat on the minimum wage for now and vote for President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief package. But they're channeling their energy into a renewed push to kill the filibuster. One day after the Senate parliamentarian effectively forced a $15 minimum wage hike out of Democrats' coronavirus relief package, leading liberal activists are racing to turn their bitter setback into opportunity. The need to sacrifice a key Biden priority in order to ensure the Covid aid bill can pass the Senate with a simple majority has handed progressive lawmakers and their allied groups a new talking point in their long-running quest to eliminate the legislative filibuster." MB: I don't see why they need "a new talking point." Tell dumbclucks Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema that Senate Republicans have not captured a majority of voters in a quarter century, yet they've been stymieing Democratic bills -- that is, bills backed by representatives of a majority of voters -- all that time. If Republican senators were acting in good faith & tweaking bills to make them a teeny bit more moderate, then you might argue the filibuster had a legitimate purpose. But -- especially thanks to "Grim Reaper" Mitch McConnell -- good-faith tweaking hasn't happened for a long time.

"Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!" Carol Lee & Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News: "When senators arrived at the Senate gym on Wednesday morning, they found that one of them had taped memes on the lockers welcoming [Ted] Cruz home and showing him in the short-sleeve polo shirt, jeans and Texas-flag mask that he had at the airport, according to two people familiar with the prank. 'Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!' was the 'welcome back' message typed at the top of the color printouts.... The rendering featured a manipulated photo of Cruz from his well-documented trip to Mexico, dragging his luggage across an arctic landscape while holding a tropical cocktail garnished with a slice of fruit in his other hand. He is shown walking toward an image of a masked Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. with his arms crossed and wearing striped, knitted gloves -- a pose famously captured during January's inauguration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Benner & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. has pinpointed an assailant in its investigation into the death of Brian D. Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who was injured while fending off the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol last month and later died, according to two law enforcement officials.... In a significant breakthrough in the case, investigators have now pinpointed a person seen on video of the riot who attacked several officers with bear spray, including Officer Sicknick, according to the officials. And video evidence shows that the assailant discussed attacking officers with the bear spray beforehand, one of the officials said. While investigators narrowed potential suspects seen in video footage to a single person this week, they have yet to identify the assailant by name." The Raw Story has a summary report here.

Garance Burke, et al., of the AP: "A faction of local, county and state Republican officials is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories that echo those that helped inspire the violent U.S. Capitol siege, online messaging that is spreading quickly through GOP ranks fueled by algorithms that boost extreme content. The Associated Press reviewed public and private social media accounts of nearly 1,000 federal, state, and local elected and appointed Republican officials nationwide, many of whom have voiced support for the Jan. 6 insurrection or demanded that the 2020 presidential election be overturned, sometimes in deleted posts or now-removed online forums." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Bash, et al., of CNN: "More than a dozen of ... Donald Trump's closest Republican allies in the House have skipped Friday's votes and enlisted their colleagues to vote on their behalf, signing letters saying they can't attend 'due to the ongoing public health emergency.' But those members are actually expected to be in Orlando and listed as speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting aimed at energizing conservative activists and boosting their own profiles." MB: They can't do their day jobs because they're in Orlando to pledge their fealty to the Golden Ass. ~~~

~~~ Freeedumb! Here's the evidence for the Trumpies' deep concern over "the ongoing public health emergency": Quint Forgey of Politico: "Organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference were met with boos on Friday morning as they encouraged the crowd inside a Florida hotel ballroom to put on face masks in compliance with the host venue's policies. The awkward moment unfolded early on the first day of programming at the American Conservative Union's annual confab and represented a confusing shift in rhetoric from prior speakers who uniformly mocked coronavirus-related restrictions in a series of sharply partisan remarks." Emphasis added.

#CPAC #AmericaUncancelled pic.twitter.com/mVqBuF2blY

— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) February 26, 2021

~~~ Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "The Golden Calf is one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament.... It's a story about the allure of idolatry, how easy it is to abandon one's commitments to principle in favor of shiny, easy falsehoods. This biblical tale trended on Twitter in the US Frida morning because of the ... video [posted above], filmed on the first day of the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Someone involved in the conference constructed a golden statue -- not of a calf, but of Trump -- and wheeled it out to cheers from conference attendees.... There are so many reasons why this is a perfect metaphor for the state of the GOP after the Trump presidency.... In the Bible, the Golden Calf story ends with a furious Moses destroying the idol.... And yet, here they are, still building idols of a false god." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At least the biblical Golden Calf was made of, well, gold. The Gilded Ass is, well, painted with a cheap metal slurry. Not even a blasphemous idol, Trump's image is a fake blasphemous idol. Perfect symbol for a fake president*. ~~~

~~~ Jill Colvin of the AP: "A conference dedicated to the future of the conservative movement turned into an ode to Donald Trump as speakers declared their fealty to the former president and attendees posed for selfies with a golden statue of his likeness. As the Republican Party grapples with deep divisions over the extent to which they should embrace Trump after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress, those gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Friday made clear they are not ready to move on from the former president -- or from his baseless charges that the November election was rigged against him.... At the conference, speakers continued to fan disinformation and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, with panels dedicated to amplifying false claims of mass voter fraud that have been dismissed by the courts, state election officials and Trump's own administration. Indeed, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., another potential 2024 hopeful, drew among the loudest applause and a standing ovation when he bragged about challenging the election certification on Jan. 6 despite the storming of the Capitol building by Trump supporters trying to halt the process." MB: Is there such a thing as "collective insanity"?

Too Bad. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "'The department has determined that due to President Trump's full and unconditional pardon of Paul Manafort, it is necessary to dismiss the criminal forfeiture proceedings involving the four assets which were the subject of the on-going forfeiture ancillary proceedings,' a Justice Department spokesman said Friday afternoon, following a court filing announcing the decision.... The real estate includes Manafort's 10-bedroom, 6-bath home at Bridgehampton, Long Island, valued at $11 million on Zillow, as well as an apartment in New York's Chinatown and a townhouse in Brooklyn. It is unclear what portion, if any, of the assets will return to Manafort as a result of the Justice Department's conclusion that Trump's pardon effectively nullified forfeitures that were not complete at the time he issued it late last year. Most or all of the property is likely to be sold to repay his debts and it is unclear how much money will be left over, if any."

AP: "A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illinois in 2015. Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois who submitted claims will be affected. Donato called it one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Brooks Is Moonlighting at Facebook. Craig Silverman & Ryan Mac of BuzzFeed News: "On Tuesday, New York Times columnist David Brooks published a 900-word ode to Facebook Groups and how they foster online communities around the world. The column didn't appear in Brooks' usual spot in the Times, where he's had a popular opinion column since 2003. Instead, it was published on Facebook's corporate website to promote a new study of groups that was funded by the social media giant.... Brooks' post for Facebook painted a rosy picture of how people use Groups to create community connections.... 'It's not social media that's the problem, it's the ideas and behavior of the people who use it,' he says.... Brooks' ties to Facebook raise questions of conflicts of interest at the world's most influential newspaper.... [Brooks also] maintains commentary roles with NPR and PBS NewsHour."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Caitlin Emma & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "The House approved President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan in a 219 to 212 vote early Saturday morning, sending the measure to the Senate as Democrats race to pass it into law before boosted unemployment payments expire next month. All but two Democrats supported the sprawling coronavirus relief package, with zero Republicans backing it -- a major step toward enacting the White House's first major legislative priority amid dueling public health and economic crises.... The House package still includes that federal minimum wage hike to $15-an-hour, assuring minimal drama in the lower chamber, and forcing Senate Republicans to formally nix it next week." The New York Times story is here.

Carolyn Johnson & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "An expert committee unanimously recommended Friday that the Food and Drug Administration authorize a coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, making it all but certain there will soon be a third vaccine in the United States, the first to require just a single shot. The positive vote, after hours of scientific discussion, paves the way for a decision this weekend. If the vaccine is authorized, the first few million doses of a shot that is relatively simple to store, handle and administer could be distributed next week." Politico's report is here.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Federal health officials warned impatient governors on Friday against relaxing pandemic control measures, saying that a recent steep drop in coronavirus cases and deaths in the United States may be leveling off at a very high number -- a shift that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 'must be taken extremely seriously.' The pleas from the director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser for the virus, came as the Biden administration scrambled to stay ahead of a possible fourth surge of infections and the spread of worrisome variants, which officials say account for a rising percentage of cases in the country."