The Commentariat -- February 18, 2021

Afternoon Update:

You can watch NASA's Mars Rover landing live on NASA's page here. The New York Times has live updates here. MB: The Times also has what is supposed to be live video, but it took about 7 minutes to load. Update: "Touchdown confirmed."

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will need preapproval from a senior manager before trying to deport anyone who is not a recent border crosser, a national security threat or a criminal offender with an aggravated felony conviction, according to interim enforcement memo issued by the Biden administration Thursday. The narrower priorities are expected to result in a drop in immigration arrests and deportations. Biden officials said the new guidelines -- which will be in effect for the next 90 days -- will allow the agency to make better use of its resources while prioritizing public safety threats."

Ted's Excellent Adventure. Shane Goldmacher & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "As Texas was battered by an icy storm and widespread power losses that left millions of residents freezing and fearing for their safety, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas left the state on Wednesday and traveled to Mexico for a previously planned family vacation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the trip.... 'With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,' Mr. Cruz said, adding that ... his family had lost heat and power. Mr. Cruz insisted that he and his staff had been 'in constant communication' with state and local leaders during his brief Cancún trip.... In a radio interview on Monday, [Cruz] said..., '... Keep your family safe and just stay home and hug your kids.'..." As if Houston police didn't have enough to do in an outage crisis, Cruz requested that the police provide him "assistance upon arrival" at the Houston airport. Related story linked at the bottom of this entry. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: It seems Senator Ted & his staff were not exactly truthful. The "person with direct knowledge" described the Cancún excursion as a "previously planned family vacation." It turns out "previously planned" means "after the power went out" and "yesterday": Rebecca Shabad of NBC News reports that Cruz said Wednesday, "We had no heat and no power and yesterday my daughters asked if they could take a trip with some friends and Heidi and I agreed." As for Ted's "immediate return to Texas," Shabad reports, "A source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News that Cruz booked his return ticket at 6 a.m. Thursday but that he was initially booked to return home on Saturday." ~~~

     ~~~ Update Update. Although Cruz tried to blame the vacation trip on his pre-teen daughters, it turns out it was Ted's wife Heidi Cruz who demanded the vacation.

Not long ago, I suggested the feds should investigate Roger Stone's ties to the Proud Boys & Oath Keepers, with the idea that he may have served as a go-between for Trump & these groups. It turns out the feds were, in some respect, wa-a-ay ahead of me: ~~~

~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Federal prosecutors investigated some of the Proud Boys, including their leader Enrique Tarrio, and their ties to longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, in a previously undisclosed criminal probe in 2019 into whether the men intended to threaten a federal judge. The threat investigation did not lead to charges. But its existence, now revealed by CNN, sheds new light on how federal prosecutors had already looked into the far-right organization's ties to someone in ... Donald Trump's orbit ​before the siege of the US Capitol in January. Stone was accompanied on January 6 in DC by members of the paramilitary extremist group the Oath Keepers and Stone has long had close ties to prominent members of the fraternity-like pro-Trump group the Proud Boys. Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are central to some of the most aggressive parts of the FBI and DC US Attorney's Office's Capitol siege investigation.... In February 2019, less than a month after Stone had been indicted for lying to Congress, he posted on Instagram a photo of the judge presiding over his case, Amy Berman Jackson. The photo showed crosshairs behind her head. Stone -- testifying at a court hearing in 2019 to explain the post -- said at the time that a person working with him on his social media accounts had chosen it. Then, at another hearing the same year, Stone named names. Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, had been helping him ​with his social media, Stone said under oath, as had [other Proud Boys]...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden has said repeatedly that he wants to create a path to citizenship for all of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. But even as he prepares to push hard for the broadest possible overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, he and his aides have started to signal openness to more targeted approaches that could win citizenship for smaller, discrete groups of undocumented immigrants. At a CNN town hall on Tuesday, he said such efforts would be acceptable 'in the meantime.'" In a private phone call with activists on Wednesday, top immigration aides to Mr. Biden said they supported what they called a 'multiple trains' strategy, which could target citizenship for 'Dreamers'...; farm workers who have toiled for years in American fields; and others." ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden's allies on Capitol Hill plan to formally introduce his immigration overhaul in the House on Thursday morning, making good on his campaign promise to seek to modernize the nation's immigration system and provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented Americans. Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Representative Linda T. Sánchez, Democrat of California, are expected to hold a news conference to unveil the legislation, which is based on a proposal Mr. Biden href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/">announced on his first day in office. Mr. Menendez's office said in a news release that the lawmakers would be joined by 10 of their colleagues for the announcement. White House officials provided details of the measure, which will be called the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, in a briefing with reporters Wednesday evening." An AP story is here.

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "President Biden is butting heads with key Democrats after he rejected Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer's call to cancel up to $50,000 in debt held by federal student loan borrowers. 'I will not make that happen,' Biden told a borrower inquiring about the proposal at a town hall hosted by CNN in Milwaukee Tuesday. He later said: 'I'm prepared to write off a $10,000 debt, but not 50 because I don't think I have the authority to do it.' Schumer (D-N.Y.) disagrees. On Wednesday, he put out a joint statement with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reiterating their belief that the Biden administration could use the same legal authority to cancel debt that ... Donald Trump's administration used last year to temporarily waive interest on federal student loans during the pandemic." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, NPR's "Fresh Air" indirectly addressed the issue: "Author Heather McGhee draws on a wealth of economic data to make the case that discriminatory laws and practices that target African Americans also negatively impact society at large." McGhee, who once headed Demos said, "At Demos, we once did a report showing where every member of Congress went to college and what it cost then and what it costs now just to remind the decision-makers, most of them white, that there's something drastic that changed. And it's not that young people became less industrious or less willing to sacrifice. It's that government walked away from the deal. And it really was around the same time that the college-going population became more diverse and that this conservative, anti-government ethos kicked in in our politics. And that has a lot to do - the social science is now very clear - with these racialized ideas of who is the public and what they deserve. And so you started to see this privatization of public colleges. So now the majority of states rely on tuition dollars for the majority of the costs of college. And we shifted at the federal level from grants to loans." Audio & the transcript of McGhee's interview with Dave Davies is here.

Dan Diamond & Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "President Biden has selected Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, filling a major role in his health-care leadership team, according to four people.... Brooks-LaSure served in the Obama administration as a senior CMS official who helped implement the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion and insurance-market reforms. She also worked on Capitol Hill as a Democratic staff member for the House Ways and Means Committee, building ties with then-Rep. Xavier Becerra, Biden's choice to lead the Health and Human Services department and who sat on the committee at the time." A Politico story is here.

The Pentagon Worked Around Misogynist-in-Chief. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Last fall, the Pentagon's most senior leaders agreed that two top generals should be promoted to elite, four-star commands. For then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the tricky part was that both of the accomplished officers were women.... The two Pentagon leaders feared that any candidates other than white men for jobs mostly held by white men might run into turmoil once their nominations got to the White House. Mr. Esper and General Milley worried that if they even raised their names..., the Trump White House would replace them with their own candidates before leaving office. So the Pentagon officials ... held back their recommendations until after the November elections.... In the next few weeks, Mr. Esper's successor, Lloyd J. Austin III, and General Milley are expected to send the delayed recommendations to the White House, where officials are expected to endorse the nominations and formally submit them to the Senate for approval." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Makuch of Vice: "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it once employed an American neo-Nazi terror leader now based in Russia after he posted what he said were letters of appreciation DHS and the Pentagon sent him thanking him for his service. Earlier this month, Rinaldo Nazzaro, 47, founder and leader of the Base, one of the most violent American domestic terror groups in years, posted three undated letters from U.S. agencies lauding him for his service. One was from DHS -- an agency tasked with thwarting terrorism in the U.S. -- and two were on Marine Corps letterhead. All spoke glowingly of Nazzaro. Since late 2019, nine members of the Base, the group he founded, have been arrested in the U.S. for alleged crimes as wide-ranging as an assassination plot, ghost-gun making, plans for train derailments, and a mass shooting. The Canadian government has designated it as a terrorist group.... 'I can confirm that Rinaldo Nazzaro worked at DHS from 2004 to 2006,' said a DHS spokesperson." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: News outlets are publishing scads of stories about the "Republican party in turmoil!" I find myself uninterested. I might link to a few of them that put forth any newsy developments, but the 19th "Trump & McConnell feuding" doesn't cut it for me. You won't have trouble finding such stories on your own.

For your viewing pleasure:

     ~~~ David Smith of the Guardian: "The fall of a leader with authoritarian instincts is usually symbolised by toppled statues and looted palaces. For Donald Trump, perhaps inevitably, it was the demolition of a failed casino. On Wednesday the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was reduced to rubble in 20 seconds by 3,000 sticks of dynamite. It had fallen into such disrepair that chunks of the building had been tumbling to ground.... By the time it finally closed its doors in 2014, Trump Plaza was the worst-performing casino in Atlantic City.... A year later, Trump announced his world-changing run for US president, often citing Atlantic City as proof of his business acumen."

Alberto Luperon of Law & Crime: ">A self-described fascist who attended the University of California, Los Angeles was one of the people who sat in the vice president's chair in the Senate chamber during the U.S. Capitol siege, according to an affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Defendant Christian Secor, 22, of Costa Mesa, was arrested Tuesday morning, FBI Public Affairs Specialist Laura Eimiller told Law&Crime on the phone. In documents, authorities say tipsters stepped forward to identify Secor as the suspect wearing what the FBI described as a black jacket, black gloves, tan pants, a Make America Great Again ha featuring several stickers, and a T-shirt featuring 'an adulterated American flag' with the letters 'IMER' visible. He carried around a blue flag featuring the phrase 'America First.' Secor allegedly bragged about getting away with his actions at the U.S. Capitol.... Officials claimed Secor was among a group of rioters trying to push through a doorway blocked by 'no less than three police officers.' The group succeeded in opening the double doors, which let in dozens of others."

Marie: Richard Fausset & Campbell Robertson of the New York Times write an article headlined, "How a Hardcore Liberal Lawyer Joined the Pro-Trump Mob." The headline is false advertising; the story doesn't offer any "how-to"; the best it manages is to pinpoint the timing of McCall Calhoun's aversion to a local gun-control movement, which he opposed. I'm sure we all are aware of liberal causes with which we disagree or at least are not enthusiastic, and that hasn't turned us into "pro-Trump mobsters," who -- like Calhoun -- turn 180 degrees from supporting liberal & anti-racist causes to spewing violent threats against minorities and liberals, then joining the siege on the Capitol. I think people like Calhoun, who is 58, have developed a mental disease that makes them suddenly susceptible to conspiracy theories they would have scoffed at before they became ill. Whatever this disease is, it creates a profound personality change. The vast majority, IMO, of the Capitol rebels were lifetime nitwits -- white supremacists, neo-Nazis, rabid anti-abortionists, whatever. But a few, like Calhoun & the guy with the horns, are likely genuinely mentally ill.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Rush Limbaugh "was among the first [political commentators] to popularize -- and normalize, for many Republican politicians and voters -- the style of politics that would become synonymous with the Trump name. There was no person or subject that was off-limits for Mr. Limbaugh's ire. Black people, gay men and lesbians, feminists, people with AIDS, the 12-year-old daughter of a president, an advocate for victims of domestic violence.... He spun conspiracy theories about the supposed involvement of [President Bill] Clinton and his wife, Hillary, in the death of the former deputy White House counsel Vince Foster, and spread lies about former President Barack Obama's birthplace.... Few media stars were as crucial in making disinformation, false rumors and fringe ideas the right's new reality. And toward the end of the Trump presidency, Mr. Limbaugh's willingness to indulge the paranoia among Mr. Trump's most ardent supporters was especially powerful in misleading people to believe that bad news about their president ... was simply made up by his enemies or the result of a nefarious plot. (In the case of the virus, Mr. Limbaugh called it nothing more than a 'common cold.') In turn, Mr. Limbaugh rarely apologized for his comments and often attacked those who called him out, arguing that they were taking him too seriously or twisting his words out of context. Often, Mr. Limbaugh denied he had said what his critics claimed." Limbaugh's obit is linked under Wednesday's News Ledes. ~~~

~~~ Marie: As some of you know, I don't like to speak ill of the dead immediately after their deaths, in deference to their grieving families. But Erin Ryan of the Daily Beast gives me an excuse to make Limbaugh an exception: "Conventional etiquette dictates that we do not speak ill of the dead. But Rush Limbaugh isn't just any dead guy. He's a dead guy who made himself a multimillionaire many times over by targeting immigrants, women who use birth control, the preteen daughters of politicians, the Obamas, rape survivors, environmentalists, gay people, Asians, Latinos, Black people, and feminists.... He spoke ill of people who died of AIDS, of people who died by suicide, of people who were dying of Parkinson's disease, and unarmed Black children who were murdered under racist pretenses." That's my excuse, anyway, for linking Jeremy Peters' article, and I'm sticking with it.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments in Covid-19 Thursday are here: "The two coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna appear to be highly effective against the more transmissible variant of the virus first detected in Britain, according to new reports in the New England Journal of Medicine, in a potential boost to vaccination efforts around the globe. The vaccines, however, showed a decreased ability to neutralize the strain now dominant in South Africa, worrying some researchers and prompting Pfizer and BioNTech to announce they were taking necessary steps to develop a booster shot or updated vaccine."

The Washington Post's front-page tally of the number of Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 stands at 41.4 million this morning.

Marilynn Marchione of the AP: "Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting. Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with Black Americans losing nearly three years and Hispanics, nearly two years, according to preliminary estimates Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'This is a huge decline,' said Robert Anderson, who oversees the numbers for the CDC. 'You have to go back to World War II, the 1940s, to find a decline like this.' Other health experts say it shows the profound impact of COVID-19, not just on deaths directly due to infection but also from heart disease, cancer and other conditions."

David Lim of Politico: "The White House announced Wednesday a multipronged effort to bolster the United States' ability to test for Covid-19 in schools and homeless shelters, increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies such as pipette tips, and boost genomic sequencing efforts needed to understand the spread of virus variants. Biden testing coordinator Carole Johnson described the $1.6 billion for testing as a 'pilot' that will serve as a bridge until Congress passes its massive $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill."

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Millions of jobs that have been shortchanged or wiped out entirely by the coronavirus pandemic are unlikely to come back, economists warn, setting up a massive need for career changes and retraining in the United States. The coronavirus pandemic has triggered permanent shifts in how and where people work. Businesses are planning for a future where more people are working from home, traveling less for business, or replacing workers with robots. All of these modifications mean many workers will not be able to do the same job they did before the pandemic, even after much of the U.S. population gets vaccinated against the deadly virus. Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates raised eyebrows in November when he predicted that half of business travel and 30 percent of 'days in the office' would go away forever. That forecast no longer seems far-fetched." (Also linked yesterday.)

Florida. Vaccinations for Rich, White Voters Only. Konstantin Toropin of CNN: "Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to move a pop-up vaccination clinic that his state has set up in an affluent community in Manatee County after he was confronted with allegations of political favoritism and preference for the wealthy at a news conference Wednesday.... 'If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it,' DeSantis said.... Manatee County announced on Tuesday that Florida's Division of Emergency Management would host a 'pop-up' vaccination spot at Lakewood Ranch this week for 3,000 Manatee County residents, according to a statement from the county. The vaccines, however, would be limited to people living in only two zip codes -- 34202 and 34211. Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia, a Republican, criticized the selection of these two areas at a Board of County Commissioners work session on Tuesday. 'You're taking the Whitest demographic, the richest demographic in Manatee County and putting them ahead of everyone else," Servia said. 'The optics are bad ... very bad -- I'm really disappointed,' she added. Commissioner Reggie Bellamy, a Democrat, also [complained about the discrimination]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This, of course, is DeSantis using his position (1) to mete out lifesaving vaccinations to curry favor with those most likely to vote for him, without regard to the health needs of the entire community, and (2) to intimidate politicians who don't go along with the program. Despicable.

New York. Brendan Lyons of the Albany Times Union: "The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn have launched an investigation that is examining, at least in part, the actions of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's coronavirus task force in its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic, the Times Union has learned. The probe by the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York is apparently in its early stages and is focusing on the work of some of the senior members of the governor's task force, according to a person with direct knowledge...." ~~~

~~~ Jesse McKinley & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "The Democratic leaders of the New York State Senate are moving to strip Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of unilateral emergency powers granted during the pandemic, setting up a remarkable rebuke for the governor from members of his own party. The Senate's measures, which could be voted on as soon as next week, underscore the deepening division between Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers since the governor admitted to intentionally withholding critical data on virus-related deaths from the Legislature.... The Senate's action also illustrates a deepening fatigue in the Democratic-controlled State Legislature over Mr. Cuomo's broad use of powers, which have enabled him to control nearly every facet of the state's response to the virus, from ordering widespread shutdowns to managing the distribution of vaccines to feuding with state health officials." ~~~

~~~ MJ Lee & Mark Morales of CNN: After describing to reporters a virtual meeting regarding New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of nursing home patients, Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim told CNN, "'Gov. Cuomo called me directly on Thursday to threaten my career if I did not cover up for [Cuomo aide] Melissa [DeRosa] and what she said. He tried to pressure me to issue a statement, and it was a very traumatizing experience.' Cuomo proceeded to tell the assemblyman that 'we're in this business together and we don't cross certain lines and he said I hadn't seen his wrath and that he can destroy me,' according to Kim. DeRosa is a top aide to the governor who came under fire last week after she told state lawmakers in a private virtual meeting that the state had delayed sharing with the legislature the full scope of the Covid-related death toll of New York's nursing home residents because of concerns about a potential federal investigation by the Department of Justice." A New York Times story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Erin Douglas, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "While Texas Republicans were quick to pounce on renewable energy and to blame frozen wind turbines, the natural gas, nuclear and coal plants that provide most of the state's energy also struggled to operate during the storm. Officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the energy grid operator for most of the state, said that the state's power system was simply no match for the deep freeze. Energy and policy experts said Texas' decision not to require equipment upgrades to better withstand extreme winter temperatures, and choice to operate mostly isolated from other grids in the U.S. left power system unprepared for the winter crisis. Policy observers blamed the power system failure on the legislators and state agencies who they say did not properly heed the warnings of previous storms or account for more extreme weather events warned of by climate scientists. Instead, Texas prioritized the free market." ~~~

~~~ Adding Insult to Injury: Let Your Pipes Burst. Alex Samuels of the Texas Tribune: "After enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures and Texans dripping faucets to prevent frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state warned residents on Wednesday that water levels are dangerously low and may be unsafe to drink. They're telling Texans to boil tap water for drinking, cooking, brushing their teeth and for making ice -- as residents have been struggling to maintain power and heat while an unprecedented winter storm whips across the state. While activities such as showering and doing laundry are safe, cities under water boil notices are asking people to conserve water if at all possible. Approximately 590 public water systems in 141 Texas counties have reported disruptions in service, affecting nearly 12 million people as of late Wednesday afternoon, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson. 'Water pressure is very low. Please do not run water to keep pipes from bursting,' Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted Wednesday morning."

~~~ Kate Shepherd of the Washington Post: "As millions of people across Texas struggled to stay warm Tuesday amid massive cold-weather power outages, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed his ire at ... frozen wind turbines. 'This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,' Abbott said to host Sean Hannity on Tuesday. 'Our wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10 percent of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis. ... It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.' The governor's arguments were contradicted by his own energy department, which outlined how most of Texas's energy losses came from failures to winterize the power-generating systems, including fossil fuel pipelines, The Washington Post's Will Englund reported [linked below]. But Abbott's debunked claims were echoed by other conservatives this week who have repeatedly blamed clean energy sources for the outages crippling the southern U.S." (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show to suggest that the crisis offered the country an important lesson: Democratic leadership is bad.... A decade ago, the state was warned that it should weatherize its systems. It generally didn't, though there are exceptions.... Abbott and [Rep. Dan] Crenshaw [R-Texas] were just part of the flurry of conservatives using the moment to bash renewable power, a bit of rhetorical judo leveraging the right's ongoing skepticism of wind and solar power and climate change.... Fox News ran multiple segments attacking renewable energy; the Wall Street Journal's editorial page made the same argument even as its reporting offered a more accurate presentation of the problem. Abbott's interview was jarring: The governor of a state sitting in a presumably warm, well-lit room, telling the country that millions of his states residents were sitting in cold, dark houses because of those devious Democrats -- and that they are coming for you next.... Because it's easier and less painful to blame Democrats in theory than to fix massive problems in reality."

~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Rick Perry, a former Texas governor who served as an energy secretary under ... Donald Trump, argued this week that Texans should be happy to go days without electricity if it meant thwarting the federal government.... Like many other Republicans, Perry also falsely claimed that renewable energy was the real reason for the blackouts." MB: Just one more reason Trump was the worst president* ever: a federal Energy secretary who believes the feds should not regulate energy.

~~~ Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "Residents [of Colorado City, Texas,] turned to a community Facebook group to ask whether the small town planned to open warming shelters, while others wondered if firefighters could do their job without water. But when Colorado City's mayor chimed in, it was to deliver a less-than-comforting message: The local government had no responsibility to help out its citizens, and only the tough would survive. 'No one owes you [or] your family anything,' Tim Boyd wrote on Tuesday in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to KTXS and KTAB/KRBC. 'I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout!'... 'Only the strong will survive and the weak will [perish],' he wrote.... Boyd's tirade, which also demanded that 'lazy' residents find their own ways of procuring water and electricity, immediately drew backlash. Later on Tuesday, Boyd announced his resignation and admitted that he could have 'used better wording.'" MB: Chances Boyd is NOT a Trumpublican: zero. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: For Sen. Ted Cruz, who represents all of Texas and wants to represent all of us in the 50 states & sundry territories, Texas was just too damned cold. So, while Texans continued to freeze & go without water, Ted flew to Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday night.

The Commentariat -- February 17, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The Washington Post's front-page tally of the number of Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 stands at 40 million this morning.

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Millions of jobs that have been shortchanged or wiped out entirely by the coronavirus pandemic are unlikely to come back, economists warn, setting up a massive need for career changes and retraining in the United States. The coronavirus pandemic has triggered permanent shifts in how and where people work. Businesses are planning for a future where more people are working from home, traveling less for business, or replacing workers with robots. All of these modifications mean many workers will not be able to do the same job they did before the pandemic, even after much of the U.S. population gets vaccinated against the deadly virus. Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates raised eyebrows in November when he predicted that half of business travel and 30 percent of 'days in the office' would go away forever. That forecast no longer seems far-fetched."

The Pentagon Worked Around Misogynist-in-Chief. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Last fall, the Pentagon's most senior leaders agreed that two top generals should be promoted to elite, four-star commands. For then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the tricky part was that both of the accomplished officers were women.... The two Pentagon leaders feared that any candidates other than white men for jobs mostly held by white men might run into turmoil once their nominations got to the White House. Mr. Esper and General Milley worried that if they even raised their names..., the Trump White House would replace them with their own candidates before leaving office. So the Pentagon officials ... held back their recommendations until after the November elections.... In the next few weeks, Mr. Esper's successor, Lloyd J. Austin III, and General Milley are expected to send the delayed recommendations to the White House, where officials are expected to endorse the nominations and formally submit them to the Senate for approval."

Kate Shepherd of the Washington Post: "As millions of people across Texas struggled to stay warm Tuesday amid massive cold-weather power outages, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed his ire at ... frozen wind turbines. 'This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,' Abbott said to host Sean Hannity on Tuesday. 'Our wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10 percent of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis. ... It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary.' The governor's arguments were contradicted by his own energy department, which outlined how most of Texas's energy losses came from failures to winterize the power-generating systems, including fossil fuel pipelines, The Washington Post's Will Englund reported [linked below]. But Abbott's debunked claims were echoed by other conservatives this week who have repeatedly blamed clean energy sources for the outages crippling the southern U.S." ~~~

~~~ Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "Residents [of Coloradio City, Texas,] turned to a community Facebook group to ask whether the small town planned to open warming shelters, while others wondered if firefighters could do their job without water. But when Colorado City's mayor chimed in, it was to deliver a less-than-comforting message: The local government had no responsibility to help out its citizens, and only the tough would survive. 'No one owes you [or] your family anything,' Tim Boyd wrote on Tuesday in a now-deleted Facebook post, according to KTXS and KTAB/KRBC. 'I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout!'... 'Only the strong will survive and the weak will [perish],' he wrote.... Boyd's tirade, which also demanded that 'lazy' residents find their own ways of procuring water and electricity, immediately drew backlash. Later on Tuesday, Boyd announced his resignation and admitted that he could have 'used better wording.'" MB: Chances Boyd is NOT a Trumpublican: zero.

Ben Makuch of Vice: "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it once employed an American neo-Nazi terror leader now based in Russia after he posted what he said were letters of appreciation DHS and the Pentagon sent him thanking him for his service. Earlier this month, Rinaldo Nazzaro, 47, founder and leader of the Base, one of the most violent American domestic terror groups in years, posted three undated letters from U.S. agencies lauding him for his service. One was from DHS -- an agency tasked with thwarting terrorism in the U.S. -- and two were on Marine Corps letterhead. All spoke glowingly of Nazzaro. Since late 2019, nine members of the Base, the group he founded, have been arrested in the U.S. for alleged crimes as wide-ranging as an assassination plot, ghost-gun making, plans for train derailments, and a mass shooting. The Canadian government has designated it as a terrorist group.... 'I can confirm that Rinaldo Nazzaro worked at DHS from 2004 to 2006,' said a DHS spokesperson."

~~~~~~~~~~

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden arrived in Milwaukee on Tuesday for his first major trip since taking office, kicking off a new phase of his presidency that attempts to move past the impeachment of his predecessor and toward a more aggressive selling of his coronavirus relief plan. Speaking at a CNN town hall, Biden pledged that any American who wants a vaccine will have access to one by the end of July. He said he wanted many elementary and middle schools to be open five days a week by the end of April. And he said that 'by next Christmas, I think we'll be in a very different circumstance.' Still, the timeline in many ways remains unclear, with Biden hedging on some commitments and openly stating uncertainty about some goals." ~~~

~~~ Annie Karni of the New York Times: "In his first official trip away from Washington since taking office, President Biden on Tuesday offered reassurance to Americans about the availability of the coronavirus vaccines and optimism that his $1.9 trillion relief bill was the kind of ambitious plan that could restore the American economy.... The town hall's question-and-answer format gave the president an opportunity to practice what has been his signature brand of personal politics for decades.... Continuing his practice throughout impeachment, Mr. Biden appeared eager to avoid mention of his most recent predecessor. At one point, he referred to Mr. Trump as 'the former guy.'... At one point, however, he could not resist a veiled dig, telling [moderator Anderson] Cooper that all but one living former president had reached out to him by phone, making it clear that it was only Mr. Trump who had not." ~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Tuesday that every American who wants a coronavirus vaccine will have access to one by the end of July as he fielded questions at his first televised town hall since taking office. The CNN event in Milwaukee focused heavily on the pandemic and a $1.9 trillion relief bill the president is pushing Congress to pass.... 'For four years, all that's been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all that's in the news is the American people. I'm tired of talking about Trump,' Biden said." This is the top of a live-blog that includes remarks by Biden & other developments Tuesday. ~~~

~~~ CNN has a liveblog of President Joe Biden 's Tuesday night townhall meeting. Includes videos.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Weeks into his presidency, Mr. Biden's identity as a creature of the Senate and a deft navigator of its clubby idiosyncrasies has become a defining feature of his governing approach. He has leveraged his relationships with Republicans like [Sen. Susan] Collins [R-Maine] to create space and pressure for bipartisan compromises, even if none have yet materialized. And he has taken a hands-on approach to rallying Democratic lawmakers around his agenda, in the process ensuring that his party has a singular message and unified front against the many obstacles standing in his way. To be sure, Mr. Biden is encountering a deeply polarized Senate that at times bears little resemblance to the one in which he served more than a decade ago.... Still, the president is personally working Capitol Hill in a way that his recent predecessors could not, leveraging decades-old relationships and experience in Congress that they did not have."

Tracy Jan of the Washington Post: "The Department of Housing and Urban Development has for years neglected to enforce its own environmental regulations, resulting in lead poisoning of children in at least one public housing development and potentially jeopardizing residents' health in thousands of other federally subsidized apartments near contaminated sites, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Washington Post. The agency's watchdog reviewed HUD's efforts to identify and mitigate health risks to residents of public housing near toxic waste dumps after the East Chicago, Ind., apartment complex, where tenants had been living with lead contamination for more than four decades, was deemed uninhabitable in 2016. The West Calumet Housing Complex was declared a Superfund site in 2009 and demolished in 2019, its 1,100 mostly Black and Hispanic residents relocated."

Michael Tarn of the AP: "Executioners who put 13 inmates to death in the last months of the Trump administration likened the process of dying by lethal injection to falling asleep and called gurneys 'beds' and final breaths 'snores.' But those tranquil accounts are at odds with reports by The Associated Press and other media witnesses of how prisoners' stomachs rolled, shook and shuddered as the pentobarbital took effect inside the U.S. penitentiary death chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana. The AP witnessed every execution. The sworn accounts by executioners, which government filings cited as evidence the lethal injections were going smoothly, raise questions about whether officials misled courts to ensure the executions scheduled from July to mid-January were done before death penalty opponent Joe Biden became president. Secrecy surrounded all aspects of the executions. Courts relied on those carrying them out to volunteer information about glitches. None of the executioners mentioned any."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Senate will hold its first public inquiry next week into the security failures that led to the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol by a mob of ... Donald J. Trump's supporters seeking to disrupt certification of President Biden's election victory. Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the top Republican on the committee, announced on Tuesday that the hearing is set for Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.... The senators said they had invited four witnesses to testify: Robert J. Contee, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department; Michael C. Stenger, the former sergeant-at-arms and doorkeeper of the Senate; Paul D. Irving, the former House sergeant-at-arms; and Steven Sund, the former Capitol Police chief."

NAACP Sues Trump, Citing KKK Law. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The N.A.A.C.P. on Tuesday morning filed a federal lawsuit against ... Donald J. Trump and his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, claiming that they violated a 19th century statute when they tried to prevent the certification of the election on Jan. 6. The civil rights organization brought the suit on behalf of Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi. Other Democrats in Congress -- including Representatives Hank Johnson of Georgia and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey -- are expected to join as plaintiffs in the coming weeks, according to the N.A.A.C.P. The lawsuit contends that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 statute that includes protections against violent conspiracies that interfered with Congress's constitutional duties; the suit also names the Proud Boys, the far-right nationalist group, and the Oath Keepers militia group. The legal action accuses Mr. Trump, Mr. Giuliani and the two groups of conspiring to incite a violent riot at the Capitol, with the goal of preventing Congress from certifying the election." ~~~

~~~ Trump Dumps Rudy. Jim Acosta & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "... Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is 'not currently representing President Trump in any legal matters,' senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN on Tuesday.... Miller said in a tweet that Giuliani remained an 'ally and a friend' and is not representing Trump only because there are no pending cases in which he's involved. Trump had signaled frustration with Giuliani last month.... He told his staff to stop paying Giuliani's legal fees, a person familiar with the matter previously told CNN, though aides were not clear if Trump was serious about his instructions." ~~~

~~~ Trump Dumps on Mitch. Caroline Kelly & Brian Rokus of CNN: "... Donald Trump went after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday.... 'Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,' Trump said in the statement. 'He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country....'" The New York Times story, by

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "One person close to the former president said his initial version of the statement was more incendiary than what was released publicly. A second person said the statement was issued instead of a news conference that Mr. Trump had initially planned to give on Tuesday, out of fear he would go off track and say even harsher things extemporaneously. In the statement, Mr. Trump resorted to insults about Mr. McConnell's acumen and political abilities, and faulted him for Republicans' loss of their Senate majority.... The statement was the longest one Mr. Trump has issued since leaving office on Jan. 20." ~~~

~~~ Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump might have easily avoided conviction at his second impeachment trial -- but he could find it a lot tougher to beat the several serious criminal and civil probes that he now faces. And at least one of those investigations carries the potential for Trump to be sent to jail if convicted. That would be an unprecedented event in American history.... Trump ... has claimed that the probes are politically motivated witch hunts by Democratic prosecutors. But judges in two of those investigations have repeatedly ruled against Trump's lawyers in disputes related to evidence."

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump's hastily assembled [impeachment 2.0] legal team -- a mash-up of political hands, a personal-injury lawyer, a former prosecutor and a longtime defense lawyer, most of whom did not particularly like or trust one another -- clashed, stumbled and regrouped throughout the impeachment proceeding under the watchful and sometimes wrathful eye of its client."

Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "MAGA diehard and pillow magnate Mike Lindell [the MyPillow guy --] is the next target of a Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit over his wild claims about nonexistent election-fraud conspiracy, with the lead attorney representing Dominion telling The Daily Beast he expects to file the suit 'imminently.'" MB: But not to worry; Mike will lose no sleep over this on accounta laying his head so comfortably on MyPillow.

Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "Speaking on the Skullduggery podcast, veteran '60 Minutes producer' Ira Rosen told the show's hosts that during his time at the White House, Steve Bannon concluded that then-President Trump was suffering from 'early stage dementia' and later launched a behind the scenes campaign to have him removed by invoking the 25th Amendment."

"Conservatism" Today. Ryan Reilly & Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: “Leo Brent Bozell IV, the son of conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III, was captured on video inside the Senate chamber during the attack on the U.S. Capitol and has been charged with three federal offenses, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.... L. Brent Bozell III, a major conservative political figure who founded a number of organizations aimed at countering 'liberal media bias,' including the Media Research Center and NewsBusters. He is himself the son of L. Brent Bozell Jr., who worked as a speechwriter for Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) and as the ghostwriter for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's book 'The Conscience of a Conservative.' Bozell Jr. was a key player in the creation of the mid-20th-century conservative movement, alongside National Review founder William F. Buckley, that ultimately took over the Republican Party. He later abandoned the United States, conservatism and democracy for Francisco Franco's ... dictatorship in Spain." MB: I wonder if Bill Buckley, with his patrician affectations, would be happy about the way his "movement" turned out: a bloody, mob rebellion against an American presidential election result. ~~~

     ~~~ Reed Richardson of Mediaite: "... Brent Bozell III condemned [the insurrection] on live TV as 'very, very disturbing' and 'absolutely wrong' as it was happening on January 6th.... [BUT] In an appearance on Fox Business' The Evening Edit, the Media Research Center president sympathized with the protestors and joined in the chorus pushing ... Donald Trump's 'big lie' about election fraud.... 'I hope there is a thorough investigation,' Bozell added, moments later, before baselessly implying Antifa or left-wing activists played a role in the violence at the Capitol."

Michael Miller of the New York Times: The Pizzagate gunman has been out of jail since last March, but the insane conspiracy theory that drove him from North Carolina to the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor in Northwest D.C. helped fuel the January 6 siege of the Capitol. "Above all, [the siege] would reveal how baseless claims had spread under a president who often promoted them, growing from [Edgar Maddison] Welch's trip to Washington shortly after the 2016 election to the hundreds who stormed the Capitol to keep Trump in office, some proudly wearing T-shirts with the QAnon motto: 'Where we go one, we go all.'... On Oct. 28, 2017, someone calling himself 'Q' and claiming to be a high-ranking intelligence officer began posting on 4chan. The messages expanded on Pizzagate by claiming satanic pedophiles controlled not only Comet but the world, drinking children's blood to stay young. Q promised that Trump and other government insiders would bring them to justice."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Doctors across the country have been seeing a striking increase in the number of young people with the condition ... called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children or MIS-C..., [which] strikes some young people, usually several weeks after infection by the coronavirus.... Even more worrisome, they say, is that more patients are now very sick than during the first wave of cases, which alarmed doctors and parents around the world last spring.... So far, there's no evidence that recent coronavirus variants are responsible, and experts say it is too early to speculate about any impact of variants on the syndrome. The condition remains rare."

Daniel Payne of Politico: "The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it would extend the foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance through the end of June. The actions would block home foreclosures and offer delayed mortgage payments until July, as well as offer six months of additional mortgage forbearance for those who enroll on or before June 30. The actions are an extension of an order that was originally enacted under the Trump administration in March of last year. President Joe Biden -- as one of 17 orders he signed on his first day in office -- initially extended the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through the end of March. The eviction moratorium remains in effect through March but was not included in the actions announced Tuesday. The departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture will work together to enact the actions, according to the announcement from the White House. Resources for homeowners will be consolidated on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's website."

Emily Cochrane & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "House Democrats are finalizing the details of President Biden's $1.9 trillion economic relief package, and barreling toward a vote on the final legislation at the end of next week. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, told House Democrats during a conference call on Tuesday that he hoped to have the legislation reach the House floor by next Friday, according to two people familiar with the remarks." ~~~

~~~ Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Congressional Democrats will renew their focus this week on passing President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, as they face a mid-March deadline when enhanced unemployment benefits expire, if Congress don't act in time. With ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial out of the way in the Senate, Democrats are preparing to push the legislation through a few final procedural hoops before an expected floor vote next week in the House. From there, the legislation would go to the Senate. Biden is participating in a CNN town hall Tuesday night to discuss the coronavirus, the economy and other issues. He is likely to use the opportunity to promote his relief plan...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci said in an interview with 'Axios on HBO' that he worried about contracting the coronavirus during the Trump administration because of its lax approach to the virus. Fauci, who is 80 years old and has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for over three decades, said that his age category was always in the back of his mind particularly when he visited the White House under then-President Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "A rare winter storm that dumped a foot of snow on Seattle couldn't keep a 90-year-old woman from her first appointment for the coronavirus vaccine. Fran Goldman walked six miles round trip to get her shot, The Seattle Times reports." A photo of Goldman accompanies the story. She looks far younger than 90. Good for her. AND nobody would give her a ride back home???

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Birdwatching-While-Black Case Dismissed. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The criminal case against Amy Cooper, a white woman who called the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park and falsely reported that he had threatened her, was dismissed on Tuesday after Ms. Cooper completed a therapeutic program that included instruction about racial biases. At a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, a senior prosecutor asked a judge to dismiss the single misdemeanor charge against Ms. Cooper -- falsely reporting an incident -- and the judge agreed. Ms. Cooper had faced up to a year in jail if convicted." A WPVI (Philadelphia) story is here.

Texas, etc. Erin Douglas of the Texas Tribune: "Failures across Texas' natural gas operations and supply chains due to extreme temperatures are the most significant cause of the power crisis that has left millions of Texans without heat and electricity during the winter storm sweeping the U.S. From frozen natural gas wells to frozen wind turbines, all sources of power generation have faced difficulties during the winter storm. But Texans largely rely on natural gas for power and heat generation, especially during peak usage, experts said. Officials for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which manages most of Texas' grid, said that the primarily cause of the outages on Tuesday appeared to be the state's natural gas providers. Many are not designed to withstand such low temperatures on equipment or during production. By some estimates, nearly half of the state's natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures, while freezing components at natural gas-fired power plants have forced some operators to shut down." ~~~

~~~ Marie: According to Chris Hayes of MSNBC, the Fox "News" folks are gleefully telling viewers that the crisis in Texas is proof that "liberal" wind energy projects are colossal failures. ~~~

~~~ Will Englund of the Washington Post: "What has sent Texas reeling is not an engineering problem, nor is it the frozen wind turbines blamed by prominent Republicans. It is a financial structure for power generation that offers no incentives to power plant operators to prepare for winter. In the name of deregulation and free markets, critics say, Texas has created an electric grid that puts an emphasis on cheap prices over reliable service. It's a 'Wild West market design based only on short-run prices,' said Matt Breidert, a portfolio manager at a firm called TortoiseEcofin. And yet the temporary train wreck of that market Monday and Tuesday has seen the wholesale price of electricity in Houston go from $22 a megawatt-hour to about $9,000. Meanwhile, 4 million Texas households have been without power.... The widespread failure in Texas and, to a lesser extent, Oklahoma and Louisiana in the face of a winter cold snap shines a light on what some see as the derelict state of America's power infrastructure, a mirror reflection of the chaos that struck California last summer." ~~~

~~~ Justin Rohrlich of the Daily Beast: "Contrary to some media reports, experts say frozen wind turbines are only a 'tiny' piece of what's gone wrong, which includes foul-ups in everything from natural gas and nuclear energy in addition to structural issues affecting the uniquely independent system Texas uses to deliver energy to its population.... There are various issues at play right now, including a shortage of natural gas and the loss of generating capacity of one of Texas' four nuclear power plants after its water intakes froze.... Texas is the only state in the union with its own independent electric grid. By not crossing state lines, Texas' grid -- which is overseen by the state and run by a consortium of private operators called the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) -- remains as free as possible from federal regulations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's also a problem of stupid. When my mother renovated a house north of Houston -- where freezing temps do occur every winter -- she made the HVAC guy weather-proof the new system, and she told him how to do it. He thought she was nuts. "That might be the way y'all do it up north," he told her dismissively, "but that's not the way we do it here." "And that's why people here have their water pipes burst every year, & their heating systems fail," my mother said. Of course, as unwashed mentioned yesterday, "the way we do it here" does increase profits for plumbers & HVAC companies. So maybe as much greedy as stupid. ~~~

~~~ Krista Torralva & Holly Hacker of the Dallas Morning News: "Texas' power grid operators can't predict when outages might end, Electric Reliability Council of Texas officials said Tuesday.... ERCOT, the agency that oversees the state's power grid, is trying to avoid a total blackout by instructing utility companies ... to cut power to customers.... Throughout the day, ERCOT and Gov. Greg Abbott announced power was being restored to hundreds of thousands of customers, but the gains aren't always maintained." ~~~

~~~ Julia Manchester & Maggie Miller of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is coming under intense scrutiny over his handling of mass power outages in the state caused by harsh winter weather conditions, as he prepares to run for reelection next year on the heels of two major disasters.... The emergency comes as Abbott prepares to run for his third term as governor.... The governor is taking a series of steps to address the crisis, including deploying the state's National Guard in an effort to help relocate vulnerable people, including elderly individuals, to warm shelters. And he focused the blame on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Tuesday, calling for state lawmakers to launch an investigation into the council.... 'The state has had a couple of times to review this, and decided each time it didn't want to pay for each utility to have the capacity to serve,' [Robert Cullick, a former Austin Energy executive,] noted." ~~~/p>

~~~ James Dobbins & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "While the rolling blackouts in Texas have left some 4 million residents without power in brutally cold weather, experts and community groups say that many marginalized communities were the first to be hit with power outages, and if history serves as a guide, could be among the last to be reconnected. This is particularly perilous, they say, given that low-income households can lack the financial resources to flee to safety or to rebound after the disruption. Experts worry, in particular, that rising energy prices amid surging demand will leave many families in the lurch.... In Texas' deregulated electricity market, prices can fluctuate with demand, leading to a potential jump in electric bills for poorer households that already spend a disproportionate amount of income on utilities." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I had no idea racists were so talented. We all know politicians hire somebody to gerrymander minorities into a finite number of districts, but I had no idea a power company would go to the trouble to figure out what minorities lived so they could shut down their services first & turn them back on last.

The Big Picture. Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "The crisis [in Texas] sounded an alarm for power systems throughout the country. Electric grids can be engineered to handle a wide range of severe conditions -- as long as grid operators can reliably predict the dangers ahead. But as climate change accelerates, many electric grids will face extreme weather events that go far beyond the historical conditions those systems were designed for, putting them at risk of catastrophic failure.... It is clear that global warming poses a barrage of additional threats to power systems nationwide, including fiercer heat waves and water shortages.... And, experts said, unless grid planners start planning for increasingly wild and unpredictable climate conditions, grid failures will happen again and again."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Rush Limbaugh, the relentlessly provocative voice of conservative America who dominated talk radio for more than three decades with shooting-gallery attacks on liberals, Democrats, feminists, environmentalists and other moving targets, died on Wednesday. He was 70."

AP: "A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives, including three people found dead after a tornado hit a seaside town in North Carolina and four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm. The storm that overwhelmed power grids and immobilized the Southern Plains on Tuesday carried heavy snow and freezing rain into New England and the Deep South and left behind painfully low temperatures. Wind-chill warnings extended from Canada into Mexico. In all, at least 20 deaths were reported. Other causes included car crashes and carbon monoxide poisoning. The weather also threatened to affect the nation's COVID-19 vaccination effort. President Joe Biden's administration said delays in vaccine shipments and deliveries were likely." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Woe is me! Today is the day I'm scheduled to get my first shot. We'll see if the supply is there when I am.

The Commentariat -- February 16, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marie: Reality Chex was down for more than an hour this morning. The problem was with Squarespace. Obviously, it's back up, but I had trouble posting a comment, so be sure to save your comment before you click on "Create Comment."

Trump & Rudy Sued for Violating anti-KKK Law. Jessica Schneider of CNN: "... Donald Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani are being accused of conspiring with the far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to incite the January 6 insurrection in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court by the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The suit cites a post-Civil War law designed to combat violence and intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan. The lawsuit, filed by Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson in his personal capacity, is the first civil action filed against the former President related to the attack at the US Capitol...." ~~~

~~~ Trump Dumps Rudy. Marie: According to CNN, Donald Trump has fired Rudy Giuliani. Trump's office sent out what was described as a "curt" notification that Rudy was out. I'll get up a link to a print report when one becomes available.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Congressional Democrats will renew their focus this week on passing President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, as they face a mid-March deadline when enhanced unemployment benefits expire, if Congress don't act in time. With ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial out of the way in the Senate, Democrats are preparing to push the legislation through a few final procedural hoops before an expected floor vote next week in the House. From there, the legislation would go to the Senate. Biden is participating in a CNN town hall Tuesday night to discuss the coronavirus, the economy and other issues. He is likely to use the opportunity to promote his relief plan...."

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci said in an interview with 'Axios on HBO' that he worried about contracting the coronavirus during the Trump administration because of its lax approach to the virus. Fauci, who is 80 years old and has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for over three decades, said that his age category was always in the back of his mind particularly when he visited the White House under ... Trump."

~~~~~~~~~~

Aamer Madhani & Rob Gillies of the AP: "A new-old ritual is taking shape in the Biden White House, one that starts with bulky briefing packages, war-gaming the 'what-ifs,' and Oval Office discussions about how to talk to this or that particular U.S. ally or adversary. Twelve times since he took office, President Joe Biden has dialed up a world leader after reinstituting what was a long-held White House standard mothballed by Donald Trump: vigorous preparation. Gone are unnecessary digressions and over-the-top cajoling or haranguing of fellow heads of state. The changes to telephone diplomacy have been about both style and substance as Biden has sought to send the message to foreign leaders -- many embittered by Trump's habit of berating his counterparts and conflating personal interests with U.S. national security -- that Biden is determined to reset the U.S. relationship with the world."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress will move to establish an independent commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, including facts 'relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California announced on Monday. In a letter to her Democratic colleagues in the House, Ms. Pelosi also promised to move forward in coming weeks with emergency funding legislation 'for the safety of members and the security of the Capitol' after consulting with retired Gen. Russel L. Honoré, whom she had asked to examine security on Capitol Hill."

"Because of Mitch's Filibuster™." James Sattler of USA Today: "... the lessons of both [Trump] impeachments were the same: The Republican Party cannot be trusted with our democracy.... Under Trump, Republicans lost the White House, the House and the Senate in one term -- something that hasn't happened since Herbert Hoover was president. But Trump also is the first modern president to leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he came in -- something that also hasn't happened since Hoover. And there was the pandemic that left more than 400,000 Americans dead on Trump's watch, with 40% of those deaths being avoidable, according to the recent findings of a Lancet Commission.... Democrats now have less than two years to do everything they can to make sure America never faces another president who would turn a deadly mob on his own running mate and our government.... 'In the 87 years between the end of Reconstruction and 1964, the only bills that were stopped by filibusters were civil rights bills,' writes Adam Jentleson.... When Kentucky's Mitch McConnell become Senate minority leader in 2007, he began using the filibuster at a rate unprecedented in American history. What the filibuster actually does is make sure policies that are popular with average Democrats and Republicans -- universal background checks for gun buyers, raising the minimum wage, citizenship for DREAMers brought to this country illegally as kids -- have no chance of becoming law.... Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have assured McConnell they'll be the wind beneath his Filibuster™.... These two senators must be convinced [to change their minds]." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "To [lead House manager Jamie] Raskin [D-Md.] and the eight other managers, [Mitch] McConnell's speech was at once a vindication and an insult, showing that they'd proved their case, and that it didn't matter. McConnell voted to acquit on a manufactured technicality, arguing that a former president is 'constitutionally not eligible for conviction.' His bad faith is awe-inspiring; it was he who refused to move forward with a trial while Trump was still in office. With his split-the-baby solution to Trump's manifest guilt, McConnell seemed to be trying to stay on the right side of his caucus while calming corporate donors who've cut off politicians who supported the insurrectionists. But -- and here's the important part -- McConnell signaled openness to Trump's prosecution in other forums.... McConnell has at least stripped away some of the taboo about prosecuting a former president." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I would add this. Convicting Trump of incitement to riot is a tough row to hoe. First, the standard for criminal conviction is higher than the Senate's, because the Senate can decide for itself what constitutes "incitement." Second, a criminal trial requires a lot more leg-work than does a Senate trial. Hundreds of witnesses would have to be interviewed & deposed, and many of those would have to testify at trial, so they would have to be prepped, too. Some -- like, say, Kevin McCarthy -- would fight subpoenas. Two-faced Mitch of course knows this & no doubt is counting on it. I do think there's a good chance Atlanta prosecutor Fani Willis can make a winnable case against Trump, but even there, as a first offender, a convicted criminal Trump might get off with community service (with any luck, at an Atlanta recycling center bagging cat litter). ~~~

~~~ Daniel Goldman, in a Washington Post op-ed, raises another problem with any trial of Donald Trump: :Trump's propensity for witness tampering, intimidation and retaliation is well known and began long before the 2020 election. During his first impeachment inquiry, he threatened the whistleblower on Ukraine and attacked Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, among others.... In addition, the Mueller report documented Trump's effort to intimidate former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen after he decided to cooperate with authorities. The violence on Jan. 6 places Trump's threats in a different light. His'Stop the Steal' campaign has created a loosely coordinated group of domestic terrorist organizations ready to inflict harm at his command. He may have lost the ability to issue a mean tweet, but his threats now come with violent supporters appended to them.... Witnesses [with direct knowledge of Trump's part in the Jan. 6 insurrection] were apparently unwilling or afraid to cooperate undermined the entire proceeding."

Ron Johnson Trying Hard to Keep "Stupidest Senator" Status. Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in a new interview said he didn't think the Jan. 6 Capitol riot seemed like 'an armed insurrection' and praised former President Trump's Senate impeachment trial attorneys following his acquittal.... 'The group of people that supported Trump, the hundreds of thousands of people who attended those Trump rallies, those are the people that love this country,' Johnson [said on a Milwaukee radio show]... 'They never would have done what happened on Jan. 6. That is a group of people that love freedom; that's a group of people we need to unify and keep on our side.'... He accused House impeachment managers of editing the videos they presented as evidence in the Senate impeachment trial.... Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, has argued the defense 'eviscerated' the Democratic prosecutors and 'blew their case out of the water.' After voting to acquit Trump, Johnson clashed with Mitt Romney on the Senate floor over his vote to convict." ~~~

~~~ In fairness to Ron, his stupidity makes him a fine example of the Trump/GOP base. ~~~

~~~ Justine Coleman of the Hill: "A petition is being circulated among Utah Republicans on social media to censure Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) for his vote to convict former President Trump in last week's Senate impeachment trial.... The petition, made with Google Forms, does not say who is promoting the censure or how many people have signed the document.... [Petitioners] They argue that Romney's willingness to move forward with this year's trial and his subsequent conviction vote 'intentionally violate the 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendment Rights' of Trump, noting the senator 'appears to be an agent for the Establishment Deep State.'" ~~~

~~~ Dan Merica & Devan Cole of CNN: "The North Carolina Republican Party central committee voted Monday to censure Sen. Richard Burr for his vote to convict ... Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial -- a move that made him the latest GOP senator to be reprimanded by his state party for siding with Democrats in the trial.... n a statement released after the vote, the committee members said the unanimous vote was aimed at punishing Burr for his 'vote to convict former President Trump in the impeachment trial which he declared to be unconstitutional.'" ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "As the Republican Party censures, condemns and seeks to purge leaders who aren't in lock step with Donald J. Trump, Adam Kinzinger, the six-term Illinois congressman, stands as enemy No. 1 -- unwelcome not just in his party but also in his own family, some of whom recently disowned him. Two days after Mr. Kinzinger called for removing Mr. Trump from office following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, 11 members of his family sent him a handwritten two-page letter, saying he was in cahoots with 'the devil's army' for making a public break with the president.... Mr. Kinzinger has drawn praise from Democrats, but he is not anyone's idea of a progressive. His campaign website trumpets his longstanding opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and he is an opponent of abortion rights and increased taxes. He first won his seat in Congress with Sarah Palin's endorsement." Mediaite has a summary item here.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "After historic turns as House impeachment managers for the Senate trial of ... Donald J. Trump, both [Delegate Stacey] Plaskett [D-V.I.] and [Rep. Joe] Neguse [D-Colo.] emerged from the proceedings with national platforms and as high-profile faces of a Democratic coalition that is younger and more diverse than its leaders.... Both lawmakers said they hope to turn their newfound prominence into gains for their constituents as President Biden barrels forward with an ambitious agenda for economic stimulus and other overhauls. And in interviews after the trial's conclusion, both said they were conscious of their roles as among the few Black lawmakers who took part in an impeachment of a former president whose race-baiting and anti-immigration stances helped create deep divisions in the country."

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "... at least 30 police or other law enforcement officers ... attended the demonstration on Jan. 6. Many are now facing internal investigations and three have thus far been arrested on federal charges related to breaching the Capitol. Their presence has brought to a boil questions that have been simmering for years: How many law enforcement officers nationwide subscribe to extreme or anti-government beliefs, and how, precisely, can agencies weed them out? Leaders in law enforcement say that public servants must be held to a higher standard than private individuals when it comes to accepting the results of an election and performing their duties. Police chiefs from the largest North American cities, meeting in an online conference this past week, agreed to work together to try and block members of far-right organizations or others with radical views from entering their ranks.... Concerns about extremism in police ranks have long existed, but after Sept. 11 chasing jihadists took priority over chasing domestic threats, senior police officials and law enforcement experts said."

Shawn Boburg & John Swaine of the Washington Post: "Like many Trump supporters, conservative donor Fred Eshelman awoke the day after the presidential election with the suspicion that something wasn't right. His candidate's apparent lead in key battleground states had evaporated overnight. The next day, the North Carolina financier [pledged $2 million to True the Vote -- a fake right-wing 'election integrity' organization -- to fight what he believed was rampant voter fraud].... Now, he wants his money back. The story behind the Eshelman donation ... provides new insights into the frenetic days after the election, when baseless claims led donors to give hundreds of millions of dollars to reverse President Biden's victory. Trump's campaign and the Republican Party collected $255 million in two months, saying the money would support legal challenges to an election marred by fraud.... Eshelman has alleged in two lawsuits -- one in federal court has been withdrawn and the other is ongoing in a Texas state court -- that True the Vote did not spend his $2 million gift and a subsequent $500,000 donation as it said it would. Eshelman also alleges that True the Vote directed much of his money to people or businesses connected to the group's president, Catherine Engelbrecht." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. Yo, Fred, there's a reason the AP didn't call states like Pennsylvania, Nevada & Georgia for days. If you had listened to MSNBC or CNN, instead of to Trump & Hannity, you could have saved yourself TWO MILLION AND A HALF DOLLARS. When I was a child, my mother made me read a NYT Mag story titled, "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" The question here is, "If you're so rich, why ain't you smart?"

Georgia Senate Race. David Perdue Wants His Old Job Back. Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "David Perdue, the one-term U.S. senator from Georgia who lost a runoff election last month against Senator Jon Ossoff, filed paperwork on Monday night indicating that he plans a comeback effort -- this time against Georgia's other new senator, Raphael Warnock."

Kareem Fahim & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Simmering hostility between Turkey's government and the Biden administration burst into the open Monday when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of supporting Kurdish militants and his Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador. The latest outburst came a day after Ankara said that 13 Turkish hostages being held in northern Iraq by the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had been found executed by their captors. The State Department issued a statement condemning the killings but suggesting the PKK's involvement had yet to be confirmed. Erdogan dismissed the statement as 'ridiculous' and criticized ongoing U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria who are affiliated with the Iraq-based PKK. 'You are behind them,' he said."

Mustafa Salim of the Washington Post: "A civilian contractor was killed and a U.S. service member was injured Monday night when coalition forces in Irbil were stuck by 'indirect fire,' U.S. officials said. The rocket fire landed near a military base that hosts coalition forces in the capital of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region. Five civilian contractors were injured, tweeted coalition spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto. A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe an evolving assessment, said the attack appeared to involve 14 rockets that targeted a U.S. facility in the vicinity of the Irbil airport."

A Medal Delayed -- 56 Years. Dave Philipps of the New York Times: On "June 18, 1965, and according to after-action reports, 26-year-old Captain [Paris] Davis was suddenly the last American standing with a ragtag company of 90 South Vietnamese volunteers, pinned down by hundreds of enemy troops. Certain that he was as good as dead, he began fighting without fear of consequence, pulling his M-16 trigger with his pinkie [-- a grenade had just torn off his trigger finger --], sprinting repeatedly into open ground to rescue teammates, and refusing to leave the fight, even after being shot several times. He made it out alive, and was immediately nominated for the military's highest award, the Medal of Honor. But the Army somehow lost the nomination. His frustrated commander resubmitted it, and inexplicably the nomination disappeared again. His teammates ... eventually came to believe the Army's inaction had nothing to do with what the captain had done in 1965, and everything to do with who he was: One of the first Black officers in the Special Forces.... In January. Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller personally ordered an expedited review of the lost nomination, to be completed by March. The resulting report will then go up the chain to the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense and finally President Biden. If they all sign off, Mr. Davis, now 81, may finally be recognized."

Jack Nicas of the New York Times: "Parler, the social network that drew millions of Trump supporters before disappearing from the internet, is back online a month after Amazon and other tech giants cut off the company for hosting calls for violence around the time of the Capitol riot. Getting iced out by the tech giants turned Parler into a cause célèbre for conservatives who complained they were being censored, as well as a test case for the openness of the internet."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

New York. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Admitting a degree of fault for the first time, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that his administration's lack of transparency about the scope of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes in New York was a mistake. By failing to answer questions from state lawmakers, the public and the news media, Mr. Cuomo acknowledged, the state created a void that was 'filled with skepticism, and cynicism, and conspiracy theories which furthered the confusion.' But he stopped short of a full apology for his handling of information about the death toll in the state's nursing homes, an issue that has engulfed his administration in recent weeks. Speaking in the State Capitol, Mr. Cuomo made his first remarks since a top aide to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, privately told some state lawmakers last week that the state had withheld data from the Legislature because it feared that the Trump administration would use the information to begin a federal civil rights investigation." An NPR story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania. GOP Plans to Gerrymander State Courts. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously rejected a Republican attempt to overturn the state's election results in November, Justice David N. Wecht issued his own pointed rebuke, condemning the G.O.P. effort as 'futile' and 'a dangerous game.'... Now Pennsylvania Republicans have a plan to make it less likely that judges like Justice Wecht get in their way. G.O.P. legislators, dozens of whom supported overturning the state's election results to aid ... Donald J. Trump, are moving to change the entire way that judges are selected in Pennsylvania, in a gambit that could tip the scales of the judiciary to favor their party, or at least elect judges more inclined to embrace Republican election challenges. The proposal would replace the current system of statewide elections for judges with judicial districts drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature. Those districts could empower rural, predominantly conservative areas and particularly rewire the State Supreme Court, which has a 5-to-2 Democratic lean. Democrats are now mobilizing to fight the effort, calling it a thinly veiled attempt at creating a new level of gerrymandering...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Millions of people in the United States were without power early Tuesday after a deadly winter storm bulldozed its way across the southern and central parts of the country, in places where such perilously frigid conditions tend to arrive just once in a generation. The massive storm was expected to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain to the Northeast, while the central part of the country braced for several more days of record low temperatures and continued power failures. More than four million customers across the country were without electricity early Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates live power data from utilities across the country. Most of the outages were in Texas, where power was interrupted Sunday and Monday because of storm damage or in rotating outages ordered by regulators." This is a live-blog. ~~~

     ~~~ The Weather Channel's main story is here. MB: It's still dark (at 6 am ET) where I live, but I can hear the ice storm outside.