;)
The Commentariat -- April 16, 2021
Afternoon Update:
When Killing Your Own Supporters Is a Way to "Own the Libs." Amanda Marcotte in Salon, summary by RockyGirl, from today's Comments thread: "... the right is deliberately undermining the vaccine effort to slow down the economy and hurt Biden. Well, duh. But her solution is interesting. Basically she says that the time (idiot Jordan's 'WHEN??') to roll back restrictions on gatherings and the like is when vaccine supply outstrips demand. She also says that the CDC needs to dial back its messaging on caution and instead start highlighting the freedom of action that vaccines give you. By denying the right the doom & gloom that they can exploit, we can be celebrating all the good things that the vaxxed can do." An excellent read & a pathetic commentary on so-called "conservatism." Thanks to RockyGirl for the link & summary.
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David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday announced tough new sanctions on Russia and formally blamed the country's premier intelligence agency for the sophisticated hacking operation that breached American government agencies and the nation's largest companies. In the broadest effort yet to give more teeth to financial sanctions -- which in the past have failed to deter Russian activity -- the actions are aimed at choking off lending to the Russian government. In an executive order, President Biden announced a series of additional steps -- sanctions on 32 entities and individuals for disinformation efforts and for carrying out the Russian government's interference in the 2020 presidential election. Ten Russian diplomats, most of them identified as intelligence operatives, were expelled from the Russian Embassy in Washington. The country also joined with European partners to sanction eight people and entities associated with Russia's occupation in Crimea." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Julian Borger of the Guardian: "US intelligence agencies have only 'low to moderate confidence' in reports last year that Russian spies were offering Taliban militants in Afghanistan bounties for killing US soldiers. The reports in the press citing intelligence sources sparked outrage and demands from Democrats for the Trump administration to confront the Kremlin over the issue. Unveiling a raft of sanctions against Russia on Thursday, US officials said that the allegations of Russian bounties was not one of the grounds for imposing the measures, but a warning had been sent to Moscow that there would be a punitive response if such incentives were found to have been paid in the future." ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Thursday, the Treasury Department unveiled new sanctions against the Russian government linked to its apparent hack of U.S. government networks. But the news release also included a statement ... that connects the line from Trump's [2016] campaign to Russian intelligence." ~~~
~~~ Mark Mazzetti & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The Biden administration revealed on Thursday that a business associate of Trump campaign officials in 2016 provided campaign polling data to Russian intelligence services, the strongest evidence to date that Russian spies had penetrated the inner workings of the Trump campaign. The revelation, made public in a Treasury Department document announcing new sanctions against Russia, established for the first time that private meetings and communications between the campaign officials, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and their business associate were a direct pipeline from the campaign to Russian spies at a time when the Kremlin was engaged in a covert effort to sabotage the 2016 presidential election. Previous government investigations have identified the Trump aides' associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, as a Russian intelligence operative, and Mr. Manafort's decision to provide him with internal polling data was one of the mysteries that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, sought to unravel...."
"Shut Your Mouth." DeMitia Inman of the Grio: "The conversation between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Dr. Anthony Fauci escalated during a meeting of the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee.... The Ohio rep continued to press Fauci ... when Rep. [Maxine] Waters ended the debate after Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina announced that Jordan's time expired. 'You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth,' she told Jordan." ~~~
~~~ Arrested Development. Here's how little Jimmy Jordan behaved when he was a toddler & his parents told him it was time to go to bed:
~~~ Marie: This country would be a lot better off if Maxine Waters had been little Jimmy's mother.
How the DOJ Came to Investigate Matt Gaetz. Matt Zapotosky & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "... allegations [of sexual misconduct] against [Orlando prep-school teacher Brian] Beute, federal investigators concluded, had been fabricated by his incumbent opponent, Joel Greenberg, in a bid to smear him. But when authorities arrested Greenberg and sifted through his electronic records and devices -- according to documents and people involved in the case -- they discovered a medley of other alleged wrongdoing, leading them to open an investigation of possible sex trafficking involving a far more high-profile Florida Republican: Rep. Matt Gaetz.... [An acquaintance of Beute's, lawyer David] Bear, said the Seminole County Sheriff's Office in early November [2019] told him Beute was no longer a suspect, and he urged officials to probe who made the false reports.... Beute -- whose ordeal triggered some of the events that followed -- said he believes fallout from the case could force a reckoning for the lax oversight and clubby nature of Florida's political system.... Bear asserted that were it not for his and Beute's persistence in holding those accountable who made false allegations against him, the case might have gone away altogether. State authorities had known of allegations of misconduct surrounding Greenberg for years and had shown little appetite to bring a criminal case."
Jay Greene of the Washington Post: "Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos acknowledged the e-commerce giant needs to 'do a better job for our employees,' his first comments since the company's lopsided victory over a unionization effort at an Alabama warehouse last week. In his letter to shareholders, Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, wrote that some news reports of employee complaints about a brutal warehouse workplace during the union campaign were inaccurate. He cited internal surveys of warehouse staff that found 94 percent would recommend Amazon to a friend as a place to work. But he also said Amazon needs to commit to improving employee satisfaction as much as the company focuses on providing customer care."
One More News Source to Hide Behind a Paywall. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business. The company, one of the largest news organizations in the world, announced the new paywall on Thursday, as well as a redesigned website aimed at a 'professional' audience wanting business, financial and general news."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.
Berkeley Lovelace of CNBC: "Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will 'likely' need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated. His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1. Bourla said it's possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually."
Beyond the Beltway
Kentucky. Tessa Duvall of the Louisville Courier Journal: Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, "one of the Louisville Metro Police officers who fired shots during the attempted search warrant execution that left Breonna Taylor dead in her apartment last year, is writing a book about the case.... Some of [his publisher's] most high-profile authors include right-wing favorites Dan Bongino, Laura Loomer and embattled GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz. News of Mattingly's book was swiftly met with criticism on social media." MB: I hope if Mattingly makes any money on this book, every penny goes to Breonna Taylor's family. ~~~
~~~ Update. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Simon & Schuster said late Thursday night that it had scrapped plans to distribute a book by one of the Louisville police officers who shot Breonna Taylor during the botched drug raid last year that resulted in her death.... The officer's book... was to be distributed by Simon & Schuster, which had said in a statement earlier Thursday that it had no editorial control over book releases by smaller publishing houses for which it provides third-party distribution, including Post Hill Press[, the publisher of Mattingly's book]. But hours later, after news about the book had drawn sharp criticism, Simon & Schuster reversed course on the project."
Illinois. Abigail Weinberg of Mother Jones: "Chicago police on Thursday released body-cam video from the police officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo late last month. The video contains a crucial detail that was lacking in the Chicago Police Department's initial statement: The boy appeared to have both hands raised the moment he was shot.... In a court hearing for the 21-year-old man who was with Toledo on the night of his death, a prosecutor claimed that Toledo had a gun in his right hand the moment he was shot. The state's attorney's office later said that the prosecutor 'failed to fully inform himself' of the details of the case. An attorney for the boy's family said that he was not holding a weapon at the time he was shot -- a conclusion the body cam video seems to uphold.... The Chicago Police have until now intentionally kept the details of the case murky. Especially after the release of the new video, the police's actions following the boy's death look increasingly like a cover-up[.]"
Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "Derek Chauvin spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest in May, telling a judge Thursday that he would invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination and not testify in his own defense in his murder trial in the death of George Floyd. The defense rested its case minutes later, after just two days of testimony, paving the way for closing arguments and jury deliberations in the landmark trial to begin Monday.... The court recessed shortly thereafter, with Cahill telling the jury to enjoy a long weekend before returning to court Monday with a packed bag to hear closing arguments and to sequester as they deliberate a verdict."
New York. A Story Too Good to Check. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Will Andrew Yang, the current front-runner, become New York City's next mayor?... My guess is that the mayoral office needs an effective political brawler, not an intellectual, and Yang, who has never held office, owes his prominence largely to his reputation as a thought leader, someone with big ideas about economics and policy.... Yang's big ideas are demonstrably wrong.... Even if we don't think Yang is right about the problem [i.e., automation], what about his solution?... His universal basic income proposal ... [is] both too expensive to be sustainable without a very large tax increase and inadequate for Americans who really need help. I've done the math."
Virginia. Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The Virginia Military Institute, under fire for its treatment of minorities, has selected its first Black superintendent in the school's 182-year-old history.Cedric T. Wins, a retired Army Major General and 1985 VMI graduate, was appointed Thursday to the top job in a unanimous vote by the college's Board of Visitors, the body that oversees the Lexington school. Wins, 57, who grew up in Hyattsville, Md., and was the first in his family to attend college, has been leading the nation's oldest state-supported military college since Nov. 13, when he was appointed as interim superintendent. He replaced retired Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, 80, who resigned Oct. 26, seven days after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) ordered an investigation into the school, and nine days after The Washington Post chronicled rampant racism on the campus." (Also linked yesterday.)
Hong Kong. Shibani Mahtani & Theodora Yu of the Washington Post: "A Hong Kong court on Friday sentenced veteran pro-democracy leaders to between eight and 18 months in prison, and gave others suspended sentences, on charges of unauthorized assembly stemming from the 2019 protests against China's tightening control of the city. The penalties handed to the nine defendants, following guilty verdicts earlier this month, marked a new low for the viability of democratic opposition in Hong Kong as Beijing remodels the city into one that resembles any other on the Chinese mainland. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, already jailed and denied bail over separate national security charges, was sentenced to 14 months prison for his role in two protests. Lai, who Chinese state media describes as a 'traitor,' is facing several criminal prosecutions, four of which were heard in court on Friday. At one of these hearings, the authorities handed him an additional charge under the national security law -- punishable by life in prison." The AP's story is here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Vartan Gregorian, the ebullient Armenian immigrant who climbed to pinnacles of academic and philanthropic achievement but took a detour in the 1980s to restore a fading New York Public Library to its place at the heart of American intellectual life, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 87."
New York Times: "Helen McCrory, the accomplished and versatile British stage and screen actress who played Narcissa Malfoy in three Harry Potter films and the matriarch Polly Gray on the BBC series 'Peaky Blinders,' in addition to earning critical plaudits for her stage work, has died at her home in north London. She was 52."
AP: "Eight people were shot and killed in a late-night shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, and the shooter killed himself, police said. Several other people were injured Thursday night when gunfire erupted at the facility near the Indianapolis International Airport, police spokesperson Genae Cook said. At least four were hospitalized, including one person with critical injuries. Another two people were treated and released at the scene, she said. The shooter wasn't immediately identified, and investigators were in the process of conducting interviews and gathering information. Cook said it was too early to tell whether the shooter was an employee at the facility." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Update: "The gunman who carried out a massacre at a FedEx sorting facility, killing eight people before shooting himself, was a 19-year-old former employee who had had a shotgun seized by authorities last year, Indianapolis police said Friday. The shooting, which also injured seven, came during a shift break at the facility, and left bodies throughout the parking lot and inside the cavernous warehouse just after 11 p.m. Thursday night. Authorities said they were investigating what might have motivated the killer, whom they identified as Brandon Hole. He appeared to have fired his assault rifle at 'random,' officials said, and the entire attack lasted no more than a couple of minutes. For hours afterward, relatives of those who had been at work at FedEx waited to learn whether their loved ones had lived or died.... Last spring, after his mother reported her fears that he would attempt to die by 'suicide by cop,' he was questioned by authorities, and the police temporarily detained him for mental health reasons, FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan said. With Hole's shotgun seized and not returned, it was unclear how he had obtained the rifle used Thursday night."
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Reader Comments (18)
Sometimes when you least expect it, up pops something like a miracle. Yesterday that something that popped up was none other than 91 yr. old Pat Robertson, God's right hand, so he thinks, and has been giving his followers fun filled baloney for years. He's never reneged on his belief that 9/11 was caused by homosexuals ( god don't like them) along with other gems but yesterday, by jove, holding up a gun and a taser, showed his audience the difference between them. So when old P.R. can tell the difference and spreads the word–– then brothers and sisters we are up there with the angels–-enjoy their singing while you can.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pat-robertson-taser-gun_n_60788615e4b001befb727c52
LIST OF MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE U.S.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/us-mass-shootings.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
More scary sheiss:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/secret-facebook-groups-america-s-best-warriors-share-racist-jabs-n1263985
But what, really, would one expect, when you breed and train for macho?
---Asks Ken, a guy.
PD,
Pastor Pat made the news twice in one day.
He says Chauvin should be put "under the jail," a bit surprising for the sentiment, certainly for the construction.
Funny. In our household senility is no longer newsworthy.
Here's a break from depressing news, all the more depressing because it's not at all unexpected: another disturbed person decides the best way to go out is to murder a bunch of other people first; soldiers are racists, etc.
Yesterday, I drew a nonsense conclusion from a post Akhilleus had written. (Akhilleus' post made perfect sense, BTW.) My nonsense conclusion reminded me of another one I heard recently:
In breaks between programs, New Hampshire's PBS station sometimes features very short stories told by local storyteller Rebecca Rule. Her stories are all the funnier -- IMO -- because she tells them with a strong New Hampshire accent:
A young man always ate his ice cream with a fork (pronounced "fawk"). His friends & relatives mocked him for the practice, but he persisted. One day he dropped the fawk, and it landed -- tines first -- in his foot, drawing blood.
"Well," a relative said triumphantly, "I guess you've finally learned something about how to eat ice cream."
"Yes, I have," said the young man. "When you eat ice cream, wear sturdy shoes."
Amanda Marcotte of Salon has an interesting take on the Confederate anti-vaxxers and what to do about them.
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/15/why-republicans-are-rejecting-the-covid-vaccine-gop-wants-to-drag-out-lockdowns-to-hurt-biden/
She says that the right is deliberately undermining the vaccine effort to slow down the economy and hurt Biden. Well, duh. But her solution is interesting. Basically she says that the time (idiot Jordan’s “WHEN??) to roll back restrictions on gatherings and the like is when vaccine supply outstrips demand. She also says that the CDC needs to dial back its messaging on caution and instead start highlighting the freedom of action that vaccines give you. By denying the right the doom & gloom that they can exploit, we can be celebrating all the good things that the vaxxed can do.
And if it takes the unvaxxed idiots continuing to get sick and die, I’m okay with that too.
The excuse so often trotted out by the right, that policing in America is perfectly fine, there’s just a few bad apples who pop up now and then, committing one-time-only, never to be repeated atrocities, or “mistakes”, and therefore there’s no need for overturning the whole apple cart, crumbles further each passing day as more and more unarmed citizens, adults and kids, are shot and killed by trigger happy cops who shoot first then ask no questions.
I don’t know what exactly the answer is, but what we have now is broken and toxic and sustainable only by willfully looking in the opposite direction, fingers stuck in ears and a steady wailing of “I can’t hear you, I see nothing”.
“Protect and serve” has become a joke. And even though there are plenty of cops who try to do the right thing, the culture is such that I don’t believe things can be fixed, certainly not from inside out. A wholesale rethinking is necessary.
If that sounds too extreme, just consider this: the cop who shot someone thinking she had a taser in her hand was training a rookie cop at the time. “Here ya go, kid, that’s how it’s done.”
Rockygirl,
Been a big fan of Marcotte for a long time and I think she makes a good point here. Confederates don’t do anything useful or positive in this country, but they have mastered propaganda PR techniques. Bumper sticker tropes (Stop the Steal!, eg) are their calling card. It removes the necessity for careful thinking (actually, any thinking at all) and gives the screamers lexical weaponry to go along with physical weapons.
The Biden administration has been doing a decent job of providing solid information about the Covid-Trump virus relief efforts, but going hard at the anti-vax morons with a good PR assault is a great idea as well. Fight morons with truth, but truth couched in EZ to understand bites.
Maxine Waters telling Jordan to shut his mouth should be replayed by all the TV and radio stations in his district and then by his next congressional opponent. As my wife would say, Jordan is a "windy beach". Or is that a whiney bitch? We really do have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to asshole elected officials in this country.
@M.B. Thanks for the lighthearted bit from Rebecca's "fawk" story. Coincidentally, a friend of mine visited us last weekend and she sported a pair of Doc Martins which looked huge on her tiny feet and I said: "Wow–-they look like you could stomp someone to death with those " and she replied:
"that's exactly why I'm wearing them."
My friend is going through a nasty divorce. I'll have to send her your post–-perhaps she can try eating ice cream with a fork, an exercise that will take her mind off murdering her spouse.
AK: Some years back I wrote about a test given to those who want to join in that "fine blue line" and if I recall correctly, when someone scores too high on empathy and dare I say–-intelligence–-they dismiss them because their data finds these people don't last long. We've learned from the Chauvin trial the kind of training police go through but how about what the criteria is for accepting them in the first place.
PD,
Admittedly, policing is hard work requiring someone with both good judgment, reflexes, and the ability to handle stressful and dangerous situations. You can’t be just a thug or just an intellectually and emotionally astute individual.
Such unusual skill sets must dramatically decrease the pool of good candidates. But our current situation is exacerbated by two other prime movers for many cops.
First, the macho element, the idea that you have to show everyone that you are the meanest, toughest badass in the valley of darkness. I’m sure sometimes that card must be played, but it gets thrown down far too often.
Second, and this has become even more substantial in the last 12 years or so. Right wing media has become so virulent—and obvious—in its racism, that many cops (it seems) feel like, or at least act as if, that’s not only perfectly okay, but a necessary feature of their jobs: they’re told and again that black people are animals, dangerous thugs, criminals from birth and never to be trusted. Here again, I’m sure they don’t meet the most upstanding members of the black community, but the same goes for white law breakers, and yet white suspects are not cavalierly gunned down, especially unarmed white suspects.
We’ve all read about how the Capitol police were instructed to go easy on the Trump attackers. Can anyone say honestly that such orders would have been issued if they expected a mob of angry African-Americans? They would have been issued Tommy guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers.
It’s a tough job. But it’s made tougher, and far more toxic, by the bigoted, white supremacist screamers on the right, including racist pricks in congress and, formerly, in the White House.
@Akhilleus: And don't forget, cops are selected for "average" intelligence on the theory that smart people are not good at following directions and doing routine jobs. I remember seeing a video where Michael Moore pointed out that a typical question on a police test asked applicants to pick "which one of these things is not like the others?" among a steer, a sheep, a goat & a mackerel. No doubt some of the applicants who guessed "sheep" got enough other questions right and are on a police force somewhere.
A not-too-bright, racist, macho guy with a gun and "qualified immunity" is not someone anybody wants to meet in even slightly adverse circumstances.
Marie,
Sorry. You can’t be a cop. The answer is goat. Sheep and steer both start with S and mackerel is kind of like a salmon and that starts with S too. Where’s my gun and my badge? I’m ready to go out on patrol.
Well, I'll be photo-opped! Miz Ivanka waltzed into a CVS in Miami for her C-19 jab. As the Miami Herald notes: "Reactions were mixed".
In cased you missed another Texas Turd circling the drain: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/15/story-behind-viral-clip-gop-senator-asking-whether-kristen-clarke-believed-african-americans-are-genetically-superior/. If one were to exchange the terms Jew or Asian for black, see how this plays. The GOP are seriously GOOBs.
Citizen,
This is classic confederate projection. The KKKongressional bigots and lifelong racists who have always believed in the genetic superiority of white supremacists, are worried that uppity blacks might think that not only are they equal to whites (which they ain’t; don those hoods, boys), but that they might actually think they’re “better than us”! Git the noose, Jethro!
The other problem involves competency, cherry picked variety. Let’s say you took your car to a mechanic and asked for a full tune up. If you got it back and all that was done was a half assed wash of the side mirrors, you’d be pissed. What if you went to the doctor with a severe bowel obstruction and the “doctor” sent you home with a tsp of Metamucil? Would you be happy? Soitanly not. But if a civil rights lawyer does her job and goes after bigots and racists, it’s some kind of outrage and she must hate white people! Aiieeee!
No, General Forrest, she’s doing her fucking job. Why don’t you try doing yours for a change?
Speaking of Goobs, Florida governor DeSantis has opposed raising the unemployment rate of 275$ per week, maximum 12 weeks saying it's adequate. That translates to 6.87$ per hour assuming a 40 hour week.
Gee thanks, guv!
Bobby Lee,
Hey, Party of the Working Class, amirite? QED.