;)
The Commentariat -- April 27, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Eli Rosenberg & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all federal contractors by 2022, while eliminating a lower minimum wage for tipped contractors. The move will bring the minimum wage for contractors up from the current $10.95, under rules set during the Obama administration. The current minimum wage for federal contractors who are tipped is $7.65 an hour. That will be phased out by 2024 under the new directive. The $15 wage will be mandatory in new contracts by the end of March 2022. Senior administration officials briefed on the plan said they estimated that hundreds of thousands of workers who do contract work for the federal government -- including cleaning staff, maintenance workers, nursing assistants in veteran care facilities, cafeteria and food workers, and laborers -- would see wage increases as a result of the policy change."
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Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden, in an effort to pay for his ambitious economic agenda, is expected to propose giving the Internal Revenue Service an extra $80 billion and more authority over the next 10 years to help crack down on tax evasion by high-earners and large corporations, according to two people familiar with the plan. The additional money and enforcement power will accompany new disclosure requirements for people who own businesses that are not organized as corporations and for other wealthy people who could be hiding income from the government. The Biden administration will portray those efforts -- coupled with new taxes it is proposing on corporations and the rich -- as a way to level the tax playing field between typical American workers and very high-earners who employ sophisticated efforts to minimize or avoid taxation. Mr. Biden plans to use money raised by the effort to help pay for the cost of his 'American Families Plan,' which he will detail before addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday."
Mistakes Were Made. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The early days of Joe Biden's presidency reveal a man who remembers the Obama presidency -- and doesn't necessarily want to repeat it. Both presidents inherited a crisis-ravaged economy, but their signature 100-day achievements look markedly different: Biden's stimulus plan was about 2½ times the size of President Barack Obama's. It was easy for voters to understand, centered on popular $1,400 cash payments for most people, while Obama's stimulus program was criticized as being too small and complicated, delivering small-dollar benefits in paychecks that polls showed many people didn't even notice. While Obama pared back his stimulus to win Republican votes, Biden met with Republicans once before he opted for a special process to go it alone. While conservative deficit hawks reined in Obama, Biden has brushed them off, arguing that now is the time to spend big. While Obama was hesitant to brag about his achievements, Biden's team regularly takes credit for the receding pandemic -- and voters give him high marks."
Where's the Beef? Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "To White House aides, the wholly fictional Biden-will-ban-hamburgers story line was in part an amusing flare-up perpetuated by Republicans who have struggled to find ways to successfully attack the president.... But the not-quite-red-meat attack also offers a case study in how a falsehood can rapidly metastasize among Republicans -- pushed not only by the party's fringe but also by more mainstream voices, like ... Nikki Haley. The argument dovetails with a common claim on the right that Democrats are out to ban meat-eating, whether for reasons of health or climate. And the episode underscores how the shadow of Donald Trump's presidency -- rife with misinformation and mistruths and lies -- still lingers, providing Republicans with a mendacious road map for demonizing a political rival." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe Republicans can prove Joe Biden has a subscription to Epicurious. David Tamarkin & Maggie Hoffman of Epicurious: "For any person -- or publication -- wanting to envision a more sustainable way to cook, cutting out beef is a worthwhile first step.... Today Epicurious announces that we've ... cut out beef. Beef won't appear in new Epicurious recipes, articles, or newsletters. It will not show up on our homepage. It will be absent from our Instagram feed.... This decision was not made because we hate hamburgers (we don't!). Instead, our shift is solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world's worst climate offenders. We think of this decision as not anti-beef but rather pro-planet." ~~~
~~~ More in GOP Shoot-from-the-Hip Accusations. Andrew Desiderio & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republicans on Monday called on John Kerry to resign from President Joe Biden's National Security Council over claims that he revealed sensitive information about Israeli military operations to Iran. According to leaked audio revealed Sunday by The New York Times, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Kerry told him that Israel attacked Iranian assets in Syria 'at least 200 times.' Zarif added that he was surprised that Kerry would reveal that sensitive information to him, according to the audio.... Zarif's version of events has not been independently corroborated. His remarks to an Iranian academic were leaked by a London-based media outlet. It is also unclear whether Kerry allegedly revealed the Israeli operations to Zarif before they were publicly reported by Israel itself in 2018." ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "John Kerry ... said on Monday that he had never discussed covert Israeli airstrikes in Syria with Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, contrary to Mr. Zarif's claim in a leaked conversation.... 'I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened -- either when I was Secretary of State or since,' Mr. Kerry wrote [in a tweet]." The report is an item in a political liveblog.
Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced on Monday a sweeping Justice Department investigation into the Louisville, Ky., police and the county government there, the second time in a week that the department has opened a civil investigation into a police force that prompted national furor over the killing of an unarmed Black person. The Louisville police came under scrutiny after officers shot to death a Black medical worker named Breonna Taylor in March 2020 during a botched raid of her home. Her killing helped fuel nationwide racial justice protests, but an investigation elicited no charges in her death, only an indictment on a lesser count against one detective."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Department of Homeland Security will undergo an internal review to root out white supremacy and extremism in its ranks as part of a larger effort to combat extremist ideology in the federal government, officials said on Monday. The task of identifying extremists throughout the United States, and specifically in government agencies, has come to the top of President Biden's agenda since Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. Many of the rioters were found to be members of extremist groups.... The review comes shortly after the Pentagon completed a 60-day 'stand down' to address extremism after a number of veterans were found to have taken part in the Capitol riot.... It is also a pivot from the approach taken by ... Donald J. Trump, who pressured federal agencies to divert resources to target the antifa movement and left-wing groups, even though law enforcement authorities concluded that far-right and militia violence was a more serious threat."
Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "During the final minutes of the Trump presidency, an obscure company in South Florida announced to the world's computer networks that it would begin managing a massive swath of the Internet owned by the U.S. military. In the months since, the company has claimed control of nearly 175 million IP addresses ... with no public explanation of what had taken place.... Brett Goldstein, the director of a Pentagon unit called the Defense Digital Service, said that his team had authorized the activation of the IP addresses as a 'pilot effort' to improve cybersecurity.... 'This pilot will assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space. Additionally, this pilot may identify potential vulnerabilities.'" MB: I guess this is an explanation of a popular WashPo story I didn't understand last week.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The legal battle over gun control opened a new front Monday at the Supreme Court, as the justices announced they will consider an important National Rifle Association-backed lawsuit asserting the constitutional right to carry a weapon outside the home. The court will hear the challenge to a century-old New York law in the term that begins in October. The restriction requires those who seek a permit to carry a concealed weapon to show a special need for self-defense, and is similar to laws in Maryland, Massachusetts and elsewhere that the court in the past has declined to review." ~~~
~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Supreme Court could make the NRA's dreams come true.... The plaintiffs in Corlett include a New York state gun rights group and two New York men who applied for a license to carry a handgun in public and were denied that license. They claim that 'law-abiding citizens' have a Second Amendment right to carry a gun in public -- and the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, could agree with them. Indeed, Corlett could potentially dismantle more than a decade of judicial decisions interpreting the Second Amendment, imposing prohibitive limits on lawmakers' ability to reduce gun violence."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up a request by a Guantánamo Bay terrorism suspect for more information about his CIA-sponsored torture, a disclosure the U.S. government opposes, calling it a threat to national security. The prisoner is Abu Zubaida, once a prized capture whose torture after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been extensively documented. But the government has invoked the 'state secrets' privilege to oppose his efforts for additional information about foreign intelligence officials who partnered with the CIA in detention facilities abroad."
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "For a second year, the nation's surveillance court has pointed with concern to 'widespread violations' by the F.B.I. of rules intended to protect Americans' privacy when analysts search emails gathered without a warrant -- but still signed off on another year of the program, a newly declassified ruling shows. In a 67-page ruling issued in November and made public on Monday, James E. Boasberg, the presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, recounted several episodes uncovered by an F.B.I. audit where the bureau's analysts improperly searched for Americans' information in emails that the National Security Agency collected without warrants."
Sabrina Tavernise & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "Over the past decade, the United States population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790, the Census Bureau reported on Monday, a remarkable slackening that was driven by a slowdown in immigration and a declining birthrate. The bureau also reported changes to the nation's political map: The long-running trend of the South and the West gaining population -- and the congressional representation that comes with it -- at the expense of the Northeast and the Midwest continued, with Texas gaining two seats and Florida one, and New York and Ohio each losing one. California, long a leader in population growth, lost a seat for the first time in history." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~Here's a related New York Times story on the states that gained and lost Congressional seats. A Guardian story is here. Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ BTW, if you're someone who was way too busy to complete your Census form, it turns out the form matters as much as your vote. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "New York's congressional delegation will shrink by one seat after the 2022 election, the Census Bureau announced on Monday.... If New York had counted 89 more people last year than the 20,215,751 who were tallied, it would have held on to the House seat. Instead, it went to Minnesota.It was the narrowest margin by which a state lost a seat in the modern era, according to census data."
Shawna Chen of Axios: "Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third highest-ranking House Republican, publicly broke from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Monday, telling reporters a proposed independent commission should focus solely on the deadly Capitol insurrection, Reuters reports.... Cheney's remarks reflect a widening gap between the two high-profile Republicans. McCarthy has said the bipartisan commission should broaden its scope to include other instances of political violence, citing Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests.... 'What happened on Jan. 6 is unprecedented in our history, and I think that it's very important that the commission be able to focus on that,' Cheney told reporters at the House GOP's annual policy retreat.... Her comments support Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) position on the matter."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Kathleen Kingsbury of the New York Times: "The first Op-Ed page in The New York Times greeted the world on Sept. 21, 1970. It was so named because it appeared opposite the editorial page and not (as many still believe) because it would offer views contrary to the paper's.... It's time to change the name. The reason is simple: In the digital world, in which millions of Times readers absorb the paper's journalism online, there is no geographical 'Op-Ed,' just as there is no geographical 'Ed' for Op-Ed to be opposite to. It is a relic of an older age and an older print newspaper design. So now, at age 50, the designation will be retired." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is why I have always referred to "opinion pieces" published in media outlets that don't have print editions, though the designation "op-ed" is commonly used for any "guest essay" published in any outlet, whether it comes in hard-copy format or not. I've done the same with magazine opinion pieces; when Time publishes an opinion piece, it doesn't appear opposite the magazine's editorial page. The NYT plans to refer to op-eds as "guest essays"; that's awkward. What's the short-form? "Guessays"? Not so good.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden, under intense pressure to do more to address the surging pandemic abroad, including a humanitarian crisis in India, intends to make up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine available to other countries, so long as federal regulators deem the doses safe, officials said Monday. The announcement came after Mr. Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and the two pledged to 'work closely together in the fight against Covid-19.' It is a significant, albeit limited, shift for the White House, which has until now been reluctant to make excess doses of coronavirus vaccine available in large amounts." MB: Just this morning I saw Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on the teevee urging the administration to release those vaccine doses to other countries. Squeaky wheel. Good for you, Congressman.
This Week in Book World
Rudy Takala of Mediaite: "More than 200 employees at Simon & Schuster are asking the publishing giant to stop working with former Trump administration staffers. Employees submitted a petition on Monday containing 216 signatures demanding the company stop publishing books from members of ... Donald Trump's administration. The petition claims the company treated 'the Trump administration as a "normal" chapter in American history,' according to copy obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The brouhaha follows a thus-far unsuccessful effort by the employees to cancel a deal to publish former Vice President Mike Pence's two-part autobiography."
Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "In a new book, the Republican senator Josh Hawley of Missouri attacks what he calls 'woke capitalism' and claims to be a victim of cancel culture over his actions around the Capitol attack of 6 January. Hawley, 41, is a leading figure on the far right of the Republican party, jostling to inherit Donald Trump's populist crown and with it the presidential nomination in 2024.... Publisher Simon & Schuster dropped Hawley's book, only for it to be swiftly picked up by Regnery, a conservative imprint for which Simon & Schuster handles distribution." MB: According to Pengelly, there's a whole lot of whining going on here. As for the raised fist seen 'round the world, Hawley doesn't mention it, but he definitely did "not encourage the riot." Maybe he was adjusting his shirt sleeve or exercising his fingers. Accompanying the article is a photo of Josh trying to look pensive while holding a pencil to his chin.
And Other Thoughts of GOP "Intelligentia"
Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "The former US senator and CNN political commentator Rick Santorum has sparked outrage among Native Americans, and prompted calls for his dismissal, by telling a rightwing students' conference that European colonists who came to America 'birthed a nation from nothing'. 'There was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn't much Native American culture in American culture,' Santorum told the ultra-conservative Young America's Foundation's summit, entitled standing up for faith and freedom, and shared by the group to YouTube.... Santorum's comments, effectively dismissing the millennia-long presence of Native Americans and the genocide inflicted on them as the Christian settlers transformed and expanded their colonies into the United States of America, angered many within the Native American community, and beyond." MB: Must be tough for Rick to take the kids to the school Thanksgiving play where Native Americans are portrayed saving the ignorant Pilgrims from starvation. See also Akhilleus' commentary below.
Steve M. analyzes a New York Post op-ed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a post titled, "Marco Rubio Will Only Get Worse."
Marie: One of the most damaging effects of the ascendant right-wing media is that Republicans who used to make up stuff to own the masses now seem to believe their own swill. If there's anything worse than a demagogue, it's a "sincere" demagogue. ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times explains wingers' tales of Meatless Joe in terms of Bernie Madoff: "Madoff defrauded wealthy Jews by convincing them that he was just like them. A similar approach has long been an essential part of the Republican political strategy. As the party's economic policies have become ever more elitist, ever more tilted toward the interests of the wealthy, it has sought to cover its tracks by running candidates who seem like regular guys you'd like to have a (meat-based?) beer with. The flip side of this strategy is a continual attempt by the G.O.P. to convince voters that Democrats, who represent a much more diverse set of voters than Republicans, aren't people like them; call it disaffinity fraud. The goal is to portray Democrats as woke feminist vegetarians who don't share the values of Real Americans."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Andrew Oxford of the Arizona Republic: "Lawyers for Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company the Arizona Senate hired to lead a recount of Maricopa County's 2.1 million general election ballots, are asking a judge to keep secret its procedures for the recount and shut out the public as well as the press from a hearing in which the documents might be discussed. Judge Christopher Coury asked the company on Friday to turn over its plans and procedures amid concerns about the security of the county's ballots and voter privacy. But the company argued on Sunday that filing the documents in court publicly would compromise the security of its recount. And it argued that the records include protected trade secrets." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Ken was wondering just what those "trade secrets" might be. One is apparently handing counters blue pens so they can, you know, "correct" ballots than voters might accidentally have marked for Joe Biden. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow said Monday night that the only "reporters" allowed to observe the proceedings were those who worked for One America "News" Network. The same reporters, Maddow said, also raised money for the recount. Seems fair.
California. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Fueled by partisan fury and a backlash against pandemic shutdowns, a Republican-led campaign to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has officially qualified for the ballot, setting the stage for the second recall election in the state's history, officials said on Monday. In a widely expected filing, the California secretary of state's office found that recall organizers had collected 1,626,042 signatures on their petition, more than the roughly 1.5 million required to ask voters to remove Mr. Newsom from office. The announcement sets in motion a series of procedural steps that will culminate in a special election. No election date has been scheduled, but it is expected to be sometime in November. Between now and then, the state will review the cost of the election, and voters who signed the petition will have 30 business days to ask to have their names removed if they so choose." An NBC News story is here.
North Carolina. David Li of NBC News: "The family of a North Carolina man shot and killed by sheriff's deputies said Monday that they were shown just 20 seconds of body-camera video that appeared to show the man with his hands on the steering wheel of his car before he was killed. Loved ones of Andrew Brown Jr., 42, expected to be shown the bodycam video just before noon Monday, but the viewing was pushed back several hours because of redactions sought by the county attorney, family attorneys said. But even in 20 seconds of video, Brown's loved ones said, it was clear that he wasn't a threat to law enforcement and shouldn't have been gunned down."
Way Beyond
U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... as [Queen Elizabeth II] faces the future alone, her son and heir, Prince Charles, is reshaping the family to carry on after her. [Prince] Philip's death has given new urgency to a transition already underway in the House of Windsor. With the queen's reign in its twilight, Charles has moved to streamline the royal family and reallocate its duties -- a downsizing forced by the loss of stalwart figures like Philip, as well as by the rancorous departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, and the messy internal exile of Prince Andrew.... As always with the royal family, details about its internal deliberations are elusive and befogged in speculation.... Charles ... had already taken over some of his mother's duties, including overseas trips and investiture ceremonies.... He accompanies her to the state opening of Parliament; the next one is scheduled for May. And he spoke up after the furor over his brother Andrew's ties to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, pressing to have him banished from public duties."
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Reader Comments (13)
Confederate History
Okay kiddies, gather ‘round and our old pal Rick Santorum will tell you all about ‘merican hist’ry.
Now once upon a time ‘merica was just a big empty place. Nothing here. Oh, maybe a few injuns, but they didn’t do squat. No kulcha like we have today, you know, like right wing radio stars, and, well, me. Then one day, Jesus sent white men here to start a country and make something out of the big nothin’ that was here. Pretty soon we had slaves and then Robert E Lee, god bless ‘im, then pretty soon Ronald Reagan and Christian churches everywhere! Yippee! A white nation built from nothing by white men for white Christians. Oh, and Jesus.
So remember that.
The sad thing is that there are probably millions of ignorant assholes who believe this sort of crap. And CNN pays this guy to spread this kind of bilge on national television.
Numbers anticipating the 2020 census that suggest the Representative reapportionment that will follow might not be as deleterious for Democrats as some of the headlines (and my fears) might suggest:
https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-census-data-shows-the-nation-is-diversifying-even-faster-than-predicted/
Politico has a very good look at the Florida company conducting the voting audit in California. It seems that Florida Republicans don't know anything about them. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/26/republicans-arizona-vote-audit-florida-484737
To go along with the bullshit (bull meat?) lie about Biden stealing their CHEEEEESEBURGERS!!!, Faux is screaming that (based on a WaPo piece) Biden has racked up 67 misleading statements in his first hundred days. Didja get that? SIXTY SEVEN!! Of course there’s no mention of the fact that the Orange Menace piled up a mountain of lies in his first 100 days, almost five every day.
But who’s counting?
What he should do next is wear a tan suit. Their heads would explode.
@Akhilleus: Ha ha! From the first day of summer to the last, I hope Joe Biden wears a tan suit every day he's not going to a funeral.
Update: Except when he's wearing a crumpled white linen suit & a panama hat. And maybe Kamala could wear traditional Jamaican and Indian outfits -- OR whatever exotic, interesting clothing she feels like trying out. Then let's all sit back & watch Republicans explode in outrage about "American traditions," blah-blah.
More than simply Biden banning hamburger and subscribing to Epicurious does anyone think the synchronicity timeline of this anti-meat thing is curiously aligned: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/opinion/climate-change-meatless-meat.html. Before I give up my slice of the food pie to displaced tobacco executives sponsored by the Wapo and NYT, I would like to know that the plant-based proteins are the highest margin businesses in the food industry. I would also like to know that, just like Tyson's farmers not owning the chickens and varieties they raise for Tyson, the farmers will raise the grains and varieties Cargill, ADM, and ConAgra tell them to raise for plant-based proteins manufacturing. I would also like to know that plant varieties selected for this market have less genetic diversity because they have been selected for certain alleles and characteristics. (Think bT corn and monarch butterflies.) I would also like to know that the best marketing minds are going to ceasely flog these brands because they simply won't taste as good as the real thing. I would also like to return to the beginning because these plant-based proteins will not be as "green-friendly" because of the centralized controls, hydrocarbons used during production/distribution, and the subsequent nutrient density of each "Impossible Burger" will be lower than than rosy forecasts. Bon Appetit!
This one would be funny....
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/us/florida-centner-academy-vaccine.html?
....but they call themselves a "school."
One which also apparently teaches the time worn lesson that two plus two is five.
Here is the WaPo piece on false or misleading statements in the first 100 days. They point out that T**** had 511 f/m statements in the same time as Biden's 67.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/biden-fact-checker-100-days/
I love the tan suit idea. Maybe everyone should wear tan suits one day. Secretary Jen Psaki, VP Harris, President Biden, the works. Watch Tukkker Kkkarlson's puzzled moron face get frozen that way.
But in winger logic, 67 vs 511 lies means that Donnie is nearly ten times the real man that Biden is. And thus much more trustworthy.
Winger logic is non-Euclidean, it's Whoyoukidean?
This is just insane. Tucker called on his viewers to harass people wearing masks outdoors and to call child protective services if they see kids wearing masks as they play because that should be illegal and is child abuse.
Because no one should start the day with this information: Lest anyone forget about santorum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Savage: "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes a byproduct of anal sex". Rick is why nicknames like "santorum" are thought up.
CNN—. Fire the insufferable moron Santorum. PA did years ago.