The Commentariat -- March 31, 2021

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Day 3 of the Derek Chauvin murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates of Day 3 are here. CNN's live updates are here.

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

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "A top adviser privately urged ... Donald Trump to acquire critical medical supplies in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak -- and after the warning was ignored, pursued his own ad hoc strategy that committed more than $1 billion in federal funds and has since prompted multiple probes, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators. Peter Navarro, who served as Trump's trade adviser, warned the president on March 1, 2020, to 'MOVE IN "TRUMP TIME"' to invest in ingredients for drugs, handheld coronavirus tests and other supplies to fight the virus, according to a memo obtained by the House's select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Navarro also said that he'd been trying to acquire more protective gear like masks, critiquing the administration's pace.... [In dodgy deals,] Navarro ... steered a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak to produce ingredients for generic drugs, a $354 million sole-source contract for pharmaceutical ingredients to a start-up called Phlow, and a $96 million sole-source contract for powered respirators and filters from AirBoss Defense Group."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden intends to pay for the $2 trillion package of infrastructure spending he will propose on Wednesday with a substantial increase in corporate taxes, people briefed on the plan said Tuesday. The scale of the infrastructure program -- one of the most ambitious attempts in generations to shore up the nation's aging roads, bridges, rail lines and utilities -- is so big that it will require 15 years of higher taxes on corporations to pay for eight years of spending, they said."

Kate Bennett of CNN: "The Bidens' dog Major has been involved in another biting incident that required medical attention, two people with knowledge of the incident tell CNN. The incident, which involved a National Park Service employee, took place on the White House South Lawn on Monday afternoon. The employee was working at the time and needed to stop in order to receive treatment from the White House medical unit. First lady Jill Biden's press secretary Michael LaRosa told CNN that Major is 'still adjusting to his new surroundings.' 'Yes, Major nipped someone on a walk. Out of an abundance of caution, the individual was seen by WHMU and then returned to work without injury.'... Major, a 3-year-old German shepherd adopted by the Bidens in 2018, received training within the last two weeks, according to the White House, following a separate biting incident earlier this month."

Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration allowed reporters for the first time Tuesday to go inside the crowded border tents where record numbers of migrant teenagers and children have been held in recent weeks after crossing into the United States without their parents. Department of Homeland Security officials permitted the Associated Press and a camera crew to tour the Donna, Tex., temporary processing facility run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where 3,400 unaccompanied minors were in custody Tuesday along with 700 members of migrant families. The reporters allowed inside described extreme levels of overcrowding, including one detention 'pod' with 516 minors despite a pandemic-rated capacity of 32 people. Another pod had 676 minors, and a third had 567, officials said. The Biden administration is on pace to take in more than 17,000 unaccompanied minors this month, far higher than the previous record of 11,861 in May 2019." ~~~

     ~~~ Elliot Spagat & Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "More than 500 migrant children were packed into plastic-walled rooms built for 32 people, sitting inches apart on mats with foil blankets Tuesday at the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding facility for unaccompanied children. Overall, CBP's main child processing center, a compound of white tents in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, held over 4,100 migrants, more than 3,400 of them children who traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border alone. The rest of the migrants being housed were families. The facility, designed for 250 people under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the coronavirus pandemic, has had to adapt amid a spike in families and unaccompanied children crossing the border.... Children, most of them between 13 and 17, are separated by age. Families occupied a separate pod that was less crowded than the jam-packed rooms for olde children. A room for 'tender age' children from 3 to 9 years old consisted of a walled playpen with mats on the floor and far more space than the eight pods for older children."

Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Women's access to contraceptives and reproductive care is a global human right that will be monitored by the United States, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken declared on Tuesday, reversing a Trump administration policy that had overlooked discrimination or denials of women seeking sexual health services worldwide. The announcement was one of several departures Mr. Blinken made from the previous administration's approach as the State Department issued its annual report on human rights violations, even while he similarly condemned abuses and state-sanctioned oppression from China to Syria to Venezuela that have continued for years. The report was completed during the Trump administration and, Mr. Blinken said, did not include examples of women who were refused health care and family planning information in nearly 200 countries and territories in 2020. He has directed officials to compile that data and identify violators this year...."

Republicans Find a New Stupid War on Government. Annie Linskey, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republicans are opening a new front in the pandemic culture wars, attacking efforts by the Biden administration to develop guidelines for coronavirus vaccination passports that businesses can use to determine who can safely participate in activities such as flights, concerts and indoor dining. The issue has received an increasing amount of attention from some of the party's most extreme members and conservative media figures, but it has also been seized on by Republican leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.... 'It's completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society,' [DeSantis said].... Some conservative activists comparing it with Nazi policies to identify Jews.... [The attack] ... taps into a long-standing warning from the right: that a powerful federal government will try to control the population."

Marie: It was a windy day in my part of the USA yesterday. The power went out several times, but otherwise, I was none the worse for wear. I did go outside, but my hair looked fine, IMO. MEANWHILE, however the breezes blew in the Sunshine State, things were not going well for two Florida men who seem to put extraordinary stock in their coifs. ~~~

~~~ Matt's Very Bad Hair Day

Unpossible! Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of ... Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter. Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.... The investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr.... Given Mr. Gaetz's national profile, senior Justice Department officials in Washington -- including some appointed by Mr. Trump -- were notified of the investigation, the people said.... ~~~

"... the examination of Mr. Gaetz, 38, is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl. Mr. Greenberg, who has since resigned his post as tax collector in Seminole County, north of Orlando, visited the White House with Mr. Gaetz in 2019, according to a photograph that Mr. Greenberg posted on Twitter." The report also links Greenberg to Roger Stone & the Proud Boys. MB: These sleazebags are all friends. There's a club of sorts, and Mar-a-Lardo would seem to be a good clubhouse. An AP story on Gaetz is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "... the probe [of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)] has been complicated by the congressman's assertion that his family is being extorted.... Axios published an interview in which Gaetz confirmed the probe but claimed the allegations against him were 'rooted in an extortion effort against my family.'... Gaetz repeated the extortion claim in a statement, alleging that a former Justice Department employee, whom he did not identify, had been 'seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name.' Gaetz asserted that his family had been cooperating with the FBI, and that his father had even worn a wire. 'No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation,' Gaetz said." A Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ Here's the Axios interview of Gaetz, conducted by Jonathan Swan. Gaetz says, "I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know when I was a single guy.... I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated. You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not.'" MB: Kind of a non-denial denial, IMO. I think we're going to find out that Gaetz had "no idea that girl was younger than 18." ~~~

~~~ Earlier That Same Day. Alayna Treene of Axios: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has privately told confidants he's seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios." MB: Actually, Matt may be leaving Congress early for a job in a federal pen. I'll bet the boys will like him. ~~~

~~~ Martin Comas, et al., of the Orlando Sentinel: "Federal authorities are investigating potential sex trafficking violations by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a probe that emerged from the prosecution of former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg.... Greenberg, who faces a slew of charges including sex trafficking of a child..., is currently slated to stand trial in June.... Greenberg resigned as tax collector in June, after he was arrested at his home by federal agents. He faces 14 charges, including allegations that he stalked a political opponent, illegally used a state database to create fake IDs and sex trafficked a minor.... Prosecutors said in a grand jury indictment that Greenberg, as tax collector, took surrendered drivers licenses before they were shredded by office staff and created new IDs with his photograph but with the personal information of residents.... Greenberg also is charged with producing 'a false identification document and to facilitate his efforts to engage in commercial sex acts,' according to federal indictments...." The story is firewalled, but hey, it's the end of the month. The Washington Post has a story here. ~~~

~~~ Steve M. "[Joel Greenberg] engaged in a staggering array of sleazy activities, up to and including pedophilia. He was indicted nine months ago. So why have I never heard of him until now? If there were a close associate of prominent Democrats who'd done a tenth of what Greenberg has done and had visited the White House during a Democratic presidency, there would have been several hundred stories about him on Fox News. Your right-wing relatives would have dropped his name in conversation as if he were as famous as Tom Brady.... I don't want to be exactly like Republicans. But I think we'd be winning over more voters if there were more demonization of Republicans who deserve it." ~~~

~~~ Blake Montgomery & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: Matt "Gaetz told Fox that the former DOJ employee going after him was David McGee, now a lawyer at Beggs & Lane. In an interview with The Daily Beast late Tuesday night, McGee said any reports of extortion involving him or his firm were 'completely, totally false.... This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls,' McGee said.... Gaetz proposed to his girlfriend Ginger Luckey at Mar-a-Lago in December.... Gaetz's romances with younger women have attracted some scrutiny. In 2018, a college student confirmed to HuffPo reporter Matt Fuller -- who is now a Daily Beast editor — that she was dating the congressman.... In 2019, Mother Jones reported that a staffer admonished Gaetz via text about his relationship with a camera-happy 21-year-old...." ~~~

~~~ Aris Folley of the Hill: "Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to be suspended from the House Judiciary Committee, on which they both serve, pending the outcome of a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe reportedly investigating whether the Florida lawmaker had sexual relations with a teenager. 'Rep Matt Gaetz should be taken off the @HouseJudiciary Committee until the @TheJusticeDept investigation is completed,' Lieu tweeted shortly after news broke of the investigation on Tuesday. 'He should not be sitting on a Congressional Committee with oversight over the DOJ while the Department is investigating him,' Lieu added."

~~~ Donald's Bad Hair Day

Marshall Cohen & Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Two US Capitol Police officers who say they were injured during the January 6 insurrection are suing ... Donald Trump for inciting the crowd. The officers -- the first police to sue in court following the riot -- say they suffered physical and emotional damages because Trump allegedly 'inflamed, encouraged, incited (and) directed' the violent mob that stormed the Capitol. Capitol Police Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, who have been with the force for a combined 28 years, said they were injured during the attack. Hemby 'was crushed against the doors' of the Capitol, was 'sprayed with chemicals' and bled from his face, the lawsuit says. Blassingame claims he was slammed against a stone column, injuring his head and back." ~~~

~~~ Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The legal issues facing ... Donald J. Trump compounded on Tuesday when the highest court in New York State allowed a defamation suit from a former contestant on his reality television show 'The Apprentice' to proceed. The suit was filed by the contestant, Summer Zervos, in 2017, after Mr. Trump said that she had lied when she accused him of having groped and kissed her against her will years earlier. Mr. Trump had tried to stop the suit, arguing that as president, he was protected from legal action. Two courts had decided against him before his lawyers appealed the case to the State Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York. But before the court heard the case, Mr. Trump ceased to be president." ~~~

~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a broad non-disclosure agreement that Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign required employees to sign is unenforceable. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gardephe's ruling generally steered clear of the constitutional issues presented by such agreements in the context of political campaigns. Instead, the judge -- an appointee of President George W. Bush -- said the sweeping, boilerplate language the campaign compelled employees to sign was so vague that the agreement was invalid under New York contract law."

Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post: "G. Gordon Liddy, the undercover operative whose bungling of the Watergate break-in triggered one of the gravest constitutional crises in American history and led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, died March 30 at his daughter's home in Fairfax County, Va. He was 90.... A theatrical personality whose event-filled career included more twists and turns than a fictional potboiler, Mr. Liddy was at various times an FBI agent, jailbird, radio talk-show host, best-selling author, candidate for Congress, actor and promoter of gold investments." Liddy's New York Times obituary is here. The AP's obituary is here.

Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "When Simon J. Levien found [a photo of Harvard men dressed in KKK robes & hoods gathered around the statue of John Harvard on Class Day 1924] last spring, he dove into reporting that resulted in a 4,500-word feature published last week in the Harvard Crimson, culminating nearly a year of research.... The Harvard branch of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1921, according to university archives.... Levien said he and professors who study Harvard's history were disappointed with how little Harvard appears to have reckoned with its racism in the modern era -- especially when he considers how much of the information he pieced together was hiding in plain sight in archives, student newspaper clippings and other documents as recent as 2014."

Marie's Free Advice to All Fugitives: Do not make yourself a star of YouTube videos. ~~~

~~~ Buon Appetito! Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "Marc Feren Claude Biart was always careful to hide his face in his Italian cooking tutorials, filming the YouTube videos while laying low from police on a sandy beach in the Caribbean. But Biart, an alleged member of southern Italy's powerful 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate, had failed to obscure his tattoos on tape -- a clue authorities say they used to track down the mobster in the Dominican Republic. Biart, 53, was arrested Monday at Milan's Malpensa Airport after arriving on a flight from Santo Domingo, according to the Italian state broadcaster Rai, the latest episode in a sprawling, international effort to fight the 'Ndrangheta."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Florida. Alexander Nazaryan of Yahoo! News: "New research published earlier this month in the American Journal of Public Health argues that Florida is undercounting the number of people who died from COVID-19 by thousands of cases, casting new doubt on claims that Gov. Ron DeSantis navigated the coronavirus pandemic successfully. Conservatives have celebrated DeSantis for his handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 30,000 residents of the state. Critics of the combative governor, meanwhile, say that many of those death would have been prevented if he had listened more diligently to health experts. DeSantis resisted lockdowns, downplayed masks and has made it increasingly difficult for localities to institute public health measures of their own. And the state could be on the cusp of a new coronavirus surge."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: Darnella Frazier, "the teenager who filmed the viral video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck. tearfully recalled Tuesday how the Black man begged for his life and the 'cold look' on the face of the White police officer accused of killing him. In deeply emotional testimony, Darnella Frazier, who was just 17 when she came across Floyd being restrained by the police, testified of the lingering anxiety and guilt she feels about Floyd's death and not doing more to intervene.... Frazier was one of several eyewitnesses called to the stand Tuesday, including four girls who were under 18 when they saw Floyd being held to the ground by Chauvin and two other officers during a May 25 police investigation into an alleged counterfeit $20 bill. The jury also heard from firefighter Genevieve Hansen, who was off-duty and came across the scene while on a walk. Hansen burst into tears as she recounted begging officers to check Floyd's pulse but being rebuffed." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ As RAS pointed out yesterday, not much has changed in the last 30 years:

     ~~~ Marie: On the TV police procedural shows I watch, the cops sometimes beat up "suspects." But they don't do so in broad daylight on a busy street. And really, that is the most audacious part of the story: that not one, but several, cops thought it was all right to murder a Black man in the middle of the day even as they knew people were watching & videotaping the murder.

Missouri. All-White Jury Does Not Convict White Cops Who Allegedly Beat Black Undercover Cop. AP: “No convictions were returned for three white St. Louis police officers accused of beating a Black undercover colleague so severely during a protest over another officer's acquittal that he had to undergo multiple surgeries. A jury on Monday acquitted officer Steven Korte of charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and of lying to the FBI in connection to the attack on officer Luther Hall. It happened when Hall was mistaken for a protester during demonstrations that erupted after former police officer Jason Stockley, who is white, was found not guilty in the 2011 death of Anthony Lamar Smith, who was Black.... The former officer Christopher Myers also was acquitted of a deprivation of rights count but the jury could not reach a verdict on a charge of destruction of evidence against Myers for allegedly smashing Hall's cellphone. The jury also deadlocked on the deprivation of rights charge against the former officer Dustin Boone, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on counts where the jury could not agree.... The verdicts reignited criticisms that an all-white jury was picked to decide the case. 'If an undercover cop can't get justice, how will the rest of us who have been maced, shot, beaten, and brutalized ever get justice?' Tweeted Cori Bush, a Black congresswoman who represents the Missouri district that includes St Louis."

Texas. Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: "A Texas grand jury indicted two former sheriff's deputies on manslaughter charges Tuesday related to the 2019 death of Javier Ambler, a Black man whose death in law enforcement custody was captured by a television film crew. Travis County District Attorney José Garza announced the charges against former Williamson County deputies James Johnson and Zachary Camden, who resigned earlier this year. Both men were being held on $150,000 bond and prohibited from seeking any law enforcement or security work. This is the second high-profile indictment against Texas law enforcers in March for Garza's office, which also secured first-degree murder charges against an Austin police officer in the 2020 shooting death of Michael Ramos. That was the first murder indictment ever returned against an Austin city police officer stemming from a use-of-force incident."

Way Beyond

Tom Phillips of the Guardian: "Jair Bolsonaro's crisis-stricken administration has been rocked by the sudden sacking of Brazil's defence minister [Gen Fernando Azevedo] and the subsequent resignation of the heads of all three branches of the armed forces. The commanders of the Brazilian army, navy and air force -- Gen Edson Leal Pujol, Adm Ilques Barbosa and Lt-Brig Antônio Carlos Bermudez -- met with the president's new minister on Tuesday morning and reportedly tendered their resignations during a dramatic and heated encounter. On Tuesday afternoon the defence ministry confirmed all three would be replaced, a political earthquake that rattled a country already grappling with one of the world's worst coronavirus outbreaks. The Folha de São Paulo newspaper said that never before in Brazilian history had the heads of all three branches of the military resigned out of disagreement with a president."

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

G. Gordon Liddy dead:

A sad day for fascists everywhere.

[Akhilleus]

You just know there MUST be something to this Matt Gaetz sex trafficking thing if the personal lawyer (Bill Barr) for President Pussy Grabber started an investigation. I guess that partially accounts for Gaetz looking into going to work for a far right propaganda operation. Thing is, he thought the thing was called NudeMax, so he was all ready to jump ship. And even if he tries to pull the old “I had no idea she was underage” trick, as far as I know ignorance is no defense. If it were, they’d never be able to convict a single winger pol for anything.

[pat]

Isn't it obvious? Major needs a muzzle, and a handler/trainer who goes with him when he is out and about.
And Joe needs a mask that fits and doesn't slide under his nose so he has to keep pulling it up. Drives me nuts to watch him do that.

[Forrest Morris]

Major isn't the only one in Washington who needs a
muzzle and handler/trainer. I'm thinking most of the
R's in Congress would benefit from that.

[PD Pepe]

TROUBLE AT THE GATES:

Whenever I watched a hearing with Matt Gaetz in tow, his histrionics disrupted the proceedings time and again to such an extent that the sergeant of arms had to intervene. This is a wild child–-a guy who thinks he can get away with almost anything because he HAS gotten away with most. Zooming along highways in Florida resulted in 16 speeding tickets between 1990 & 2014 and the infamous DUI and yet he managed not to be indicted. But these are blips on his record of running amuck by voicing his close connection to Trump and conspiracy theories. He self identifies as "Libertarian Populist" and his views have been described as "Nationalist."

Men like Matt, especially when they are young, think the world is their oyster only to discover very few pearls within– and sometimes–- sometimes they end up drowning in their own fetid swampy waters.

"~~~ Steve M. "[Joel Greenberg] engaged in a staggering array of sleazy activities, up to and including pedophilia. He was indicted nine months ago. So why have I never heard of him until now?"

A resounding agreement from me,.Steve! Rachel told the story of Greenburg last night as only Rachel can––from start to finish with such flourish. Did I understand her correctly that he was a Trump pick? That would explain how he managed his crimes so artfully and why we haven't heard about him until now.

[Jeanne]

I welcome anything and everything that topples Matt Gaetz, horse's a** supreme. He thinks he is all that, and is only happy when he is the center of attention. Odd that he isn't enjoying this moment of "fame." I only noticed his artful curls on his over-sized head last night-- I guess he is as vain as the Orange Monster. I never noticed his head as anything but a greaseball when he was being "congress-esque." Ugh. I only have so much contempt to spread around, and there are so many of them who deserve so much...

I think Major Biden should visit the Senate. Lots of malcontents there to bite. But only after he visits the House.

[Akhilleus]

It looks like ol’ Matty isn’t getting much love from the R’s. I read somewhere that a Republican House staffer (they’re all trying to pretend that Gaetz was never one of them—fucking liars, he was one of the Orange Menace’s biggest pals) is throwing Gaetz out the window, saying “All he wanted to do was blow shit up and get on TV. He wasn’t here to accomplish anything legislatively”

Um... this describes about 90% of Republicans in Congress. Does this guy think other R’s are not trying to blow shit up and get on TV? As for legislative accomplishments, remember, their first spoken word was “me”, followed directly by “no”.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but this is a party whose previous Speaker of the House, over the course of two decades in Congress, had only a single real accomplishment to his name. He renamed a Post Office.

And he was the Speaker!!

[Ken Winkes]

Money talks?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/based-lie-delta-ceo-blasts-georgia-s-unacceptable-voting-law-n1262610

We'll see.