;)
The Commentariat -- May 10, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Lauren Neergaard & Candice Choi of the AP: "... regulators [at the Food and Drug Administration] on Monday expanded use of Pfizer's [Covid-19] shot to those as young as 12, sparking a race to protect middle and high school students before they head back to class in the fall. Shots could begin as soon as a federal vaccine advisory committee issues recommendations for using the two-dose vaccine in 12- to 15-year-olds, expected Wednesday."
Alana Wise of NPR: "Those collecting unemployment benefits under the American Rescue Plan must accept 'suitable' employment when offered, President Biden said Monday, responding to last week's underwhelming April jobs report. 'We're going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment, who was offered a suitable job, must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,' Biden said before adding: 'We don't see much evidence of that.' The president's remarks come just days after the latest jobs report showed fewer jobs created than expected: 260,000 vs. about 1 million. Some employers say that they're finding it difficult to find workers, and Republican critics argue that's because of the checks Americans are receiving from the coronavirus stimulus package."
Steve Hendrix & Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "The militant group Hamas fired seven rockets at Jerusalem and dozens more at southern Israel on Monday evening after violent clashes near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Arab protesters left more than 300 Palestinians injured. Israel retaliated for the rocket attacks with airstrikes against the Gaza Strip, killing 20 people, including nine children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The Israeli military said three Hamas operatives were among the dead." The AP's story is here.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced Monday that health care providers cannot discriminate against transgender individuals, the latest step in President Biden's efforts to restore civil rights protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people that were eliminated by his predecessor. Under the new policy, the Department of Health and Human Services will once again prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by health care organizations that receive federal funding. The move will reverse a policy adopted by H.H.S. under ... Donald J. Trump which said that anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 did not apply to transgender people."
Luisa Beck & Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "German priests across more than 100 churches have been blessing gay relationships in recent days in a coordinated -- and sometimes live-streamed -- defiance of a Vatican order signed by Pope Francis. For gay Catholics who have long felt marginalized by Catholic teaching, the events are a celebratory moment, marked by sermons on inclusivity and rainbow church decorations. But the events also amount to an open rebellion -- and a test for a pontiff whose tenure has been marked by divisions over hot-button issues, especially the church's stance on homosexuality....The German ceremonies are taking place two months after Francis signed off on a declaration barring priests from blessing same-sex unions.... It marked a jarring message from a pontiff who has generally sought to welcome gays, and who famously said,'Who am I to judge?'"
Ken Dilanian & Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News: "A Russian criminal group may be responsible for a ransomware attack that shut down a major U.S. fuel pipeline, two sources familiar with the matter said Sunday. The group, known as DarkSide, is relatively new, but it has a sophisticated approach to the business of extortion, the sources said. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Sunday that the White House was working to help Colonial Pipeline, the Georgia-based company that operates the pipeline, to restart its 5,500-mile network." ~~~
~~~ Update. David Sanger & Pranshu Verma of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. confirmed on Monday that the hacking group DarkSide was responsible for the ransomware attack that closed a U.S. pipeline providing the East Coast with nearly half of its gasoline and jet fuel.... President Biden said on Monday that the government had mitigated any impact the hack on the petroleum pipeline might have had on the U.S. fuel supply. He added that his administration had efforts underway to 'disrupt and prosecute ransomware criminals.' Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the system..., [said] the company would restore service incrementally, with the goal of 'substantially' resuming service by the end of the week." The AP's story is here.
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Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "The operator of the largest petroleum pipeline between Texas and New York, which was shut down after a ransomware attack, declined on Sunday to say when it would reopen, raising concerns about a critical piece of infrastructure that carries nearly half of the East Coast's fuel supplies. While the shutdown has so far had little impact on supplies of gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, some energy analysts warned that a prolonged suspension could raise prices at the pump along the East Coast and leave some smaller airports scrambling for jet fuel. Colonial Pipeline, the pipeline operator, said on Sunday afternoon that it was developing 'a system restart plan' and would restore service to some small lines between terminals and delivery points but 'will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so.'" ~~~
~~~ Joseph Choi of the Hill: "The White House on Sunday declared a state of emergency in 17 states and the District of Columbia in response to the shutdown of one of the largest pipelines in the U.S., which supplies around 45 percent of fuel consumed by the East Coast. The regional emergency declaration from the U.S. Department of Transportation lifts restrictions for motor carriers and drivers who are providing assistance to areas that are suffering a shortages of 'gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products.'..." ~~~
~~~ Alan Suderman of the AP: "Criminal hackers are increasingly using brazen methods to increase pressure on law enforcement agencies to pay ransoms, including leaking or threatening to leak highly sensitive and potentially life-threatening information. The threat of ransomware has risen to a level that's impossible to ignore, with hardly a day going by without news of a hospital, private business or government agency being victimized.... Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has called ransomware a 'threat to national security' and said the issue is a top priority of the White House."
Jon Gambrell of the AP: "The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized an arms shipment of thousands of assault weapons, machines guns and sniper rifles hidden aboard a ship in the Arabian Sea, apparently bound for Yemen to support the country's Houthi rebels. An American defense official told The Associated Press that the Navy's initial investigation found the vessel came from Iran, again tying the Islamic Republic to arming the Houthis despite a United Nations arms embargo. Iran's mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Tehran has denied in the past giving the rebels weapons. The seizure, one of several amid the yearslong war in Yemen, comes as the U.S. and others try to end a conflict that spawned one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The arms shipment, described as sizeable, shows that the war may still have far to run." ~~~
~~~ Brad Lendon of CNN: "The cruiser USS Monterey stopped the stateless dhow on May 6 during a routine operation to verify its registry, the Navy said.... The massive arms haul covered much of the rear flight deck of the 567-foot (173-meter) US warship after it was transferred over in what the Navy said was a two-day operation. 'The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights,' the Navy statement said."
Bryan Pietsch of the New York Times: "The writer and poet Maya Angelou and the astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, are the first women who will appear on a series of quarters to be issued by the U.S. Mint over the next four years. Each woman will be honored on the reverse, or tails, side of the coins, which will enter circulation in January as part of the American Women Quarters Program. The heads side of the coin will feature a new desig of George Washington."
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub in a Washington Post op-ed: "Last week ... Republican members ... [of] the Federal Election Commission [killed the] hush-money case against ... Donald Trump.... Under current law, no court can overturn this decision.... Republican commissioners continue to deem a breathtaking variety of campaign finance law violations as not worth our time...." MB: And here I thought the FEC was notoriously dysfunctional. Turns out the Republicans on the commission are highly functional at prohibiting accountability for their side.
Luke Broadwater & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, on Sunday officially endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik in her bid to oust the No. 3 House Republican, Representative Liz Cheney, who has hemorrhaged support over her repudiation of ... Donald J. Trump's lies about election fraud." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: After the November election, and especially after the January 6 insurrection, Republicans had golden opportunities to lick their wounds, repudiate Trump & Trumpism and revitalize their party. Under the "leadership" of Kevin McCarthy & a number of governors & senators, they instead chose to identify with white supremacists, fearmongers, science deniers, insane conspiracy theorists & seditionists. They have no redeeming values. None.
The Birth of a Conspiracy Theory. Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "Key elements of the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from ... Donald Trump took shape in an airplane hangar [in Addison, Texas,] two years earlier, promoted by a Republican businessman who has sold everything from Tex-Mex food in London to a wellness technology that beams light into the human bloodstream. At meetings beginning late in 2018..., Russell J. Ramsland Jr. and his associates delivered alarming presentations on electronic voting to a procession of conservative lawmakers, activists and donors.... The idea of widespread vote manipulation remained on the political fringe -- until 2020, when Ramsland's assertions were seized upon by influential allies of Trump.... By late 2019, Ramsland was [claiming] ... that election software used in the United States originated in Venezuela and saying nefarious actors could surreptitiously manipulate votes on a massive scale. As the 2020 election approached, he privately briefed GOP lawmakers in Washington and met with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.... After the Nov. 3 election..., Ramsland and others associated with ASOG played key roles in spreading the claims of fraud.... They were circulated by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.).... In the aftermath of the election, Trump was surrounded by those repeating claims Ramsland had made...."
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "An unexpected slowdown in hiring nationwide has prompted some Republican governors to start slashing jobless benefits in their states, hoping that the loss of generous federal aid might force more people to try to return to work. The new GOP cuts chiefly target the extra $300 in weekly payments that millions of Americans have received for months in addition to their usual unemployment checks. Arkansas on Friday became the latest to announce plans to cancel the extra benefits, joining Montana and South Carolina earlier in the week, in a move that signals a new effort on the part of Republicans to try to combat what they see as a national worker shortage.... Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, called on Washington this week to cancel the program nationally before its planned expiration in early September." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here.
Derby Winner Drugged, Trainer "Shocked." Joe Drape of the New York Times: "The Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test, once more putting the practices of his Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, the embattled sport's most recognizable personality, under uncomfortable scrutiny. If disqualified, Medina Spirit would be stripped of the Derby title and the winning purse.... In a statement, Churchill Downs officials said that if Medina Spirit's positive test were confirmed, the Derby's runner-up, Mandaloun, would be declared the winner. 'Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack,' the statement said. In a news conference Sunday morning outside his barn at Churchill Downs, Baffert ... insisted the colt had not been treated with the drug, a corticosteroid injected into joints to reduce pain and swelling. 'I was totally shocked when I heard this news,' Baffert said." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Melinda Gates -- wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- began seeking legal advice for a possible divorce two years ago. The report states that the wife of the billionaire technology pioneer became concerned after her husband's ties to accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had become public.... You can read more here -- subscription required."
Beyond the Beltway
Oklahoma. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "Two brothers, 8 and 5, were removed from their Oklahoma elementary school classrooms this past week and made to wait out the school day in a front office for wearing T-shirts that read 'Black Lives Matter,' according to the boys' mother. The superintendent of the Ardmore, Okla., school district where the brothers, Bentlee and Rodney Herbert, attend different schools had previously told their mother, Jordan Herbert, that politics would 'not be allowed at school,' Ms. Herbert recalled on Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has called the incident a violation of the students' First Amendment rights."
Oregon. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Just after midnight on Halloween, a blaring car alarm and a loud banging sound startled Mirella Castaneda and woke her young son. A man stood in her driveway in Forest Grove, Ore., slamming his fist into the Black Lives Matter flag draped over the metal garage door as the security alarm on the family's pickup truck continued to beep. Castaneda immediately called 911 -- but when police showed up they recognized the man as an off-duty officer named Steven Teets. Instead of arresting Teets, though, one of the responding officers simply drove him home. Now, Teets and that officer, Bradley Schuetz, face criminal charges in the incident that Castaneda's lawyers say 'terrorized' her family. A grand jury has indicted Schuetz for official misconduct, following an outside investigation by the Beaverton Police Department, the agency said in a statement Friday." If you read on, you'll find that the cops' alleged actions were worse than the summary indicates.
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Akhtar Makoii of the Guardian: "Dozens of girls were buried on Sunday at a desolate hilltop cemetery in Kabul, a day after a secondary school was targeted in the bloodiest attack in Afghanistan in over a year. A series of blasts outside the school during a peak holiday shopping period killed more than 50 people, mostly female students, and wounded more than 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a suburb of west Kabul populated mostly by Hazara Shias. The government blamed the Taliban for the carnage, but the insurgents denied responsibility and issued a statement saying the nation needed to 'safeguard and look after educational centres and institutions'."
News Lede
Another NRA Weekend. CNN: There were "at least nine mass shootings that occurred across the US over the weekend.... CNN defines a mass shooting as incident with four or more people killed or wounded by gunfire -- excluding the shooter." MB: Apparently, in the U.S., the odds of dying in a mass shooting are far higher than the odds of a Chinese rocket part falling from the sky & taking you out.
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Reader Comments (14)
Elise Stafanik is a mutt. I say that because I watched her "performance" during the House impeachment. She has her head so far up Trump's ass that she can taste what he ate for breakfast.
@unwashed: What with New York's losing a Congressional seat as a result of coming up 89 people short in the last Census of the number needed to keep all its seats, and what with the New York legislature being under Democratic control, there's an off-chance the legislature could redistrict Stefanik right out of her seat. Now that would be a shame, wouldn't it?
That FEC case (op-ed linked above) where Republicans let Trump off the hook forevah got me to wondering about more consequential cases. Let's say a young man (we'll call him Donald Junior) was driving drunk, drove up onto the sidewalk, killed three pedestrians & immediately left the scene.
Now, let's say Junior's mother (we'll call her Ivana) happens to be a traffic court judge who's responsibility is to decide small-bore traffic ticket cases. Before the police can figure out who the hit-and-run driver was, Ivana rushes Junior into her courtroom where -- after the briefest of trials -- she rules him not guilty. (Ivana realizes she will lose her job for this unethical travesty, but she's independently wealthy because of a favorable divorce settlement, so she figures the consequences for her son are so severe that losing her hobby job is worth saving the boy.)
So what I wonder is, given the law against double jeopardy, is Junior off the hook for the triple homicide?
Just asking.
Any similarity of names between the people in my hypothetical scenario and real people is coincidental.
From the "How did this get past Republicans" department:
I received a letter from a labor union that I did some organizing
for in my youth (scary times) advising that on March 11, President
Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. That
legislation provides financial assistance to labor unions to avoid
the projected insolvency in 2025.
This affects about 375,000 members, past and present.
And thanks PD Pepe for the Piet Oudolf link yesterday. Watched it
last night after 60 Minutes. It's something I would do if I lived on
rural acreage, but being in town and 2 blocks from tourist area, the
city would call it weeds and fine me, or mow it and bill me.
We have to sort of blend into the neighborhood but in actuality our
garden is a major tourist attraction. Last summer was the first one
we didn't have wedding parties being photographed in the gardens,
and no bus tours of tweedy city people (they always make
appointments so we can be here to answer questions).
Hopefully this coming summer will be more entertaining.
First it was Tuckums. Now it's ron johnson "asking questions" about deaths reported on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), an unfiltered (Artisanal?) database that explicitly points out that correlation has no implication of causation.
If I followed their lead, I would note that it rained in the morning and was sunny in the afternoon in northern Illinois, so that is how the weather will be for all of the Mother's Days to come.
The only annual weather predictor I know is the Kalamazoo Art Festival. When I lived there, every Festival day was a glorious sunny Saturday. I understand there has been a rainy Festival day since I moved away, but I would still plan a picnic for Festival day were I in town.
@NiskyGuy: Love your designation of VAERS as "artisanal." Here are some other not-cause-and-effect correlations for the Stupidest Senator to "ask questions" about. Found this list at the top of the Googles:
"number of storks and birth rate in Denmark;
number of priests in America and alcoholism;
in the start of the 20th century it was noted that there was a strong correlation between 'Number of radios' and 'Number of people in Insane Asylums'"
On the other hand, maybe there is a cause-and-effect relationship between number of social media posts read & number of people in insane asylums. Or there should be, if we could get folks like Johnson & Margie, the traveling congresswoman, committed.
If cancelling expanded unemployment stipends doesn't bring the workers back to the benches, farm rows and cutting floors, GOP governors plan to reinstitute sheriff's deputies authorized to arrest people for "vagrancy" and "no visible means of support", sentence them to X days' in the state labor farm and then contract them out to employers for 50 cents a day. That worked pretty weell for growers in Florida and some other southern states, and is actually less expensive to the grower than slavery was. They don't have to feed the old and broken down workers. (BTW, old people can't be "vagrants" because they have little labor value. We're relatively safe.)
@Patrick: I see where Biden is going to talk today about that very thing -- making it easier for employers to hire new workers. I know you're kidding, but I wouldn't put it past some GOP governors to start hunting down "vagrants" to put to work. And don't be too smug there, Patrick: Republicans want to raise the age we're qualified to get Social Security benefits, so maybe they'll raise the age we can be "vagrants," too. You could still find yourself picking tomatoes, and not the nice heritage tomatoes from your own back garden.
Pipeline hack: "Competitors and Alternatives to Rockwell Automation(software). Siemens. SAP. Körber (Werum) Emerson. Honeywell. POMS Corporation. ABB. Dassault Systèmes." (Google search - similar to rockwell automation software). Maybe notice with these guys? Military. Ruskies hacked our military and military software providers. This is exactly what happened with the Iranian centrifuges. These systems have dozens of pumps, valves, sensors measuring everything from rpm to pH and especially temperatures. Tweek a few temperature limit switches. Boom. This is de facto the MBA-ification of military thinking up and down society and across genders. Not very creative. Vladimir Putin has figured an outlet for some of his creative computing people. Now think air traffic control system. Vladdy the Hammer shot a round across Joe Biden's bow. He didn't have to with the Orange Idiot in charge.
"For the gun owners in the crowd...
Public school teachers earn about 20% less in weekly wages than nonteacher college graduates
"teachers are paid less (in wages and compensation) than other college-educated workers with similar experience and other characteristics, and this financial penalty discourages college students from entering the teaching profession and makes it difficult for school districts to keep current teachers in the classroom.
We have been sounding the alarm about the relative erosion of teacher earnings and total compensation for 16 years. Embedded in the worsening teacher wage penalty is the opportunity cost of choosing a career in teaching. As wages and compensation of teachers fall further behind that of other professionals it becomes harder to attract students to and retain teachers in the profession. These inequities must be addressed if we are to ensure that the brightest, most highly skilled professionals are at the head of each and every classroom, and to retain experienced teachers in the mix."
There may be some hope for the future
On another note Florida governor DeSantis just signed a bill strengthening Florida's laws forbidding a city or county from enacting gun laws more restrictive than the states. The law provides for 100K$ fines if they are sued for such laws. Oh yeah, you can be removed from office too,
@RAS: Re: the video: I thank you for that! And your comments on public school teachers much appreciated. I've worked with some real numskulls in my day who evidently went into the profession and often wondered how in hell did they ever get certified. I have–-for many years–-think we need an overhaul in our education system and $$$ was one of those items high on my list. We need high standards and much higher pay and I'd love to know more about that little boy who is a joy to watch.