The Commentariat -- July 7, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times is live-updating of developments in Haiti after the assassination of the country's president, Jovenel Moïse.

New York. Dana Rubinstein, et al., of the New York Times: "Kathryn Garcia and Maya D. Wiley, who ran muscular campaigns to become the first female mayor of New York City, acknowledged on Wednesday that their bids had fallen short, conceding to Eric Adams in the Democratic primary."

Insurrectionist/Teacher Thought It Was All a Kids' Game. Jordan Williams of the Hill: "The FBI seized a 'fully constructed' Lego set of the U.S. Capitol from the home of an alleged insurrectionist. Prosecutors detailed the finding in a court document for Robert Morss, who was arrested on June 11 at his home in Glenshaw, Pa.... The Pittsburg Post-Gazette previously reported that Morss was a substitute social studies teacher.... He faces nine charges in connection to the riots, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; civil disorder; robbery of the personal property of the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding.

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

Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "This week, the White House is planning to release an executive order focused on competition policy. People familiar with the order say one section has several provisions aimed at increasing competition in the labor market. The order will encourage the Federal Trade Commission to ban or limit noncompete agreements, which employers have increasingly used in recent years to try to hamper workers' ability to quit for a better job. It encourages the F.T.C. to ban 'unnecessary' occupational licensing restrictions, which can make finding new work harder, especially across state lines. And it encourages the F.T.C. and Justice Department to further restrict the ability of employers to share information on worker pay in ways that might amount to collusion. More broadly, the executive order encourages antitrust regulators to consider how mergers might contribute to so-called monopsony -- conditions in which workers have few choices of where to work an therefore lack leverage to negotiate higher wages or better benefits."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Darnella Frazier, the teenager whose cellphone footage of Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd last year sparked a racial reckoning in the United States, said Tuesday that her uncle was killed in a car crash involving a Minneapolis police vehicle that was pursuing a robbery suspect. Leneal Lamont Frazier, 40, was in his car when it was struck by Minneapolis police while they were in a high-speed chase with another vehicle on the north side of the city. The victim, who was later identified by Darnella Frazier as her uncle, was not being pursued by police, authorities said."

What Climate Change? Henry Fountain of the New York Times: "Last month was the warmest June on record in North America, researchers said Wednesday, confirming the suspicions of millions of people who endured some of the hottest temperatures ever experienced on the continent. The Copernicus Climate Change Service, an agency supported by the European Union, said that average surface temperatures for June in North America were about one-quarter of a degree Fahrenheit (0.15 of a degree Celsius) higher than the average for June 2012, the previous record-holder."

Former Guy Sues Social Media. Cat Zakrzewski & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday filed class-action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Google and Twitter and their CEOs, escalating his long-running battle with the companies following their suspensions of his accounts. The suits were filed in the Southern District of Florida, and Trump said at a news conference in Bedminster, N.J., that they would call for the court to issue an order blocking the companies' alleged censorship of the American people.... The suits allege that the companies violated Trump's First Amendment rights in suspending his accounts and argues that Facebook, in particular, no longer should be considered a private company but 'a state actor' whose actions are constrained by First Amendment restrictions on government limitations on free speech. Traditionally, the First Amendment is thought to constrain only government actions, not those of private companies. It also called for the court to strike down Section 230, a decades-old Internet law that protects tech companies from lawsuits over content moderation decisions."

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Kelly Hooper of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday encouraged Americans to stand up to the 'lies' that led to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and called for a bipartisan effort to investigate what happened on Jan. 6." ~~~

~~~ President Joe Biden in a statement "on the Six-Month Anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection on the Capitol. Not even during the Civil War did insurrectionists breach our Capitol, the citadel of our democracy. But six months ago today, insurrectionists did. They launched a violent and deadly assault on the people's house, on the people's representatives, and on the Capitol police sworn to protect them, as our duly elected Congress carried out the sacred ritual of our republic and certified the Electoral College vote.... It posed an existential crisis and a test of whether our democracy could survive -- a sad reminder that there is nothing guaranteed about our democracy."

DOJ Press Release: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland [Tuesday] afternoon met with U.S. Capitol Police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6^th, and with Department of Justice employees who have worked tirelessly to hold accountable those who attacked the Capitol six months ago today."

About That $10BB Contract Trump Mucked Up. Kate Conger & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Defense Department said on Tuesday that it would not go forward with a lucrative cloud-computing contract that had become the subject of a contentious legal battle amid claims of interference by the Trump administration. The Pentagon had warned Congress in January that it might walk away from the contract if a federal court agreed to consider whether ... Donald J. Trump interfered in a process that awarded the $10 billion contract to Microsoft over its tech rival Amazon, saying that the question would result in lengthy litigation and untenable delays. The Defense Department said in a news release on Tuesday that the contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, known as JEDI, 'no longer meets its needs,' but it said it would solicit bids from Amazon and Microsoft on future cloud-computing contracts." The AP's story is here.

It's Okay for an Elected Federal Official to Incite an Insurrection. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has asked to be dismissed from a federal lawsuit alleging that he incited the Jan. 6 mob assault on the U.S. Capitol, claiming that he can't be held liable because he was acting as a federal employee while challenging the 2020 election results in a fiery speech just before the riot began. Brooks said in a motion Friday that he should be dropped as a defendant or represented by the Justice Department in the case, filed March 5 by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).... U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington on Monday directed the Justice Department and Swalwell to respond to Brooks's claims.... In his filing Friday, Brooks invoked a 1988 law that protects federal employees from personal liability while acting within the scope of their office or employment."

Help! FBI Press Release: "The FBI's Washington Field Office has released 11 new videos of suspects in violent assaults on federal officers during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and is seeking the public's help to identify them. The 11 new videos depict suspects seen forcefully attacking law enforcement officers. Investigating the violent assaults on law enforcement officers committed during the January 6 attack on the Capitol has been a priority for the FBI. With the assistance of hundreds of thousands of tips from the American people, the FBI has arrested more than 500 individuals who took part in the Capitol riots. Of those, more than 100 were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers. However, some of the most violent offenders have yet to be identified, including the 11 individuals seen assaulting officers in the video footage we are releasing today." Includes videos.

Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "After storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, a Northern Virginia man began forming his own militia-like group in the D.C. suburbs and building up a supply of explosives under the guise of a Bible study group, according to federal prosecutors. Fi Duong, 27, appeared in court Friday and was released to home confinement pending trial, over the objections of prosecutors who sought stricter terms. According to the court record, at the time of his arrest he had several guns, including an AK-47, and the material to make 50 molotov cocktails. Details of the case -- one of the first if not the first in which the government publicly disclosed it had someone undercover to continue monitoring a Jan. 6 defendant -- were made public Tuesday."

Another Bad Hair Day for Matt. Matt Dixon of Politico: "A key figure in the ongoing federal sex-crime investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz is seeking to delay his sentencing as he continues to cooperate with prosecutors. Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who in May pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and corruption-related charges, requested in a motion filed Tuesday a delay in his sentencing, which is scheduled for August 19. Prosecutors are not opposing the motion, court records show."

Stupidest Senator News. Em Steck, et al., of CNN: "Sen. Ron Johnson insisted again last week that he is not a climate change denier, but CNN's KFile found video of him from just weeks earlier telling a Republican group that it is 'bullsh*t.' 'I don't know about you guys, but I think climate change is -- as Lord Monckton said -- bullsh*t,' the Wisconsin Republican said, without uttering the expletive but mouthing it, and referring to British conservative climate change denier Lord Christopher Monckton. 'By the way, it is.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My father taught us a repetitive poem, which I took to be an ethnic slur once I learned what ethnic slurs were. It's titled, "Yon Yonson," and to say it properly you have to use an offensively dimwitty fake Swedish accent. In its more appropriate iteration -- with only one letter changed -- it would go like this: "My name is Ron Yonson, I live in Wisconsin. I work in a lumber yard there. The people I meet when I walk down the street, They say 'What's your name?' And I say: My name is Ron Yonson ... (repeated again and again)."

Inexcusable Habits Die Hard. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Tuesday used a Nazi-era comparison in opposing the Biden administration's push to encourage all Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, calling the individuals leading those efforts 'medical brown shirts.' Members of the paramilitary organization that helped Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power were known as 'brownshirts.' Greene's remarks, made in a tweet, came weeks after she visited the Holocaust Museum and apologized for previously comparing coronavirus face-mask policies to the Nazi practice of labeling Jews with Star of David badges." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The odd thing is that Margie knows Nazis are bad, but she doesn't seem to recognize that her own supporters, like the Three Percenters, are the U.S. groups that most closely resemble (and try to emulate) the brownshirts, or that urging people to save their own lives by getting vaccinated is not even remotely akin to using force to put down opposing political groups. Now, there is one guy who does not acknowledge that Nazis are bad ~~~

~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "On a visit to Europe to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the first world war, Donald Trump insisted to his then chief of staff, John Kelly: 'Well, Hitler did a lot of good things.' The remark from the former US president on the 2018 trip, which reportedly 'stunned' Kelly, a retired US Marine Corps general, is reported in a new book by Michael Bender of the Wall Street Journal.... Bender reports that Trump made the remark during an impromptu history lesson in which Kelly 'reminded the president which countries were on which side during the conflict' and 'connected the dots from the first world war to the second world war and all of Hitler's atrocities'.... Bender says unnamed sources reported that Kelly 'told the president that he was wrong, but Trump was undeterred', emphasizing German economic recovery under Hitler during the 1930s." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess I'm not as "stunned" as Kelly was. First, Trump is a famous ignoramus. Second, Donald is Fred Trump's son, and I'll bet Fred had a high regard for Hitler. A lot of Germans & German-Americans did, even after WWII & the Holocaust. Trump, like some of his followers, is a neo-Nazi.

The Company He Keeps. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "A friend and golfing partner of ... Donald Trump -- who gained notoriety for using that friendship to lobby Trump's administration -- was charged with indecent assault last week in Pennsylvania on allegations he groped one of his dental patients, according to court documents. Albert Hazzouri Jr., a 65-year-old dentist from Scranton, Pa., is best known for a 2017 note he wrote Trump, using stationery from Trump's own Mar-a-Lago Club, to push a proposal for an oversight committee on dental spending. The note, which addressed Trump as 'Dear King,' came to symbolize the way that Trump blended business with government, giving his customers and friends an audience to lobby for their private causes. In charging documents filed last week, police said Hazzouri had groped a female patient after a dental procedure in May."

Nicole Perlroth & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Russian hackers are accused of breaching a contractor for the Republican National Committee last week, around the same time that Russian cybercriminals launched the single largest global ransomware attack on record, incidents that are testing the red lines set by President Biden during his high-stakes summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last month.... Early indications were that the culprit [in the R.N.C. hack] was Russia's S.V.R. intelligence agency, according to investigators in the case."

White Girl Out. Ben Strauss of the Washington Post: "ESPN announced Tuesday that Rachel Nichols [White girl] will not be part of the network's NBA Finals coverage as a sideline reporter. The announcement came two days after the New York Times published an audio recording of Nichols making disparaging comments about colleague [Black sports commentator] Maria Taylor. Nichols was scheduled to be the sideline reporter for the Finals, which begin Tuesday night, but she will be replaced by NBA reporter Malika Andrews [Black sports reporter].

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden outlined several strategies Tuesday to persuade more Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, including 'door-to-door outreach' in targeted communities and stepped-up efforts to get vaccine to primary-care doctors and pediatricians who can encourage adolescents to get shots as they head back to school or get ready for fall sports. 'It's a year of hard-fought progress. We can't get complacent now. The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family and the people you care about the most is get vaccinated,' Biden said in remarks at the White House complex on the federal government's coronavirus response, after falling shy of his self-imposed July 4 deadline for 70 percent of U.S. adults to have received at least one vaccination shot. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday that by the end of the week, nearly 160 million people in the United States will be fully vaccinated." This is part of the Post's live updates of Biden's activities. ~~~

~~~ David Smith of the Guardian: "Joe Biden has warned that the Delta variant of the coronavirus now makes up half of cases in many areas of the US and pledged to deploy federal 'surge response teams' to help local officials stop the spread. The president spoke on Tuesday after narrowly missing his self-imposed target of 70% of American adults receiving at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by Independence Day on 4 July. Although he noted that coronavirus cases and deaths are down 90% since January, Biden urged younger adults in particular to get vaccinated as the Delta variant, already raging across the world, threatens to become the dominant one in America. 'Our fight against this virus is not over,' he said in public remarks after a briefing by the White House Covid-19 response team."

Max Boot of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration, in cooperation with the states, has done a superb job of rolling out the vaccines.... The problem is that a significant percentage of the country refuses to get vaccinated. While young people and African Americans exhibit vaccine hesitancy, the most problematic group by far is Republicans. According to a new Post-ABC News poll, 86 percent of Democrats have gotten at least one vaccine shot, compared with only 45 percent of Republicans. Forty-seven percent of Republicans say they likely won't get vaccinated, compared with only 6 percent of Democrats. The states that have the lowest vaccination rates -- Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wyoming -- are all Republican redoubts.... Republicans have fallen victim to a virulent strain of misinformation circulating in the right-wing echo chamber." Boot cites disinformation circulated by Reps. Marjorie Green, Tim Massey (Ky.) & Sen. Ron Johnson & Fox "News."

Beyond the Beltway

Maryland. Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: "A 76-year-old woman who was taken back into custody last month after not answering calls during a computer class ... was ordered released Tuesday. After serving 16 years in federal facilities for dealing heroin, Gwen Levi moved to Baltimore to live with her 94-year-old mother, build relationships with her sons and grandchildren, and volunteer at prisoner-advocacy organizations as she searched for a job. She was one of about 4,500 prisoners allowed to serve their sentences at home as the coronavirus swept through federal prisons, killing 240 prisoners and four Federal Bureau of Prisons staff members. Her release, however, was revoked after she attended a computer word-processing class in Baltimore on June 12 and didn't return calls from officials monitoring her.... Her case drew attention after reports on former inmates who might have to go back to prison when the pandemic ends."

New York. The New York Times is liveblogging New York City ranked-choice mayoral election results here: "Eric Adams had a lead of one percentage point over his nearest rival, Kathryn Garcia, in the race for the Democratic mayoral nomination in New York City, according to a new count on Tuesday that included tens of thousands of absentee ballots. With most absentee votes now slated to be accounted for, Mr. Adams led Ms. Garcia by 8,426 votes in the Democratic mayoral primary, the city's first mayoral contest to be determined by ranked-choice voting. Maya Wiley, who emerged late in the primary as a left-wing standard-bearer, ended up in third place in the tally released on Tuesday. She had come in second place in the initial count of in-person ballots cast on Primary Day and during the early vote period." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Karen Matthews of the AP: "Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City after appealing to the political center and promising to strike the right balance between fighting crime and ending racial injustice in policing."

North Carolina. Lauren Lumpkin & Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "Journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates are joining Howard University's faculty, school officials announced Tuesday in a major recruiting victory for the private institution in the nation's capital. It was a simultaneous setback for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to lose Hannah-Jones after a long and remarkably contentious effort to recruit her. The surprising development came less than a week after trustees for UNC-Chapel Hill voted to award tenure to Hannah-Jones. Initially, the public university hired her as a professor without the job-protection status. But its board of trustees approved tenure for her on Wednesday, after faculty members and students at Chapel Hill protested that she had been mistreated." A Huffington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse are here: "The elite crews searching the pulverized steel and smashed concrete that was the Champlain Towers South would shift their focus to recovery efforts, officials said on Wednesday, acknowledging after nearly two weeks that survivors would not be found."

The Commentariat -- July 6, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Lauren Lumpkin & Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "Journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates are joining Howard University's faculty, school officials announced Tuesday in a major recruiting victory for the private institution in the nation's capital. It was a simultaneous setback for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to lose Hannah-Jones after a long and remarkably contentious effort to recruit her. The surprising development came less than a week after trustees for UNC-Chapel Hill voted to award tenure to Hannah-Jones. Initially, the public university hired her as a professor without the job-protection status. But its board of trustees approved tenure for her on Wednesday, after faculty members and students at Chapel Hill protested that she had been mistreated." A Huffington Post story is here.

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Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "At this point..., we have enough data in hand to declare that the economy is booming. In fact, it's booming so strongly that Republicans have pivoted from claiming (falsely) that we're experiencing the worst job performance in decades to lauding the employment numbers and giving credit to ... Trump's 2017 tax cut.... The Republican determination to attribute everything good that happens to tax cuts is almost beyond parody.... We are having another morning in America, and [President] Biden deserves more credit for his good morning than [Ronald] Reagan ever did for his."

Kevin Sullivan & Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, the Carters will be married 75 years, the longest in presidential history. Jimmy, 96, and Rosalynn, 93, will mark the occasion in the town where they met nearly a century ago.... Three days later, family, friends and Carter administration officials will travel to Plains for an anniversary party in the local high school auditorium.... Jimmy is also the longest-living president in history."

News from the GQP:

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: Paul "Gosar, a five-term Republican and dentist from Prescott, Ariz., emerged this year as a vociferous backer of the 'Stop the Steal' movement that falsely claimed that ... Donald J. Trump won the 2020 election and spearheaded the rally in Washington on Jan. 6 that led to the deadly Capitol riot. But Mr. Gosar's ties to racists like [Nick] Fuentes and America First, as well as similar far-right fringe organizations and activists, have been less scrutinized. A review of public comments and social media posts suggests that in Mr. Gosar, they have found an ally and advocate in Congress. His unapologetic association with them is perhaps the most vivid example of the Republican Party's growing acceptance of extremism, which has become apparent as more lawmakers espouse and amplify conspiracy theories and far-right ideologies that figure prominently in the belief systems of fringe groups.... Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida appeared at an event last year where security was handled by the Proud Boys, a far-right militia with more than a dozen members who have been charged in the Capitol riot. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado has come under scrutiny for her ties to members of the Three Percenters, a radical militia group. And before she was elected to Congress, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This story is a big deal in that it's at least a temporary abandonment of both-siderism, the Times' go-to stance on national politics.

David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement reports on a very strange speech about God & Jesus & all, which Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (QR) made to celebrate Independence Day. ~~~

~~~ Here Badash reports on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (QR-Georgia) Independence Day speech. One thing we find out is that apparently only white, straight, right-wing Christians pay taxes in the USA. MB: Does that mean I can stop paying taxes? And there's this: ~~~

~~~ Q "News" (I Guess). David Gilbert of Vice: "Two major QAnon influencers were given official press credentials to the latest Trump rally held in Sarasota, Florida over the weekend, signaling a new level of acceptance of the QAnon conspiracy theory by the former president and his team."

Rachel Lerman & Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: "A hacking group that experts said was behind the sprawling ransomware attack that hit hours before the beginning of the July Fourth holiday weekend is demanding $70 million to unlock the thousands of businesses affected by the hack. REvil, the same Russian-language group that was behind the attack on meat processor JBS, posted the demand on a dark-Web site associated with the group. The group wants the funds in bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency, and said if it receives the money it will publish a 'decryptor key,' or a computer code that will unlock the victims' files." The NBC News story is here.

Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post (July 1): "A.E. Dick Howard was a confident young college professor, only 34, when he got the assignment of a lifetime: Oversee the writing of a new constitution for Virginia. Hope was hard to come by that year -- 1968 -- with cities in upheaval over the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. But Howard's task amounted to a stroke against the darkest forces of society. The document he helped create repudiated a Virginia constitution adopted in 1902 with the stated purpose of disenfranchising Black people, which it did with bureaucratic efficiency for decades. The new constitution went into effect on July 1, 1971, finally bringing the modern era to the state where American slavery originated. And so Thursday mark[ed] 50 years since African Americans had their basic rights recognized and safeguarded in Virginia."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Michael LaForgia, et al., of the New York Times: "Florida's high-rise building regulations have long been among the strictest in the nation. But after parts of Champlain Towers South tumbled down on June 24, killing at least 24 people and leaving 121 unaccounted for, evidence has mounted that those rules have been enforced unevenly by local governments, and sometimes not at all. Miami-Dade County officials said last week that they were prioritizing reviews of 24 multistory buildings that either had failed major structural or electrical inspections required after 40 years or had not submitted the reports in the first place. But the county's own records show that 17 of those cases had been open for a year or more. Two cases were against properties owned by the county itself. The oldest case had sat unresolved since 2008." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. Jason Stanford, co-author of Forget the Alamo, in a Washington Post op-ed: "As The Post noted in its review of our book, we 'challenge the traditional view' of the Alamo saga, one popularized by Disney and John Wayne and cemented by politicians in the Texas school curriculum.... More than 20 states have introduced or passed legislation that attempts to prescribe how racial matters can be taught. In Texas last month, Abbott signed into law an act establishing a committee called the 1836 Project (get it?) to 'promote patriotic education.'... If Texans were tough enough to fight at the Alamo, they should be tough enough to talk about why." The WashPo's review of the book, by H.W. Brands. MB: The Party of Racists really is belligerent in its fear of even talking about racism.

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Elsa is tracking northward through the Gulf of Mexico and will bring heavy rain, strong winds gusts, storm surge and isolated tornadoes to Florida through Wednesday. Elsa will then spread some of its impacts up the Southeast and mid-Atlantic coasts into late week." ~~~

~~~ Weather Channel Update: "Elsa has regained hurricane strength and will scrape Florida's west coast, including parts of the Tampa-St. Petersburg metro, through early Wednesday with storm surge, high winds, flooding rain and isolated tornadoes."

The New York Times is liveblogging developments today in the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse.

The Commentariat -- July 5, 2021

~~~ Kevin Ambrose of the Washington Post: "The weather [in Washington, D.C.] this Fourth of July was perfect for a picnic followed by an amazing D.C. fireworks show. Mild temperatures and cool breezes provided comfortable conditions. Unlike in recent years, which featured high humidity with threats of showers and storms, the weather this year cooperated nicely. And smoke from the fireworks exited to the northeast rather quickly and never obscured the show."

Late Morning Updates:

Michael LaForgia, et al., of the New York Times: "Florida's high-rise building regulations have long been among the strictest in the nation. But after parts of Champlain Towers South tumbled down on June 24, killing at least 24 people and leaving 121 unaccounted for, evidence has mounted that those rules have been enforced unevenly by local governments, and sometimes not at all. Miami-Dade County officials said last week that they were prioritizing reviews of 24 multistory buildings that either had failed major structural or electrical inspections required after 40 years or had not submitted the reports in the first place. But the county's own records show that 17 of those cases had been open for a year or more. Two cases were against properties owned by the county itself. The oldest case had sat unresolved since 2008."

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Zach Montague of the New York Times: "On the day that President Biden had long anticipated as a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus, the White House hosted a celebration to both commemorate the July 4 holiday and herald the administration's progress toward overcoming the pandemic. In bringing together some 1,000 people for the largest planned event of Mr. Biden's presidency, the White House has been forced to walk a fine line, striving to signal progress toward restoring normalcy while still acknowledging the dangers of a pandemic that continues to claim hundreds of lives a day.... 'Two hundred and forty five years ago, we declared our independence from a distant king,' he said during the event. 'Today, we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus. That's not to say the battle against Covid-19 is over. We've got a lot more work to do.'" (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)

News about Former Presidents
     (Well, President & President*)

** Jimmy & Rosalynn Smith Carter reflect on 75 years of marriage. (Also linked yesterday.) An AP story is here.

Daniel Shaviro in Just Security on the Trump Organization-Allen Weisseberg indictments: "This is no mere fringe benefits case. It is a straight-out fraud case, claiming that the defendants kept double books: phony ones to show the tax authorities, and accurate ones to be hidden from view.... It is not just a state and local income tax fraud case. It is also -- via New York State fraud, conspiracy, and grand larceny statutes -- a federal income tax fraud case. The indictment's first three and longest counts detail a 'scheme to defraud' the federal Internal Revenue Service, including through a 'conspiracy' with multiple 'overt acts,' and the commission of 'grand larceny.'... If the Manhattan DA can prove the facts asserted, this is not a trivial case, or one that ordinarily would not be brought, or one that bespeaks political bias, or is just about pressuring a witness whom the DA wants to 'turn.'" Emphasis original.

Martin Weil of the Washington Post: "An arrest has been made after a vehicle was reportedly driven toward a crowd of pedestrians on the Washington Monument grounds on Saturday evening, the U.S. Park Police said. The vehicle struck a security barrier about 7:30 p.m. on the southeast side of the grounds and no pedestrians were injured, the park police said. Thousands were expected to gather on the grounds for the July 4 fireworks. The park police said Jack Joseph Dessin, 38, of New Jersey, was arrested on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon (automobile) and destruction of government property."

Kevin Draper of the New York Times: "In comments still rippling through [ESPN], the reporter Rachel Nichols, who is white, said Maria Taylor, who is Black, earned the job to host 2020 N.B.A. finals coverage because ESPN was 'feeling pressure' on diversity." Draper discusses the whole hoo-hah. MB: Since I don't follow ESPN, I have no idea whether or not Taylor got her job because she's a woman, but -- sports coverage being what it is -- there's a good chance that she did. In any event, even if Taylor is right about "diversity pressure" (and here again, I have no idea), this is not something a prudent person says out loud, even when she's pissed off, which apparently she was. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "President Biden had hoped to turn the Fourth of July into a celebration not just of the nation's independence, but of reaching his administration's ambitious goal to have 70 percent of adults at least partly inoculated against the coronavirus before the holiday. He didn't quite make it. As of Friday, only about 67 percent of Americans 18 and older had gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, according to a New York Times tracker. Almost 60 percent of all adults were fully vaccinated, and the highly contagious Delta variant was creating hot spots, particularly in states with low vaccination rates, like Missouri." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arkansas, Utah & West Virginia. GOP Governors Try to Close the Trump Covid Gap. Amy Wang & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "GOP governors implored their residents on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans and as the virus's new, more contagious delta variant has caused recent upticks in covid-19 cases in areas with low vaccination rates. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday expressed concern about possible 'trouble; ahead for Arkansans if the state did not accelerate its vaccination rate.... Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia ... said, '... When it really boils right down to it, they're in a lottery to themselves.... We have a lottery that says if you're vaccinated we're going to give you stuff. Well, you've got another lottery for them, and it's a death lottery.'... Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) ... called the vaccination gap among Republicans 'troubling' and said 'hopefully reason will rule.'... [Donald Trump's] endorsement of vaccination has been inconsistent, and he has continued to promote questionable covid treatments and to denigrate many health officials...."

Washington, D.C. Rachel Chason of the Washington Post: "Just six months ago, the covid-19 unit at Sibley Memorial Hospital was full and doctors at the Northwest D.C. hospital were grappling with a winter surge in pandemic patients. Today, the 25-bed ward is empty, said Michael Lee, the hospitalist medical director. There have been virtually no covid-19 patients for four weeks. It's a trend that doctors say they are seeing across the D.C. region as vaccinations have led to increased immunity, sending hospitalizations and deaths plunging.... In D.C. as of Friday, no coronavirus-related deaths had been reported since June 19 and just 10 intensive care unit beds were occupied by covid-19 patients, according to The Washington Post's tracker. Both Maryland and Virginia have seen similar declines in hospitalizations and deaths -- with Maryland on Friday reporting that there were fewer than 100 people hospitalized, the lowest recorded level since the pandemic began."

Beyond the Beltway

Pennsylvania. Hate-Mongers on Parade in the Cradle of Democracy. NBC 10 Philadelphia: "A group of white supremacists marched in front of Philadelphia City Hall Saturday night, drawing jeers from onlookers, as well as small scuffles. Approximately 200 members of the group Patriot Front wore white face coverings, khakis, blue shirts and tan hats and waved flags with their group insignias. They were seen approaching from Market Street before walking in front of City Hall around 10:45 p.m. Some could be seen holding shields as watchers-on shouted at them, demanding they leave Philadelphia." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas Could Have an Even Worse Governor. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: "Texas GOP Chairman Allen West announced Sunday he is running for governor, challenging fellow Republican Greg Abbott.... Since his election as Texas GOP chair in July of last year when he soundly beat then-incumbent James Dickey, West has criticized Abbott's coronavirus response and sought to push the governor's legislative agenda further to the right. Abbott has mostly ignored West's attacks. But the governor has increasingly catered to his right flank in recent months...."

Way Beyond

Vatican/Italy. Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "Pope Francis 'reacted well' to planned intestinal surgery Sunday evening at a Rome hospital, the Vatican said, without giving much detail about the pontiff's condition. In a statement late Sunday, a Holy See spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the 84-year-old Francis had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a narrowing of the large intestine. The written statement, which came shortly before midnight, was notable for its scarcity of medical detail."

News Ledes

A Big Holiday Weekend in the NRA-USA. CNN: "At least 150 people were killed by gun violence in more than 400 shootings across the country during the Fourth of July weekend as major cities nationwide confront a surge in violent crime, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive. The data, which includes the number of shooting incidents and gun violence victims nationally over a 72-hour period from Friday through Sunday, is still evolving and will be updated."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, are here.

AP: "Rescuers were given the all-clear to resume work looking for victims at a collapsed South Florida condo building after demolition crews set off a string of explosives that brought down the last of the building in a plume of dust." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, are here: "The remaining part of a collapsed building in South Florida was demolished in a burst of explosives that took the unstable structure down in seconds, after officials worried that it might not withstand the powerful winds of an approaching tropical storm and that rescue workers could be endangered. The demolition, which took place at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, came after officials warned residents to stay inside in case dust and other particles polluted the air, and as anguished families continued to await news in the search for 121 people missing since the building in Surfside collapsed more than a week ago. Rescue efforts had halted for much of the weekend amid growing worries about the unstable structure." ~~~

Weather Channel: "Tropical Storm Elsa is soaking Jamaica and Cuba and is expected to track toward Florida, where impacts from heavy rain, gusty winds and storm surge are likely early this week."