;)
The Commentariat -- April 29, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "Video footage released Wednesday of the January attack on the Capitol shows the moments when rioters appeared to spray an unknown substance at Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, forcing him to retreat behind police lines. Sicknick, 42, was among the vastly outnumbered officers attempting to hold back a violent crowd on the west side of the Capitol at around 2:30 p.m. Jan. 6. He died the next day of natural causes, officials said, and has been hailed as a hero. The video has been played in federal court at hearings for men charged with assaulting Sicknick by spraying a chemical irritant. Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of W.Va. are charged> with assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to impede or injure an officer and other related counts.... The videos show the moments when Sickick was sprayed and capture him trying to wash his eyes after being hit." Includes video.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: Sen. Tim "Scott's rebuttal is notable for having nothing to say as an answer to [President Biden's] vision of a rebalanced political economy, let alone its underlying assessment of what's gone wrong. Instead, Scott employed a two-step. He portrayed the GOP as favoring government spending amid crisis by citing spending Republicans supported under ... Donald Trump, while falling back on bromides about big government to dismiss spending proposed by Biden.... This hints at how badly on the defensive Republicans are. Scott needs to portray the GOP as committed to using government to help people, at a time when large majorities favor Biden's plans. But this GOP simply doesn't exist.... Even more tellingly, Scott hailed the wonders of the pre-coronavirus economy. But what about the current economy?"
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government must comply strictly with a requirement that immigrants receive detailed notices about their deportation hearings. The 6-to-3 decision featured unusual alliances, with the three conservative justices most committed to interpreting statutes according to their plain words -- Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett -- joining the court's three-member liberal wing to form a majority.... The question in the case was whether the government had to provide all of the information at once or could do so piecemeal. Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the statute's use of the article 'a' in 'a notice to appear' was crucial.... 'To an ordinary reader ... "a" notice would seem to suggest just that: "a" single document containing the required information, not a mishmash of pieces with some assembly required,' he wrote.... The decision means that Agusto Niz-Chavez, an immigrant from Guatemala who entered the United States unlawfully in 2005, may apply to seek permission to stay."
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The New York Times has the full transcript of President Biden's speech, as delivered. MB: The only "free" transcript of the speech as delivered that I could find is Politico's. It's interspersed with Politico reporters' commentary.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden laid out an ambitious agenda on Wednesday night to rewrite the American social compact by vastly expanding family leave, child care, health care, preschool and college education for millions of people to be financed with increased taxes on the wealthiest earners. Invoking the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mr. Biden unveiled a $1.8 trillion social spending plan to accompany previous proposals to build roads and bridges, expand other social programs and combat climate change, representing a fundamental reorientation of the role of government not seen since the days of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and Roosevelt's New Deal.... After presenting himself during last year's campaign as a 'transition candidate' to follow the volatile tenure of Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden has since his inauguration positioned himself as a transformational president.... The president, who fist-bumped his way down the aisle, arrived amid tighter security than usual, with streets around the building closed and patrolled by swarms of police officers and National Guard troops.... The smaller audience produced a more intimate feeling in the chamber, and unlike previous presidents, who had to project their voices, Mr. Biden at times lowered his to a whisper, as he often does during speeches. He departed from his prepared text and ad-libbed more than most presidents do, and he lingered around the chamber afterward to chat with lawmakers.
"Not allowed to bring anyone to the first lady's box, Jill Biden hosted five guests online beforehand, including a transgender teenager, a gun control activist and an immigrant brought to the country illegally as a child." Here's White House video of Dr. Biden introducing & speaking with her guests. ~~~
~~~ The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Politico's main "report" on the President's speech, which appears in the Magazine, is by John Harris. Harris seems quite exercised: "President Joe Biden's address to a joint session Congress was the most ambitious ideological statement made by any Democratic president in decades -- couched in language that made it sound as if he wasn't making an ideological argument at all." ~~~
~~~ Natasha Korecki & Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "In his first address before a joint session of Congress, the president embraced a tax-and-spend mantra to frame his next big legislative fight, walking right up to a third rail that has terrified Democrats for decades and forced his predecessors to triangulate and retreat to safer middle ground.... Biden's speech was, in its most direct form, an attempt to sell a host of agenda items, from massive spending on infrastructure and social welfare programs to calls for police reform, racial justice, gun control laws and, as he put it, ending 'our exhausting war over immigration.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: The fear of the super-rich is so baked-in in this country that even reporters who probably are not among the super-wealthy seem rather breathless about remarks like this from the President: "I'm not out to punish anyone. But I will not add to the tax burden of the middle class of this country.... When you hear someone say that they don't want to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent and on corporate America, ask them: Whose taxes are you going to raise instead, and whose are you going to cut?”
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "There were two moments during President Biden's address to the nation on Wednesday in which he obviously, if only indirectly, referred to the man who preceded him in his position.... 'America is rising anew,' Biden said, 'choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, and light over darkness.'... That tracks with Biden's past rhetoric and, frankly, Trump's own: Biden warned the country last autumn that a dark winter was coming because of the pandemic (and Trump's leadership failures), and Trump himself made fear a central part of his reelection bid.... From there, Biden turned his attention to an exhaustive list of policy priorities, one that, in its own way, differentiated his speech from any of Trump's.... It was also a reminder that Biden always ran on being a president who just sort of quietly went about presidenting, a promise that he has fulfilled in spades.... [Near the end of his speech, Biden said,] '... We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy, of pandemic and pain, and "we the people' did not flinch.'... Then: 'The autocrats will not win the future. America will.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: My favorite line of the speech, which has received little or no attention, was this: "The question of whether our democracy will long endure is both ancient and urgent, as old as our republic, still vital today."
The New York Times is liveblogging President Biden's address to a Joint Session of Congress. Times reporters are providing analyses & fact-checks here; the page also includes a livefeed of the speech. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's liveblog of President Biden's speech is here. The video livefeed is featured on the Post's front page. CNN's live updates of the speech are here. It appears CNN's livefeed of the speech will appear on both its main Webpage & the analysis page.
Alan Fram of the AP: "Sen. Tim Scott accused Democrats on Wednesday of dividing the country and suggested they're wielding race as 'a political weapon,' using the official Republican response to President Joe Biden's maiden speech to Congress to credit the GOP for leading the country out of its pandemic struggles and toward a hopeful future. Scott, R-S.C., in his nationally televised rebuttal of Biden's address, belittled the new president's initial priorities -- aimed at combating the deadly virus and spurring the economy -- as wasteful expansions of big government." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's the transcript of Sen. Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) response, via the New York Times. I watched the whole thing, up till the time Scott knocked the President for the first time -- so for about 30 seconds. CNN has a transcript of Scott's remarks, as prepared. ~~~
~~~ Adam Gabbatt & David Smith of the Guardian: "Scott ... open[ed] with a solidly Republican criticism of 'socialist dreams' before taking aim at the president over some public schools having failed to reopen -- a decision which is taken at state-level, frequently by local districts, rather than by the federal government.... The extent to which Trump still looms over the Republican party was clear in Scott's speech, with the senator praising the Trump administration and on occasion using talking points that could have been lifted straight from a Trump stump speech." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Republicans don't know what socialism is. According to the Googles, socialism is "a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole." I don't know of any Democrats who advocate for the federal government's operating our manufacturing facilities and meting out washing machines & laptops to the folks back home. Forcing top earners, wealthy Americans & big corporations to pay taxes at a rate higher than middle-class Americans is not "socialism." It's called "progressive taxation." Right now, as we know, we have, to a large extent, regressive taxation: the rich are among the best tax avoiders & outright evaders, and some huge corporations -- like Amazon -- pay no federal taxes at all.
"It's About Time." Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged the historical significance of President Biden's speech before Congress on Wednesday night when she and Vice President Harris will be the first two women to be seated behind the president at a joint address, saying 'it's about time.... I made history when I was the first Speaker to be standing behind President Bush and he made note of that,' Pelosi [told Andrea Mitchell of NBC News], referring to former President George W. Bush's State of the Union address in 2007. Bush began his speech by noting it was the first time a president was addressing 'Madam Speaker.' 'Now this is just -- just so exciting.'"
Jim Tankersley & Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday detailed a $1.8 trillion collection of spending increases and tax cuts that seeks to expand access to education, reduce the cost of child care and support women in the work force, financed by additional taxes on high earners. The American Families Plan, as the White House calls it, follows the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package President Biden introduced last month, bringing his two-part package of economic proposals to just over $4 trillion. He will present the details to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The proposal includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits, much of which is aimed at expanding access to education and child care." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tami Luhby, et al., of CNN on what's in the $1.8 trillion plan. A CNBC report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mitch Teaches Old Chuck a New Trick. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation that sought to clamp down on the release of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden's ambitious climate change promises. Taking a page from congressional Republicans who in 2017 made liberal use of a once-obscure law to roll back Obama-era regulations, Democrats will invoke the law to turn back a Trump methane rule enacted late last summer. That rule had eliminated Obama-era controls on leaks of methane, which seeps from oil and gas wells. The vote will be the first time congressional Democrats have used the law, called the Congressional Review Act, which prohibits Senate filibusters and ensures one administration's last-minute regulations can be swiftly overturned with a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "The Senate voted on Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation designed to clamp down on emissions of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden's ambitious climate change promises.... Three Republican senators -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rob Portman of Ohio -- joined Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to vote for the measure." The vote was 52-42.
This Is Rich. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday pronounced President Biden's first 100 days a massive disappointment and accused the president of breaking his campaign promise to bring the nation together in the wake of a tumultuous 2020." Then, of course, Kumbaya Mitch goes on to show his commitment to unity by lambasting the President: "'Behind President Biden's familiar face, it's like the most radical Washington Democrats have been handed the keys, and they're trying to speed as far left as they can possibly go before American voters ask for their car back,' he said. McConnell took aim at Biden's handling of the surge of migrants crossing the southern border...," his coronavirus relief package and even his administration's distribution of vaccines. And other stuff. The only things Mitch missed were Meatless Joe & book-pushing Kamala. (Also linked yesterday.)
Hawley's Very Fake Outrage. Dominic Rushe & Daniel Strauss of the Guardian: "Senator Josh Hawley (R) of Missouri accuses the US's biggest tech companies of committing the 'gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded age' in his upcoming book. He rails that tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook 'have become a techno-oligarchy with overwhelming economic and political power'. Hawley has also invested potentially tens of thousands of dollars in the very companies he denounces, according to public financial disclosure records examined by the Guardian.... The disclosures also show that Hawley is invested in another of his persistent targets: China. Hawley has between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, holds stakes in some of China's biggest companies including Alibaba, Ping An Insurance group and Tencent.... Last year Hawley launched an attack on China, claiming 'imperialist China seeks to remake the world in its own image, and to bend the global economy to its own will'."
Weird News. Katie Williams & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Federal agencies are investigating at least two possible incidents on US soil, including one near the White House in November of last year, that appear similar to mysterious, invisible attacks that have led to debilitating symptoms for dozens of US personnel abroad. Multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN that while the Pentagon and other agencies probing the matter have reached no clear conclusions on what happened, the fact that such an attack might have taken place so close to the White House is particularly alarming."
From the Smoldering Trumpster Fire
** William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became ... Donald J. Trump's personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said. One of the people said the investigators had seized Mr. Giuliani's electronic devices. Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president.... The United States Attorney's office in Manhattan and the F.B.I. had for months sought to secure a search warrant for Mr. Giuliani's phones. Under Mr. Trump, senior political appointees in the Justice Department repeatedly sought to block such a warrant.... After Merrick B. Garland was confirmed as President Biden's attorney general, the Justice Department lifted its objection to the search." The Hill has a summary report here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Paul Campos, in LG&$, excerpts key passages of the NYT story. ~~~
~~~ NYT Report Update: "F.B.I. agents on Wednesday morning also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Mr. Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in seeking negative information on the Bidens, according to people with knowledge of that warrant, which sought her phone. Ms. Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, has also represented Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch under indictment in the United States whose help Mr. Giuliani sought." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems quite likely that the request for a warrant went up the DOJ chain to Garland. Garland serviced as chief judge of the D.C. circuit court. He would not have approved the warrant because Borat. There's some there there. ~~~
~~~ Michael Sisak, et al., of the AP have independently confirmed the NYT report: "Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home and office on Wednesday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department's investigation into the business dealings of ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine. The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges. Agents searched Giuliani's home on Madison Avenue and his office on Park Avenue, people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "In the months since [the Capitol insurrection, police officer Michael] Fanone ... [who] suffering a mild heart attack and a concussion as he was shocked with a stun gun and beaten ... said it has been 'difficult' to listen to politicians like ... Donald Trump, who last month falsely claimed rioters were actually 'hugging and kissing' police, downplay the severity of the insurrection.... In an emotional interview on 'CNN Tonight,' Fanone described in vivid detail the terror he experienced defending the Capitol from a mob intent on stopping certification of the election, and called out elected officials who have tried to obscure that reality -- a position that some GOP officials have embraced as they seek to defend Trump.... Fanone, a 40-year-old who joined the force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was among the 850 D.C. police officers who responded on Jan. 6 as rioters threatened to overwhelm the Capitol Police. He joined a group of officers at the West Terrace facing what he described to The Washington Post as a 'medieval battle scene.'" CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Republicans Choose Capitol Insurrectionist as County Precinct Chair. Ed Lavandera of CNN: "A Texas man arrested for storming the US Capitol and assaulting police officers on January 6 also serves as a Republican Party precinct chair and has been an election poll worker in north Texas. Mark Middleton, 52, was appointed as the chair of Precinct 14 in Cooke County in December, just a month after the presidential election, according to Chris McNamara, chairman of the Cooke County Republican Party. A precinct chair is a low-level elected position in local party politics. However, Middleton was not elected. He was appointed by a committee of local Republicans to fill the vacant precinct officer position.... Middleton and his wife, Jalise Middleton, were both arrested and face seven federal charges each. They have pleaded not guilty."
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Brendan Hunt, a Trump supporter who called for killing members of Congress days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, was found guilty Wednesday of making a death threat against elected officials. The jury, which took about three hours to reach its verdict, found that comments Hunt made in a disturbing video posted online two days after the U.S. Capitol riot amounted to a genuine threat to murder lawmakers in Washington. He faces up to 10 years in prison.... Hunt, 37, was charged with one count of making a threat to assault and murder a U.S. official. He was arrested Jan. 19, a day before President Biden's inauguration, after the FBI received a tip about his video, titled 'KILL YOUR SENATORS: Slaughter them all.' The clip had been posted on BitChute, a hosting site popular with far-right conservatives, after the deadly riot in Washington.... [Hunt's] prosecution in Brooklyn federal court has been seen as a test of how far violent speech can go before it crosses a line into criminality and comes as such politically charged rhetoric on social media has come under increasing scrutiny." The New York Times report is here.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Tuesday ordered the release from jail pending trial of a man who was photographed with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing an appeals court decision making it harder to detain riot defendants not accused of violence. Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., had been denied bond and jailed for nearly four months on charges including obstructing Congress, violent entry into the Capitol while armed with a stun gun and stealing a piece of government mail that he later displayed to media outlets." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Arkansas. Alex Bollinger of LGBTQ Nation: "The father of a transgender teen was arrested while testifying against an anti-trans bill in the Arkansas House because his speech went 30 seconds over his allotted time, even though he said that far-right representatives of hate groups were allowed to talk for nearly an hour over their allotted times.... Video has been shared online of [Chris] Attig being dragged out of the legislature last month by officers while defending the rights of transgender minors who, like his son 22-year-old did, need access to gender-affirming medical care.... Attig said that he was taken to jail, where he stayed for several hours and now faces a charge of disorderly conduct. He said that representatives from the SPLC designated hate groups Alliance Defending Freedom and Family Research Council were allowed to talk for up to 40 minutes and that only opponents of H.B. 1570 were held the the two-minute time limit."
Florida. Karen Murphy of the (Tallahassee) Capitolist: State Senate "Democrats ... found themselves Wednesday morning squabbling in a backroom.... Once they emerged, the 16-member Florida Senate Democrat Caucus announced it had unexpectedly ousted its party's leader. With only three days left in the legislative session, Senator Gary Farmer, (D-District 34) was removed from his post as Senate Minority Leader and replaced by either Senator Lauren Book (D-District 32), who was on deck to take over as leader next year or Senator Bobby Powell (D-District 30), the Leader Pro Tempore, depending on who you ask. Book's spokesperson Claire VanSusteren told the Sun-Sentinel, a no-confidence vote on Farmer, taken during that private meeting, was the culmination of issues that had been building through the 2021 legislative session that ends on Friday."
Florida. Nick Corasaniti & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "A bill that would impose a raft of new restrictions on voting in Florida cleared the State House of Representatives on Wednesday after hours of contentious debate. Democrats denounced the legislation as overly stringent and unnecessary, and Republicans argued that it would install necessary 'guardrails' for securing elections, despite their acknowledgment that the state's election last year had been a 'gold standard' without fraud. The bill passed on a 78-to-42 vote, largely along party lines. Because the House added significant amendments to the bill, which had previously passed the State Senate, the legislation now faces a final vote in the full Senate before it heads to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is expected to sign it." MB: I hope the bill makes it too difficult for old Republicans to vote.
Florida. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "After he was charged with lying to a grand jury earlier this month, Robert W. Runcie insisted he would 'be vindicated.' The schools superintendent in Broward County, Fla. had spent years battling accusations tied to his leadership before and after the Parkland school shooting -- and the indictment, he claimed, was simply another politically motivated attack tied to the massacre. Yet, less than 24 hours after saying as much in a video on Tuesday, Runcie appeared to change his tune. 'I will step aside so you can have the peace you are looking for,' he told Broward school board member Lori Alhadeff in a meeting later that night. Her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting in February 2018." (Also linked yesterday.)
Georgia. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Three Georgia men were indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot to death while jogging through a South Georgia neighborhood last year, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The deadly encounter helped fuel nationwide racial justice demonstrations last year, and the charges are the most significant hate crimes prosecution so far by the Biden administration, which has made civil rights protections a major priority. The suspects -- Travis McMichael, 35; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William 'Roddie' Bryan, 51 -- were each charged with one count of interference with Mr. Arbery's right to use a public street because of his race and with one count of attempted kidnapping. Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm. Travis McMichael is accused of shooting Mr. Arbery." (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's report is here. The DOJ's press release is here.
Georgia. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last February, two detainees sat side-by-side in a Georgia jail cell, strapped into restraint chairs. As hours passed, the two were not allowed respite, including a chance to use the bathroom. One man ended up urinating on himself and the chair, according to prosecutors. 'I'm a sit your a-- in that chair for 16 hours straight,' Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill allegedly said. 'I need to hear from both of y'all that y'all not gonna show y'all's a-- in my county no more.' Hill, 56, now faces federal civil rights charges in the Northern District of Georgia, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday, for allegedly ordering his deputies to use excessive force against four detainees last year by strapping them into restraint chairs as punishment." (Also linked yesterday.)
Georgia. Defeated U.S. Senator Still Beating the Drum for Trump. Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) is calling on Georgia's top law enforcement official to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) for his handling of the 2020 election. Loeffler sent a letter on Wednesday to state Attorney General Chris Carr [R] requesting a probe into whether Raffensperger used his office to advance his personal political interests during the 2020 election cycle, alleging that he 'politicized and minimized voters' legitimate concerns about changes to Georgia's elections' that came about in response to the coronavirus pandemic."
Illinois. Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: "City officials in Chicago released body camera footage on Wednesday showing a police officer fatally shooting Anthony Alvarez, 22, after an early-morning foot chase on the city's Northwest Side in March. The killing of Mr. Alvarez was the second police shooting in a month to prompt an outcry from the public and renew calls for an overhaul to the Chicago Police Department.... Video from the body cameras and from residential security cameras appear to show that Mr. Alvarez was holding a cellphone in his left hand and a gun in his right hand. After he was shot, he dropped the gun, which fell several feet in front of him."
Michigan. Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Three of the six men charged in the kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) have been hit with additional charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in a superseding indictment on Wednesday. New federal firearms charges have been leveled against another two of the men. The development represents a sharp escalation of charges against Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Daniel Joseph Harris, whom federal authorities first indicted last December, along with Kaleb Franks, Brandon Caserta, and Ty Garbin. Garbin pleaded guilty to the kidnapping plot since that time and faces the possibility of life imprisonment upon his sentencing. Prosecutors accuse the men of plotting how to 'seize, confine, kidnap, abduct and carry away, and hold for ransom and reward, or otherwise, the Governor of the State of Michigan.'"
Minnesota. Andy Mannix of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "... with [Derek] Chauvin's state trial out of the way, federal prosecutors are moving forward with their case [against Chauvin & three other officers]. They plan to ask a grand jury to indict Chauvin and the other three ex-officers involved in George Floyd's killing -- J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao -- on charges of civil rights violations, a source said. If the grand jury voted to indict, the former officers would face the new civil rights charges on top of the state's cases, meaning all four could be headed toward yet another criminal trial in federal court." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
New York. A Conspiracy of Secrets, Lies & Abuse of Power. David Goodman, et al., of the New York Times: "The effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office to obscure the pandemic death toll in New York nursing homes was far greater than previously known, with aides repeatedly overruling state health officials over a span of at least five months, according to interviews and newly unearthed documents. Mr. Cuomo's most senior aides engaged in a sustained effort to prevent the state's own health officials, including the commissioner, Howard Zucker from releasing the true death toll to the public or sharing it with state lawmakers, these interviews and documents showed. A scientific paper, which incorporated the data, was never published. An audit of the numbers by a top Cuomo aide was finished months before it became publicly known. Two letters, drafted by the Health Department and meant for state legislators, were never sent. The actions coincided with the period in which Mr. Cuomo was pitching and then writing a book on the pandemic, with the assistance of his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, and others." ~~~
~~~ Steve M. writes a funny, cynical post on why the subpoena of Rudy's electronic devices is good news for Andrew Cuomo.
North Carolina. Richard Fausset & Giulia Nieto del Rio of the New York Times: "For a week now, protesters in Elizabeth City, a small, majority-Black community in eastern North Carolina, have taken to the streets, demanding to see the body camera video of the fatal encounter between county sheriff's deputies and an African-American man. Many had hoped that a court hearing on Wednesday would prompt the release of the footage and bring some clarity to the matter. Instead, Judge Jeff Foster of Pitt County Superior Court delayed the public release of the videos for at least 30 days, citing concerns that their release could compromise the investigation into the April 21 killing of the man, Andrew Brown Jr.... Judge Foster denied the release altogether to the media outlets, saying they did not have legal standing to request the video.... But Judge Foster also ruled that authorities must show the footage to Mr. Brown's adult son, Khalil Ferebee, and his immediate family within one degree of kinship, plus one lawyer licensed to practice law in North Carolina. The judge said the family could receive redacted versions of the videos from four body cameras and one dashboard camera within 10 days."
News Ledes
Another Murderous Win for the NRA. New York Times: "Two sheriff's deputies were among four people who were killed in a 13-hour standoff in Boone, N.C., that the authorities said started on Wednesday morning when they were called to the home of a man who had not shown up for work. Deputies from the Watauga County Sheriff's Office arrived at a house at 9:44 a.m. on Wednesday after the homeowner's employer called to report that the person had not come to work or answered telephone calls, the sheriff's office said. When the deputies went inside, two of them were shot as they descended the basement steps, Sheriff Len Hagaman said. Sheriff Hagaman told reporters it was fair to say his deputies had been ambushed by the gunman, who was later identified by officials as Isaac Alton Barnes, 32. He is also suspected of killing his mother, Michelle Annette Ligon, 61, and his stepfather, George Wyatt Ligon, 58, before killing himself, according to a statement Thursday afternoon from the sheriff's office."
Another NRA Win. New York Times: "Five people have been arrested and charged in connection with a violent attack in February in which a man who was walking Lady Gaga's French bulldogs in Hollywood was shot and two of the dogs were stolen, the Los Angeles police said on Thursday."
CNBC: "Economic activity boomed to start 2021, as widespread vaccinations and more fuel from government spending helped get the U.S. closer to where it was before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, the sum of all goods and services produced in the economy, jumped 6.4% for the first three months of the year on an annualized basis. Outside of the reopening-fueled third-quarter surge last year, it was the best period for GDP since the third quarter of 2003.... In a separate report Thursday, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to a pandemic-era low last week, but the number was higher than expected.... Another 553,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims last week. That marked another pandemic-era low...."
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