The Commentariat -- April 25, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Millions of Americans are not getting the second doses of their Covid-19 vaccines, and their ranks are growing. More than five million people, or nearly 8 percent of those who got a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, have missed their second doses, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Contro and Prevention. That is more than double the rate among people who got inoculated in the first several weeks of the nationwide vaccine campaign.... [Stupid excuses] were expected, but another hurdle has been surprisingly prevalent. A number of vaccine providers have canceled second-dose appointments because they ran out of supply or didn't have the right brand in stock.... Several Walgreens customers said in interviews that they scrambled, in some cases with help from pharmacy staff, to find somewhere to get the correct second dose. Others, presumably, simply gave up." MB: So ~~~

      (a) Walgreens screwed up;
      (b) I'm skeert;
      (c) Hey, I'll only get half-sick;
      (d) Busy doing my nails.

Allyson Waller of the New York Times: "At Howard [University], the classics department is as old as the university itself. Established in 1867 -- the same year that Howard, one of the country's leading historically Black colleges and universities, was founded -- the department became a hub for Black thought, enlightening generations of students about Black people in antiquity.... The university plans to dissolve the department by the fall semester. The university's decision, which was reported in The Washington Post, has galvanized students and faculty members to preserve what the Society for Classical Studies says is the only classics department at an H.B.C.U.... An online petition in support of keeping the department has been signed over 5,000 times. Students have also brought awareness to the situation by using the hashtag '#SaveHUClassics' on their social media accounts."

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "An audit of the vote in Arizona's most populous county was meant to mollify angry Trump voters. But it is being criticized as a partisan exercise more than a fact-finding one.... When a parade of flatbed trucks last week hauled boxes of voting equipment and 78 pallets containing the 2.1 million ballots of Arizona's largest county to a decrepit local coliseum, it kicked off a seat-of-the-pants audit process that seemed more likely to amplify Republican grievances than to put them to rest. Almost half a year after the election Mr. Trump lost, the promised audit has become a snipe hunt for skulduggery that has spanned a court battle, death threats and calls to arrest the elected leadership of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. The head of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Republican senators hired to oversee the audit, has embraced Mr. Trump's baseless theories of election theft and has suggested, contrary to available evidence, that Mr. Trump actually won Arizona by 200,000 votes. The pro-Trump cable channel One America News Network has started a fund-raiser to finance the venture and has been named one of the nonpartisan observers that will keep the audit on the straight and narrow."

Adi Renaldi & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Indonesia has found the wreckage of a navy submarine missing since Wednesday and declared all 53 of its crew members dead, the country's military chief announced Sunday. Underwater images captured by a remotely operated vehicle showed the wreckage in the Bali Strait at a depth of 838 meters, officials said. A search and rescue team found debris including a vertical rudder, anchor and safety jackets."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: When President Biden speaks before a joint session of Congress later this week, "He will have a historic backdrop: Two women, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Harris, for the first time will be in the immediate frame of the president -- something Biden is planning to note at the beginning of his speech. In a different historic marker, both will be wearing masks as part of the coronavirus protocols in the chamber.... The address marks the conclusion of the first chapter of Biden's presidency, one that he has sought to enter with a burs of activity meant to reshape the country's politics and its place in the world.... There will likely be only 200 people total in the chamber, according to a person involved in the planning. That's a fraction of the 1,600 people normally in attendance for the president's address to Congress." MB: The article is interesting. I am a bit put-off by Viser's description of Pelosi & Harris as "a historic backdrop," as if they're, well, window-dressing.

Katie Rogers & Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Biden on Saturday recognized the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, signaling a willingness to test an increasingly frayed relationship with Turkey, long a key regional ally and an important partner within NATO. 'Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,' Mr. Biden said in a statement issued on the 106th anniversary of the beginning of a brutal campaign by the former Ottoman Empire that killed 1.5 million people. 'And we remember so that we remain ever vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.'" The Guardian's story is here. President Biden's full statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post recounts the history of the Turks' massacre of perhaps 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. MB: The headline places "genocide" in quotation marks. I'm not sure why.

Louisiana Congressinal Race. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Progressives suffered a disappointing setback on Saturday, after their favored candidate lost to a more establishment-aligned opponent in a special congressional election in Louisiana. State Sen. Troy Carter, who was backed by top leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, beat state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson in a runoff to fill a vacant House seat that quickly turned into a turf war for sparring factions of the Democratic party. He overcame more than a million dollars in outside spending backing Peterson to win, 56 percent to 44 percent, when The Associated Press called the race. The district is majority Black and safe Democratic territory; it includes almost all of New Orleans and stretches north toward Baton Rouge. The former incumbent, Cedric Richmond, vacated the seat to join the Biden administration." The Washington Post story, by Dave Weigel, is here.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Following her vote to impeach Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney has received a groundswell of financial support from the most powerful figures in traditional GOP politics and the corporate world.... Almost the entire traditional Republican power structure is standing behind Cheney at this tough moment -- but not House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).... As House Republicans gather Sunday for a three-day retreat meant to unify around a new policy agenda, the former president, residing 170 miles south of the GOP's Orlando gathering, continues to be a divisive figure, pitting the small band of Republican lawmakers critical of him against the majority that remains loyal. And the fault line in the conference runs over Trump's role in cheering on the rioting criminals who ransacked the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6." MB: Frankly, I hope they get in a massive fistfight. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Donald Trump: A Clear & Present Danger. Katelyn Polantz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump's continued promotion of the 'big lie' about the 2020 election could still incite his followers to violence, the Justice Department and judges noted repeatedly this week, as courts weigh the future dangerousness of US Capitol riot defendants. Two federal judges this week brought up the disinformation about 2020 from right-wing figures, and even Trump himself, as they considered keeping alleged Capitol rioters in jail before trial. And prosecutors from the Justice Department are arguing more explicitly that violent threats stemming from Trump-backed conspiracy theories are still alive, and that Trump supporters could be called to act again."

Craig Timberg & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "While the world was distracted with ... Donald Trump leaving office on Jan. 20, an obscure Florida company discreetly announced to the world's computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the U.S. military. What happened next was stranger still." MB: I would summarize the rest of the story, but I don't understand a word of it. It's the most popular story on the WashPo site right now (1:45 pm ET Saturday), so I'm linking it. But I don't get it. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Claire Colbert of CNN: "... Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, aka the 'MyPillow Guy,' are among the winners -- if you can call them that -- of the 41st Golden Raspberry Awards, which are handed out to the worst in cinema every year.... The award for Worst Picture went to Lindell's documentary 'Absolute Proof,' which claims that a Chinese cyberattack flipped the 2020 election -- despite there being no evidence to back up the claim. Lindell, a vocal supporter of ... Donald Trump, also got a Worst Actor Razzie for the film. Giuliani's awkward appearance in 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' ... won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor. Giuliani and his pants zipper were also recognized as the Worst Screen Combo."

Capitalism Is Awesome! Ctd. David Gelles of the New York Times: "The coronavirus plunged the world into an economic crisis, sent the U.S. unemployment rate skyrocketing and left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Yet at many of the companies hit hardest by the pandemic, the executives in charge were showered with riches. The divergent fortunes of C.E.O.s and everyday workers illustrate the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom but still racked by steep income inequality. The stock markets are up and the wealthy are spending freely, but millions are still facing significant hardship. Executives are minting fortunes while laid-off workers line up at food banks.... For executives who own large stakes in giant companies, the gains have been even more pronounced. Eight of the 10 wealthiest people in the world are men who founded or ran tech companies in the United States, and each has grown billions of dollars richer this year, according to Bloomberg." ~~~

~~~ Marie: And millions of the peasants voted for Donald Trump, who did all he could to make them poorer. The "genius" of Donald & Mitch & Josh, et al., has been to convince the nitwits & suckers that Blacks & Hispanics took their jobs & Asians made them sick & killed their grannies. ~~~

~~~ Zachary Carter, in a New York Times op-ed, highlights the groundbreaking theories of British economist Joan Robinson who "upended the misogynistic good-old-boys' network of economists and devised theories around competition and labor vital to the antitrust debates of today."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "A long-simmering debate over the glaring gap in vaccine access -- largely between rich and poor countries, but among some developed nations, too -- is now boiling over, with global figures and national leaders decrying the vaccine plenty in a few nations and the relative drought almost everywhere else. African nations such as Namibia and Kenya are denouncing a 'vaccine apartheid,' while others are calling for policy changes in Washington and a broader rethink of the intellectual property and trademark laws that govern vaccine manufacturing in global pandemics.... In some countries with high vaccination rates -- including the United States, Britain and Israel -- coronavirus numbers are decreasing or plateauing. But globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled since February, according to the WHO, particularly as some nations in the developing world witness their highest infection rates yet."

Beyond the Beltway

Alanna Richer & Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "At least six people were fatally shot by officers across the United States in the 24 hours after jurors reached a verdict in the murder case against [Derek] Chauvin on Tuesday. The roll call of the dead is distressing[.]... The deaths, in some cases, sparked new cries for justice. Some said they reflect an urgent need for radical changes to American policing -- a need that the Chauvin verdict cannot paper over. For others, the shootings are a tragic reminder of the difficult and dangerous decisions law enforcement face daily."

Montana. Iris Samuels of the AP: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [Violently R] on Friday signed a bill that prohibits state and local law enforcement in Montana from enforcing federal bans on firearms, ammunition and magazines. Supporters of the law have said it would protect the Second Amendment from stiffer gun control laws that could come from federal legislation or executive orders by President Joe Biden in the wake of several mass shootings that took place this year, including a recent shooting that killed eight people in Indianapolis. Opponents of the bill have said it would make it difficult for local law enforcement to collaborate with federal authorities on issues beyond gun access when such collaboration is essential to protect public safety, including in cases of domestic violence and drug offenses." (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "... more than half of the officers in New York City's jail system who were disciplined over a 20-month period gave false, misleading or incomplete accounts on official forms or in statements to investigators, according to a New York Times analysis of records recently made public after a long court battle. The data suggests pervasive attempts by guards to cover up uses of force or other infractions at a time when the city has tried to rein in violence in the jails.... The city jail system, including the notorious Rikers Island complex, has long been a source of complaints of brutality by guards.... Until now, the disciplinary records of correction officers and their supervisors had been largely kept secret by state law. That changed last summer when, in response to pressure from protests against police violence and racism after the killing of George Floyd, New York legislators repealed 50-a, the section of the state civil rights statute that shielded most law enforcement misconduct records from the public."

** Igor Derysh of Salon: "Republicans in at least 14 states have introduced legislation that would seize power from election officials or limit their authority, apparently in response to unfounded attacks from ... Donald Trump and allies who sought to overturn his election loss. Republican state legislators across the country have responded to Trump's baseless election challenges, which were roundly rejected by dozens of judges, by rolling out more than 360 bills aimed at restricting voting access in nearly every state. But while much of the attention has focused on measures that would limit ballot access..., some of the proposals include provisions that would strip election officials of power and even impose criminal penalties for officials who defy the new restrictions.... Georgia's massive bill ... also includes more insidious measures that could allow Republicans to give 'themselves power to overturn election results,' Sylvia Albert [of] ... Common Cause said...." ~~~

~~~ Texas. Let's Not Let the "Urban People" Vote. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Twenty-four-hour voting was one of a host of options Harris County[, Texas, (includes Houston)] introduced to help residents cast ballots, along with drive-through voting and proactively mailing out ballot applications. The new alternatives, tailored to a diverse work force struggling amid a pandemic in Texas' largest county, helped increase turnout by nearly 10 percent compared with 2016; nearly 70 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of any fraud. Yet Republicans are pushing measures through the State Legislature that would take aim at the very process that produced such a large turnout. Two omnibus bills ... are seeking to roll back virtually every expansion the county put in place for 2020. The bills would make Texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ballot in. And they are a prime example of a Republican-led effort to roll back voting access in Democrat-rich cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Arizona's Maricopa County, while having far less of an impact on voting in rural areas that tend to lean Republican.... In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare tack of outlining restrictions that would apply only to counties with population of more than one million, targeting the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

Washington Post: "John Richards, a British newspaperman who attracted a flurry of international attention when he founded and later resignedly disbanded the Apostrophe Protection Society, a self-styled bulwark against the 'barbarians' laying waste to a humble yet essential element of the English language, died March 30 at a hospital in Boston, a town in Lincolnshire, England. He was 97."

New York Times: "On Aug. 7, 1959, Arlene Pieper completed the Pikes Peak Marathon, a grueling mountain course in Manitou Springs, Col., that no other woman had finished in its brief history. She ascended 8,000 feet to the 14,000-foot summit and descended the same way in 9 hours and 16 minutes.... Her achievement did not produce a thunderclap in sports world and stayed something of a secret.... She was the first woman ever to complete a sanctioned marathon in the United States.... Ms. Pieper -- who was known most recently as Arlene Pieper Stine -- died on Feb. 11 in Capitola, Calif., south of San Jose. She was 90."

Marie: If you don't read obituaries, you're missing something. They may appear in newspapers, but they are more interesting (and better-written) than most newspaper stories.

The Commentariat -- April 24, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

Katie Rogers & Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Biden on Saturday recognized the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, signaling a willingness to test an increasingly frayed relationship with Turkey, long a key regional ally and an important partner within NATO. 'Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,' Mr. Biden said in a statement issued on the 106th anniversary of the beginning of a brutal campaign by the former Ottoman Empire that killed 1.5 million people. 'And we remember so that we remain ever vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.'" The Guardian's story is here. President Biden's full statement is here.

Craig Timberg & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "While the world was distracted with ... Donald Trump leaving office on Jan. 20, an obscure Florida company discreetly announced to the world&'s computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the U.S. military. What happened next was stranger still." MB: I would summarize the rest of the story, but I don't understand a word of it. It's the most popular story on the WashPo site right now (1:45 pm ET Saturday), so I'm linking it. But I don't get it.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Following her vote to impeach Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney has received a groundswell of financial support from the most powerful figures in traditional GOP politics and the corporate world.... Almost the entire traditional Republican power structure is standing behind Cheney at this tough moment -- but not House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).... As House Republicans gather Sunday for a three-day retreat meant to unify around a new policy agenda, the former president, residing 170 miles south of the GOP's Orlando gathering, continues to be a divisive figure, pitting the small band of Republican lawmakers critical of him against the majority that remains loyal. And the fault line in the conference runs over Trump's role in cheering on the rioting criminals who ransacked the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6." MB: Frankly, I hope they get in a massive fistfight.

Montana. Iris Samuels of the AP: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [Violently R] on Friday signed a bill that prohibits state and local law enforcement in Montana from enforcing federal bans on firearms, ammunition and magazines. Supporters of the law have said it would protect the Second Amendment from stiffer gun control laws that could come from federal legislation or executive orders by President Joe Biden in the wake of several mass shootings that took place this year, including a recent shooting that killed eight people in Indianapolis. Opponents of the bill have said it would make it difficult for local law enforcement to collaborate with federal authorities on issues beyond gun access when such collaboration is essential to protect public safety, including in cases of domestic violence and drug offenses."

Texas. Let's Not Let the "Urban People" Vote. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Twenty-four-hour voting was one of a host of options Harris County[, Texas, (includes Houston)] introduced to help residents cast ballots, along with drive-through voting and proactively mailing out ballot applications. The new alternatives, tailored to a diverse work force struggling amid a pandemic in Texas' largest county, helped increase turnout by nearly 10 percent compared with 2016; nearly 70 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of any fraud. Yet Republicans are pushing measures through the State Legislature that would take aim at the very process that produced such a large turnout. Two omnibus bills ... are seeking to roll back virtually every expansion the county put in place for 2020. The bills would make Texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ballot in. And they are a prime example of a Republican-led effort to roll back voting access in Democrat-rich cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Arizona's Maricopa County, while having far less of an impact on voting in rural areas that tend to lean Republican.... In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare tack of outlining restrictions that would apply only to counties with population of more than one million, targeting the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas."

~~~~~~~~~~

Brady Dennis, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden used the waning hours of a White House climate summit to hammer home a message aimed as much at Americans as at the dozens of world leaders he had convened: Combating the Earth's warming is not simply a responsibility, but a chance to boost battered economies. 'Today's final session is not about the threat climate change poses,' Biden said Friday morning from the East Room. 'It's about the opportunity that addressing climate change provides, an opportunity to create millions of good-paying jobs around the world in innovative sectors.'"

~~~ The New York Times has live updates of President Biden's virtual climate summit, Day 2, here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, people briefed on the matter told CNN. Prosecutors with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section are examining whether Gaetz took gifts, including travel and paid escorts, in exchange for political favors, the sources said.... Gaetz has a long history of advocating for medical marijuana and has introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to loosen laws regulating the drug.... A number of his close associates have ties to the industry, including Jason Pirozzolo, a Florida doctor who founded a medical marijuana advocacy group and has in past news coverage in Florida been described as a "marijuana investor." According to reports, Pirozzolo accompanied Gaetz on the 2018 trip to the Bahamas that investigators are scrutinizing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Bumble-Busted. Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department has charged a Capitol rioter who was turned in by someone he matched with on the dating app Bumble, after he bragged about his exploits on January 6. According to court documents, one week after the attack, Robert Chapman of New York told one of his Bumble matches that 'I did storm the Capitol' and said that he 'made it all the way into Statuary Hall.' He also claimed that he was interviewed by members of the media. The other Bumble user replied, 'we are not a match.' Prosecutors said the user then quickly reached out to the FBI and provided screenshots of the conversation. Investigators said in court filings that they corroborated Chapman's claims by comparing his Bumble profile picture to body camera footage from police officers who were inside the Capitol."

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "An impassioned supporter of ... Donald Trump, on trial for allegedly advocating the 'slaughter' of influential Democrats after the U.S. Capitol riot, also espoused Nazi ideology and suggested to his father that Trump should override the election results and declare the United States a dictatorship as Adolf Hitler did in Germany generations ago, according to evidence presented by federal authorities in a Brooklyn courtroom Thursday. Brendan Hunt, that evidence suggests, was fixated on extremist ideas and conspiracy theories -- including that Democrats falsely portrayed covid-19 as a deadly epidemic to gain political advantage over Trump -- when on Jan. 8 he posted a video titled 'KILL YOUR SENATORS: Slaughter them all.'" MB: Not sure if Brendan is one of the people Sen. Ron Johnson called (a) a left-wing provocateur or (b) someone who wouldn't do anything to break the law. Since it's pretty difficult to label a neo-Nazi as "left-wing," maybe Brendan now can call Senator Ron as a character witness.

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "An Oath Keepers leader's chilling correspondence with another person who allegedly fantasized about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 'head rolling down the front steps' persuaded a federal judge on Friday that he should be kept behind bars pending trial."

A Florida Man Will Summer at a New Jersey Resort. Leia Idliby of Mediaite: "Donald Trump is reportedly planning to move his post-presidency operation from Mar-a-Lago to New Jersey, according to Business Insider.... Trump and his aides are planning to temporarily relocate to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he owns a golf club...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Yesterday I wished everyone a Happy First Bleach Day! As Meredith McGraw & Sam Stein of Politico remind us, "One year ago today..., Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid." Here's a Florida Man (et Fils) who probably did not celebrate Bleach Day. ~~~

     ~~~ DOJ Press Release: "A federal grand jury in Miami has returned an indictment charging a Florida man -- Mark Grenon, 62 -- and his three sons -- Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32 -- with fraudulently marketing and selling 'Miracle Mineral Solution,' a toxic industrial bleach, as a cure for COVID-19, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson's, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and other serious medical conditions, and with defying federal court orders.... The Grenons claimed that ingesting MMS could treat, prevent, and cure COVID-19, according to the charges.... In prior official warning statements, the FDA had strongly urged consumers not to purchase or use MMS for any reason, explaining that drinking MMS was the same as drinking bleach and could cause dangerous side effects, including severe vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lena Sun & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials lifted a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine Friday night after an extensive safety review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. The officials said the benefits of the single-shot vaccine far outweigh the risks from a rare and severe type of blood clot. The decision to lift the pause allows state and local officials to resume immediately giving the vaccine they have available on shelves, CDC officials said. The FDA has updated patient and health-care provider fact sheets for use as early as Saturday, and both agencies will publish additional education and communication materials by early next week." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Denise Lu of the New York Times: "The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal ever recorded in the country -- even surpassing the calamity of the 1918 flu pandemic.... Since the 1918 pandemic, the country's death rate has fallen steadily. But last year, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted that trend, in spite of a century of improvements in medicine and public health." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sheryl Stolberg & Chris Hamby of the New York Times: "The Biden administration said Friday that it did not know that a Baltimore factory had discarded millions of possibly contaminated doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine when President Biden last month released the company to ship vaccines manufactured there to Mexico and Canada. Canadian and Mexican officials said on Friday that they had assurances from AstraZeneca that the millions of doses they received were safe. Some of the doses have been distributed to the public in both countries, the officials said.... Vaccine production at the plant, operated by Emergent BioSolutions, has been halted. Up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine needed to be discarded because of the contamination fears. This week, inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration said Emergent had failed to fully investigate the episode, and they also found fault with the plant's disinfection practices, size and design, handling of raw materials and training of workers."

Atthar Mirza & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "The globe is quickly being split into coronavirus vaccine 'haves' and 'have-nots,' creating a gap that may define the next phase of the pandemic. Using publicly available figures from Our World in Data, The Washington Post found that nearly half -- 48 percent -- of all vaccine doses administered so far have gone to just 16 percent of the world's population in what the World Bank considers high-income countries. Through the summer and fall of last year, wealthy nations cut deals directly with vaccine-makers, buying up a disproportionate share of early doses -- and undermining a World Health Organization-backed effort, called Covax, to equitably distribute shots. So now, in a small number of relatively wealthy nations, including the United States, doses are relatively plentiful and mass immunization campaigns are progressing apace. But much of the world is still struggling to secure enough supply." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Last July, during the presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised the universal health care advocate Ady Barkan that he wouldn't let intellectual property laws stand in the way of worldwide access to coronavirus vaccines.... Biden was unequivocal. 'It lacks any human dignity, what we're doing,' he said of Trump's vaccine isolationism. 'So the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And it's not only a good thing to do, it's overwhelmingly in our interest to do.'... Now that Biden is in power, his perception of our interest doesn't seem quite so clear. Last year, India and South Africa requested a waiver from World Trade Organization rules governing intellectual property for technology dealing with the pandemic.... A handful of rich nations, including the United States, oppose the waiver, but there's a widespread belief that if America changes its position, other countries will follow. Much of the world is waiting to see what Biden does. There's an enormous consensus in favor of a waiver."

Stupidest Senator Has More Horribly Stupid Advice. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) cast dark suspicions on the 'big push' to vaccinate American adults against the deadly coronavirus. The Wisconsin Republican, who's one of the Senate's most notorious sources of disinformation, told radio host and vaccine skeptic Vicki McKenna that the inoculations aren't necessary, reported Forbes. '[There's] no reason to be pushing vaccines on people,' Johnson said, adding that doses should be 'limited' only to those most vulnerable. 'If you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?... I'm getting highly suspicious [of the] big push to make sure everybody gets the vaccine.'..." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "A Maricopa County judge on Friday temporarily halted a Republican-led effort in Arizona to recount ballots from the 2020 presidential election, after Democrats filed a lawsuit arguing that the audit violated state election security laws. But the judge, Christopher Coury of Maricopa County Superior Court, said the pause would go into effect only if the state Democratic Party posted a $1 million bond to compensate a private company -- Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm based in Florida -- that Republicans have hired to review the ballots. In a statement on Friday afternoon, Democratic officials said they would not do so, but they vowed to continue the fight in court. Another hearing was set for Monday morning, and the judge emphasized that he expected the audit to move forward." An Arizona Mirror report is here.

Iowa. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "An Iowa woman who tried to kill two children in 2019 by hitting them with her car because she thought they were of Middle Eastern, African or Mexican descent has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and hate crime charges, the authorities said. The woman, Nicole Poole Franklin, 43, made the admission to two counts of hate crime charges on Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors. She faces life imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday." These were two separate incidents. MB: I suppose it's appropriate that this horrible woman attempted to murder two (possibly) ethnic-minority children by Jeep Cherokee, a vehicle whose name has been criticized by some Native Americans, including the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maryland. Emily Davies & Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "Top Maryland officials are launching an investigation of all deaths in police custody that were overseen by the state's former chief medical examiner who testified in Derek Chauvin's defense, the Maryland attorney general and governor's offices announced Friday.... David Fowler, who was Maryland's chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019, served as a key witness for Chauvin, whose high-profile trial ended this week with a jury convicting the former Minneapolis officer of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Fowler broke with the Hennepin County medical examiner, among others, to classify Floyd's killing as 'undetermined' and not a homicide."

Minnesota. Chauvin Was Always a Bad Cop. Mike Levine of ABC News: "Late last year, as a team of Minnesota state prosecutors was preparing for the trial ... [of] Derek Chauvin..., they received a series of videos depicting Chauvin's handling of another case three years earlier that by their own description shocked them. The videos, from Sept. 4, 2017, allegedly showed Chauvin striking a Black teenager in the head so hard that the boy needed stitches, then allegedly holding the boy down with his knee for nearly 17 minutes, and allegedly ignoring complaints from the boy that he couldn't breathe. 'Those videos show a far more violent and forceful treatment of this child than Chauvin describes in his report [of the incident],' Matthew Frank, one of the state prosecutors, wrote in a court filing at the time. Now, the U.S. Justice Department may ... charge Chauvin for the 2017 incident. Two months ago, federal prosecutors in Minneapolis brought witnesses before a federal grand jury to provide testimony related to the incident, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported at the time. And this week, a source informed of the probe told ABC News that the investigation is still underway...."

North Carolina. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Seven sheriff's deputies have been placed on leave, and the governor of North Carolina [Roy Cooper (D)] is calling for the release of body-camera footage after deputies shot and killed a Black man on Wednesday, the authorities said.... Tommy Wooten II, the Pasquotank County sheriff, has said that the deputies were wearing body cameras and that the cameras were active at the time. He said the footage had been turned over to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and could be released only by a judge."

Way Beyond

Russia. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The Russian president went up to the brink -- and then, with the eyes of the world upon him, stepped back from it. State television images on Friday showed Russian forces that had massed near Ukraine, sparking fears of an imminent full-scale war in Europe, being loaded onto trains and ships to be pulled back. The same day, the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny announced he was ending his three-week hunger strike because his demands for independent medical care had, at last, sufficiently been met. The performative blend of fear, suspense and force that President Vladimir V. Putin deploys to affirm his power reached a crescendo this week, illuminating the ever-harder-line tactics to which he is prepared to resort to cement and project his influence. Yet it also became clear by Friday that Mr. Putin saw the anxiety he was able to induce at home and abroad as a tool to be modulated depending on changing circumstances or in the service of a broader aim. It was a distillation, in short, of Mr. Putin's tactical, high-stakes rule that evokes his past as an officer in the K.G.B.: keeping the adversary guessing and off balance, while also being prepared to exercise restraint as long as he can save face." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, we were wondering in the Comments section what made Putin step back aggressive maneuvers against Ukraine. Troianovski provides an answer. ~~~

~~~ Zahra Ullah of CNN: "Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said on Friday that he is ending his weekslong hunger strike. The announcement comes days after the Russian opposition leader was transferred to a prison hospital due to his deteriorating health." Breaking at 9:45 am ET. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Ledes

CNN: "A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft -- carrying four astronauts from three countries -- docked with the International Space Station early Saturday morning ET, beginning the crew's six-month stay in space. This mission, dubbed Crew-2, marks the third-ever crewed flight for Elon Musk's company and the first to make use of a previously flown, privately-owned rocket booster and spacecraft." The Washington Post is livebloggding developments here.

CNN: "Indonesia's Navy changed the status of its missing submarine from 'sub miss' to 'sub sank' on Saturday, as a naval chief presented debris believed to be from the vessel at a news conference. Authorities now expect to carry out an evacuation process to recover the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine and its crew when they pinpoint its exact location, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said. The latest update came as hopes faded for the 53 crew members, who were expected to have run out of oxygen early on Saturday. So far, no sign of them has been found, Yudo said."

The Commentariat -- April 23, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marie: I do apologize for forgetting earlier to wish you all a Happy First Bleach Day! As Meredith McGraw & Sam Stein of Politico remind us, "One year ago today..., Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid." I'm celebrating with a white rum cocktail and a slice of iced white cake with one powerful laser light-beam candle.

Lena Sun & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Breaking: A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee recommended Friday that inoculations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine resume. The vaccine would carry a warning about a rare risk of blood clots in recipients. The director of the CDC has the final call on whether vaccinations should restart." Emphasis original. ~~~

~~~ Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "The nationwide pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine should be lifted, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory committee recommended Friday. The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 10-4 with one abstention, that the vaccine's benefits outweigh the risks, and that it will save lives. The panel did not specifically ask for a warning label, but recommended the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) add a label intended to make providers aware of the risk of a rare complication involving blood clots in women under the age of 50."

Stupidest Senator Has Another Horribly Stupid Idea. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) cast dark suspicions on the 'big push' to vaccinate American adults against the deadly coronavirus. The Wisconsin Republican, who's one of the Senate's most notorious sources of disinformation, told radio host and vaccine skeptic Vicki McKenna that the inoculations aren't necessary, reported Forbes. '[There's] no reason to be pushing vaccines on people,' Johnson said, adding that doses should be 'limited' only to those most vulnerable. 'If you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?... I'm getting highly suspicious [of the] big push to make sure everybody gets the vaccine.'..."

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, people briefed on the matter told CNN. Prosecutors with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section are examining whether Gaetz took gifts, including travel and paid escorts, in exchange for political favors, the sources said.... Gaetz has a long history of advocating for medical marijuana and has introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to loosen laws regulating the drug.... A number of his close associates have ties to the industry, including Jason Pirozzolo, a Florida doctor who founded a medical marijuana advocacy group and has in past news coverage in Florida been described as a "marijuana investor." According to reports, Pirozzolo accompanied Gaetz on the 2018 trip to the Bahamas that investigators are scrutinizing."

Denise Lu of the New York Times: "The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal ever recorded in the country -- even surpassing the calamity of the 1918 flu pandemic.... Since the 1918 pandemic, the country's death rate has fallen steadily. But last year, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted that trend, in spite of a century of improvements in medicine and public health."

A Florida Man Will Summer in Rural New Jersey. Leia Idliby of Mediaite: "Donald Trump is reportedly planning to move his post-presidency operation from Mar-a-Lago to New Jersey, according to Business Insider.... Trump and his aides are planning to temporarily relocate to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he owns a golf club...."

The New York Times has live updates of President Biden's virtual climate summit, Day 2, here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.

Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "An Iowa woman who tried to kill two children in 2019 by hitting them with her car because she thought they were of Middle Eastern, African or Mexican descent has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and hate crime charges, the authorities said. The woman, Nicole Poole Franklin, 43, made the admission to two counts of hate crime charges on Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors. She faces life imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday." These were two separate incidents. MB: I suppose it's appropriate that this horrible woman attempted to murder two (possibly) ethnic-minority children by Jeep Cherokee, a vehicle whose name has been criticized by some Native Americans, including the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Zahra Ullah of CNN: "Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said on Friday that he is ending his weekslong hunger strike. The announcement comes days after the Russian opposition leader was transferred to a prison hospital due to his deteriorating health." Breaking at 9:45 am ET.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, We Can, Biden-Style. Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden on Thursday moved to put four years of official climate denial behind the United States, declaring that America would cut its global warming emissions at least in half by the end of the decade. Addressing 40 world leaders at the start of a two-day summit about the U.S. return to the Paris climate agreement, Mr. Biden sought to galvanize other countries to take more aggressive steps. He cast the challenge of avoiding catastrophic warming as an economic opportunity for America and the world, a striking contrast to his predecessor who had abandoned the agreement. 'This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative,' Mr. Biden said. 'A moment of peril, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities.'" ~~~

~~~ Both the New York Times, here, and the Washington Post, here, have liveblogged President Biden's global climate summit. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "Climate activists gathered in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to dump wheelbarrows full of cow poop near the White House in protest of President Biden's climate plan, which they say is 'bullshit' and does not go far enough to protect the environment. Videos posted on Twitter from the Earth Day demonstration featured a group of at least a dozen demonstrators pushing pink wheelbarrows downtown toward the White House, where Biden is hosting a two-day virtual climate summit with dozens of world leaders. The demonstrators then dumped the manure onto the street, along with signs and banners reading, 'Stop the bullshit,' and 'Declare climate emergency now!'" Article includes some tweeted videos. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: These "activists" seem more like show-off troublemakers than real environmentalists. That cow manure is valuable mulch (just ask Forrest M.!), but it won't be used to grow sweet peas on a D.C. street.

Biden to Congress: Tax the Rich. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The next phase of President Biden's $4 trillion push to overhaul the American economy will seek to raise taxes on millionaire investors to fund education and other spending plans, but it will not take steps to expand health coverage or reduce prescription drug prices, according to people familiar with the proposal.... The president is set to outline his so-called American Family Plan, which includes measures aimed at helping Americans gain skills throughout life and have more flexibility in the work force, before his first address to a joint session of Congress next week." ~~~

     ~~~ Dan Primack of Axios: "Stocks fell Thursday following media reports that President Biden wants to nearly double the capital gains tax paid by wealthy Americans.... Biden reportedly is considering a proposal of a 39.6% top rate on long-term capital gains, up from the current 20% rate. He also is expected to maintain an ACA-related investment tax, bringing the total federal rate to as high as 43.4%.... The S&P closed down 0.92%[.] The Dow fell 321 points or 0.94%[.]"

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday passed legislation aimed at combating a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic in a 94-1 vote, with GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) the only 'no' vote. The bill now goes to the House, where Democrats are expected to soon take up their version of the legislation.... A California State University, San Bernardino study that looked at 16 cities found a 149 percent increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans in 2020." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times' story is here. MB: Maybe the headline should be, "Hawley only Senator to favor discriminating against Asians."

Abrams Owns Sen. Foghorn Leghorn. Laura Bassett of MSNBC: "Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, went viral on Wednesday for embarrassing himself during a Tuesday hearing with Stacey Abrams about Georgia's new voter suppression law. What the senator had hoped would be a triumphant 'gotcha' grilling backfired.... Kennedy attempted to stump Abrams by asking her to list the specific provisions of the bill she finds racist and objectionable. Abrams, a Yale-educated attorney and one of the nation's foremost voting rights experts, proceeded to list from memory and in detail the many, many provisions that are designed to make it harder for Black people to vote. She didn't once glance down at any notes.... The remarkable confrontation ... epitomized a dynamic all too familiar for women and especially women of color. Kennedy didn't anticipate that Abrams ... would show up to a Senate hearing on the issue overprepared, quite possibly because that level of preparation has never been required of him. In fact, Kennedy has been known to downplay his background as an Oxford-educated lawyer. His Southern drawl seems designed to help him appear more folksy and relatable to his constituents. A former classmate of his from New Orleans described Kennedy's 'Southern-cornpone accent' and country-bumpkin persona as an 'affectation,' pure 'political theater' and 'about as authentic as a cow in a camel costume.'" ~~~

~~~ Matt Egan of CNN: "Progressive activists are calling on Ford, Target, Google, Bank of America and other major companies that have pledged to support voting rights to cut ties with the US Chamber of Commerce.... At issue is the Chamber of Commerce's fierce opposition to the Democrats' sweeping voting bill known as the For the People Act, which advocates say would counter efforts by Georgia and other states to impose new voting restrictions. The Chamber of Commerce has slammed the legislation, which last month was approved by the US House of Representatives..., in part because of new curbs on political advocacy by companies and associations. Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog group, sent letters Wednesday to 25 companies that have a relationship with the Chamber of Commerce even though they signed last week's statement in the New York Times vowing to oppose discriminatory voting legislation. The campaign from activists underscores the enormous pressure companies are under to follow up their verbal support for voting rights with concrete action."

Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "For the second time in history, the House passed legislation Thursday to make the District of Columbia the nation's 51st state, bolstering momentum for a once-illusory goal that has become a pivotal tenet of the Democratic Party's voting rights platform. Democrats unanimously approved Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton's Washington, D.C. Admission Act , describing it as a bid to restore equal citizenship to the residents of the nation's capital and rectify a historic injustice.... The bill, symbolically titled H.R. 51, now heads to the Senate, where proponents hope to break new ground -- including a first-ever hearing in that chamber. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer pledged Tuesday that 'we will try to work a path to get [statehood] done,' and the White House asked Congress in a policy statement to pass the legislation as swiftly as possible." A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mary Jalonick of the AP: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is renewing her push for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, floating a new proposal to Republicans that would evenly split the panel's membership between the two parties. Pelosi first proposed a commission in February that would have had four Republicans and seven Democrats to 'conduct an investigation of the relevant facts and circumstances relating to the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol.' Republicans rejected it as inadequate.... It's unclear if the two sides will ever agree. Some Republicans allied with Trump have downplayed the severity of the insurrection.... The Republicans said the investigation should focus not just on what led to the Jan. 6 insurrection but also on violence in the summer of 2020 during protests over police brutality -- a touchstone among GOP voters and an idea that Democrats say is a distraction from the real causes of the violent attack. On Tuesday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he'd had no discussions with Pelosi."

Tracy Jan & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration put up bureaucratic obstacles that stalled approximately $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed an investigation into the holdup, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Washington Post. Congress requested the investigation into the delays to recovery aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 left residents of the U.S. territory without power and clean water for months. But, the report said, former Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson and another former HUD official declined to be interviewed by investigators during the course of the examination that began in 2019. Access to HUD information was delayed or denied on several occasions.... Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis, appointed by Trump as top HUD watchdog, found unprecedented procedural hurdles set by the White House budget office -- in addition to an extended partial federal government shutdown that also produced delays." (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a recent trend of leniency for minors convicted of serious crimes and said judges need not specifically find 'permanent incorrigibility' before sentencing juvenile murderers to life in prison without the possibility of parole.... Donald Trump's three Supreme Court nominees were key to the 6-to-3 ruling, which was written by one of them, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.... The court upheld the life-without-parole sentence a Mississippi court imposed on a 15-year-old who stabbed his grandfather to death in a dispute over the boy's girlfriend." MB: That's odd, because Bart I-Like-Beer O'Kavanaugh sure granted himself leniency for his "youthful indiscretions," which allegedly included sexual abuse & attempted rape. Update: I see where Rachel Maddow agrees with me on this a hunnert percent. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report, by Adam Liptak, is here.

David Brooks of the New York Times: "Those of us who had hoped America would calm down when we no longer had Donald Trump spewing poison from the Oval Office have been sadly disabused. There are increasing signs that the Trumpian base is radicalizing.... Since the election, large swathes of the Trumpian right have decided America is facing a crisis like never before and they are the small army of warriors fighting with Alamo-level desperation to ensure the survival of the country as they conceive it.... With this view, the Jan. 6 insurrection was not a shocking descent into lawlessness but practice for the war ahead.... With their deep pessimism, the hyperpopulist wing of the G.O.P. seems to be crashing through the floor of philosophic liberalism into an abyss of authoritarian impulsiveness. Many of these folks are no longer even operating in the political realm.... Apocalyptic pessimism has a tendency to deteriorate into nihilism, and people eventually turn to the strong man to salve the darkness and chaos inside themselves." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is worth remembering that Our Mr. Brooks was an acolyte of William F. Buckley, a right-wing "philosopher" who had no problem saying the quiet part out loud, justifying suppression of Black voters, for instance, as a necessity to sustain "civilized standards."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Tucker Carlson is worse than you thought:

Perhaps this is the story that @TuckerCarlson was trying to get ahead of. In his college yearbook, he listed himself as a member of the "Dan White Society."

Dan White was the man who murdered Harvey Milk. pic.twitter.com/TYklyfC8tS

— Travis Akers (@travisakers) April 21, 2021

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Tucker's homophobia is well-documented, but openly celebrating the man who cold-bloodedly assassinated the most prominent GLBTQ public official in America ... certainly draws a line under that. And there's no reason to think anything about his worldview has fundamentally changed."

Paul Farhi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "A nonpartisan political organization is facing blowback from its employees after hiring journalist Mark Halperin, whose career as a prominent TV pundit hit a wall after he faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Junior staffers at No Labels objected this week when the organization hired Halperin.... The internal dissension grew so heated that two employees who complained were granted paid leave -- to consider whether they want to stay, the organization said -- and a third is considering resigning over it.... Halperin's career as a political analyst collapsed at the start of the MeToo era in 2017 after at least a dozen women, including former colleagues, came forward with allegations against him ranging from unwanted touching to sexual assault." A Raw Story summary report is here.

Marcia Dunn of the AP: "SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk's rapidly expanding company. The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX's debut crew last May. They'll spend six months at the orbiting lab. It was the first time SpaceX reused a capsule and rocket to launch astronauts for NASA, after years of proving the capability on station supply runs. The rocket was used last November on the company's second astronaut flight." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging the flight of SpaceX's "Crew Dragon."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

Matthew Perrone & Carla Johnson of the AP: "COVID-19 hospitalizations among older Americans have plunged more than 70% since the start of the year, and deaths among them appear to have tumbled as well, dramatic evidence the vaccination campaign is working. Now the trick is to get more of the nation's younger people to roll up their sleeves. The drop-off in severe cases among Americans 65 and older is especially encouraging because senior citizens have accounted for about 8 out of 10 deaths from the virus since it hit the U.S., where the toll stands at about 570,000[.] COVID-19 deaths among people of all ages in the U.S. have plummeted to about 700 per day on average, compared with a peak of over 3,400 in mid-January."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brazil. A Tragedy of Authoritarianism. Ernesto Londoño & Flávia Milhorance of the New York Times: "Rail-thin teenagers hold placards at traffic stops with the word for hunger -- fome -- in large print. Children, many of whom have been out of school for over a year, beg for food outside supermarkets and restaurants. Entire families huddle in flimsy encampments on sidewalks, asking for baby formula, crackers, anything. A year into the pandemic, millions of Brazilians are going hungry. The scenes, which have proliferated in the last months on Brazil's streets, are stark evidence that President Jair Bolsonaro's bet that he could protect the country's economy by resisting public health policies intended to curb the virus has failed." MB: This is a tragedy in the classical sense: Brazilians elected this guy.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jane Timm of NBC News: "A bill that would stop some voters from getting a ballot automatically mailed to them each election failed unexpectedly in Arizona's state Senate Thursday after a single Republican joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. GOP state Sen. Kelly Townsend explained her surprise 'no' vote on the state Senate floor amid a tense episode that saw the senator get into a heated confrontation with the bill's sponsor and the pair attempt to silence each other with parliamentary rules. 'I am for this bill, but I am not voting for it until after the audit,' she said, referring to an audit orchestrated by Senate Republicans of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County reportedly set to get underway this week. President Joe Biden narrowly won the state. Townsend added that other election-related bills had not been advanced. 'We have no business fast tracking everything and going home.'... The legislation, which passed the House earlier this week, had come under fire from Democrats, voting rights groups and business leaders in the state." MB: Sounds as if the bill will pass.

California. Derrick Taylor & Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "Felony charges were announced Wednesday against a Bay Area police officer who fatally shot a man more than two years ago, officials said. The same officer was placed on administrative leave last month after he shot a man who later died. The officer, Andrew Hall, of the Danville Police Department in California, was charged with felony voluntary manslaughter and felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm in the shooting death of Laudemer Arboleda in 2018, the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. Officer Hall is a deputy with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office and was assigned to the Police Department in Danville, whose police services have been provided through the sheriff's office...."

Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Two days after the streets of Minneapolis were filled with people celebrating the conviction of a police officer for the murder of George Floyd, the city returned to a period of mourning on Thursday for another Black man killed by a police officer. Packed into a church for the funeral of Daunte Wright were politicians, faith leaders and relatives of other people killed by the police, including the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor and the families of Philando Castile and Oscar Grant. Many had come from across the country to pay respects to Mr. Wright, the 20-year-old man who was fatally shot by an officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center last week during a traffic stop.... On Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Mr. Wright to a grieving family and city." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sorry, but I think Sharpton is a charlatan, a "religious" ambulance-chaser of sorts, who preys on families in pain to raise his own profile. And I'm not sure why he calls himself "The Rev" inasmuch as I don't know that he ever was ordained a minister of any church or pastored a church. Perhaps I'm being unfair or am just totally wrong, so feel free to argue with me.

New York City Mayoral Race. Dana Rubinstein & Katie Glueck of the New York Times: New York City's "gay community" was not impressed with mayor candidate Andrew Yang's interview with members of the Stonewall Democratic Club. "'He kept calling us "Your community," like we were aliens,' [one member] said.... To some Stonewall attendees, Mr. Yang's appearance only fueled concerns about whether he can discuss the problems at hand with sufficient depth and seriousness. More broadly, the reaction speaks to how polarizing Mr. Yang's personality can be -- eliciting sincere enthusiasm and disdain in seemingly equal measure." Politico's story is here.

North Carolina. Nick Valencia, et al., of CNN: "Neighbors on Thursday described a chaotic scene of North Carolina deputies trying to serve a warrant, a car pulling away and shots fired -- leaving one man dead. The shooting took place Wednesday morning in a working-class neighborhood of Elizabeth City in the northeastern corner of the state. The Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office said Thursday in a video statement that its special operations and tactical team was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Andrew Brown Jr. when the shooting occurred.... Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg said the arrest warrant was for felony drug charges and Brown had a history of resisting arrest. CNN could not immediately verify any previous resisting arrest charges against Brown.... Neighbors told CNN that deputies opened fire on the vehicle that Brown was driving, though it was unclear if the deputies started to fire before or after the car was in motion."

Ohio. John Futty of the Columbus Dispatch: "An Ohio criminal-justice professor who studies the fatal use of force by law-enforcement officers didn't hesitate to render an opinion after watching body-camera video of a Columbus police officer fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon on the city's Southeast Side. 'My first impression is that the officer was legally justified in using deadly force,' said Philip Stinson, a Bowling Green State University professor.... '... from looking at the video, it appears to me that a reasonable police officer would have had a reasonable apprehension of an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death being imposed against an officer or someone else. That's the legal standard.'"

South Dakota Woke. Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "In the tiny South Dakotan town called Faith, the high school Rodeo Club planned to hold its annual fundraising event next Monday night at the Legion Hall, complete with a pancake supper, bidding on pies and a 'Slave/Branding Auction.' For decades, Rodeo Club members offered a few days of their labor to a rancher in exchange for a donation -- and although there have long been calls for clubs across the state to stop labeling this slavery, the name in Faith has stuck. But this year, as a poster circulated on Facebook, Legion Hall host Glenda McGinnis said she received dozens of calls from people around the country wanting to know 'how such a racist and hurtful name could be used in 2021.'... McGinnis said the Rodeo Club's adviser called her Wednesday afternoon to cancel the event." MB: If you get a chance, read the story; they don't get out much in South Dakota.

Way Beyond

Israel. Joseph Krauss of the AP: "Israeli police say 44 people were arrested and 20 officers were wounded in a night of chaos in Jerusalem, where security forces separately clashed with Palestinians angry about Ramadan restrictions and Jewish extremists who held an anti-Arab march nearby. Tensions have spiked in recent days in Jerusalem, which has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Residents braced for possible further unrest ahead of Muslim Friday prayers as police stepped up security and the U.S. Embassy appealed for calm. Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police on a nightly basis since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The tensions began when police placed barricades outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, where Muslims traditionally gather to enjoy the evening after the daytime fast." ~~~

~~~ Joseph Krauss of the AP: "Hours after Israeli soldiers shot and killed Osama Mansour [on April 6] at a temporary checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the military announced that it had thwarted a car-ramming attack -- but the facts didn't seem to add up. By all accounts, Mansour had initially stopped his car when ordered to do so. His wife ... was sitting in the passenger seat. And after the soldiers sprayed the vehicle with gunfire killing him and wounding her, they declined to arrest her as an accomplice. Witnesses say the soldiers killed Mansour for no apparent reason, part of what rights groups say is a pattern of fatal shootings of Palestinians by Israeli forces under questionable circumstances."

Russia. Andrew Kramer & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Russia's Defense Ministry ordered a partial pullback of troops from the border with Ukraine on Thursday, signaling a possible de-escalation in a military standoff that had raised alarm that a new war in Europe could be looming. The order came a day after President Vladimir V. Putin, in an annual state of the nation address, rattled off a list of grievances against Western nations, including threats of new sanctions." A BBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Vladimir Isachenov of the AP: "Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that caused Ukrainian and Western concerns.... The concentration of Russian troops amid increasing violations of a cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Ukraine raised concerns in the West, which urged the Kremlin to pull its forces back.... Moscow has rejected Ukrainian and Western concerns about the troop buildup, arguing that it's free to deploy its forces anywhere on Russian territory. But the Kremlin also sternly warned Ukrainian authorities against trying to use force to retake control of the rebel east, saying it could intervene to protect civilians there. More than 14,000 people have been killed in seven years of fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Donbas."