The Commentariat -- April 7, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Georgia. Ha! Kate Brumback of the AP: "A district attorney in Atlanta said Wednesday that she will not pursue charges against a Georgia state lawmaker who was arrested during a protest of the state's sweeping new election law. 'After reviewing all of the evidence, I have decided to close this matter,' Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in an emailed statement. 'It will not be presented to a grand jury for consideration of indictment, and it is now closed.' Rep. Park Cannon, a Democrat from Atlanta, was arrested March 25 after she knocked on the door to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp'’s office while he was on live television speaking about the voting bill he had just signed into law. Police charged her with obstruction of law enforcement and disruption of the General Assembly. She was released from jail later that evening."

Kentucky. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Kentucky on Wednesday became the only state in the country with a Republican-controlled legislature to expand voting rights after a bitter presidential election that tested the country's democratic institutions and elevated ballot access as an animating issue for both parties. In a signing ceremony on Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, hailed the bill as a bipartisan effort that cut against the push in other Republican legislatures to put up barriers to voting.... The reasons that Kentucky Republicans have diverged on voting rights range from the political to the logistical. For one, they had an easier sell: With sweeping new rules allowing the election to be held safely during the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans in Kentucky had one of their best cycles in years, with both Senator Mitch McConnell and Mr. Trump easily winning in the state. And expanding voting access in Kentucky was a low bar to clear; the state had some of the tightest voting laws in the country before 2020, with not a single day of early voting, and strict limits on absentee balloting."

Battle of the Sickening Scions? Ivana Saric of Axios: "Andrew Giuliani, a former Trump White House staffer and the son of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, told the Washington Examiner he plans to run for governor of New York in 2022.... Despite a flood of sexual misconduct allegations and a federal investigation into his handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still expected to run for reelection next year."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "John Boehner, the Republican former House speaker, issues a stinging denunciation in his new book of Donald J. Trump, saying that the former president 'incited that bloody insurrection' by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and that the Republican Party has been taken over by 'whack jobs.' The criticism from Mr. Boehner in his book, 'On the House: A Washington Memoir,' represents an extraordinary public rebuke by a former speaker of the House toward a former president from his own party and shows how much the Republican Party has shifted since Mr. Boehner left Congress in 2015.... Nodding to the divisions between the parties in Congress now, he writes, 'Whatever they end up doing, or not doing, none of it will compare to one of the lowest points of American democracy that we lived through in January 2021.' Mr. Trump, he goes on, 'incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the bullshit he'd been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unlike many "memoirs" that are ghostwritten, Boehner's book appears to be written "in his own words."

Kevin Draper of the New York Times: "Tiger Woods was speeding when he crashed his sport-utility vehicle in February, reaching speeds of more than 80 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone on winding road near Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The vehicle struck a tree at an estimated 75 m.p.h. and was sent airborne, eventually stopping in some brush.... He added that there were no signs of impairment or intoxication, and that Woods was wearing his seatbelt. The captain of the Lomita Sheriff's Station, James Powers, said that data was obtained from the vehicle's event data recorder.... The data showed that Woods had hit the accelerator throughout the crash, and that the pressure applied to the pedal was 99 percent. Powers said he believed that Woods inadvertently hit the accelerator while trying to brake.... Woods was not cited, Villanueva said, because under California law that typically requires either an independent witness or a law enforcement officer to witness the excessive speed. He said that Woods did not receive any special treatment.... Woods crashed his car on a windy and tricky stretch of Hawthorne Boulevard that is known for car crashes near Rancho Palos Verdes...." An AP story is here.

AP: "A lawyer for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has complained of serious back and leg pain in custody, says doctors have found him to be suffering from two spinal hernias. Vadim Kobzev told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that Navalny also has a spinal protrusion and is beginning to lose sensation in his hands. Navalny went on a hunger strike last week to protest what he called poor medical care in a Russian prison. On Tuesday, the leader of the Navalny-backed Alliance of Doctors union was detained by police after trying to get into the prison to talk to doctors."

The New York Times' live updates of Day 8 of the murder trial of Derek Chauvin are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he is moving up his deadline for states to make all American adults eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by almost two weeks, but said Americans must remain on a 'war footing' to beat the virus. With all states having opened eligibility to the public or at least having announced when they plan to do so, Biden announced that every adult in the country will be eligible to be vaccinated by April 19, instead of his original deadline of May 1. Speaking at the White House after visiting a vaccination center in Alexandria, Virginia, Biden said that 150 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered within his first 75 days in office, in line with a stated goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Number One Observatory Circle is finally ready for its newest resident. After months spent living in temporary quarters at Blair House, Vice President Kamala Harris moved into her 33-room official residence on Tuesday evening following the completion of renovations, an administration official said."

At Tuesday's White House Press Briefing

Peter Doocy of Fox "News": Is the White House concerned that Major League Baseball is moving their All-Star Game to Colorado, where voting regulations are very similar to Georgia?

Jen Psaki, Press Secretary: ... Colorado allows you to register on election day. Colorado has voting by mail, where they send to a 100% of people in the state who are eligible applications to vote by mail. Ninety-four percent of people in Colorado voted by mail in the 2020 election. They also allow for a range of materials to provide for the limited number of people who vote on election day. I think it's important to remember the context here of the Georgia legislation is built on a lie. There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.... What there was, however, was record-setting turnout, especially by voters of color.... What we're seeing here for politicians who didn't like the outcome, they're not changing their policies to win more votes, they're changing the rules to exclude more voters. And we certainly see the circumstances as different.

Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "The United States and Iran agreed through intermediaries on Tuesday to establish two working groups to try to get both countries back into compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In a meeting of the current members of the deal in Vienna, all parties agreed to establish one working group to focus on how to get the United States back to the deal by lifting harsh economic sanctions imposed or reimposed after ... Donald J. Trump pulled out of the accord in May 2018. The other working group will focus on how to get Iran back into compliance with the accord's limitations on nuclear enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "U.S. and Iranian officials said Tuesday an initial day of talks in Vienna on returning to the 2015 nuclear deal were 'constructive,' but the Biden administration cautioned that no immediate breakthroughs were anticipated on one of the new president's top foreign policy goals."

Shut Up & Give Me All Your Money. So my warning, if you will, to corporate America is to stay out of politics. It's not what you're designed for. And don't be intimidated by the left into taking up causes that put you right in the middle of one of America's greatest political debates. I'm not talking about political contributions.... I support that. -- Mitch McConnell, at a news conference Tuesday

Give that man points for being unambiguously corrupt. -- Marie Burns

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "In the final weeks of Mr. Trump's term, [Rep. Matt] Gaetz [R-Fla.] ... privately asked the White House for blanket pre-emptive pardons for himself and unidentified congressional allies for any crimes they may have committed, according to two people.... Around that time, Mr. Gaetz was also publicly calling for broad pardons from Mr. Trump to thwart what he termed the 'bloodlust' of their political opponents. But Justice Department investigators had begun questioning Mr. Gaetz's associates about his conduct.... Mr. Gaetz did not tell White House aides that he was under investigation for potential sex trafficking violations when he made the request. But top White House lawyers and officials viewed the request for a pre-emptive pardon as a nonstarter.... In recent days, some Trump associates have speculated that Mr. Gaetz's request for a group pardon was an attempt to camouflage his own potential criminal exposure." ~~~

~~~ Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "When Florida legislators passed a bill aimed at preventing people from sharing sexually explicit photos of their ex-partners online, then-state Rep. Matt Gaetz cast one of just two House votes against it. Six years later, with the now-congressman accused of ... sharing photographs of nude women with fellow lawmakers, the sponsor of the Florida legislation says Gaetz opposed it because he believed recipients of such images could use them however they wanted. Tom Goodson, a Republican who retired from the Florida state House in 2018, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that Gaetz was the leading opponent of the nonconsensual pornography bill he spent years trying to pass. He described a meeting in which Gaetz said that if a person gives an intimate photo to a romantic partner, the image becomes the property of the recipient." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There are many ethical & legal questions surrounding Gaetz's, uh, world view. Here's one: if a nude picture of a person surfaces, who took the picture? Obviously, the photo could be a selfie, it could have been taken by some third party, OR it could have been taken by the person who is in possession of the photo. So, Matt, if I take a photo of you, with or without your knowledge -- say, one where you're snorting coke & jerking off simultaneously -- does that photo belong to me to do with what I want? ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr, et al., of Politico: As Matt Gaetz's "political career skids toward disaster amid allegations that he had sex with a minor and paid for sex with women of legal age, neither Trump nor anyone in the ex-president's orbit is rushing to Gaetz's defense. A group that often instinctively decries any such charge as part of some nefarious, coordinated witch hunt from deep-state operators has, instead, said virtually nothing at all.... Operatives inside Trump World say the silence is owed to a variety of factors. Among them is the fact that Gaetz has aways been regarded as a grenade whose pin had already been pulled.... Some of Gaetz's own aides would regularly send embarrassing videos of their boss to other GOP operatives, according to two people familiar with the videos." ~~~

~~~ AND Finally. Keep Your Shirts on, Ladies. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: Matt Gaetz will be the keynote speaker "at a conservative women's group's conference at ... Donald Trump's Miami golf course. Women for America First, a nonprofit organization of Trump loyalists, orchestrated and publicized a rally on Jan. 6 before the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and also led bus tours nationwide spreading unfounded claims of election fraud. 'We know firsthand what it is like to be treated unfairly by the main stream media,' Amy Kremer, the group's chairwoman, said in a statement to The Washington Post that defended Gaetz as 'innocent until proven guilty.'"

Meet the Insurrectionists. Robert Pape in a Washington Post op-ed: "... by far the most interesting characteristic common to the insurrectionists' backgrounds has to do with changes in their local demographics: Counties with the most significant declines in the non-Hispanic White population are the most likely to produce insurrectionists who now face charges.... Put another way, the people alleged by authorities to have taken the law into their hands on Jan. 6 typically hail from places where non-White populations are growing fastest.... Great Replacement theory has achieved iconic status with white nationalists and holds that minorities are progressively replacing White populations due to mass immigration policies and low birthrates. Extensive social media exposure is the second-biggest driver of this view, our surveys found." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times writes a news report based on Pape's findings: "'If you look back in history, there has always been a series of far-right extremist movements responding to new waves of immigration to the United States or to movements for civil rights by minority groups,' Mr. Pape said. 'You see a common pattern in the Capitol insurrectionists. They are mainly middle-class to upper-middle-class whites who are worried that, as social changes occur around them, they will see a decline in their status in the future.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

"Selfie-Sabotage." What Pape Doesn't Mention: These White Men Are Dumb as Dirt. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: Numerous insurrectionists "helped document the prosecution's case [against them].... The government is ... reviewing records from 1,600 electronic devices and more than 210,000 tips, 'of which a substantial portion include video, photo and social media,' the Justice Department said. Many of the tips came from independent and amateur investigators combing through gigabytes of material from social media. On one Facebook page, a man posted a selfie with the caption, 'I just wanted to incriminate myself a little lol.'"

Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Representative Alcee Hastings, a former federal judge who, despite being impeached and removed from the bench, was elected to Congress, where he championed civil rights and rose to become dean of the Florida delegation, died on Tuesday. He was 84."

"Not with a Wow, But a Whisper." Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "For about half an hour Tuesday, a former president of the United States appeared on television to offer his unfiltered assessment of the state of American politics, of foreign policy and of the various controversies flitting around the political world. You probably missed it, because it was Donald Trump offering the same pudding of rhetoric we've heard so often to an anchor on the far-right network Newsmax.... There's still an audience for this, of course.... His Google search interest was lower than at any point since June 2015, as was the amount of time he was seen on cable."

Former Trumpy Wedding Planner Cops to Hatch Act Violation. Matthew Haag of the New York Times: A video that aired on the final night of last year's Republican convention featured a two-minute clip of four New York City public housing tenants praising ... Donald J. Trump's record.... But within hours of the broadcast, three of the tenants said they were tricked into appearing in the video, did not support Mr. Trump and accused a top federal housing official, Lynne Patton, of orchestrating the production and misleading them.... A federal agency on Tuesday found that Ms. Patton had violated ... the Hatch Act that bars most federal employees from using their government position to engage in political activities. Ms. Patton admitted to the violation, the agency said, and agreed ... to pay a $1,000 fine and not to serve in the federal government for at least four years. She left her job at the Department of Housing and Urban Development at the end of Mr. Trump's term in January." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Patton is perhaps best known for her extensive preparation for her job at HUD by serving as Eric & Lara Trump's wedding planner. In her own defense, Patton lied about the tenants she victimized and blamed lawyers & federal employees for giving her bad legal advice. Given that, she should be good to get a job planning Junior & Mizz Loudmouth's nuptials.

The Justice Opines. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Justice Stephen G. Breyer said Tuesday that proposals to expand the Supreme Court to dilute the power of its conservative majority risk making justices appear more political and could hurt the court's influence with the public. Breyer, one of the court's three liberals, defended the court's independence by pointing to its decision to resist ... Donald Trump's attempts to draw the court into lawsuits that sought to overturn Trump's defeat in November. In remarks prepared for a speech at Harvard Law School, Breyer wrote that the court's authority depends on 'a trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics.'... Breyer, 82..., is under considerable pressure to retire now, while ... Joe Biden is in the White House and Democrats hold a narrow control of the Senate."

When Is a Luxury Lot a Necessity? Jake Bleiberg of the AP: "After school shootings that left dozens dead in recent years, National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre said the resulting outrage put him in such danger that he sought shelter aboard a borrowed 108-foot (32.92-meter) yacht. During a deposition, the head of the powerful gun-rights group's acknowledged sailing in the Bahamas with his family as a 'security retreat' in the summers following a 2012 school shooting in Connecticut and a 2018 massacre in Florida.... The testimony emerged in a federal bankruptcy trial over whether the NRA should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where a state lawsuit is trying to put it out of business.... [State] allegations include that LaPierre repeatedly sailed in the Bahamas on the yacht of Hollywood producer Stanton McKenzie, whose company has done business with the NRA, but did not mention the trips on financial disclosures.... In the deposition, LaPierre said he did not pay to use McKenzie's yacht, which came with a cook, a motor boat and a pair of Sea-Doo personal watercraft." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One of Wayne's purchases -- on the NRA's dime -- was a pair of swim trunks, price: $290. Now we understand why the purchase was perfectly reasonable: Wayne needed $290 trunks for his own personal safety.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. "Nearly 80 percent of school staff and child care workers in the United States have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. The announcement comes as the Biden administration has made an ambitious push to reopen schools and return to in-person instruction by the president's 100th day in office. That goal has been tempered by dangerous virus variants, protests from teachers' unions, and the fears and frustrations of students and parents." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here: "Amnesty International warned in its annual report Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on the human rights of millions of people around the globe. The virus has exposed and entrenched widespread inequalities, collapsed health and welfare systems, worsened the conditions of already marginalized groups and facilitated crackdowns on dissent, according to the London-based organization."

Erin Banco & Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Senior officials in the Trump and Biden administrations knew of oversight and quality assurance problems at Emergent BioSolutions' Baltimore plant months before the company accidentally contaminated 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine [in February 2021], according to two people.... Officials with the Trump administration's vaccine program, Operation Warp Speed, and the Department of Health and Human Services were sent a report in June 2020 on Emergent's inner workings. Written by a government official, the document concluded that the company's plan for manufacturing urgently needed Covid-19 vaccines was inadequate. Emergent's problems hiring and retaining skilled workers meant that it could not guarantee success in producing the shots, said the two people, who read the report and described it to Politico. The report was shared with senior Trump officials, including Gen. Gustave Perna, Operation Warp Speed's chief operating officer, who still serves in that role for the Biden administration; Moncef Slaoui, then Warp Speed's vaccine lead; and Robert Kadlec, HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response under Trump. Officials from the Trump administration later gave the report, along with other key Operation Warp Speed documents, to the Biden team during the transition."

Sheryl Stolberg & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Around the country, businesses, schools and politicians are considering 'vaccine passports' -- digital proof of vaccination against the coronavirus -- as a path to reviving the economy and getting Americans back to work and play. Businesses especially fear that too many customers will stay away unless they can be assured that the other patrons have been inoculated.... Legal experts say [these passports are likely lawful]..., though in a society so divided, politicians are already girding for a fight.... The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has told employers that they can mandate coronavirus vaccination because public health comes first.... The White House is clearly skittish. 'The government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,' Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday.... ~~~

~~~ [MEANWHILE] "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Friday signed an executive order barring businesses from requiring patrons or customers to show vaccine documentation, under penalty of losing state contracts. Mississippi's Republican governor, Tate Reeves, said on Sunday that he too opposed the idea." ~~~

~~~ AND in Texas. AP: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott [R] used his executive power Tuesday to ban state government and some private entities from requiring COVID-19 'vaccine passports' to access services, in the latest move from a Republican governor pitting public health campaigns against personal freedom and private choices. According to Abbott's order, state agencies and political subdivisions, and public and private organizations that receive public funding in Texas cannot require people to prove that they have been inoculated against the coronavirus." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Ken was wondering if Abbott & DeSantis, et al., could be charged with murder. Well, premeditated murder for sure, I'd say.

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Meredith Deliso of ABC News: "The Arkansas state legislature voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Asa Hutchinson on a bill that would ban gender-affirming treatments for transgender youths in the state. The House voted 71-24, and the Senate 25-8, to override the governor's veto a day after it was announced." MB: I sure hope the law is challenged & turns out to be unconstitutional. This is just cruel.

Minnesota. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "An officer who trained Derek Chauvin on techniques he could use to subdue suspects testified Tuesday that the neck restraint he used on George Floyd was not authorized because Floyd was already handcuffed and under control. Lt. Johnny Mercil, who oversees the Minneapolis department's training on use of force and other defensive tactics, said that at the time of Floyd's death on May 25, officers were prmitted to restrain suspects by applying pressure to the side of a person's neck to gain compliance, but only if they were actively resisting and if other techniques had not worked."

New York. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The lobby staff members who >closed the door to a Manhattan apartment building last week without taking immediate action after a Filipino-American woman was brutally attacked on the street outside have been fired, the building's owners told residents in an email on Tuesday. Rick Mason, the executive director of management at the Brodsky Organization, which owns the luxury apartment building in Midtown, told residents of all the organization's buildings in an email that two staff members who were inside the building lobby at the time had not followed 'required emergency and safety protocols.'" A Law & Crime story is here.

The Commentariat -- April 6, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Day 7 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "The United States and Iran agreed through intermediaries on Tuesday to establish two working groups to try to ge both countries back into compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In a meeting of the current members of the deal in Vienna, all parties agreed to establish one working group to focus on how to get the United States back to the deal by lifting harsh economic sanctions imposed or reimposed after ... Donald J. Trump pulled out of the accord in May 2018. The other working group will focus on how to get Iran back into compliance with the accord's limitations on nuclear enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium."

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "President Joe Biden plans to announce Tuesday that he is moving up his deadline for states to make all American adults eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by almost two weeks. With all states having opened eligibility to the public or at least having announced when they plan to do so, Biden will announce that every adult in the country will be eligible to be vaccinated by April 19, according to an administration official, instead of Biden's original deadline of May 1. Biden announced last week that 90% of adults will be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, as well as have a vaccination site within five miles of where they live. Biden said the number of pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccination program was increasing from the current 17,000 locations to 40,000."

Meet the Insurrectionists. Robert Pape in a Washington Post op-ed: "... by far the most interesting characteristic common to the insurrectionists' backgrounds has to do with changes in their local demographics: Counties with the most significant declines in the non-Hispanic White population are the most likely to produce insurrectionists who now face charges.... Put another way, the people alleged by authorities to have taken the law into their hands on Jan. 6 typically hail from places where non-White populations are growing fastest.... Great Replacement theory has achieved iconic status with white nationalists and holds that minorities are progressively replacing White populations due to mass immigration policies and low birthrates. Extensive social media exposure is the second-biggest driver of this view, our surveys found." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times writes a news report based on Pape's findings: "'If you look back in history, there has always been a series of far-right extremist movements responding to new waves of immigration to the United States or to movements for civil rights by minority groups,' Mr. Pape said. 'You see a common pattern in the Capitol insurrectionists. They are mainly middle-class to upper-middle-class whites who are worried that, as social changes occur around them, they will see a decline in their status in the future.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration and top Democrats in Congress began detailing plans for significant changes to how the United States and other countries tax multinational corporations as they look for ways to raise revenues and finance President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen threw her support behind an international effort to create a global minimum tax that would apply to multinational corporations, regardless of where they locate their headquarters. Such a global tax, she said, could help prevent a 'race to the bottom' in which countries cut their tax rates in order to entice companies to move headquarters and profits across borders.... At the same time, Democrats in Congress released their own proposal to add teeth to the de facto minimum tax that the United States already imposes on income earned abroad -- one that would apply to American multinational companies regardless of what the rest of the world does. The proposal could raise as much as $1 trillion over the next 15 years from large companies by requiring that they pay higher taxes on profits they earn overseas, according to analyses of similar plans."

Kelsey Snell of NPR: "A new decision from the U.S. Senate's nonpartisan parliamentarian means Democrats could advance more of President Biden's agenda without the support of Republicans. The official's interpretation of Senate budget rules would allow the use of the reconciliation process more than once in a fiscal year, and it is viewed by Democrats as a possible strategy for moving top policy priorities with a simple majority, since getting the needed 10 Republican votes in a 50-50 Senate has proved difficult. Details are still unclear as to how Democratic leaders might use the additional chance to pass budget-related policies.... The ruling appears to mean a majority party could revise budgets more than once in a fiscal year -- each time giving them access to reconciliation instructions. The decision comes as Democrats take up Biden's more than $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which he unveiled last week." A Vox explanation is here.

The Most Powerful Joe in D.C. May Not Be Biden. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Joe Manchin wants his party's leaders and President Joe Biden to make significant changes to their sweeping new tax-and-spend legislation -- and he's got other Democratic senators with him.... It's just the latest power move from Manchin, who has become Democrats' squeakiest wheel in the early days of Biden's presidency.... Manchin said he would be comfortable raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 25 percent but said the United States has 'to be competitive and we're not going to throw caution to the wind.'... Manchin is no outlier. A few hours later at the Capitol, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Monday that he needs to have more input into the White House's plan than he's received so far...." MB: With 50 Senate votes (+ Harris), every Democratic senator can play the prima donna.

Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: The Matt Gaetz story that most sticks in my head "is the report that the Florida Republican used to wander around and show his colleagues nude photos of people he had slept with.... I keep hearing the uncomfortable laughter of Billy Bush. I keep coming back to the fact that it takes two to make a locker room.... This wasn't something Matt Gaetz did a single time, but repeatedly. Because if it happened more than once -- if it happened twice, even -- that is because the first time went better than it should have." Petri appeals to Matt's Congressional colleagues to call out such egregious behavior. MB: Does she mean the same guys who support (alleged) serial sex abuser (and liar, grifter and traitor) Donald Trump? Get real, Alex.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday vacated an appeals court ruling that ... Donald J. Trump had violated the First Amendment by blocking people from his Twitter account after they posted critical comments. A unanimous three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled in 2019 that Mr. Trump's account was a public forum from which he was powerless to exclude people based on their viewpoints. The Supreme Court's move was expected, as Mr. Trump is no longer president and Twitter has permanently suspended his account. More surprising was a 12-page concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas musing on what he called the dangerous power a few private companies have over free speech.... His opinion reflected widespread frustration, particularly among conservatives, about letting private companies decide what the public may read and see." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The joke that begins at 9:20 min. in is especially good:

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. U.S. Corporations Back Lying Liars. Brian Slodysko of the AP: "State legislators across the country who have pushed for new voting restrictions, and also seized on ... Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, have reaped more than $50 million in corporate donations in recent years, according to a new report by Public Citizen, a Washington-based government watchdog group. Telecom giant AT&T was the most prolific, donating over $800,000 since 2015 to authors of proposed restrictions, cosponsors of such measures, or those who voted in favor of the bills, the report found. Other top donors during the same period include Comcast, Philip Morris USA, UnitedHealth Group, Walmart, Verizon, General Motors and Pfizer.... More than 120 companies detailed in the report previously said they would rethink their donations to members of Congress who, acting on the same falsehoods as the state lawmakers, objected to the certification of President Joe Biden's win following the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ So Then Mitch Says ... Richard Cowan of the Reuters: "U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell lashed out at corporate America on Monday, warning CEOs to stay out of the debate over a new voting law in Georgia that has been criticized as restricting votes among minorities and the poor. In a sign of a growing rift in the decades-old alliance between the conservative party and U.S. corporations, McConnell said: 'My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics. Don't pick sides in these big fights.' McConnell warned companies there could be risks for turning on the party, but he did not elaborate. 'Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order,' McConnell told a news conference in his home state of Kentucky." The Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Dear Awesome CEOs, Please do as Mitch demands and stay out of Republican politics. Step 1: Quit contributing to Republican political campaigns. Step 2: Contribute to Democratic political campaigns. Your new friend, Marie ~~~

~~~ Republicans' Unique View of the First Amendment. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is second to none in protecting First Amendment rights of corporations -- at least when the subject is money. McConnell, a longtime opponent of limits on campaign donations as a form of speech, has often defended unlimited dark money in lofty terms.... McConnell has even filed multiple amicus curiae briefs in campaign cases insisting the rights of free speech and association implicit in corporate campaign donations are 'fundamental' and 'of central importance.' But when it comes to actual speech from corporations -- specifically, speech denouncing Republicans' voter suppression efforts -- McConnell becomes irate." So money for Mitch is "free speech"; verbal support for voters is taboo.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today: "Major League Baseball is scheduled to announce Tuesday that this year's All-Star Game will be moved to Coors Field in Denver, home of the Colorado Rockies, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told USA TODAY Sports.... Government officials in Colorado and Denver immediately began lobbying MLB for the All-Star Game once Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the league was moving the game out of Atlanta because of the voting laws passed in Georgia in March that potentially can restrict voting access for people of color."

Yeah, We Can Afford to Pay Fair Wages, But That Would Be Wrong. Julia Rock & Andrew Perez of Newsweek: "Big restaurant chains are telling investors that a national minimum wage hike wouldn't be a big deal == even as their corporate lobbying groups in Washington fight plans for a $15 minimum wage. 'We share your view that a national discussion on wage issues for working Americans is needed -- but the Raise the Wage Act is the wrong bill at the wrong time for our nation's restaurants,' the National Restaurant Association wrote in a letter to congressional leaders in February.... The following day, a top executive at Denny's, one of the association's members, told investors that gradual increases in the minimum wage haven't been a problem for the company at all. In fact, California's law raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2023 has actually been good for the diner chain's business, according to Denny's chief financial officer, Robert Verostek."

James Oliphant & Chris Kahn of Reuters: "Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol..., Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.... About half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists 'trying to make Trump look bad,' a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found. Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November's presidential election 'was stolen' from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed." (Also linked yesterday.)

Drew Harwell & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "The identity of Q, the supposed top-secret government operative and prophet of the extremist ideology QAnon, has for years been a fiercely debated mystery. But a possible slip-up in a new documentary suggests the answer was always the most obvious one: Ron Watkins, the longtime administrator of the message board 8kun, the conspiratorial movement's online home.... Watkins has long denied his involvement, saying he was merely a neutral backroom operator of the site and never a participant." This is the supposed slip-up: at the end of the documentary, Watkins said in an interview, "It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before, but never as Q." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And here I thought there wasn't any big news Monday. What a disappointment to find out Q is just some incel jerk & not the greatest prophet of all time. But it turns out most QAnon supporters are way ahead of me: according to Harwell & Timberg, "... the movement in many ways has outgrown Q, by having elevated a widespread corps of QAnon promoters, merchandisers and social media influencers who offer their audiences a flurry of absurd baseless claims and far-right talking points.... Nearly all of the most popular QAnon discussion boards and Telegram channels ignored the Watkins interview, instead focusing on the movement's latest topics of interest, mostly involving false claims about coronavirus vaccines, President Biden and the Suez Canal."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "The Navajo Nation, which once had one of the worst coronavirus case rates in the United States, recently reached an extraordinary milestone: zero cases and zero deaths in a 24-hour period. The nation, which has over 300,000 enrolled members, is averaging about 11 new cases a day, far below its peak of 250 in late November, according to the latest data from the Navajo Department of Health. And it has vaccinated more of its population than any state, with more than half of its 170,000 residents living on tribal lands fully vaccinated." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "More than four million people in the United States received a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday -- the nation's highest one-day total since the shots began rolling out in December -- amid a rising caseload and increase in hospitalizations. An average of 3.1 million shots were administered each day over the past seven days, and nearly 1 in 4 adults are now fully vaccinated, said Andy Slavitt, the White House's senior adviser for covid-19 response, speaking at a news briefing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday called for speeding up the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in poorer nations, arguing the U.S. and global economies are threatened by the impact of covid-19 on the developing world. While the United States and other rich countries are hoping for a return to normalcy as soon as this fall, many parts of the developing world are not on pace to have widespread vaccination of their populations until 2023 or 2024.... Yellen called on richer countries to step up both economic and public health assistance to poorer nations reeling from covid. She noted as many as 150 million people across the world risk falling into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis." MB: Maybe it's just coincidental, but I can't help notice that the first female Treasury Secretary also seems to be first at tying U.S. economic policy to humanitarian needs around the globe. Somehow, Steve Munchkin never thought of that. (Also linked yesterday.)

Elizabeth Dias & Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "... across white evangelical America, reasons not to get vaccinated have spread as quickly as the virus that public health officials are hoping to overcome through herd immunity. The opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories. The sheer size of the community poses a major problem for the country's ability to recover from a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Americans.... There are about 41 million white evangelical adults in the U.S. About 45 percent said in late February that they would not get vaccinated against Covid-19, making them among the least likely demographic groups to do so, according to the Pew Research Center."

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.

Let us root, root, root cheek to cheek,
I don't care if I die in a week. ~~~

~~~ Texas. Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times: "... the Texas Rangers hosted the Toronto Blue Jays in front of the largest crowd at a sporting event in the United States in more than a year.... The state's lifting of capacity restrictions made the enormous crowd possible.... Rangers fans ... were shoulder-to-shoulder in the team's fairly intimate retractable-roofed stadium. M.L.B. requires all fans over age 2 to wear masks at games this season, but a large percentage of the fans in Arlington went maskless. That will undoubtedly raise fears of the event resulting in a spike in coronavirus cases.... Before Monday's game started, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, publicly announced that he had sent a letter to the Rangers to decline throwing out a ceremonial first pitch. Abbott, who had previously agreed to participate at the event, said the decision was made as a reaction to M.L.B. adopting what he called a 'false narrative' in moving the All-Star Game away from Atlanta in response to Georgia's new elections rules. He said that ... he will not participate in any M.L.B. events and that his state will not seek to host any of the league's special events in the future."

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Brianna Kwasnik & Rachel Herzog of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette: "Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday afternoon he vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Hutchinson, a Republican, said he believed House Bill 1570 interfered with the relationship between doctors and patients. The GOP-sponsored legislation prohibits health care providers from administering gender transition treatments, which can include surgery and hormone therapy, to people under 18. Had Hutchinson signed the bill, Arkansas would have been the first state to enact such a measure.... The governor referred to the bill as a 'product of the cultural war in America' and said the measure is 'overbroad, extreme and does not grandfather young people currently on hormone treatment.'" MB: Every once in awhile, Hutchinson does something right. (Also linked yesterday.)

Georgia. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The laws that disenfranchised Black Americans in the South and established Jim Crow did not actually say they were disenfranchising Black Americans and creating a one-party racist state.... There was no statute that said, 'Black people cannot vote.' Instead, Southern lawmakers spun a web of restrictions and regulations meant to catch most Blacks (as well as many whites) and keep them out of the electorate.... The ... argument of conservatives and Republicans asks us to ignore context and extend good faith to lawmakers who overhauled their state's election laws because their party lost an election."

Minnesota. Holly Bailey & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Derek Chauvin 'absolutely' violated Minneapolis Police Department policies and his sworn oath to serve and protect when he knelt on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, the city's police chief testified Monday. During one of the most anticipated moments in the trial, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo unequivocally told the court that Chauvin had failed to follow policies on de-escalation, use of force and offering medical aid to those in need when he ignored Floyd's cries for help while the man lay pinned beneath his knee. The use of force should have ended as soon as Floyd stopped resisting, the chief said.... The day began with testimony from Bradford Langenfeld, an emergency medicine physician who spent at least a half-hour trying to revive Floyd when he was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center. It was Langenfeld who later pronounced Floyd dead. Langenfeld ... testified that Floyd arrived at the hospital in cardiac arrest and upon further examination was showing 'pulseless electrical activity.'... The doctor testified that he was told by paramedics that they had tried to revive the man for about 30 minutes before he was brought to the hospital, but heard of no other lifesaving efforts at the scene, including by police."

The Commentariat -- April 5, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Day 6 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live trial updates are here.CNN's live updates are here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "The Navajo Nation, which once had one of the worst coronavirus case rates in the United States, recently reached an extraordinary milestone: zero cases and zero deaths in a 24-hour period. The nation, which has over 300,000 enrolled members, is averaging about 11 new cases a day, far below its peak of 250 in late November, according to the latest data from the Navajo Department of Health. And it has vaccinated more of its population than any state, with more than half of its 170,000 residents living on tribal lands fully vaccinated." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "More than four million people in the United States received a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday -- the nation's highest one-day total since the shots began rolling out in December -- amid a rising caseload and increase in hospitalizations. An average of 3.1 million shots were administered each day over the past seven days, and nearly 1 in 4 adults are now fully vaccinated, said Andy Slavitt, the White House’s senior adviser for covid-19 response, speaking at a news briefing."

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday called for speeding up the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in poorer nations, arguing the U.S. and global economies are threatened by the impact of covid-19 on the developing world. While the United States and other rich countries are hoping for a return to normalcy as soon as this fall, many parts of the developing world are not on pace to have widespread vaccination of their populations until 2023 or 2024.... Yellen called on richer countries to step up both economic and public health assistance to poorer nations reeling from covid. She noted as many as 150 million people across the world risk falling into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis." MB: Maybe it's just coincidental, but I can't help notice that the first female Treasury Secretary also seems to be first at tying U.S. economic policy to humanitarian needs around the globe. Somehow, Steve Munchkin never thought of that.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday vacated an appeals court ruling that ... Donald J. Trump had violated the First Amendment by blocking people from his Twitter account after they posted critical comments. A unanimous three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled in 2019 that Mr. Trump's account was a public forum from which he was powerless to exclude people based on their viewpoints. The Supreme Court's move was expected, as Mr. Trump is no longer president and Twitter has permanently suspended his account. More surprising was a 12-page concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas musing on what he called the dangerous power a few private companies have over free speech.... His opinion reflected widespread frustration, particularly among conservatives, about letting private companies decide what the public may read and see." An AP story is here.

James Oliphant & Chris Kahn of Reuters: "Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol..., Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.... About half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists 'trying to make Trump look bad,' a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found. Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November's presidential election 'was stolen' from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed."

Drew Harwell & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "The identity of Q, the supposed top-secret government operative and prophet of the extremist ideology QAnon, has for years been a fiercely debated mystery. But a possible slip-up in a new documentary suggests the answer was always the most obvious one: Ron Watkins, the longtime administrator of the message board 8kun, the conspiratorial movement's online home.... Watkins has long denied his involvement, saying he was merely a neutral backroom operator of the site and never a participant." This is the supposed slip-up: at the end of the documentary, Watkins said in an interview, "It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before, but never as Q." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And here I thought there wasn't any big news today. What a disappointment to find out Q is just some incel jerk & not the greatest prophet of all time. But it turns out most QAnon supporters are way ahead of me: according to Harwell & Timberg, "... the movement in many ways has outgrown Q, by having elevated a widespread corps of QAnon promoters, merchandisers and social media influencers who offer their audiences a flurry of absurd baseless claims and far-right talking points.... Nearly all of the most popular QAnon discussion boards and Telegram channels ignored the Watkins interview, instead focusing on the movement’s latest topics of interest, mostly involving false claims about coronavirus vaccines, President Biden and the Suez Canal."

Arkansas. Brianna Kwasnik & Rachel Herzog of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette: "Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday afternoon he vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Hutchinson, a Republican, said he believed House Bill 1570 interfered with the relationship between doctors and patients. The GOP-sponsored legislation prohibits health care providers from administering gender transition treatments, which can include surgery and hormone therapy, to people under 18. Had Hutchinson signed the bill, Arkansas would have been the first state to enact such a measure.... The governor referred to the bill as a 'product of the cultural war in America' and said the measure is 'overbroad, extreme and does not grandfather young people currently on hormone treatment.'" MB: Every once in awhile, Hutchinson does something right.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: From slow news to no news, the Monday after Easter is a dud. Enjoy it.

Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "With more than one in 10 households reporting that they lack enough to eat, the Biden administration is accelerating a vast campaign of hunger relief that will temporarily increase assistance by tens of billions of dollars and set the stage for what officials envision as lasting expansions of aid.... The push reflects an extraordinary shift in the politics of poverty -- driven, paradoxically, both by the spread of hardship to more working-class and white families and the growing recognition of poverty's disproportionate toll on minorities. With hunger especially pronounced among Black and Latino households, vital to the Democrats' coalition, the administration is framing its efforts not just as a response to pandemic needs but as part of a campaign for racial justice."

Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: "U.S. military guards have moved Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other former C.I.A. prisoners to the main part of the prison compound at Guantánamo Bay from a failing secret facility, in a consolidation of detention operations that could cut costs and reduce the troop presence at the base in Cuba, the military said on Sunday.... As of Sunday, the military said, all 40 so-called war on terror detainees -- the 11 men who have been charged with war crimes, as well as others who are held as indefinite detainees -- were housed in a compound ringed with razor wire and containing two prison buildings, called Camps 5 and 6. The plan to consolidate the prisoners was devised during the Trump administration, when their former compound, Camp 7, was failing. Raw sewage sloshed through the tiers, the power sometimes went out and some cell doors would not close at the site."

An Easter Message from the Pope. Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Pope Francis delivered his annual 'Urbi et Orbi' ('To the City and to the World') Easter message to a small group of the faithful inside St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday.... The pope delivered the message after presiding over Easter Mass in the presence of about 200 worshipers. Francis spoke of the economic and social hardships that many people, and especially the poor, are experiencing because of the pandemic.... He also addressed the continuing armed conflicts, unrest and increased military spending in Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and other regions and nations. As he has in the past, the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics called on the international community 'in a spirit of global responsibility' to ensure that everyone has access to vaccines, which he called 'an essential tool' in the fight against the pandemic. Delivery delays had to be overcome to 'facilitate their distribution, especially in the poorest countries,' Francis said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: I purposely have not linked reports on What Donald Trump Said Today, but here's one to sum it all up in one fell foul swoop: ~~~

     ~~~ An Easter Message from the Dope. David Jackson of USA Today: "... Donald Trump marked Easter weekend by attacking his political enemies, repeating false claims about the election, and calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball and other corporations that oppose Georgia's new election law. 'Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election, and want to destroy our Country!' Trump said in a written statement early Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Peter Jamison of the Washington Post: "... the family and friends of Thomas 'Tommy' Bloom Raskin, son of Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), came together Saturday morning to remember the young man, who died by suicide. The memorial service was tailored to prevent communicable disease: Eulogists stood by turns on a stage in a parking lot outside RFK Stadium, dwarfed by a pair of screens that alternately displayed the speakers and family photos. Guests sat in parked cars that they had been asked not to leave...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Weiyi Cai, et al., of the New York Times: "Over the last year, in an unrelenting series of episodes with clear racial animus, people of Asian descent have been pushed, beaten, kicked, spit on and called slurs. Homes and businesses have been vandalized. The violence has known no boundaries, spanning generations, income brackets and regions. The New York Times attempted to capture a sense of the rising tide of anti-Asian bias nationwide. Using media reports from across the country, The Times found more than 110 episodes since March 2020 in which there was clear evidence of race-based hate.... [In] assaults in which the assailants expressed explicit racial hostility..., nearly half included a reference to the coronavirus...." MB: Another Trump effect, IMO. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

More Bicycles, Better Health. Veronica Penney of the New York Times: "Adding bike lanes to urban streets can increase the number of cyclists across an entire city, not just on the streets with new bike lanes, according to a new study. The finding adds to a growing body of research indicating that investments in cycling infrastructure can encourage more people to commute by bike, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve health.... The research, published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that in cities where bike infrastructure was added, cycling had increased up to 48 percent more than in cities that did not add bike lanes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Capitalism Is Still Awesome, Ctd. and Jeff Bezos Is Still a Ruthless Prick. Karen Weise of the New York Times: "Amazon illegally retaliated against two of its most prominent internal critics when it fired them last year, the National Labor Relations Board has determined. The employees, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, had publicly pushed the company to reduce its impact on climate change and address concerns about its warehouse workers. The agency told Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Costa that it would accuse Amazon of unfair labor practices if the company did not settle the case, according to correspondence that Ms. Cunningham shared with The New York Times.... The two women were among dozens of Amazon workers who in the last year told the labor board about company retaliations, but in most other cases the workers had complained about pandemic safety."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "Ask not for whom the world's tiniest violin plays -- it plays for Fox News. Three months ago the network's hosts enjoyed unprecedented political power and privileged access to ... Donald Trump, the subject of their propaganda. Now its employees are reduced to whining about President Joe Biden not calling on their correspondent during Thursday's press conference, as their lies on behalf of his predecessor's effort to steal the election draw a $1.6 billion lawsuit. Fox's pity party launched roughly two minutes after the press conference concluded and remained a regular facet of the network's coverage of the event into Friday morning. Eleven different programs have combined to mention how Biden did not call on Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy at least 24 times as of 10 a.m. ET, according to a Media Matters review." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "Vaccinations against Covid-19 may be accelerating in the United States, but the Biden administration's intervention at a troubled plant that ruined millions of vaccine doses, along with the continuing threat of dangerous variants of the coronavirus, suggest that the road to defeating the virus is likely to take many unpredictable twists and turns. Saturday marked the first time the country reported more than four million Covid-19 doses in a single day, bringing the average to higher than three million people for the first time, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the same day, the fallout continued over a debacle at a Baltimore contract plant that ruined 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Biden administration put Johnson & Johnson in charge of the facility and moved to stop the facility from making another vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca...." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Little White Card -- and More. Concepción de León of the New York Times: "Here's everything you need to know about your vaccine record, why it's important and how to keep it safe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "Work crews were pumping millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater into an ecologically sensitive Florida bay on Sunday, as they tried to prevent the 'imminent' collapse of a storage reservoir at an old phosphate mine. Officials in Manatee county extended an evacuation zone overnight and warned that up to 340m gallons could engulf the area in 'a 20ft wall of water' if they could not repair the breach at the Piney Point reservoir in the Tampa Bay area, north of Bradenton. Aerial images aired on local television showed water pouring from leaks in the walls of the retention pond. [Gov.] Ron DeSantis ... declared a state of emergency.... He toured the scene by helicopter and said at a press conference engineers were still attempting to plug breaches in the reservoir wall with rocks and other materials, and that other mitigation efforts included the controlled release of 35m gallons daily at Port Manatee.... In a statement, the [activist group Mana-Sota 88 said]: 'The current crisis can be traced back to the absurd 2006 decision to allow dredged material from Port Manatee to be placed into one of the gyp stacks at Piney Point, something the stack was never designed for and should have never been allowed.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My recollection was that dodgy phosphate mines were a Jeb Bush legacy. Sure enough, guess who was governor of Florida in 2006 -- why, JEB!