The Commentariat -- June 23, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Tyler Pager & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, amid mounting criticism that neither she nor President Biden has traveled to the place where the country's immigration problems are most acute. Harris will travel with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to El Paso.... Harris's trip will come just two days before ... Donald Trump will join Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) at the border." Politico's story is here.

F-Bombs for Sale in the "Marketplace of Ideas." Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a Pennsylvania school district had violated the First Amendment by punishing a student for a vulgar social-media message sent away from school grounds. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for an eight-member majority, said part of what schools must teach students is the value of free speech. 'America's public schools are the nurseries of democracy,' he wrote. 'Our representative democracy only works if we protect the "marketplace of ideas."'... The case concerned Brandi Levy, a Pennsylvania high school student who had expressed her dismay over not making the varsity cheerleading squad by sending a colorful Snapchat message to about 250 people.... It included an image of Ms. Levy and a friend with their middle fingers raised, along with a string of words expressing the same sentiment. Using a swear word four times, Ms. Levy objected to 'school,' 'softball,' 'cheer' and 'everything.'" Justice Clarence Thomas dissented. Vox's report, by Ian Millhiser, is here. MB: Wonder if Ms. Levy with write "Fuck school" again, because that's pretty much what the Supremes said. ~~~

     ~~~ Breyer's opinion, via the Court, is here.

Confederate Supremes Rule Against a Union. Again. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Courtruled on Wednesday that a California regulation allowing union organizers to recruit agricultural workers at their workplaces violated the constitutional rights of their employers. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority, said that 'the access regulation grants labor organizations a right to invade the growers' property.' That meant, he wrote, that it was a taking of private property without just compensation." Roberts' opinion, via the Court, is here.

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

Ariana Cha, et al., of the Washington Post: "The rapid spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus is poised to divide the United States again, with highly vaccinated areas continuing toward post-pandemic freedom and poorly vaccinated regions threatened by greater caseloads and hospitalizations, health officials warned this week. The highly transmissible strain is taxing hospitals in a rural, lightly vaccinated part of Missouri and caseloads and hospitalizations are on the rise in states such as Arkansas, Nevada and Utah, where fewer than 50 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose of vaccine, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. One influential model, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, predicts a modest overall surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths this fall."

Florida. DeSantis Goes Full Fascist. Ana Cebalos of the Tampa Bay Times: “In his continued push against the 'indoctrination' of students, Gov. Ron DeSantis [Rrrr] on Tuesday signed legislation that will require public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints to support 'intellectual diversity.' The survey will discern 'the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented' in public universities and colleges, and seeks to find whether students, faculty and staff 'feel free to express beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom,' according to the bill. The measure, which goes into effect July 1, does not specify what will be done with the survey results. But DeSantis and Sen. Ray Rodrigues, the sponsor of the bill, suggested on Tuesday that budget cuts could be looming if universities and colleges are found to be 'indoctrinating' students.... DeSantis ... said the intent of the measure is to prevent public universities and colleges from becoming 'hotbeds for stale ideology.'" Firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, I'm not the only person who's appalled. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story rounds up some responses to Ron's New Rule, including one that describes DeSantis as going "full fascist." Being a confederate means going apoplectic when someone uses his First Amendment freedoms to criticize you, using the levers of government to shut down those First Amendment freedoms AND invoking your own First Amendment rights when you slander or libel others.

Michigan. GOP State Senator Calls Foul on Trump & Team. Jonathan Oosting of Bridge Michigan: "A months-long Republican investigation into Michigan's 2020 election uncovered no evidence of widespread fraud and concluded Wednesday with a recommendation the attorney general investigate those who made false claims for 'personal gain.' The 35-page report prepared by Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, dives deep to debunk conspiracy theories perpetuated by former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters in the wake of the Michigan election, which Democratic President Joe Biden won by 154,188 votes.... The report, which was released Wednesday, concludes there is no proof of dead voters or 'fractional voting,' no evidence of a fraudulent 'ballot dump' in Detroit and no proof any Michigan precincts had more than 100 percent voter turnout." The Detroit Free Press story is here.

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "A progressive challenger running her first campaign beat Buffalo's four-term Democratic mayor in a primary upset on Tuesday that could upend the political landscape in New York's second-biggest city and signal the strength of the party's left wing. The challenger, India B. Walton, is a nurse and community activist who ran with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. When The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning, Ms. Walton was leading Byron Brown, a longtime member of the Democratic establishment, by 7 percentage points, or about 1,500 votes, with all of the in-person ballots counted. Should Ms. Walton, 38, triumph in the general election November -- a likely result in heavily Democratic Buffalo -- she would be the first socialist mayor of a major American city since 1960, when Frank P. Zeidler stepped down as Milwaukee's mayor. She would also be the first female mayor in Buffalo's history." A CBS News story is here.

All His Children: Synopsis of Today's Trumpy Soaper. STUF, Pops! Kate Bennett & Gabby Orr of CNN: "With each passing day away from Washington..., Donald Trump's grievances continue unabated. And those complaints appear to be driving away two of the people who were closest to him during his White House tenure: his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.... The gap between Trump and his daughter and son-in-law grows wider by the week, according to 12 [sources].... The former President has also started to question the role that Kushner -- one of the few people who were able to stay close to Trump throughout his two presidential campaigns and White House tenure -- has played in his presidential legacy. Ivanka Trump has also struggled to undo the entanglements caused by the years at her father's side in the White House, as she seeks a less complicated life for her family, according to two acquaintances. They described her as having to walk a fine line between embracing her father and distancing herself from his election lies."

Mike Allen of Axios: "'Nightmare Scenario,' a book out next week on President Trump's handling of COVID, reports that he said he hoped it would take out his former national security adviser, John Bolton, who had just written an explosive tell-all about his time in the White House."

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Hey, Akhilleus, here's Senator Testudines popping his head up to speak on the curia floor: "The best form of government is a Republic," says he, "if I can keep it the way I want it."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans banded together Tuesday to block a sweeping Democratic bill that would revamp the architecture of American democracy, dealing a grave blow to efforts to federally override dozens of GOP-passed state voting laws. The test vote, which would have cleared the way to start debate on voting legislation, failed 50-50 on straight party lines -- 10 votes short of the supermajority needed to advance legislation in the Senate.... While many Democrats and liberal activists insist the fight is not over -- pledging to launch a final, furious push over the coming weeks to change the Senate's rules to pass the bill -- they face long odds as key lawmakers have insisted they are not willing to eliminate the chamber's supermajority rule to override Republican opposition." Politico's story is here.

Lisa Rein & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden's choice to be the federal government's chief personnel officer secured Senate confirmation by a single vote Tuesday after Republicans tried to sink her nomination for her past embrace of the theory of systemic racism known as critical race theory. After the evenly divided chamber tied along party lines, Vice President Harris cast a tiebreaking vote to confirm Kiran Ahuja, the first of Biden's nominees for which the vice president had to break an impasse. The relatively obscure Office of Personnel Management, which Ahuja will now lead, is likely to remain at the center of a political war over Biden's whole-of-government approach to promoting racial equity. Ahuja's nomination would normally have received a quick confirmation vote common for candidates for relatively low-profile posts. But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) objected to an up-or-down vote this past spring, forcing Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to go through procedural hurdles in the Senate." ~~~

~~~ And a Little Nitwit Shall Lead Them. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It was a good day for the insurrectionists. Senate Republicans voted in lockstep on Tuesday to block the landmark voting rights bill, in effect embracing the disenfranchisement of non-White voters under the 'big lie' justification that widespread voter fraud denied Donald Trump reelection. Even as they did so, Senate Republicans also embraced the latest Fox-News-generated conspiracy theory: that a shadowy network of America haters -- suspiciously similar to antifa, BLM and the deep state -- had taken over the Biden administration with a nefarious ideology known as critical race theory, or 'critical theory.'" Milbank goes on to cite Sen. Josh Hawley's (RWinger-Mo.) remarkable claims about how President Biden & Democrats intend to undermine the Greatest Country on Earth. "Hawley offered zero evidence for his claims, beyond Biden reinstating racial sensitivity training and his nomination of an Indian American woman, Kiran Ahuja, to run the Office of Personnel Management.... But Republicans rallied behind Hawley's demagoguery anyway."

Evan Perez & Sharif Paget of CNN: "The United States government has seized dozens of US website domains connected to Iran, linked to what the US says are disinformation efforts, a US national security official told CNN. Some users are not able to access sites like Presstv.com, which is an Iranian state run English language news outlet.... Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency on Tuesday reported the US has blocked the websites of several news agencies including Iranian state-run Press TV."

Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the United States the previous year under a contract approved by the State Department, according to documents and people familiar with the arrangement. The instruction occurred as the secret unit responsible for Mr. Khashoggi's killing was beginning an extensive campaign of kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi citizens ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.... The training was provided by the Arkansas-based security company Tier 1 Group, which is owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.... There is no evidence that the American officials who approved the training or Tier 1 Group executives knew that the Saudis were involved in the crackdown inside Saudi Arabia. But the [facts show] ... how intensely intertwined the United States has become with an autocratic nation even as its agents carried out horrific human rights abuses.... The State Department initially granted a license for the paramilitary training of the Saudi Royal Guard to Tier 1 Group starting in 2014, during the Obama administration. The training continued during at least the first year of ... Donald J. Trump's term."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has blocked a federal judge's ruling overturning California’s longtime ban on assault weapons, in which he likened an AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife. On Monday, in a one-page order, a three-judge panel issued a stay of the June 4 order from U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez of the Southern District of California, in which the judge ruled that sections of the state ban in place since 1989 regarding military-style rifles are unconstitutional." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The White House publicly acknowledged on Tuesday that President Biden did not expect to meet his goal of having 70 percent of adults at least partly vaccinated by July 4 and instead would reach that milestone only with people older than 26.... It If the rate of adult vaccinations continues on the current seven-day average, the country will come in just shy of his target, with about 67 percent of adults having at least one shot by July 4, according to a New York Times analysis.... Data released by the administration this week shows that young adults are most reluctant to get vaccinated."

Jordan Libowitz of CREW: "Nearly 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021, according to government records obtained by CREW. The vast majority served in protection jobs.... Throughout the pandemic, then-President and Vice President Trump and Pence held large-scale rallies against public health guidelines, and Trump and his family made repeated protected trips to Trump-branded properties.... While there have been reports of Trump's Secret Service with coronavirus cases, the number is far greater than had previously been known."

Texas. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "More than 150 health-care workers who did not comply with a Houston-based hospital system's vaccine mandate have been fired or resigned, more than a week after a federal judge upheld the policy. Houston Methodist -- one of the first health systems to require the coronavirus shots -- terminated or accepted the resignations of 153 workers Tuesday, spokeswoman Gale Smith said. Smith declined to specify how many were in each category.... Earlier this month, a federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by one of those employees, Jennifer Bridges, a former nurse who alleged the policy was unlawful and forced staffers to be 'guinea pigs' for vaccines that had not gone through the full Food and Drug Administration approval process."

Beyond the Beltway

New York City Mayoral Race. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Eric Adams, who ran for mayor of New York City on a message intensely focused on issues of public safety, emerged on Tuesday with a substantial lead in the Democratic primary, but fell well short of outright victory in a race that will now usher in a new period of uncertainty. With 82 percent of the results in, Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was the first choice of 31.6 percent of those who voted in person on Tuesday or during the early voting period.... Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, was in second with 22.3 percent; Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner, was in third with 19.7 percent.... The winner of the Democratic nomination will face Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, who handily defeated Fernando Mateo, a restaurateur, in the Republican primary. The Associated Press declared Mr. Sliwa the winner on Tuesday." The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ New York City Council Primaries. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "When New York City's mayor leaves office at the end of the year, more than half the members of the City Council will follow him out the door, leaving a city still finding its footing after the pandemic in the untested hands of a freshly elected mayor and a legislative body packed with newcomers. It was largely unclear which newcomers those would be when the polls closed on Tuesday: The outcome of many races in Tuesday's primary was still unknown, though a number of incumbents seeking re-election coasted to an easy victory, with others poised to follow suit.... But the Council is guaranteed to have an impending overhaul after November's general election, with all 51 seats on the ballot, and a new officeholder guaranteed in 32 of them."

~~~ Manhattan D.A. Primary. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Alvin Bragg was leading in the Democratic primary for Manhattan district attorney as returns came in Tuesday night, maintaining a steady margin of about four percentage points over Tali Farhadian Weinstein in a race likely to determine who heads the most prominent local prosecutor's office in the country. The winner of the primary will be heavily favored to win the general election in November and would lead an office that prosecutes tens of thousands of cases a year and is running a high-profile inquiry into ... Donald J. Trump and his family business."

     ~~~ New York City's latest primary election results, via the New York Times, are here. Politico has NYC mayoral primary results here.

Texas. Nick Corasaniti & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Tuesday called a special session of the Texas Legislature that will begin on July 8, a move that revives Republicans' effort to enact what are expected to be some of the most far-reaching voting restrictions in the country. Mr. Abbott, a Republican, had pledged to call for a special session after Democratic lawmakers staged an eleventh-hour walkout last month that temporarily foiled the Republican effort to overhaul the state's election systems and delayed other G.O.P. legislative priorities. Now the new session restarts the clock."

Way Beyond

Hong Kong/China. Austin Ramzy & Tiffany May of the New York Times: "Apple Daily, a defiantly pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, said on Wednesday that it would cease operations, as the authorities ramped up pressure on the publication in a campaign that has raised concerns over the state of media freedoms in the city. The newspaper said it would stop publishing in print and online by Thursday, after the police last week froze its accounts and arrested top editors and executives. The closure will silence one of the biggest and most aggressive media outlets in the city, highlighting the vast reach of the security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing last year. Apple Daily has been a thorn in the side of the Communist Party of China for decades, and Beijing has long targeted its founder, Jimmy Lai, for his criticism of Chinese and Hong Kong authorities."

Russia. Isaac Schultz of Gizmodo: "Newly published satellite imagery shows the ground temperature in at least one location in Siberia topped 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) going into the year's longest day. It's hot Siberia Earth summer, and it certainly won't be the last.... The 118-degree-Fahrenheit temperature was measured on the ground in Verkhojansk, in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, by the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel satellites."

News Lede

New York Times: "John David McAfee, the founder of the antivirus software maker bearing his name, died in a prison in Spain on Wednesday, after a Spanish court said he could be extradited to the United States on tax-evasion charges.... He was 75.... The justice department for the Catalan region of Spain said that, pending an investigation, it was treating his death as a probable suicide."

The Commentariat -- June 22, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has blocked a federal judge's ruling overturning California's longtime ban on assault weapons, in which he likened an AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife. On Monday, in a one-page order, a three-judge panel issued a stay of the June 4 order from U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez of the Southern District of California, in which the judge ruled that sections of the state ban in place since 1989 regarding military-style rifles are unconstitutional."

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New York City's mayoral (and other city) primary elections are today. Katie Glueck the New York Times: "No Democratic [mayoral] candidate is expected to reach the threshold needed to win outright under the city's new ranked-choice voting system, and it may be weeks before a Democratic primary victor -- who would become an overwhelming favorite to win the general election in November -- is officially declared. New Yorkers on Tuesday will also render judgments on other vital positions in primary races that will test the power of the left in the nation's largest city. The city comptroller's race, the Manhattan district attorney's race and a slew of City Council primaries, among other contests, will offer imperfect but important windows into Democratic attitudes and engagement levels as the nation emerges from the pandemic in the post-Trump era.... If no single candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote on the first tally, the eventual nominee will be determined by rounds of ranked-choice voting, through which New Yorkers could rank up to five candidates in order of preference." An ABC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "On the cusp of an election that will determine the future of post-Covid New York, it feels as if we're staggering toward catastrophe. Both of the male front-runners are, for different reasons, unsuited to the office. New York cannot afford a leader who doesn't know how to do the job [Andrew Yang]. It can't afford a mayor who has, as The Times reported, repeatedly pushed 'the boundaries of campaign-finance and ethics laws,' and could spend four years mired in scandal, using race to deflect every criticism [Eric Adams]. Among the leading candidates, our only hope lies with the women, [Kathryn ]Garcia and Maya Wiley."

Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie. Marie: It is not possible to name with certainty the day democracy died. You could go back to some time in Richard Nixon's tenure, or to some moment Ronald Reagan was a has-been actor reading the morning newspaper, or to January 20, 2009, when Mitch & Newt & the gang vowed to make Barack Obama a one-term president, or to January 6, 2021, when Donald Trump tried to start an insurrection. If one of those moments or some other moment is where you plant your flag, I won't argue with you. But the day I pick is the day Scalia died. When Mitch McConnell & Chuck Grassley decided not to allow President Obama any Supreme Court appointment, they put down an anti-democratic marker that Democrats scarcely even tried to knock down, one that stands firm today. AND that marker stands not just because of Republican audacity but because of Democratic weakness.

Democrats Plan to Cave Again Today. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A push by Democrats to enact the most expansive voting rights legislation in generations is set to collapse in the Senate on Tuesday, when Republicans are expected to use a filibuster to block a measure that President Biden and his allies in Congress have called a vital step to protect democracy. Despite solid Republican opposition, Democrats plan to bring the voting rights fight to a head on the Senate floor, by calling a test vote to try to advance the broad federal elections overhaul, known as the For the People Act. As Republican-led states rush to enact restrictive new voting laws, Democrats have presented the legislation as the party's best chance to undo them, expand ballot access from coast to coast and limit the effect of special interests on the political process.... In the hours before the vote, Democrats conceded they were facing defeat -- at least for now.... With the path forward so murky, top Democrats began framing Tuesday's vote as a moral victory, and potentially a crucial step in building consensus around eventually blowing up the filibuster." ~~~

The Senate Democratic Caucus has to have a hard conversation with each other and ask, 'Are we going to allow an obscure legislative procedure that's really just an accident of history to prevent us from accomplishing what we ran on and enacting the kind of changes that are needed to secure the American people's right to vote?" -- Leah Greenberg of the Indivisible Project ~~~

~~~ The Futility of Umbrage & High Dudgeon. Mike DeBonis & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Liberal activists and Democratic lawmakers are angling to use a planned Senate vote Tuesday on broad legislation to overhaul election access, campaign finance and government ethics -- which is expected to fail because of solid Republican opposition -- as an inflection point in a major last-ditch push to change Senate rules and pass voting rights legislation before the end of the summer.... In a fiery floor speech Monday that served, in part, as a veiled appeal to members of his own caucus, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) hammered the point that Republicans were threatening to block even a discussion of voting rights." MB: Oh, a "fiery floor speech"? Whoopty-doo. Oh, a "moral victory"? Yippee! ~~~

He lied over and over and over again ... poisoning our democracy, lighting a fire between Republican state legislatures who immediately launched the most sweeping voter suppression effort in at least 80 years. Just a note, how despicable a man is Donald Trump? -- Chuck Schumer, in "fiery floor speech" ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE, that dope Kyrsten Sinema (DINO-Az.) writes a Washington Post op-ed pledging allegiance to the filibuster. ~~~

~~~ Dan Merica of CNN: "Former President Barack Obama on Monday invoked the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol to advocate for a sweeping voting rights bill set to be considered by the Senate, arguing the uprising proved Americans cannot 'take our democracy for granted.'... During a grassroots conference call for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the former President also argued that America's 'own history' makes clear the importance for fighting for democracy and warned that 'we are going to have to be vigilant in fighting back attempts by the few to silence the many.... In the aftermath of an insurrection, with our democracy on the line..., many ... Republican senators [are] going along with the notion that somehow there were irregulates and problems with legitimately in our most recent election. They are suddenly afraid to even talk about these issues and figures out solutions on the floor of the Senate. They don't even want to talk about voting. And that is not acceptable.'" ~~~

~~~ Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "Democrats plan to introduce legislation in the House and Senate on Tuesday to combat new laws in Republican-run states that could lead to the subversion of fair elections by partisan officials. The new bills come in response to measures passed by Republican-majority state legislatures and signed into law by Republican governors that make it easier for partisan legislatures to purge state election boards and local election supervisors and replace them without cause with partisan officials. These state laws follow ... Donald Trump's pressure campaign against state and local election officials to overturn his 2020 reelection loss based on false claims of widespread voter fraud." MB: And this bill is going to clear a GOP filibuster because ... what? Hey, look at me! I can flail my arms & sputter, too! Yeesh!

~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow devoted her opening segment to that lady who pretended she owned & lived in a Virginia mansion (WashPo link) & managed to get Mark Meadows to send her fantastical "Italygate" conspiracy theory to the acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen to investigate. Maddow's point was that Republicans' stated objections to voting rights all rested on a "plinth" of far-fetched, fake "concerns." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "... the argument Republicans most often make against proposals such as [Joe] Manchin's is not that early voting and voter notifications are bad ideas, but that setting election rules is the states' job, not the federal government's. They are wrong, according to the plain text of the Constitution, which expressly gives Congress power over federal elections. But the consequence of congressional inaction is to enable Republican state leaders to continue stacking election rules against Democrats, limiting access to the ballot box and manipulating voting maps to obtain illegitimate partisan advantage.... Mr. Manchin's [voting] reforms deserve a full hearing and an up-or-down vote. If his proposal does not get its due, Democrats should consider reforming the filibuster. There is no shortage of ideas about how to adjust the procedural maneuver without abolishing it, such as demanding that minority senators show up to sustain their filibusters; requiring three-fifths of present and voting senators to end a filibuster, rather than three-fifths of all senators; or reducing the number of votes needed to overcome filibusters." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It's obvious from the arcane rules that be that the Senate recognized that at least one thing was too important to be held hostage by the filibuster: keeping the government running. But that, when you think about it, has a self-serving, process purpose. It applies to the duties described in the body of the Constitution, not to rights granted in the Amendments. And aren't human & civil rights -- that is, the rights the government grants to its citizens -- just as important as the Congress's duties? We the people, from whom all blessings flow, think so.

~~~ Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "The media seems [seem!] to have missed it, but last week [Joe Manchin] got Republicans to admit to the 'big lie.'... Manchin's [proposed] compromise [voting rights bill] completely undercuts Republicans' case for blocking reform. It does this by including new requirements to safeguard election security, which is -- or was -- the top priority of Republicans concerned by 'questions' the 2020 election supposedly raised.... Manchin also conspicuously omitted Democratic initiatives that Republicans claim (without evidence) lead to voter fraud.... Republicans ... rejected the framework. Immediately, forcefully, unambiguously.... [Mitch] McConnell comically accused Manchin's framework of supercharging 'cancel culture,' that all-purpose GOP boogeyman. Even more tellingly, McConnell and other colleagues such as Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) suggested that a tentative endorsement by a prominent Black voting rights activist had magically transformed Manchin's proposal into the 'Stacey Abrams substitute, not the Joe Manchin substitute.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We mustn't let voters ever forget that by labeling a compromise bill "the Stacey Abrams substitute," Roy Blunt, who is part of the GOP Senate leadership, turned immediately to misogyny & racism as a means of curbing voting rights for all Americans.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Three months into his new job, judge-turned-attorney general Merrick Garland, who inherited a demoralized and politicized Justice Department, is facing criticism from some Democrats that he is not doing enough to quickly expunge Trump-era policies and practices.... How he charts his way through the current controversies and still-unresolved politically sensitive cases is likely to determine how much of a long-term impact the Trump presidency has on the Justice Department.... Twenty-two House Democrats, led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold E. Nadler (N.Y.), recently wrote that Garland's department made a 'profoundly misguided' decision 'with deeply problematic implications' when it continued to defend Trump in a defamation lawsuit, and they urged the attorney general to reconsider."

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The FBI director and other senior officials have consistently downplayed the intelligence value of social media posts by Trump supporters prior to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, suggesting the bureau had no 'actionable' warning that the Capitol would be targeted by a mob. But according to a document entered into court records last week, an FBI agent acknowledged in a February investigative report that angry Trump supporters were talking openly in the days before the riot about bringing guns to the Capitol to start a 'revolution.'... The FBI document doesn't say whether the FBI's review of social media posts was conducted before or after Jan. 6." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The report Dilanian cites was written by a female agent. I suspect women are overrepresented in the minions at the FBI who collect & report on written sources. And I also suspect that the male higher-ups are inclined to ignore those women's reports. So if mid-level managers received intelligence about the January 6 insurrection before the 6th, they very well could have dismissed the intelligence as "women's work." I could be wrong, but I'm not kidding.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the N.C.A.A. cannot bar relatively modest payments to student-athletes in the name of amateurism. The decision, based on antitrust law, came as the business model of college sports is under increasing pressure. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the N.C.A.A. was not free to limit benefits tied to education for Division I football and basketball players. The decision allowed payments for things like musical instruments, scientific equipment, postgraduate scholarships, tutoring, study abroad, academic awards and internships. It did not permit the outright payment of salaries. The court rejected the N.C.A.A.'s argument that compensating athletes would alienate sports fans who prize students' amateur status." The AP's report is here. The ruling, written by Neil Gorsuch, is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed most claims filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C., Black Lives Matter and others who in lawsuits accused the Trump administration of authorizing an unprovoked attack on demonstrators in Lafayette Square last year. The plaintiffs asserted the government used unnecessary force to enable a photo op of Trump holding a Bible outside of the historical St. John's Church. But U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of Washington called allegations that federal officials conspired to make way for the photo too speculative. The judge's decision came in a 51-page opinion after the Justice Department requested she toss four overlapping lawsuits naming dozens of federal individual and agency defendants, as well as D.C. and Arlington police, in the June 2020 incident. Friedrich also ruled that federal defendants such as then-attorney general William P. Barr and then-acting Park Police chief Gregory T. Monahan are immune from civil suits and could not be sued for damages, and that Black Lives Matter as a group could not show it was directly injured by actions against individual demonstrators. The judge did allow litigation to go forward challenging federal restrictions on protests and other First Amendment activity at Lafayette Square across from the White House, and against local D.C. and Arlington County police agencies who supported the operation." MB: Friedrich is a Trump appointee. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, in New York City ~~~

~~~ Flipping the Squid. Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "... Donald Trump's onetime bodyguard, who now serves as a key manager with the Trump family business, is reportedly being investigated by Manhattan prosecutors. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump Organization executive Matthew Calamari is being scrutinized by the New York City District Attorney's Office as part of their wide-ranging probe into whether the company and/or executives there committed fraud. Here, the apparent focus is on whether the Trump Organization and top brass skirted tax laws by providing employees with fringe benefits that were never accounted for in tax filings." The prosecutors' effort is an attempt to flip Calamari. ~~~

     ~~~ Probably Because This. Jonathan O'Connell, et al., of the Washington Post: "... officials involved in the ... investigation [of Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg] have grown frustrated about what they view as a lack of cooperation from Weisselberg and believe he continues to regularly speak with Trump, according to a person familiar with the inquiry.... 'Just to say "He's the money man' actually underestimates his role. He was more than that even. He was the whole enchilada,' said Tristan Snell, who headed the New York attorney general's investigation of Trump University, which led in 2016 to a $25 million settlement of fraud allegations. 'Allen Weisselberg really ran the whole company.'" ~~~

~~~ John Santucci & Aaron Katarsky of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's company sued New York City Monday for allegedly wrongfully terminating contracts the Trump Organization had to operate city facilities.... Mayor [Bill] de Blasio announced in January he was moving to terminate the contracts with the former president's company following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 'The President incited a rebellion against the United States that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional transfer of power,' de Blasio said at the time. 'The City of New York will not be associated with those unforgivable acts in any shape, way or form, and we are immediately taking steps to terminate all Trump Organization contracts.'"

Trump Urged U.S. Government Agencies to Muzzle SNL, Others. Asawin Suebsaeng & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "In March 2019..., [Donald Trump] had just watched an episode of ... [Saturday Night Live] (it wasn't even a new episode, it was a rerun), and grew immediately incensed that the show was gently mocking him. 'It's truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of "the other side,"' Trump tweeted.... 'Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows. Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?' It was, on its face, a ridiculous question and threat, as SNL is obviously satire, and therefore a form of protected speech in America that pissed-off commanders-in-chief have no authority to directly subvert.... [But] according to two people familiar with the matter, Trump had asked advisers and lawyers in early 2019 about what the Federal Communications Commission, the courts systems, and ... the Department of Justice could do to probe or mitigate SNL, Jimmy Kimmel, and other late-night comedy mischief-makers."

Robert Klemko of the Washington Post: When left-wing activist outed Edward Dawson of Washington State for harassing two journalists in Washington, D.C., his boss fired him and his wife lost her job, too, possibly because of her online show of support for her violent, extremist husband. "The disclosure online of Dawson's personal information -- a phenomenon known as doxing -- is part of a growing effort by left-wing activists to punish members of far-right groups accused of violent behavior by exposing them to their employers, family and friends. The doxing of Dawson highlights the effect the tactic can have -- unemployment and personal upheaval followed by a new job that pays much less than his old one -- but also the limits of the technique: Dawson is unrepentant for his role in galvanizing a mob to harass [the journalists] and continues to espouse far-right views."

The Washington Post picked up the story of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-R.I.) association with a possibly-all-white private club. We linked a local story about this Monday.

I'd Rather Sell Pot, Man. Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "Retail workers, drained from the pandemic and empowered by a strengthening job market, are leaving jobs like never before. Americans are ditching their jobs by the millions, and retail is leading the way with the largest increase in resignations of any sector. Some 649,000 retail workers put in their notice in April, the industry's largest one-month exodus since the Labor Department began tracking such data more than 20 years ago. Some are finding less stressful positions at insurance agencies, marijuana dispensaries, banks and local governments, where their customer service skills are rewarded with higher wages and better benefits. Others are going back to school to learn new trades, or waiting until they are able to secure reliable child care."

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 Washington Post's live Covid updates for Monday are here.

Jeanne Whalen of the Washington Post: "The transmission of the more contagious delta variant in the United States could spur a fall surge in coronavirus infections if only 75 percent of the country's eligible population is vaccinated, former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said Sunday.... He said states with low vaccination rates already are showing a concerning rise in cases with the spreading of delta, which is up to 60 percent more contagious than earlier variants.... He urged a renewed vaccination push closer to the fall, as people prepare to return to school and work, when he said they may be more open to the shots." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In regard to Covid-19, as in some other matters, you are safer if your neighbors aren't nitwits.

Beyond the Beltway

Missouri. Corbin Bolies of the Daily Beast: "Days after St. Louis gun fanatic Mark McCloskey was forced to give up the guns he waved at protestors last year..., [he] took to Twitter Saturday to brag about his new purchase -- an AR-15. 'Checking out my new AR!' he wrote. McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, pleaded guilty Thursday to numerous misdemeanors in connection with an incident last year, in which they brandished guns at protesters during the racial justice protests last year. The couple was required to pay thousands of dollars in fines and, as part of their deal, had to give up the guns they waved."

The Commentariat -- June 21, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the N.C.A.A. cannot bar relatively modest payments to student-athletes in the name of amateurism. The decision, based on antitrust law, came as the business model of college sports is under increasing pressure. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the N.C.A.A. was not free to limit benefits tied to education for Division I football and basketball players. The decision allowed payments for things like musical instruments, scientific equipment, postgraduate scholarships, tutoring, study abroad, academic awards and internships. It did not permit the outright payment of salaries. The court rejected the N.C.A.A.'s argument that compensating athletes would alienate sports fans who prize students' amateur status." The AP's report is here. The ruling, written by Neil Gorsuch, is here.

Robert Klemko of the Washington Post: When left-wing activist outed Edward Dawson of Washington State for harassing two journalists in Washington, D.C., his boss fired him and his wife lost her job, too, possibly because of her online show of support for her violent, extremist husband. "The disclosure online of Dawson's personal information -- a phenomenon known as doxing -- is part of a growing effort by left-wing activists to punish members of far-right groups accused of violent behavior by exposing them to their employers, family and friends. The doxing of Dawson highlights the effect the tactic can have -- unemployment and personal upheaval followed by a new job that pays much less than his old one -- but also the limits of the technique: Dawson is unrepentant for his role in galvanizing a mob to harass [the journalists] and continues to espouse far-right views."

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

Missouri. Corbin Bolies of the Daily Beast: “Days after St. Louis gun fanatic Mark McCloskey was forced to give up the guns he waved at protestors last year..., [he] took to Twitter Saturday to brag about his new purchase -- an AR-15. 'Checking out my new AR!' he wrote. McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, pleaded guilty Thursday to numerous misdemeanors in connection with an incident last year, in which they brandished guns at protesters during the racial justice protests last year. The couple was required to pay thousands of dollars in fines and, as part of their deal, had to give up the guns they waved."

~~~~~~~~~~

David Rothkopf in a USA Today op-ed: "Joe Biden has had more foreign policy experience than any other president in U.S. history.... The previous most experienced among our presidents when it came to foreign policy was George H.W. Bush. Add up his time in Congress, as ambassador to the United Nations, head of the U.S. Liaison Office in China, head of the CIA and vice president, Bush became president with 17 years of foreign policy experience. That is a third of the foreign policy experience Biden has had.... By virtue of his long experience, Biden's first months in office have been far more successful [than Clinton's, George W. Bush's, Obama's or Trump's].... Biden's recent trip to Europe is among the most successful ever for a new president.In complex affairs of state, experience matters.... If Biden's record stands the test of time, perhaps his and [George H.W.] Bush's relative success -- contrasted with the struggles of less experienced presidents -- will put an end to the notion that on-the-job training is adequate for the toughest job in the world."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Biden's national security adviser said on Sunday that the United States was preparing more sanctions against Russia in response to the poisoning of Aleksei A. Navalny, the country's most prominent opposition leader, days after Mr. Biden attended his first face-to-face summit meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin.... [Jake] Sullivan was vague when pressed on the timing of the sanctions or what they would include, saying only that additional action would come 'as soon as we develop the packages to ensure that we're getting the right targets.'... In April, the Biden administration imposed its first sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and imprisonment of Mr. Navalny. But those penalties were not specifically directed at Mr. Putin or the oligarchs who support him."~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains a 'paramount priority' for the United States, emphasizing that diplomacy 'is the best way to achieve that.' Sullivan weighed in on the issue during appearances on the Sunday morning news shows one day after the election of Iran's new president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was previously the country's ultraconservative judiciary chief."

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "The subpoena that swept up the records of two Democratic congressmen [Adam Schiff & Eric Swalwell], their staff and family members in 2018 appears to have been the result of a leak investigation that initially included scrutinizing a senior aide on the House Intelligence Committee, and not the lawmakers themselves, sources told CNN. The Justice Department's original secret subpoena to Apple, sources say, was an effort to identify people connected with the staffer.... [White House Counsel Don] McGahn's records appear to have been swept up in a separate investigation by federal investigators in a similar manner to Schiff's and Swalwell's, according to a source familiar with the matter."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "By ... just about any other measures, Republican states are failing to meet the basic needs of their residents. Among unvaccinated Americans, infection rates are climbing. More will get sick in those places, and some will die. Republicans are unwilling or incapable of meeting the challenge. This sorry sight is unsurprising given that Republicans have all but given up on the notion of governance. At the national level, they consume themselves with race-baiting..., assailing private companies (e.g., corporations that defend voting rights, social media platforms, book publishers) and perpetrating the most ludicrous and dangerous lie in memory -- that the 2020 election was stolen.... Democrats should be more blunt in castigating Republicans who are not even trying to serve their constituents. They should say it often and simply: Republicans have little to notion to offer anyone but the very rich."

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "In a column for the Los Angeles Times, longtime political observer Doyle McManus pointed out that the Republican leadership is finding itself put into a corner by the more extreme elements in the party.... With Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) excusing the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6th and Rep. Andrew S. Clyde claiming the insurrectionists were merely 'tourists,' Republicans are now confronted with the optics of being the party that condones violence.... The problem, [McManus] wrote, is that a substantial number of the GOP's most fervent supporters have said they are fine with the use of force to hold political power.... 'In a survey by the conservative American Enterprise Institute after the riot in January, 56% of Republicans agreed that "the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it."'" McManus's (firewalled) LA Times column is here.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "'Remember what today was like,' the Atlantic's David Graham wrote on Twitter ... shortly before midnight on Jan. 6].... 'Someone might try to convince you it was different very soon.'... As Graham predicted, people are trying to. It is very useful for Republicans, particularly Republicans loyal to Trump and his base, to try to diminish what occurred on Jan. 6." Bump runs down the ludicrous counterarguments, wherein Republicans describe the insurrection as more-or-less a tourist event or, at worst, an FBI false-flag operation.

Lindsey Calls Equal Access to Ballot a "Power Grab." Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Sunday that a sweeping Democratic-backed election reform bill was 'the biggest power grab in the history of the country.' 'In my view, S.R. 1 is the biggest power grab in the history of the country. It mandates ballot harvesting, no voter ID. It does away with the states being able to redistrict when you have population shifts. It's just a bad idea, and it's a problem that most Republicans are not going to sign -- they're trying to fix a problem most Republicans have a different view of,' Graham said on 'Fox News Sunday.'" MB: Lindsey is right: If you never had your fair share of the pie, then you take your fair share, technically you've "grabbed power." What Lindsey objects to is equality. And we knew that. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

One Place Not to Celebrate the First National Juneteenth: at You Super-Toney All-White Beach Club. GoLocalProv: "U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse [D] continues to defend his family's membership in the all-white private Bailey's Beach Club in Newport. GoLocal interviewed Whitehouse on Friday in Pawtucket and when asked if the private club had admitted any minorities since GoLocal first raised the issue in 2017, Whitehouse said, 'I think the people who are running the place are still working on that and I'm sorry it hasn't happened yet.' Both Whitehouse and his wife Sandra as well as their families have been members of the club for decades. Whitehouse did transfer his shares in the club to his wife years ago, and she is now one of the largest shareholders in the all-white club. The club's membership is a who's who Newport, Palm Beach, and New York wealth.... The interview took place on the eve of the new national holiday Juneteenth National Independence Day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: On Saturday, I shared with you the thrill of having received two $1,200 virtual tickets to Donald Trump's second inauguration, to be held August 15. Now -- who could have guessed? -- the announcement of certain other scheduled events is throwing the gala inauguration into question: ~~~

~~~ Vewy Q-ious. Ewan Palmer of Newsweek: "Anon supporters have acted with dismay and confusion after Donald Trump announced the December dates of his upcoming speaking tour with Bill O'Reilly, which coincides with when he is meant to have already been reinstated as president. Trump has confirmed the upcoming dates and locations for the events with the former Fox News host in a statement while sharing links for his supporters to buy tickets, which are being sold for at least $100.... QAnon supporters previously believed that Trump would return as president on March 4 based on a wild theory heavily lifted from the sovereign citizen movement. When that prediction failed to come true, as all of them have, they simply moved onto their next hopeful prophecy. Many QAnon supporters now believe that Trump will return in August -- a false claim widely pushed by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell-- if the disputed and disregarded audit in Arizona proves there was election fraud that cost him the election." Firewalled.

Marie: When Trump's DOJ was looking for leaks, they should have looked at their Fox "News" friends: ~~~

~~~ Tucker Carlson, Double Agent. Ben Smith of the New York Times: Tucker "Carlson, a proud traitor to the elite political class, spends his time when he's not denouncing the liberal media trading gossip with them. He's the go-to guy for sometimes-unflattering stories about Donald J. Trump and for coverage of the internal politics of Fox News (not to mention stories about Mr. Carlson himself). I won't talk here about any off-the-record conversations I may have had with him. But 16 other journalists (none from The Times; it would put my colleagues in a weird position if I asked them) told me on background that he has been, as three of them put it, 'a great source.' 'In Trump's Washington, Tucker Carlson is a primary supersecret source,' the media writer and Trump chronicler Michael Wolff writes in his forthcoming collection of essays, 'Too Famous.'" MB: Whatever your opinion of Tucker, you can still spell it a-s-s-h-o-l-e.

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "The U.S. economy is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with considerable speed but markedly transformed, as businesses and consumers struggle to adapt to a new landscape with higher prices, fewer workers, new innovations and a range of inconveniences.... Prices are up. Housing is scarce. It takes months longer than normal to get furniture, appliances and numerous parts delivered. And there is a great dislocation between millions of unemployed workers and millions of vacant jobs.... There's dispute, among other things, about how many of these changes are temporary and how many are true fundamental shifts that will stick around for years and reshape behaviors."

Tom Perriello, in a New York Times op-ed: "... the persistent efforts by conservative [U.S.] bishops to arbitrate who among the faithful receives communion, while failing to practice the confession and penance they demand of others, reinforces why the American bishops so often stand alone.... I was always struck by the U.S. bishops' myopic focus. But my experiences with them during my brief time in Congress shocked me. As a representative, I saw them cherry-pick theology to promote partisan ends, favoring a future Supreme Court over their congregations struggling to afford care. At a time when the Church could model moral accountability for its decades of criminality and corruption, they opt instead for the partisan agenda of their largest donors and the misogyny inherent in their structure.... I pray this week that the American bishops reflecton Pope Francis's message that communion 'is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

NEW. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care..., Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them.... 'Don't we have an island that we own?' the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. 'What about Guantánamo? We import goods,' Trump specified.... 'We are not going to import a virus.' Aides were stunned, and when Trump brought it up a second time, they quickly scuttled the idea, worried about a backlash over quarantining American tourists on the same Caribbean base where the United States holds terrorism suspects. Such insider conversations are among the revelations in 'Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,' a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta that captures the dysfunctional response to the unfolding pandemic." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course by February 2020, there were already quite a few coronavirus carriers inside the U.S., so Trump's brilliant Guantánamo lepers' colony plan would not have worked anyway.

NEW. Arkansas Gubernatorial Race. digby: "This is the best introduction ad I've ever seen. If there's a more qualified, talented, perfect candidate to run for Governor against that nepotistic, dry socket Sarah Huckabee Sanders, I can't imagine who it would be:" ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RockyGirl for the link. ~~~

~~~ NEW. Tom Hilton, on Steve M.'s No More Mister Nice Blog, writes the voiceover script for a generic Democratic candidate's ad. He's on the right track. Thanks again to RockyGirl for the link.