The Commentariat -- May 10, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Lauren Neergaard & Candice Choi of the AP: "... regulators [at the Food and Drug Administration] on Monday expanded use of Pfizer's [Covid-19] shot to those as young as 12, sparking a race to protect middle and high school students before they head back to class in the fall. Shots could begin as soon as a federal vaccine advisory committee issues recommendations for using the two-dose vaccine in 12- to 15-year-olds, expected Wednesday."

Alana Wise of NPR: "Those collecting unemployment benefits under the American Rescue Plan must accept 'suitable' employment when offered, President Biden said Monday, responding to last week's underwhelming April jobs report. 'We're going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment, who was offered a suitable job, must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,' Biden said before adding: 'We don't see much evidence of that.' The president's remarks come just days after the latest jobs report showed fewer jobs created than expected: 260,000 vs. about 1 million. Some employers say that they're finding it difficult to find workers, and Republican critics argue that's because of the checks Americans are receiving from the coronavirus stimulus package."

Steve Hendrix & Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "The militant group Hamas fired seven rockets at Jerusalem and dozens more at southern Israel on Monday evening after violent clashes near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Arab protesters left more than 300 Palestinians injured. Israel retaliated for the rocket attacks with airstrikes against the Gaza Strip, killing 20 people, including nine children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The Israeli military said three Hamas operatives were among the dead." The AP's story is here.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced Monday that health care providers cannot discriminate against transgender individuals, the latest step in President Biden's efforts to restore civil rights protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people that were eliminated by his predecessor. Under the new policy, the Department of Health and Human Services will once again prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by health care organizations that receive federal funding. The move will reverse a policy adopted by H.H.S. under ... Donald J. Trump which said that anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 did not apply to transgender people."

Luisa Beck & Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "German priests across more than 100 churches have been blessing gay relationships in recent days in a coordinated -- and sometimes live-streamed -- defiance of a Vatican order signed by Pope Francis. For gay Catholics who have long felt marginalized by Catholic teaching, the events are a celebratory moment, marked by sermons on inclusivity and rainbow church decorations. But the events also amount to an open rebellion -- and a test for a pontiff whose tenure has been marked by divisions over hot-button issues, especially the church's stance on homosexuality....The German ceremonies are taking place two months after Francis signed off on a declaration barring priests from blessing same-sex unions.... It marked a jarring message from a pontiff who has generally sought to welcome gays, and who famously said,'Who am I to judge?'"

Ken Dilanian & Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News: "A Russian criminal group may be responsible for a ransomware attack that shut down a major U.S. fuel pipeline, two sources familiar with the matter said Sunday. The group, known as DarkSide, is relatively new, but it has a sophisticated approach to the business of extortion, the sources said. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Sunday that the White House was working to help Colonial Pipeline, the Georgia-based company that operates the pipeline, to restart its 5,500-mile network." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. David Sanger & Pranshu Verma of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. confirmed on Monday that the hacking group DarkSide was responsible for the ransomware attack that closed a U.S. pipeline providing the East Coast with nearly half of its gasoline and jet fuel.... President Biden said on Monday that the government had mitigated any impact the hack on the petroleum pipeline might have had on the U.S. fuel supply. He added that his administration had efforts underway to 'disrupt and prosecute ransomware criminals.' Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the system..., [said] the company would restore service incrementally, with the goal of 'substantially' resuming service by the end of the week." The AP's story is here.

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Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "The operator of the largest petroleum pipeline between Texas and New York, which was shut down after a ransomware attack, declined on Sunday to say when it would reopen, raising concerns about a critical piece of infrastructure that carries nearly half of the East Coast's fuel supplies. While the shutdown has so far had little impact on supplies of gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, some energy analysts warned that a prolonged suspension could raise prices at the pump along the East Coast and leave some smaller airports scrambling for jet fuel. Colonial Pipeline, the pipeline operator, said on Sunday afternoon that it was developing 'a system restart plan' and would restore service to some small lines between terminals and delivery points but 'will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so.'" ~~~

~~~ Joseph Choi of the Hill: "The White House on Sunday declared a state of emergency in 17 states and the District of Columbia in response to the shutdown of one of the largest pipelines in the U.S., which supplies around 45 percent of fuel consumed by the East Coast. The regional emergency declaration from the U.S. Department of Transportation lifts restrictions for motor carriers and drivers who are providing assistance to areas that are suffering a shortages of 'gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products.'..." ~~~

~~~ Alan Suderman of the AP: "Criminal hackers are increasingly using brazen methods to increase pressure on law enforcement agencies to pay ransoms, including leaking or threatening to leak highly sensitive and potentially life-threatening information. The threat of ransomware has risen to a level that's impossible to ignore, with hardly a day going by without news of a hospital, private business or government agency being victimized.... Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has called ransomware a 'threat to national security' and said the issue is a top priority of the White House."

Jon Gambrell of the AP: "The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized an arms shipment of thousands of assault weapons, machines guns and sniper rifles hidden aboard a ship in the Arabian Sea, apparently bound for Yemen to support the country's Houthi rebels. An American defense official told The Associated Press that the Navy's initial investigation found the vessel came from Iran, again tying the Islamic Republic to arming the Houthis despite a United Nations arms embargo. Iran's mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Tehran has denied in the past giving the rebels weapons. The seizure, one of several amid the yearslong war in Yemen, comes as the U.S. and others try to end a conflict that spawned one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The arms shipment, described as sizeable, shows that the war may still have far to run." ~~~

     ~~~ Brad Lendon of CNN: "The cruiser USS Monterey stopped the stateless dhow on May 6 during a routine operation to verify its registry, the Navy said.... The massive arms haul covered much of the rear flight deck of the 567-foot (173-meter) US warship after it was transferred over in what the Navy said was a two-day operation. 'The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights,' the Navy statement said."

Bryan Pietsch of the New York Times: "The writer and poet Maya Angelou and the astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, are the first women who will appear on a series of quarters to be issued by the U.S. Mint over the next four years. Each woman will be honored on the reverse, or tails, side of the coins, which will enter circulation in January as part of the American Women Quarters Program. The heads side of the coin will feature a new desig of George Washington."

FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub in a Washington Post op-ed: "Last week ... Republican members ... [of] the Federal Election Commission [killed the] hush-money case against ... Donald Trump.... Under current law, no court can overturn this decision.... Republican commissioners continue to deem a breathtaking variety of campaign finance law violations as not worth our time...." MB: And here I thought the FEC was notoriously dysfunctional. Turns out the Republicans on the commission are highly functional at prohibiting accountability for their side.

Luke Broadwater & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, on Sunday officially endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik in her bid to oust the No. 3 House Republican, Representative Liz Cheney, who has hemorrhaged support over her repudiation of ... Donald J. Trump's lies about election fraud." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: After the November election, and especially after the January 6 insurrection, Republicans had golden opportunities to lick their wounds, repudiate Trump & Trumpism and revitalize their party. Under the "leadership" of Kevin McCarthy & a number of governors & senators, they instead chose to identify with white supremacists, fearmongers, science deniers, insane conspiracy theorists & seditionists. They have no redeeming values. None.

The Birth of a Conspiracy Theory. Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "Key elements of the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from ... Donald Trump took shape in an airplane hangar [in Addison, Texas,] two years earlier, promoted by a Republican businessman who has sold everything from Tex-Mex food in London to a wellness technology that beams light into the human bloodstream. At meetings beginning late in 2018..., Russell J. Ramsland Jr. and his associates delivered alarming presentations on electronic voting to a procession of conservative lawmakers, activists and donors.... The idea of widespread vote manipulation remained on the political fringe -- until 2020, when Ramsland's assertions were seized upon by influential allies of Trump.... By late 2019, Ramsland was [claiming] ... that election software used in the United States originated in Venezuela and saying nefarious actors could surreptitiously manipulate votes on a massive scale. As the 2020 election approached, he privately briefed GOP lawmakers in Washington and met with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.... After the Nov. 3 election..., Ramsland and others associated with ASOG played key roles in spreading the claims of fraud.... They were circulated by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.).... In the aftermath of the election, Trump was surrounded by those repeating claims Ramsland had made...."

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "An unexpected slowdown in hiring nationwide has prompted some Republican governors to start slashing jobless benefits in their states, hoping that the loss of generous federal aid might force more people to try to return to work. The new GOP cuts chiefly target the extra $300 in weekly payments that millions of Americans have received for months in addition to their usual unemployment checks. Arkansas on Friday became the latest to announce plans to cancel the extra benefits, joining Montana and South Carolina earlier in the week, in a move that signals a new effort on the part of Republicans to try to combat what they see as a national worker shortage.... Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, called on Washington this week to cancel the program nationally before its planned expiration in early September." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here.

Derby Winner Drugged, Trainer "Shocked." Joe Drape of the New York Times: "The Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test, once more putting the practices of his Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, the embattled sport's most recognizable personality, under uncomfortable scrutiny. If disqualified, Medina Spirit would be stripped of the Derby title and the winning purse.... In a statement, Churchill Downs officials said that if Medina Spirit's positive test were confirmed, the Derby's runner-up, Mandaloun, would be declared the winner. 'Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack,' the statement said. In a news conference Sunday morning outside his barn at Churchill Downs, Baffert ... insisted the colt had not been treated with the drug, a corticosteroid injected into joints to reduce pain and swelling. 'I was totally shocked when I heard this news,' Baffert said." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Melinda Gates -- wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- began seeking legal advice for a possible divorce two years ago. The report states that the wife of the billionaire technology pioneer became concerned after her husband's ties to accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had become public.... You can read more here -- subscription required."

Beyond the Beltway

Oklahoma. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "Two brothers, 8 and 5, were removed from their Oklahoma elementary school classrooms this past week and made to wait out the school day in a front office for wearing T-shirts that read 'Black Lives Matter,' according to the boys' mother. The superintendent of the Ardmore, Okla., school district where the brothers, Bentlee and Rodney Herbert, attend different schools had previously told their mother, Jordan Herbert, that politics would 'not be allowed at school,' Ms. Herbert recalled on Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has called the incident a violation of the students' First Amendment rights."

Oregon. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Just after midnight on Halloween, a blaring car alarm and a loud banging sound startled Mirella Castaneda and woke her young son. A man stood in her driveway in Forest Grove, Ore., slamming his fist into the Black Lives Matter flag draped over the metal garage door as the security alarm on the family's pickup truck continued to beep. Castaneda immediately called 911 -- but when police showed up they recognized the man as an off-duty officer named Steven Teets. Instead of arresting Teets, though, one of the responding officers simply drove him home. Now, Teets and that officer, Bradley Schuetz, face criminal charges in the incident that Castaneda's lawyers say 'terrorized' her family. A grand jury has indicted Schuetz for official misconduct, following an outside investigation by the Beaverton Police Department, the agency said in a statement Friday." If you read on, you'll find that the cops' alleged actions were worse than the summary indicates.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Akhtar Makoii of the Guardian: "Dozens of girls were buried on Sunday at a desolate hilltop cemetery in Kabul, a day after a secondary school was targeted in the bloodiest attack in Afghanistan in over a year. A series of blasts outside the school during a peak holiday shopping period killed more than 50 people, mostly female students, and wounded more than 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a suburb of west Kabul populated mostly by Hazara Shias. The government blamed the Taliban for the carnage, but the insurgents denied responsibility and issued a statement saying the nation needed to 'safeguard and look after educational centres and institutions'."

News Lede

Another NRA Weekend. CNN: There were "at least nine mass shootings that occurred across the US over the weekend.... CNN defines a mass shooting as incident with four or more people killed or wounded by gunfire -- excluding the shooter." MB: Apparently, in the U.S., the odds of dying in a mass shooting are far higher than the odds of a Chinese rocket part falling from the sky & taking you out.

The Commentariat -- May 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "An unexpected slowdown in hiring nationwide has prompted some Republican governors to start slashing jobless benefits in their states, hoping that the loss of generous federal aid might force more people to try to return to work. The new GOP cuts chiefly target the extra $300 in weekly payments that millions of Americans have received for months in addition to their usual unemployment checks. Arkansas on Friday became the latest to announce plans to cancel the extra benefits, joining Montana and South Carolina earlier in the week, in a move that signals a new effort on the part of Republicans to try to combat what they see as a national worker shortage.... Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, called on Washington this week to cancel the program nationally before its planned expiration in early September."

Derby Winner Drugged, Trainer "Shocked." Joe Drape of the New York Times: "The Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, failed a postrace drug test, once more putting the practices of his Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, the embattled sport's most recognizable personality, under uncomfortable scrutiny. If disqualified, Medina Spirit would be stripped of the Derby title and the winning purse.... In a statement, Churchill Downs officials said that if Medina Spirit's positive test were confirmed, the Derby's runner-up, Mandaloun, would be declared the winner. 'Given the seriousness of the alleged offense, Churchill Downs will immediately suspend Bob Baffert, the trainer of Medina Spirit, from entering any horses at Churchill Downs Racetrack,' the statement said. In a news conference Sunday morning outside his barn at Churchill Downs, Baffert ... insisted the colt had not been treated with the drug, a corticosteroid injected into joints to reduce pain and swelling. 'I was totally shocked when I heard this news,' Baffert said." CNN's story is here.

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Maureeen Dowd of the New York Times: "How naïve I was to think that Republicans would be eager to change the channel after Trump cost them the Senate and the White House and unleashed a mob on them.... Let's acknowledge who created the template for Trump's Big Lie. It was [Liz's] father, Dick Cheney, whose Big Lie about the Iraq war led to the worst mistake in the history of American foreign policy.... From her patronage perch in the State Department during the Bush-Cheney years, [Liz Cheney] bolstered her father's trumped-up case for an invasion of Iraq.... She was a staunch defender of the torture program.... She backed the futile, 20-year occupation of the feudal Afghanistan.... Because of 9/11, Dick Cheney thought he could suspend the Constitution, attack nations preemptively and trample civil liberties in the name of the war on terror. (And for his own political survival.)... Trump built a movement based on lies. The Cheneys showed him how it's done." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

In case you'd like to read about Matt & Margie's excellent trip to the Villages of Florida -- a huge retirement community in Central Florida where wingers dominate -- the Washington Post has a story here, and the Hill has a report here. MB: I skipped them.

Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "A ransomware attack led one of the nation's biggest fuel pipeline operators to shut down its entire network on Friday, according to the company and two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. While it is not expected to have an immediate impact on fuel supply or prices, the attack on Colonial Pipeline, which carries almost half of the gasoline, diesel and other fuels used on the East Coast, underscores the potential vulnerability of industrial sectors to the expanding threat of ransomware strikes. It appears to have been carried out by an Eastern European-based criminal gang -- DarkSide, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose international law enforcement agencies can't do much about the 400-pound man on his bed in the basement in New Jersey, but surely they can find & deter these gangs of hackers.

Emily Yahr of the Washington Post: Elon Musk hosted "Saturday Night Live," and "the show proceeded mostly as usual.... 'I'm actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger's to host SNL,' he said, to much applause from the audience. 'Or at least the first to admit it....'... Many social media users quickly ... pointed out that former SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd ... has spoken out over the years about his Asperger's diagnosis as a child." A related AP story is here. ~~~

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "Several states are turning away Covid vaccine doses from their federal government allocations, as the daily average of coronavirus vaccine doses administered across the United States has fallen below two million for the first time since early March. Experts say the states' smaller requests reflect a steep drop in vaccine demand in the United States." ~~~

~~~ An AP story on decreased demand for shots is here.

Erin Schumaker of ABC News: "While early polls indicated that Black Americans were less inclined to get vaccinated than other racial groups, by spring 2021 those polls had shifted dramatically, showing a steep rise in the proportion of Black people who wanted to get the vaccine. Despite that shift and despite newer polls reflecting that Black people were not more hesitant than other groups, the narrative that hesitancy was the primary vaccination barrier in the Black community persisted.... But experts say ... lack of access to vaccines and structural barriers are also hurting vaccination rates in these communities.... Overemphasizing hesitancy diverts attention away from policies that could fix those access problems and hinders the U.S. vaccine distribution strategy at large." One expert points out that having a vaccination site within five miles is not all that helpful if you don't have transportation to the site or if the site runs out of does. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Also, if the hours of the day that shots are available are limited to regular business hours Monday through Friday, many people in low-paying jobs cannot take the time off to get the shots. And if people don't have access to computers, they may not be able to easily find the sites & info about when the shots are administered.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Ben Leonard of Politico: "A deputy campaign manager to former Sen. Martha McSally pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than six figures from her campaign, the Justice Department announced. Anthony Barry, who was a consultant and a deputy campaign manager for the Arizona Republican, is facing up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to taking more than $115,000 from her campaign in 2018 and 2019, according to a release from the Justice Department. His sentencing is slated for July 6."

Maryland. Emily Davies of the Washington Post: "Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh's office plans to appoint a panel of independent experts to audit and release a public report on all cases of deaths in police custody overseen by David Fowler, the state's former chief medical examiner who testified in Derek Chauvin's defense. In a statement Friday, Frosh (D) said his office would be 'consulting experts, examining similar audits in other jurisdictions, and doing a preliminary review of [the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] data and protocols.'"

Maryland. Brian Witte of the AP: "Maryland's governor on Saturday posthumously pardoned 34 victims of racial lynching in the state dating between 1854 and 1933, saying they were denied legal due process against the allegations they faced. It was a first-of-its-kind pardon by a governor of a U.S. state. Gov. Larry Hogan signed the order at an event honoring Howard Cooper, a 15-year-old who was dragged from a jailhouse and hanged from a tree by a mob of white men in 1885 before his attorneys could file an appeal of a rape conviction that an all-white jury reached within minutes. 'My hope is that this action will at least in some way help to right these horrific wrongs and perhaps bring a measure of peace to the memories of these individuals and to their descendants and their loved ones,' Hogan said."

Massachusetts Senate Race. Alex Thompson of Politico: "In a move that may surprise some ambitious Massachusetts Democrats, Sen. Elizabeth Warren says that she's going to run for reelection in 2024."

Pennsylvania. DA Candidate: About That Body in My Bathtub. Sarah Polus of the Hill: "A Philadelphia district attorney candidate on his campaign website is addressing the death of a woman whose body was found in his home. Charles Peruto Jr.'s website features multiple sections, including ones titled 'Black Lives Matter,' 'The Opioid Crisis' and, on his 'About Me' page, 'The Girl in My Bathtub.' The lengthy section details the incident involving an ex-girlfriend who was found dead in his bathtub. '... because some people will not let this go away, I must address it,' he begins the statement. Peruto goes on to explain that he was out of town when the incident occurred, which he claims can be corroborated by cell phone records.... Peruto then details a feud with a political rival he claims tried to implicate him in a crime.... The Daily Beast noted that at the time of her death, the woman was 26 years old and had been a paralegal in 66-year-old Peruto's law office.... Many times, 'qualified people won't get into politics because silly things in their background will come up, that they have no control over,' he added." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Characterizing the suspicious death of a girlfriend -- decades younger than he -- as a "silly thing" doesn't seem to suggest Peruto would be a responsible DA pursuing justice for Philadelphians. How many suspicious deaths would he dismiss as "silly"? Oh, the Daily Beast story, which is firewalled, says Peruto is a Republican.

Wa-a-ay Beyond

China/Space/Earth. Steven Myers & Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "Debris from a large Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives early Sunday morning, China's space administration announced. It said most of the debris had burned up on re-entry. It was not immediately clear whether any of what remained had landed on any of the Maldives's 1,192 islands.... The administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, issued an unusual rebuke after China's announcement, accusing the country of 'failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.'" MB: I heard on the news yesterday that the expected re-entry site of the debris shower was the Atlantic Ocean, half the world away. So clearly, China had no idea what was going on.

News Lede

AP: "A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said. The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said. Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported."

The Commentariat -- May 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Maureeen Dowd of the New York Times: "How naïve I was to think that Republicans would be eager to change the channel after Trump cost them the Senate and the White House and unleashed a mob on them.... Let's acknowledge who created the template for Trump's Big Lie. It was [Liz's] father, Dick Cheney, whose Big Lie about the Iraq war led to the worst mistake in the history of American foreign policy.... From her patronage perch in the State Department during the Bush-Cheney years, she bolstered her father's trumped-up case for an invasion of Iraq.... She was a staunch defender of the torture program.... She backed the futile, 20-year occupation of the feudal Afghanistan.... Because of 9/11, Dick Cheney thought he could suspend the Constitution, attack nations preemptively and trample civil liberties in the name of the war on terror. (And for his own political survival.)... Trump built a movement based on lies. The Cheneys showed him how it's done."

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Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday defended his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan after a disappointing jobs report, arguing that the new data prove the necessity of the legislation and that it would take more time for the economy to recover. 'When we came into office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. And we knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it would be a marathon,' Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House. 'It was designed to help us over the course of a year. Not 60 days, a year,' he said of the coronavirus relief passed earlier this year. 'We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "A Great Reassessment." Heather Long of the Washington Post: "One way to make sense of this weak jobs report is to do what Wall Street did and shrug it off as an anomaly. Stocks still rose Friday as investors saw this as a blip.... But another way to look at this is there is a great reassessment going on in the U.S. economy.... At the most basic level, people are still hesitant to return to work until they are fully vaccinated and their children are back in school and day care full time.... There is also growing evidence -- both anecdotal and in surveys -- that a lot of people want to do something different with their lives than they did before the pandemic."

Ben Leonard of Politico: "The Biden White House released its first batch of visitor logs Friday, bringing back the practice that began under former President Barack Obama but stopped under ... Donald Trump.... The batch released included 400 records from Jan. 20 to the end of January, according to a release from the White House. The White House pledged to release the logs monthly. The White House did not include records 'related to purely personal guests of the First and Second Families' nor did it release 'records related to a small group of particularly sensitive meetings.' They described visits of potential Supreme Court nominees as such sensitive meetings.... The White House has declined to release the names of people attending virtual meetings.... The Biden administration has said it can't release the full visitor logs from the Trump White House because they are now the property of the National Archives which must get the former president's permission to make them public." Thanks Akhilleus for the reminder.

Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: "Federal officials visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to tout their progress in dealing with migrant children, saying minors are spending less time in Border Patrol stations and being reunited with family or sponsors more quickly. The government has re-engineered the process for managing unaccompanied children and transferring them to shelters and family, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a news conference at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's processing facility in Donna, Tex. Flanked by five congresswomen from Texas and California, Mayorkas offered few details on how his agency plans to tackle the pressing issues that continue to drive migration and enrich smuggling organizations." ~~~

~~~ Uh, There's This. Eileen Sullivan, et al., of the New York Times: "Biden administration officials have insisted that they have gotten better control of a surge of migrant children that has swamped detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border. But documents obtained by The New York Times indicate that the problem has moved to other facilities, like convention centers in Dallas, San Diego and Long Beach, Calif., which are nearing capacity as funds for more space are scarce. The migrant children are far better cared for at the new facilities, operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, than they were at crammed jails run by the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, according to administration officials. But health department officials are taking about a month on average to move the children and teenagers out of government custody and into the care of a family member or sponsor in the United States." The White House is allowing DHS to redirect funds to migrant care.

New Justice Department. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department proposed a rule on Friday that would expand the definition of a firearm and help close a loophole that has allowed people to buy so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws. The proposal was the latest effort by the Biden administration to crack down on gun deaths.... 'This proposed rule would help keep guns out of the wrong hands and make it easier for law enforcement to trace guns used to commit violent crimes, while protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans,' [AG Merrick Garland] said. President Biden ordered the Justice Department last month to find a way within 30 days to curb the spread of ghost guns, with an eye toward keeping them from criminals who might not otherwise be able to pass a background check and buy a gun."

Old "Justice" Department: "What First Amendment?" Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists' phone records and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia's role in the 2016 election, according to government letters and officials. In three separate letters dated May 3[, 2021,] and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were 'hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.' The letters listed work, home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period. Cameron Barr, The Post's acting executive editor, said: '... The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.'"

So Here's What the Deep State Looks Like. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration's controversial mental health chief, who criticized last year's coronavirus response as overblown, is now serving as a senior civil servant in the Drug Enforcement Administration, raising concerns she has 'burrowed' into the federal bureaucracy to shape policy, said three officials.... Elinore McCance-Katz, who served as ... Donald Trump's assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse, was hired as a legislative policy analyst focused on drug diversion, or the illegal use of drugs. The role, which officials said is GS-15, or the highest level under the federal General Schedule, positions McCance-Katz to help shape the Biden administration's strategy on drug enforcement, particularly with Biden's nominee to run DEA still awaiting Senate confirmation."

A woman wearing a camo hat tricked Tricky Ted Cruz into admitting his purpose in leading a group of senators to object to Pennsylvania vote totals after the Capitol insurrection was an effort to overturn the election. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post reports.

Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The Ohio Republican Party's leaders called on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for voting to impeach ... Donald Trump, a stunning rebuke of one of their own. On Friday, the party's governing board called on Gonzalez, R-Rocky River, to resign in a divided vote. They also voted to censure Gonzalez and nine other members of Congress for "their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against President Donald J. Trump," according to the resolution. Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Over and above their general group stupidity, it's clear the "Ohio Republican party leaders" are mightly ignorant. Their claim that the "impeachment proceedings" were "unconstitutional" is unsupportable. Under the Constituion, the House can impeach a president or judge for undefined "high crimes & misdemeanors" that most people would consider specious, and their actions would still be "constitutional." Additionally, "incitement of insurrection," the charge for which Gonzales voted, is pretty damned serious.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The prosecutors overseeing the vast investigation into the riot at the Capitol this winter have started offering plea deals to defendants, several lawyers said, a significant step in advancing the inquiry into the attack. The plea negotiations, which have largely been informal, are in an early stage, and as of late last week, only one defendant among hundreds charged had pleaded guilty. But many lawyers have recently acknowledged having private conversations with the government.... The extension of plea deals, even on a large scale, is typical in a legal system in which the vast majority of criminal cases never reach a jury. The likelihood that many, if not most, of the more than 400 defendants charged in connection with Jan. 6 will eventually plead guilty will have an added benefit in Washington: It will relieve the city's federal court of the burden of conducting scores of trials at once." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Can we in the public at least get a video loop of all of these traitorous reprobates pleading guilty & being carted off in cuffs?

Marie: Some were wondering in yesterday's Comments thread if this story was true. As I wrote yesterday morning, it is. Hannah Rabinowitz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Alleged US Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was hooked on Fox News and developed 'Foxitis,' his lawyer said Thursday in a virtual hearing interrupted multiple times by another defendant's profane outbursts. Antonio, his lawyer Joseph Hurley said, had lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and for the next six months watched Fox News constantly. Antonio developed what his lawyer called 'Foxitis' and 'Foxmania,' and believed the lies about the 2020 election from Fox News and ... Donald Trump." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the State Department and the professional association and union representing Foreign Service officers will unveil 71 more names [honoring Foreign Service officers who have died on duty] after an exhaustive search through the archives to find forgotten or overlooked people who qualify. Included are three envoys who died of yellow fever in the Republic of Texas, then an independent country; a Black diplomat who was born enslaved and died an ambassador to Liberia; and [F.R.] Engdahl, who died in an accidental fall while he was a Japanese prisoner of war." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Abdi Dahir of the New York Times: Vanessa "Nakate, a 24-year-old Ugandan, had participated in a news conference at the World Economic Forum with four white activists, including the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. But when The Associated Press released a picture of the five from the event, Ms. Nakate had been cropped out. The omission shocked and saddened Ms. Nakate, who in a tearful 10-minute video posted on Twitter denounced the 'racism' in the global environmental movement.... Yet her presence at the event and the effect that the episode had on her elicited a response that reverberated across the world.... The A.P., which apologized to her both publicly and privately, said it would expand diversity training for its journalists and editors worldwide. And by the time Ms. Nakate's flight landed in Uganda a day after she posted her video, she had solidified her place as a leading voice among young Africans passionately arguing for action against climate change.... The A.P., which called the decision a 'terrible mistake,' said the picture had been edited to create a close-up of Ms. Thunberg and to remove a building that was behind Ms. Nakate."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Pfizer and the German company BioNTech have become the first companies to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine for use in people 16 and older. The vaccine is currently being administered to adults in America under an emergency use authorization granted in December. The approval process is likely to take months. The companies said in a statement on Friday that they had submitted their clinical data, which includes six months of information on the vaccine's safety and efficacy, to the F.D.A. They plan to submit additional material, including information about the manufacturing of the vaccine, in the coming weeks." (Also linked yesterday.)

Linda Qiu of the New York Times doubles down on debunking Tucker Carlson's latest whopper: "For months, popular social media posts have cited an unverified national health database to falsely suggest that Covid-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, possibly even more than the virus itself. These claims have been repeatedly debunked. But they remain in circulation as prominent public figures like the Fox News host Tucker Carlson continue to promote them. 'Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the Covid vaccine in the United States,' Mr. Carlson said on his show on Wednesday, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.... But, as the federal Department of Health and Human Services notes in a disclaimer on its website, the database relies on self-reporting, and its reports may include unverified information." Qiu goes on to cite several experts who elaborate on Tucker's gross mistake.

Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "Dutch researchers on Monday said they have trained honeybees to stick out their tongues when presented with the virus's unique scent, acting as a kind of rapid test. Although it's a less conventional method than lab tests, the scientists said teaching bees to diagnose the coronavirus could help fill a gap in low-income countries with limited access to more sophisticated technology, like materials for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.... The scientists trained roughly 150 bees with a Pavlovian conditioning method...." MB: So I guess it's okay if I play the queen bee & stick out my tongue at vaccine skeptics. Oh, Tucker ....

Raf Cassert & Barry Hatton of the AP: "The European Union called on the United States Friday to start boosting its vaccine exports to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, and said that the U.S. backing of patent waivers would provide only a long-term solution at best.... While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world's leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants.... [French President Emmanuel] Macron said it was more important for Biden to work on exports. 'The Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients' needed to make vaccines, the French leader said, referring to Washington and London." MB: Clearly, Macron doesn't properly appreciate "uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" -- like Me-First selfishness. Meanwhile, can't people in vaccine-needy countries start teaching tricks to honeybees?

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A police officer in Huntsville, Ala., was convicted of murder on Friday for fatally shooting a man who had called 911 to report that he was suicidal and who was holding a gun to his head when the police arrived, prosecutors said. The officer, William Darby, who had been strongly defended by the Police Department and cleared of wrongdoing by a city review board, will face 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced for the killing of Jeffrey Parker, 49, on April 3, 2018, according to prosecutors. The verdict stunned city leaders, who had maintained that Officer Darby was justified in using deadly force."

Arizona. Hannah Knowles & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The Arizona Senate will hold off on a plan to contact voters as part of a Republican-commissioned election recount that raised concerns from the Justice Department about voter intimidation, state Senate President Karen Fann said Friday. The head of the department's civil rights division, Pamela S. Karlan, wrote to Fann (R) on Wednesday suggesting that the recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots in the state's largest county by a private contractor may not comply with federal law, leaving ballots at 'risk of damage or loss.' She also raised questions about the contractor's stated plans to 'identify voter registrations that did not make sense' and interview voters via phone and 'physical canvassing.'... Arizona's Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, an outspoken critic of those promoting baseless election fraud theories..., has gotten a 24/7 security detail after contacting the governor's staff requesting the protection in light of an incident in which a man chased her, as well as threatening or harassing messages...."

Some people can't understand why anyone would oppose the death penalty's being imposed on those who commit heinous crimes. Well, here's one reason: ~~~

~~~ Arkansas Executed the Wrong Man. Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "For 22 years, Ledell Lee maintained that he had been wrongly convicted of murder. 'My dying words will always be, as it has been, "I am an innocent man,"' he told the BBC in an interview published on April 19, 2017 -- the day before officials in Arkansas administered the lethal injection. Four years later, lawyers affiliated with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union say DNA testing has revealed that genetic material on the murder weapon -- which was never previously tested -- in fact belongs to another man. In a highly unusual development for a case in which a person has already been convicted and executed, the new genetic profile has been uploaded to a national criminal database in an attempt to identify the mystery man.... The Innocence Project and the A.C.L.U. ... pushed for additional DNA testing ... on the eve of Mr. Lee's execution. The request was denied. A federal judge rejected Mr. Lee's request for a stay of the execution, saying that he had 'simply delayed too long,' according to a complaint filed by [Mr. Lee's sister]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming the "new" evidence is dispositive, this is a case of state-sponsored murder. And, yes, it's murder because agents of the state, including that federal judge, acted intentionally.

Florida. Daniel Dale, CNN's fact-checker on some provisions of Florida's new voter suppression law: "The law reduces the number of hours that ballot drop boxes can be made available to voters.... The law requires Florida voters to do extra labor to obtain mail-in ballots.... The law requires voters to provide a form of identification -- their driver's license number, Florida identification card number, or last four digits of their Social Security number -- to obtain a mail-in ballot.... The law makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to possess or deliver more than two mail-in ballots per election, other than a voter's own ballot and the ballots of "immediate" family members.... The law says state and local governments are not allowed to send a voter a mail-in ballot unless the voter has requested one." And more!

Minnesota. Amy Forliti & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Texas. Marie: Yesterday, I linked to an AP story about Texas Republicans' latest big voter suppression bill. According to the AP, "... Democrats ... deployed technical challenges and hours of questioning that the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, appeared unprepared at times to answer." That sentence has since been removed from the story, which, in its latest iteration, is here. The AP story never mentioned Cain's inability to answer the central question Democrat Rep. Rafael Anchia asked him. The exchange between the two men was classic -- in the Katie Porter tradition. (If you're short on time, you may want to start watching at 6:30 minutes in, when Rachel Maddow begins her intro that's specific to the legislative exchange, or at about 8:25 minutes in, when video of the exchange begins.) ~~~

     ~~~ It's way fun to watch the change in the facial expressions of Cain & his entourage, which devolve from smug and smiley-faced at the outset to really uncomfortable as they realize Anchia has caught them accidentally revealing the real rationale for the bill. I liked the part, too, where Cain attempts to white-splain to Anchia that laws derive their authority from the state constitution, as if this would be news to Anchia. BTW, Cain ultimately struck the "purity" language from the bill.

Virginia Governor's Race. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Larry J. Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the Republican candidates for governor this year fit into three categories: 'Trumpy, Trumpier, Trumpiest.'... One candidate brands himself a 'conservative outlaw.' Another boasts of her bipartisan censure by the State Senate for calling the Capitol rioters 'patriots.' A third, asked about Dominion voting machines -- the subject of egregious conspiracy theories on the right -- called them 'the most important issue' of the campaign. These are ... three of the leading contenders in a race that in many ways embodies the decade-long meltdown of Republican power in Virginia, a once-purple state that has gyrated more decisively toward Democrats than perhaps any in the country." (Also linked yesterday.)