The Commentariat -- April 28, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Three Georgia men were indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot to death while jogging through a South Georgia neighborhood last year, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The deadly encounter helped fuel nationwide racial justice demonstrations last year, and the charges are the most significant hate crimes prosecution so far by the Biden administration, which has made civil rights protections a major priority. The suspects -- Travis McMichael, 35; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William 'Roddie' Bryan, 51 -- were each charged with one count of interference with Mr. Arbery's right to use a public street because of his race and with one count of attempted kidnapping.Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charge with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm. Travis McMichael is accused of shooting Mr. Arbery."

** William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became ... Donald J. Trump's personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said. One of the people said the investigators had seized Mr. Giuliani's electronic devices. Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president.... The United States Attorney's office in Manhattan and the F.B.I. had for months sought to secure a search warrant for Mr. Giuliani's phones. Under Mr. Trump, senior political appointees in the Justice Department repeatedly sought to block such a warrant.... After Merrick B. Garland was confirmed as President Biden's attorney general, the Justice Department lifted its objection to the search." The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~

     ~~~ NYT Report Update: "F.B.I. agents on Wednesday morning also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Mr. Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in seeking negative information on the Bidens, according to people with knowledge of that warrant, which sought her phone. Ms. Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, has also represented Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch under indictment in the United States whose help Mr. Giuliani sought." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It seems quite likely that the request for a warrant went up the DOJ chain to Garland. Garland serviced as chief judge of the D.C. circuit court. He would not have approved the warrant because Borat. There's some there there. ~~~

~~~ Michael Sisak, et al., of the AP have independently confirmed the NYT report: "Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home and office on Wednesday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department's investigation into the business dealings of ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine. The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges. Agents searched Giuliani's home on Madison Avenue and his office on Park Avenue, people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press."

Jim Tankersley & Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday detailed a $1.8 trillion collection of spending increases and tax cuts that seeks to expand access to education, reduce the cost of child care and support women in the work force, financed by additional taxes on high earners. The American Families Plan, as the White House calls it, follows the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package President Biden introduced last month, bringing his two-part package of economic proposals to just over $4 trillion. He will present the details to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The proposal includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits, much of which is aimed at expanding access to education and child care." ~~~

~~~ Tami Luhby, et al., of CNN on what's in the $1.8 trillion plan. A CNBC report is here.

Mitch Teaches Old Chuck a New Trick. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation that sought to clamp down on the release of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden's ambitious climate change promises. Taking a page from congressional Republicans who in 2017 made liberal use of a once-obscure law to roll back Obama-era regulations, Democrats will invoke the law to turn back a Trump methane rule enacted late last summer. That rule had eliminated Obama-era controls on leaks of methane, which seeps from oil and gas wells. The vote will be the first time congressional Democrats have used the law, called the Congressional Review Act, which prohibits Senate filibusters and ensures one administration's last-minute regulations can be swiftly overturned with a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress."

This Is Rich. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday pronounced President Biden's first 100 days a massive disappointment and accused the president of breaking his campaign promise to bring the nation together in the wake of a tumultuous 2020." Then, of course, Kumbaya Mitch goes on to show his commitment to unity by lambasting the President: "'Behind President Biden's familiar face, it's like the most radical Washington Democrats have been handed the keys, and they're trying to speed as far left as they can possibly go before American voters ask for their car back,' he said. McConnell took aim at Biden's handling of the surge of migrants crossing the southern border...," his coronavirus relief package and even his administration's distribution of vaccines. And other stuff. The only things Mitch missed were Meatless Joe & book-pushing Kamala.

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

Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "In the months since [the Capitol insurrection, police officer Michael] Fanone ... [who] suffering a mild heart attack and a concussion as he was shocked with a stun gun and beaten ... said it has been 'difficult' to listen to politicians like ... Donald Trump, who last month falsely claimed rioters were actually 'hugging and kissing' police, downplay the severity of the insurrection.... In an emotional interview on 'CNN Tonight,' Fanone described in vivid detail the terror he experienced defending the Capitol from a mob intent on stopping certification of the election, and called out elected officials who have tried to obscure that reality -- position that some GOP officials have embraced as they seek to defend Trump.... Fanone, a 40-year-old who joined the force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was among the 850 D.C. police officers who responded on Jan. 6 as rioters threatened to overwhelm the Capitol Police. He joined a group of officers at the West Terrace facing what he described to The Washington Post as a 'medieval battle scene.'" CNN's story is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Tuesday ordered the release from jail pending trial of a man who was photographed with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing an appeals court decision making it harder to detain riot defendants not accused of violence. Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., had been denied bond and jailed for nearly four months on charges including obstructing Congress, violent entry into the Capitol while armed with a stun gun and stealing a piece of government mail that he later displayed to media outlets."

Florida. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "After he was charged with lying to a grand jury earlier this month, Robert W. Runcie insisted he would 'be vindicated.' The schools superintendent in Broward County, Fla. had spent years battling accusations tied to his leadership before and after the Parkland school shooting -- and the indictment, he claimed, was simply another politically motivated attack tied to the massacre. Yet, less than 24 hours after saying as much in a video on Tuesday, Runcie appeared to change his tune. 'I will step aside so you can have the peace you are looking for,' he told Broward school board member Lori Alhadeff in a meeting later that night. Her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting in February 2018."

Georgia. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last February, two detainees sat side-by-side in a Georgia jail cell, strapped into restraint chairs. As hours passed, the two were not allowed respite, including a chance to use the bathroom. One man ended up urinating on himself and the chair, according to prosecutors. 'I'm a sit your a-- in that chair for 16 hours straight,' Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill allegedly said. 'I need to hear from both of y'all that y'all not gonna show y'all's a-- in my county no more.' Hill, 56, now faces federal civil rights charges in the Northern District of Georgia, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday, for allegedly ordering his deputies to use excessive force against four detainees last year by strapping them into restraint chairs as punishment."

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** Conservative Max Boot of the Washington Post: "When it comes to evaluating his first 100 days, Joe Biden has an unbeatable advantage: He is not Donald Trump.... Even looking only at Trump's first 100 days ... the comparison is lopsidedly, preposterously tilted in Biden's favor. Biden has been scandal-free. Biden has picked well-qualified appointees who know what they are doing. Trump stocked his administration with relatives..., far-right extremists..., clueless rich people ... and ethical disasters.... Biden is making real progress on the biggest issues facing America -- the unemployment rate is declining while the number of vaccinations is skyrocketing. Oh, and the stock market has gone up more than twice as fast as it did under Trump, despite GOP predictions of doom.... Biden is reasserting America's international leadership.... Biden is turning down the temperature on our politics."

Eli Rosenberg & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all federal contractors by 2022, while eliminating a lower minimum wage for tipped contractors. The move will bring the minimum wage for contractors up from the current $10.95, under rules set during the Obama administration. The current minimum wage for federal contractors who are tipped is $7.65 an hour. That will be phased out by 2024 under the new directive. The $15 wage will be mandatory in new contracts by the end of March 2022. Senior administration officials briefed on the plan said they estimated that hundreds of thousands of workers who do contract work for the federal government -- including cleaning staff, maintenance workers, nursing assistants in veteran care facilities, cafeteria and food workers, and laborers -- would see wage increases as a result of the policy change." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Guardian Update: "Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors, providing a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of workers. Biden administration officials said that the higher wages would lead to greater worker productivity, offsetting any additional costs to taxpayers."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "President Biden has nominated a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the federal government's most polarizing agencies. The White House announced that Biden's pick for ICE director is Harris County, Tex., Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a veteran law enforcement officer who transformed the sheriff's office in the Houston metropolitan area from one of the agency's staunchest allies into a reluctant partner. Gonzalez withdrew his department from a voluntary federal program that for years helped to detain and deport immigrants, and has expressed concern tha involving local law enforcement in civil deportation efforts 'silences witnesses & victims' by making immigrants afraid to report crimes.... The Biden administration has signaled that it wishes to reform ICE, not abolish it, and Gonzalez is an example of how the agency's relationships with local police can change."

Zeke Miller of the AP: "President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit the 39th president, Jimmy Carter, and his wife, Rosalynn, while in Georgia this week, the White House said Tuesday. The White House had previously announced that Biden would attend a drive-in rally in Atlanta on Thursday to mark his 100th day in office, which comes a day after his first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The Bidens will now add in a trip to Plains, Georgia, to visit the Carters."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Murdoch Empire's Lie of the Day. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The conservative mediascape has been in an uproar for days over a New York Post report alleging that undocumented minors are being welcomed to the United States with copies of a children's book authored by Vice President Harris. A slew of prominent Republicans shared their outrage over the supposed giveaway of 'Superheroes Are Everywhere' at migrant shelters after the story appeared on the New York tabloid's front page Saturday. Even the White House press secretary was grilled about it. And then on Tuesday, in a one-sentence note at the bottom of the original online article, the Post acknowledged that almost none of it was true.... Two articles about the books were deleted without explanation Tuesday morning, before reappearing a couple hours later with correction notes." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: But the sourcing for the story was impeccable: a single photo of a bed at a Long Beach, Calif., shelter. The Harris book "was one of many items, including toys and clothing, donated by residents in a citywide drive, Long Beach officials said." When you're a Murdoch "journalist," you can just make up stuff based on your impressions or speculation, write it up, and hope you get a raise when Fox "News" & Jim Jordan tout your tall tale. ~~~

     ~~~ Oops! There's More to the Story. (There Usually Is.) Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "The New York Post reporter whose byline was attached to a false story that kicked off a days-long right-wing media outrage cycle has quit.... Reporter Laura Italiano posted [her resignation announcement] to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. 'The Kamala Harris story -- an incorrect story I was ordered to write and which I failed to push back hard enough against -- was my breaking point....'" ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "I’m sure that Hunter Biden story no Post reporter was willing to put their byline on will totally hold up, though." ~~~

     ~~~ Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "Fox News was forced to walk back its false claims about the Biden administration for the second day in a row Tuesday after it pushed the baseless story that Vice President Kamala Harris's book is being given to migrant kids in 'welcome kits.' However, even after 'Fox & Friends' co-host Ainsley Earhardt pointed to a report debunking the story, her colleague Steve Doocy immediately went on to push the narrative anyway, questioning whether the government was paying for the books.... On Monday, Fox News issued an on-air correction over a separate story that was shown to be false. The network promoted a claim that President Joe Biden's climate change plan would cut U.S. red meat consumption by 90%, when in fact Biden's proposal makes no mention of that."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The fanatical Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January are facing an unexpected obstacle to their freedom: Trump himself. Trump's refusal to accept the reality that he lost the 2020 election --reflected in a torrent of recent statements renewing discredited claims about a 'rigged' vote -- has become a feature of prosecutors' latest attempts to jail Capitol riot defendants they deem too dangerous to release pending trial. Judges have started citing this argument -- as part of broader analysis -- in cases where they've decided to detain defendants for presenting a threat of future violence, and even in some cases where they've agreed to let defendants go free, pending trial. They've agreed that Trump's rhetoric could spur his most radicalized supporters to attack again."

"I Don't Recall." David Corn of Mother Jones: "On February 11, Donald Trump Jr. sat in front of his computer for a video deposition. He swore to tell the truth. But documents and a video obtained by Mother Jones -- and recent legal filings -- indicate that his testimony on key points was not accurate. The matter at hand was a lawsuit filed in 2020 against Donald Trump's inauguration committee and the Trump Organization by Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, DC.... In short, the attorney general has accused the Trump clan and its company of major grifting.... In several exchanges, [Junior] made statements that are contradicted by documents or the recollections of others and that appear to be false." For instance, Junior claimed not to know of have any "involvement' with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who was heavily involved in organizing & funding the inauguration. But video shows Junior profusely praising her & text & phone messages show the two conferred with each other, and Wolkoff wrote that she had dinner with Junior and other family members."

Sonia Mogue of CNN: "A former White House senior adviser for the Obama administration who helped found a network of charter schools is accused of allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the schools and attempting to launder the funds in order to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a Manhattan apartment, according to federal prosecutors. Seth Andrew was charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank.... Andrew was taken into custody Tuesday in Manhattan and released on a personal recognizance bond after an initial appearance...." MB: "... accused of allegedly..." is redundant. We get it. The guy is innocent till proved guilty.

>Alexandra Alter & Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times: "W.W. Norton said in a memo to its staff on Tuesday that it will permanently take Blake Bailey's biography of Philip Roth out of print, following allegations that Mr. Bailey sexually assaulted multiple women and behaved inappropriately toward his students when he was an eighth grade English teacher. The announcement came after the publisher decided last week that it would stop shipping and promoting the title, which it released earlier in April. It wasn't immediately clear what would happen with existing copies of the book or the digital and audio versions.... Norton's president, Julia A. Reidhead..., also said that Norton would make a donation in the amount of the advance it paid to Mr. Bailey, who received a mid-six-figure book deal, to organizations that support sexual assault survivors and victims of sexual harassment."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "President Biden and federal health officials said Tuesday that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors in most situations except for large gatherings -- a step, the president said, toward getting 'life in America closer to normal' by his target date of the Fourth of July."

Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials said Tuesday that fully vaccinated people can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging or biking, or dining with friends at outdoor restaurants -- a milestone development for tens of millions of pandemic-weary Americans after more than a year of masking up and locking down. President Biden touted the relaxation of restrictions as another reason for people to get vaccinated, urging them to move forward not just to protect themselves and those around them, but so they can live more normally, by 'getting together with friends, going to the park for a picnic without needing a mask.'... The latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as more than 52 percent of eligible people in the United States have gotten at least one shot, but the pace of inoculations appears to be slowing in the face of vaccine hesitancy, especially among rural residents and Republicans who believe the risks from the virus are overblown." The article is free to nonsubscribers. It includes a CDC "mask chart." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times story is here. ~~~

PSA: What to Do if You See a Child Wearing a Mask. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Requiring children to wear masks outside should be illegal, [Tucker Carlson] insisted.... 'Your response when you see children wearing masks as they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid in Walmart,' Carlson said on his Monday show. 'Call the police immediately, contact child protective services. Keep calling until someone arrives.... What you're looking at is abuse, it's child abuse and you are morally obligated to attempt to prevent it.' Carlson, who brands himself as someone deeply invested in individual liberties, nonetheless urged his viewers Monday to confront strangers wearing masks outdoors and request they bare their faces by telling them, 'Your mask is making me uncomfortable.'" ~~~

You know, it's either trolling, or it's someone in the midst of a genuine breakdown, or it's evil. Or some combination of all three. We all recognize that's psychotic, right? -- Chris Hayes of MSNBC, Tuesday, on TucKKKer's unmask mandate ~~~

~~~ Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Reports about the mysterious Covid-related inflammatory syndrome that afflicts some children and teenagers have mostly focused on physical symptoms: rash, abdominal pain, red eyes and, most seriously, heart problems like low blood pressure, shock and difficulty pumping. Now, a new report shows that a significant number of young people with the syndrome also develop neurological symptoms, including hallucinations, confusion, speech impairments and problems with balance and coordination. The study of 46 children treated at one hospital in London found that just over half -- 24 -- experienced such neurological symptoms, which they had never had before."

Florida. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Last week, leaders at the Centner Academy, a Miami private school, sent teachers an email with a stark warning: Skip the coronavirus vaccines or else you're not welcome in the classroom. 'We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known,' the school's co-founder Leila Centner said in a letter.... Centner cited debunked misinformation to justify the policy, suggesting that 'reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated,' despite medical consensus that the coronavirus vaccines effectively prevent serious infections and carry few risks. The school's decision alarmed public health experts and demonstrated the pervasive reach of misinformation about the vaccines...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Dear Parents: You're spending $15K to $30K to give your child a crap education. Congratulations, Suckers.

West Virginia. Under the direction of the state's governor, Jim Justice (R), West Virginia is offering people aged 16-35 a $100 savings bond to get the Covid-19 vaccine. "The $100 proposition announced this week by West Virginia -- which is available retroactively to young people who already got the shot -- is just one of many incentives now being proposed by states, hospitals, schools and private employers to persuade unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated."

Beyond the Beltway

California. When Will They Ever Learn? Will Wright of the New York Times: "Body camera footage was released on Tuesday of a 26-year-old man who died in police custody after officers in Alameda County, Calif., pinned him facedown on the ground for five minutes. The footage from the Alameda Police Department shows the man, Mario Arenales Gonzalez, becoming unresponsive while in handcuffs and police officers quickly beginning chest compressions. Mr. Gonzalez died on April 19, one day before Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murdering George Floyd by restraining him for nine minutes and 29 seconds.... An initial police report from Alameda, south of Oakland, said that 'a physical altercation ensued' when officers tried to detain Mr. Gonzalez and that 'at tha time, the man had a medical emergency.' The report said Mr. Gonzalez had died in a hospital later that day." MB: Judging by how much this reads like the Minneapolis police report of Floyd's death, this seems to be a standard police format for reporting death-by-cop.

North Carolina. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Lawyers for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., who was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies in coastal North Carolina last week, said on Tuesday that a private autopsy paid for by Mr. Brown's family showed that he was hit by five bullets and killed by a shot to the back of the head. The results of the autopsy, which the lawyers described in a news conference, came as the F.B.I. announced that it was opening a civil rights investigation into the April 21 shooting, and as Gov. Roy Cooper called for a special prosecutor to take over a case that currently rests with the local district attorney.... A hearing on whether to release the body camera footage was scheduled for Wednesday morning."

Oregon. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "After almost a year of near-continuous protests..., Portland's city leaders are signaling that it may be time for a more aggressive crackdown on the most strident street actions. Mayor Ted Wheeler, himself a target of many of the protests as he oversaw a police department that has repeatedly turned to aggressive tactics, last week put into place a state of emergency that lasted six days and vowed to 'unmask' those demonstrators who engaged in repeated acts of vandalism or arson, saying it was time to 'hurt them a little bit.'... Mr. Wheeler's call for crowdsourced surveillance has alarmed civil rights advocates, and critics say the city has failed to bring an end to acts of violence by the Portland Police Bureau, a demand echoed by hundreds of demonstrators who have not destroyed property.... Mike Schmidt, the Multnomah County prosecutor, has taken a forgiving attitude toward protesters who remained peaceful.... His office has been focused on protesters who have committed violent crimes or those involving property...."

News Lede

New York Times: "strong>Michael Collins, who piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft Columbia in orbit 60 miles above the moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Col. Buzz Aldrin, became the first men to walk on the lunar surface, died on Wednesday at a hospice facility in Naples, Fla. He was 90."

The Commentariat -- April 27, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Eli Rosenberg & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden plans to sign an executive order Tuesday that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all federal contractors by 2022, while eliminating a lower minimum wage for tipped contractors. The move will bring the minimum wage for contractors up from the current $10.95, under rules set during the Obama administration. The current minimum wage for federal contractors who are tipped is $7.65 an hour. That will be phased out by 2024 under the new directive. The $15 wage will be mandatory in new contracts by the end of March 2022. Senior administration officials briefed on the plan said they estimated that hundreds of thousands of workers who do contract work for the federal government -- including cleaning staff, maintenance workers, nursing assistants in veteran care facilities, cafeteria and food workers, and laborers -- would see wage increases as a result of the policy change."

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Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden, in an effort to pay for his ambitious economic agenda, is expected to propose giving the Internal Revenue Service an extra $80 billion and more authority over the next 10 years to help crack down on tax evasion by high-earners and large corporations, according to two people familiar with the plan. The additional money and enforcement power will accompany new disclosure requirements for people who own businesses that are not organized as corporations and for other wealthy people who could be hiding income from the government. The Biden administration will portray those efforts -- coupled with new taxes it is proposing on corporations and the rich -- as a way to level the tax playing field between typical American workers and very high-earners who employ sophisticated efforts to minimize or avoid taxation. Mr. Biden plans to use money raised by the effort to help pay for the cost of his 'American Families Plan,' which he will detail before addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday."

Mistakes Were Made. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The early days of Joe Biden's presidency reveal a man who remembers the Obama presidency -- and doesn't necessarily want to repeat it. Both presidents inherited a crisis-ravaged economy, but their signature 100-day achievements look markedly different: Biden's stimulus plan was about 2½ times the size of President Barack Obama's. It was easy for voters to understand, centered on popular $1,400 cash payments for most people, while Obama's stimulus program was criticized as being too small and complicated, delivering small-dollar benefits in paychecks that polls showed many people didn't even notice. While Obama pared back his stimulus to win Republican votes, Biden met with Republicans once before he opted for a special process to go it alone. While conservative deficit hawks reined in Obama, Biden has brushed them off, arguing that now is the time to spend big. While Obama was hesitant to brag about his achievements, Biden's team regularly takes credit for the receding pandemic -- and voters give him high marks."

Where's the Beef? Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "To White House aides, the wholly fictional Biden-will-ban-hamburgers story line was in part an amusing flare-up perpetuated by Republicans who have struggled to find ways to successfully attack the president.... But the not-quite-red-meat attack also offers a case study in how a falsehood can rapidly metastasize among Republicans -- pushed not only by the party's fringe but also by more mainstream voices, like ... Nikki Haley. The argument dovetails with a common claim on the right that Democrats are out to ban meat-eating, whether for reasons of health or climate. And the episode underscores how the shadow of Donald Trump's presidency -- rife with misinformation and mistruths and lies -- still lingers, providing Republicans with a mendacious road map for demonizing a political rival." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe Republicans can prove Joe Biden has a subscription to Epicurious. David Tamarkin & Maggie Hoffman of Epicurious: "For any person -- or publication -- wanting to envision a more sustainable way to cook, cutting out beef is a worthwhile first step.... Today Epicurious announces that we've ... cut out beef. Beef won't appear in new Epicurious recipes, articles, or newsletters. It will not show up on our homepage. It will be absent from our Instagram feed.... This decision was not made because we hate hamburgers (we don't!). Instead, our shift is solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world's worst climate offenders. We think of this decision as not anti-beef but rather pro-planet." ~~~

~~~ More in GOP Shoot-from-the-Hip Accusations. Andrew Desiderio & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republicans on Monday called on John Kerry to resign from President Joe Biden's National Security Council over claims that he revealed sensitive information about Israeli military operations to Iran. According to leaked audio revealed Sunday by The New York Times, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Kerry told him that Israel attacked Iranian assets in Syria 'at least 200 times.' Zarif added that he was surprised that Kerry would reveal that sensitive information to him, according to the audio.... Zarif's version of events has not been independently corroborated. His remarks to an Iranian academic were leaked by a London-based media outlet. It is also unclear whether Kerry allegedly revealed the Israeli operations to Zarif before they were publicly reported by Israel itself in 2018." ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times: "John Kerry ... said on Monday that he had never discussed covert Israeli airstrikes in Syria with Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, contrary to Mr. Zarif's claim in a leaked conversation.... 'I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened -- either when I was Secretary of State or since,' Mr. Kerry wrote [in a tweet]." The report is an item in a political liveblog.

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced on Monday a sweeping Justice Department investigation into the Louisville, Ky., police and the county government there, the second time in a week that the department has opened a civil investigation into a police force that prompted national furor over the killing of an unarmed Black person. The Louisville police came under scrutiny after officers shot to death a Black medical worker named Breonna Taylor in March 2020 during a botched raid of her home. Her killing helped fuel nationwide racial justice protests, but an investigation elicited no charges in her death, only an indictment on a lesser count against one detective."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Department of Homeland Security will undergo an internal review to root out white supremacy and extremism in its ranks as part of a larger effort to combat extremist ideology in the federal government, officials said on Monday. The task of identifying extremists throughout the United States, and specifically in government agencies, has come to the top of President Biden's agenda since Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. Many of the rioters were found to be members of extremist groups.... The review comes shortly after the Pentagon completed a 60-day 'stand down' to address extremism after a number of veterans were found to have taken part in the Capitol riot.... It is also a pivot from the approach taken by ... Donald J. Trump, who pressured federal agencies to divert resources to target the antifa movement and left-wing groups, even though law enforcement authorities concluded that far-right and militia violence was a more serious threat."

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "During the final minutes of the Trump presidency, an obscure company in South Florida announced to the world's computer networks that it would begin managing a massive swath of the Internet owned by the U.S. military. In the months since, the company has claimed control of nearly 175 million IP addresses ... with no public explanation of what had taken place.... Brett Goldstein, the director of a Pentagon unit called the Defense Digital Service, said that his team had authorized the activation of the IP addresses as a 'pilot effort' to improve cybersecurity.... 'This pilot will assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space. Additionally, this pilot may identify potential vulnerabilities.'" MB: I guess this is an explanation of a popular WashPo story I didn't understand last week.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The legal battle over gun control opened a new front Monday at the Supreme Court, as the justices announced they will consider an important National Rifle Association-backed lawsuit asserting the constitutional right to carry a weapon outside the home. The court will hear the challenge to a century-old New York law in the term that begins in October. The restriction requires those who seek a permit to carry a concealed weapon to show a special need for self-defense, and is similar to laws in Maryland, Massachusetts and elsewhere that the court in the past has declined to review." ~~~

     ~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Supreme Court could make the NRA's dreams come true.... The plaintiffs in Corlett include a New York state gun rights group and two New York men who applied for a license to carry a handgun in public and were denied that license. They claim that 'law-abiding citizens' have a Second Amendment right to carry a gun in public -- and the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, could agree with them. Indeed, Corlett could potentially dismantle more than a decade of judicial decisions interpreting the Second Amendment, imposing prohibitive limits on lawmakers' ability to reduce gun violence."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up a request by a Guantánamo Bay terrorism suspect for more information about his CIA-sponsored torture, a disclosure the U.S. government opposes, calling it a threat to national security. The prisoner is Abu Zubaida, once a prized capture whose torture after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has been extensively documented. But the government has invoked the 'state secrets' privilege to oppose his efforts for additional information about foreign intelligence officials who partnered with the CIA in detention facilities abroad."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "For a second year, the nation's surveillance court has pointed with concern to 'widespread violations' by the F.B.I. of rules intended to protect Americans' privacy when analysts search emails gathered without a warrant -- but still signed off on another year of the program, a newly declassified ruling shows. In a 67-page ruling issued in November and made public on Monday, James E. Boasberg, the presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, recounted several episodes uncovered by an F.B.I. audit where the bureau's analysts improperly searched for Americans' information in emails that the National Security Agency collected without warrants."

Sabrina Tavernise & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "Over the past decade, the United States population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790, the Census Bureau reported on Monday, a remarkable slackening that was driven by a slowdown in immigration and a declining birthrate. The bureau also reported changes to the nation's political map: The long-running trend of the South and the West gaining population -- and the congressional representation that comes with it -- at the expense of the Northeast and the Midwest continued, with Texas gaining two seats and Florida one, and New York and Ohio each losing one. California, long a leader in population growth, lost a seat for the first time in history." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~Here's a related New York Times story on the states that gained and lost Congressional seats. A Guardian story is here. Politico's report is here. ~~~

~~~ BTW, if you're someone who was way too busy to complete your Census form, it turns out the form matters as much as your vote. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "New York's congressional delegation will shrink by one seat after the 2022 election, the Census Bureau announced on Monday.... If New York had counted 89 more people last year than the 20,215,751 who were tallied, it would have held on to the House seat. Instead, it went to Minnesota.It was the narrowest margin by which a state lost a seat in the modern era, according to census data."

Shawna Chen of Axios: "Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third highest-ranking House Republican, publicly broke from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Monday, telling reporters a proposed independent commission should focus solely on the deadly Capitol insurrection, Reuters reports.... Cheney's remarks reflect a widening gap between the two high-profile Republicans. McCarthy has said the bipartisan commission should broaden its scope to include other instances of political violence, citing Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests.... 'What happened on Jan. 6 is unprecedented in our history, and I think that it's very important that the commission be able to focus on that,' Cheney told reporters at the House GOP's annual policy retreat.... Her comments support Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) position on the matter."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Kathleen Kingsbury of the New York Times: "The first Op-Ed page in The New York Times greeted the world on Sept. 21, 1970. It was so named because it appeared opposite the editorial page and not (as many still believe) because it would offer views contrary to the paper's.... It's time to change the name. The reason is simple: In the digital world, in which millions of Times readers absorb the paper's journalism online, there is no geographical 'Op-Ed,' just as there is no geographical 'Ed' for Op-Ed to be opposite to. It is a relic of an older age and an older print newspaper design. So now, at age 50, the designation will be retired." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is why I have always referred to "opinion pieces" published in media outlets that don't have print editions, though the designation "op-ed" is commonly used for any "guest essay" published in any outlet, whether it comes in hard-copy format or not. I've done the same with magazine opinion pieces; when Time publishes an opinion piece, it doesn't appear opposite the magazine's editorial page. The NYT plans to refer to op-eds as "guest essays"; that's awkward. What's the short-form? "Guessays"? Not so good.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden, under intense pressure to do more to address the surging pandemic abroad, including a humanitarian crisis in India, intends to make up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine available to other countries, so long as federal regulators deem the doses safe, officials said Monday. The announcement came after Mr. Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and the two pledged to 'work closely together in the fight against Covid-19.' It is a significant, albeit limited, shift for the White House, which has until now been reluctant to make excess doses of coronavirus vaccine available in large amounts." MB: Just this morning I saw Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on the teevee urging the administration to release those vaccine doses to other countries. Squeaky wheel. Good for you, Congressman.

This Week in Book World

Rudy Takala of Mediaite: "More than 200 employees at Simon & Schuster are asking the publishing giant to stop working with former Trump administration staffers. Employees submitted a petition on Monday containing 216 signatures demanding the company stop publishing books from members of ... Donald Trump's administration. The petition claims the company treated 'the Trump administration as a "normal" chapter in American history,' according to copy obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The brouhaha follows a thus-far unsuccessful effort by the employees to cancel a deal to publish former Vice President Mike Pence's two-part autobiography."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "In a new book, the Republican senator Josh Hawley of Missouri attacks what he calls 'woke capitalism' and claims to be a victim of cancel culture over his actions around the Capitol attack of 6 January. Hawley, 41, is a leading figure on the far right of the Republican party, jostling to inherit Donald Trump's populist crown and with it the presidential nomination in 2024.... Publisher Simon & Schuster dropped Hawley's book, only for it to be swiftly picked up by Regnery, a conservative imprint for which Simon & Schuster handles distribution." MB: According to Pengelly, there's a whole lot of whining going on here. As for the raised fist seen 'round the world, Hawley doesn't mention it, but he definitely did "not encourage the riot." Maybe he was adjusting his shirt sleeve or exercising his fingers. Accompanying the article is a photo of Josh trying to look pensive while holding a pencil to his chin.

And Other Thoughts of GOP "Intelligentia"

Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "The former US senator and CNN political commentator Rick Santorum has sparked outrage among Native Americans, and prompted calls for his dismissal, by telling a rightwing students' conference that European colonists who came to America 'birthed a nation from nothing'. 'There was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn't much Native American culture in American culture,' Santorum told the ultra-conservative Young America's Foundation's summit, entitled standing up for faith and freedom, and shared by the group to YouTube.... Santorum's comments, effectively dismissing the millennia-long presence of Native Americans and the genocide inflicted on them as the Christian settlers transformed and expanded their colonies into the United States of America, angered many within the Native American community, and beyond." MB: Must be tough for Rick to take the kids to the school Thanksgiving play where Native Americans are portrayed saving the ignorant Pilgrims from starvation. See also Akhilleus' commentary below.

Steve M. analyzes a New York Post op-ed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a post titled, "Marco Rubio Will Only Get Worse."

Marie: One of the most damaging effects of the ascendant right-wing media is that Republicans who used to make up stuff to own the masses now seem to believe their own swill. If there's anything worse than a demagogue, it's a "sincere" demagogue. ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times explains wingers' tales of Meatless Joe in terms of Bernie Madoff: "Madoff defrauded wealthy Jews by convincing them that he was just like them. A similar approach has long been an essential part of the Republican political strategy. As the party's economic policies have become ever more elitist, ever more tilted toward the interests of the wealthy, it has sought to cover its tracks by running candidates who seem like regular guys you'd like to have a (meat-based?) beer with. The flip side of this strategy is a continual attempt by the G.O.P. to convince voters that Democrats, who represent a much more diverse set of voters than Republicans, aren't people like them; call it disaffinity fraud. The goal is to portray Democrats as woke feminist vegetarians who don't share the values of Real Americans."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Andrew Oxford of the Arizona Republic: "Lawyers for Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company the Arizona Senate hired to lead a recount of Maricopa County's 2.1 million general election ballots, are asking a judge to keep secret its procedures for the recount and shut out the public as well as the press from a hearing in which the documents might be discussed. Judge Christopher Coury asked the company on Friday to turn over its plans and procedures amid concerns about the security of the county's ballots and voter privacy. But the company argued on Sunday that filing the documents in court publicly would compromise the security of its recount. And it argued that the records include protected trade secrets." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Ken was wondering just what those "trade secrets" might be. One is apparently handing counters blue pens so they can, you know, "correct" ballots than voters might accidentally have marked for Joe Biden. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow said Monday night that the only "reporters" allowed to observe the proceedings were those who worked for One America "News" Network. The same reporters, Maddow said, also raised money for the recount. Seems fair.

California. Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Fueled by partisan fury and a backlash against pandemic shutdowns, a Republican-led campaign to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has officially qualified for the ballot, setting the stage for the second recall election in the state's history, officials said on Monday. In a widely expected filing, the California secretary of state's office found that recall organizers had collected 1,626,042 signatures on their petition, more than the roughly 1.5 million required to ask voters to remove Mr. Newsom from office. The announcement sets in motion a series of procedural steps that will culminate in a special election. No election date has been scheduled, but it is expected to be sometime in November. Between now and then, the state will review the cost of the election, and voters who signed the petition will have 30 business days to ask to have their names removed if they so choose." An NBC News story is here.

North Carolina. David Li of NBC News: "The family of a North Carolina man shot and killed by sheriff's deputies said Monday that they were shown just 20 seconds of body-camera video that appeared to show the man with his hands on the steering wheel of his car before he was killed. Loved ones of Andrew Brown Jr., 42, expected to be shown the bodycam video just before noon Monday, but the viewing was pushed back several hours because of redactions sought by the county attorney, family attorneys said. But even in 20 seconds of video, Brown's loved ones said, it was clear that he wasn't a threat to law enforcement and shouldn't have been gunned down."

Way Beyond

U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... as [Queen Elizabeth II] faces the future alone, her son and heir, Prince Charles, is reshaping the family to carry on after her. [Prince] Philip's death has given new urgency to a transition already underway in the House of Windsor. With the queen's reign in its twilight, Charles has moved to streamline the royal family and reallocate its duties -- a downsizing forced by the loss of stalwart figures like Philip, as well as by the rancorous departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, and the messy internal exile of Prince Andrew.... As always with the royal family, details about its internal deliberations are elusive and befogged in speculation.... Charles ... had already taken over some of his mother's duties, including overseas trips and investiture ceremonies.... He accompanies her to the state opening of Parliament; the next one is scheduled for May. And he spoke up after the furor over his brother Andrew's ties to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, pressing to have him banished from public duties."

The Commentariat -- April 26, 2021

McCarthy Rewrites History. Amy Wang & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continued to defend ... Donald Trump's response to the Jan. 6 insurrection, claiming in an interview Sunday that Trump was unaware the U.S. Capitol was being stormed until McCarthy called and urged him to tell his supporters to stop. 'I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on, McCarthy told 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace. 'He didn't see it, but he ended the call ... telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did. He put a video out later.' The statement contradicted McCarthy's initial response to Trump's role in the attack and a fellow GOP lawmaker's recollection of what had been a tense call between McCarthy and Trump. In addition, one Trump adviser told The Washington Post that the then-president had been watching live television coverage of the riot, as multiple people were trying to reach Trump and his aides to beg for help." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ It's All about Kevin's Ambitions. Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "... nearly four months after Jan. 6, [Kevin] McCarthy continues to defend his support for Mr. Trump's bogus assertions that the election was stolen from him. Friends say that he knows better and is as exasperated by Mr. Trump's behavior as other top Republicans, but that he has made the calculation that the former president's support is essential for his ambitions to become speaker after the 2022 elections, when Republicans have a decent chance to win back the House.... Mr. McCarthy knows the surest way to blow up his speakership plans would be to alienate Mr. Trump, who relishes being both a potential kingmaker to his favored candidates and saboteur of those he is determined to punish."

Alex Kasprak of Snopes: President "Biden announced that his administration would seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. The Daily Mail ran a story that asserted, in entirely theoretical terms, that the policy "could" require Americans to reduce their meat consumption by 90%. Politicians like Rep. Lauren Boebert retweeted the Daily Mail's speculation as fact." The claim is false. ~~~

~~~ Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "... former [Trump] economic adviser Larry Kudlow ... wants the nation to know that President Joe Biden is plotting to force Americans to drink 'plant-based beer.'... The beer everyone drinks now ... [is] typically made from grains, hops and yeast -- and not an ounce of steak. (Additives may include animal products, like gelatin, but beer is definitely plant based.) The bonkers brewhaha was part of Kudlow's raging criticism on Fox Business Friday against the proposed Green New Deal, which he claimed would end the country's consumption of meat, eggs, cheese and dairy. None of that's true...." Thanks to unwashed, who wonders what Larry thinks beer is made of, for the link. MB: I suppose we'll have to drink plant-based wine and even plant-based V-8 juice. (Did you know the "V" in V-8 stands for "veal"?)

Mark Sherman of the AP: "... a profanity-laced posting [by then-14-year-old Brandi Levy] on Snapchat ... has, improbably, ended up before the Supreme Court in the most significant case on student speech in more than 50 years. At issue is whether public schools can discipline students over something they say off-campus. The topic is especially meaningful in a time of remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic and a rising awareness of the pernicious effects of online bullying. Arguments are on Wednesday, via telephone because of the pandemic.... The case has its roots in the Vietnam-era case of a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, that suspended students who wore armbands to protest the war. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court sided with the students, declaring students don't 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'" The Washington Post's story, by Robert Barnes, is here.

Elliott Williams in a CNN opinion piece: "For nearly two decades, the Supreme Court has established more leniency toward children convicted of violent crimes, in line with the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. This trend came to an abrupt stop on Thursday, with the Court's decision in Jones v. Mississippi that judges do not need to find a juvenile murderer to have a hope of rehabilitation before sentencing them to die in prison. Most stunning, however, is the manner in which the Court got there, by casting aside years of precedent with the stroke of a pen. [Friday's] decision was a frightening reminder of how easily the Court can speak out of both sides of its mouth: claiming fidelity to its own past decisions, while simultaneously gutting them."

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

American Graffiti, D.C.-Style. Lindsay Watts of Fox 5 Washington, D.C.: "Two D.C. police cars were totaled after officers decided to drag race each other.... Sources tell FOX 5 the officers involved, who are new to the department, started racing each other on Anacostia Ave. NE near Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Garden and reports indicate they were traveling at least 60 mph."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

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

Katie Rogers & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration, under increasing pressure to address a devastating surge of the coronavirus in India, said on Sunday that it had partially lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccines and would also supply India with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear.... The announcement, an abrupt shift for the administration, came after Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, held a call earlier in the day with Ajit Doval, his counterpart in India, and as the Indian government reported more than 349,000 new infections, a world record for a single day. [A spokeswoman for the National Security Council] said the United States had 'identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine,' the Indian-produced version of the AstraZeneca vaccine." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Mary Eccles of Politico: "The EU is preparing rapid assistance to help India as it tackles a spiralling COVID-19 resurgence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. 'Alarmed by the epidemiological situation in India. We are ready to support,' she wrote on Twitter. 'The EU is pooling resources to respond rapidly to India's request for assistance.' European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic wrote on social media that the EU would do its 'upmost' to mobilize assistance. He said the bloc's Emergency Response Coordination Center is working with EU governments to provide oxygen and medicine."

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

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

Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc's executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The fast pace of vaccination in the United States, and advanced talks between authorities there and the European Union over how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors, will enable the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to recommend a switch in policy that could see trans-Atlantic leisure travel restored." CNN's story is here.

Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times: "More exercise means less risk of developing severe Covid, according to a compelling new study of physical activity and coronavirus hospitalizations. The study, which involved almost 50,000 Californians who developed Covid, found that those who had been the most active before falling ill were the least likely to be hospitalized or die as a result of their illness. The data were gathered before Covid vaccines became available and do not suggest that exercise can substitute in any way for immunization. But they do intimate that regular exercise -- whether it&'s going for a swim, walk, run or bike ride -- can substantially lower our chances of becoming seriously ill if we do become infected."

Michigan. Mitch Smith & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "Across Michigan, which is experiencing by far the country's most dangerous outbreak, more younger people are being admitted to hospitals with the coronavirus than at any other time in the pandemic. Michigan hospitals are now admitting about twice as many coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s as they were during the fall peak, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. The shifting demographics come as a majority of Michigan residents age 65 or older have been fully vaccinated.... But the vaccinations of older people do not explain rising hospitalizations among people younger than 60, including those in their 20s and 30s. Public health experts say the outbreak -- driven by the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is more contagious and more severe -- is spreading rapidly in younger age groups. And across the state, doctors and nurses are increasingly reporting a concerning trend: Younger patients are coming in more often with serious cases of Covid-19."

Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "The stock price of government contractor Emergent BioSolutions has fallen sharply since the disclosure at the end of March that production problems at the firm's plant in Baltimore had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. Since then, AstraZeneca moved production of its own vaccine out of the facility, and Emergent temporarily halted new production there altogether. Those developments came after Emergent's stock price had tumbled on Feb. 19, following the company's published financial results. Emergent stock has fallen since mid-February to about $62 a share from $125 a share.... But the decline has had less of an impact than it might have on the personal finances of Emergent's chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, who sold more than $10 million worth of his stock in the company in January and early February.... Investors sued Emergent, Kramer and other executives in federal court in Maryland last week, alleging that the firm artificially inflated its stock price by boasting of its ability to make coronavirus vaccines and by failing to disclose problems at the Baltimore site...." And this isn't the first time Kramer has sold off stock just before bad news about his company became public.

Beyond the Beltway

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

     ~~~ Marie: See also related commentary in yesterday's thread. The "audit" is worse than Wines makes out.

Virginia. Dennis Romero of NBC News: "Authorities in Virginia have released disturbing body camera video of a deputy shooting a Black man who was holding a cordless phone and who had just received a ride home by the same law enforcement officer. Isaiah Brown, 32, survived more than six rounds fired at him Wednesday and was in a hospital 'fighting for his life,' said a spokesman for the law firm representing him. The deputy was not named by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office."

Way Beyond

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

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "In a leaked audiotape that offers a glimpse into the behind-the scenes power struggles of Iranian leaders, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Revolutionary Guards Corps call the shots, overruling many government decisions and ignoring advice. In one extraordinary moment on the tape that surfaced Sunday, Mr. Zarif departed from the reverential official line on Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of the Guards' elite Quds Force..., who was killed by the United States in January 2020. The general, Mr. Zarif said, undermined him at many steps, working with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and adopting policies toward Syria's long war that damaged Iran's interests." The Guardian's report is here.