The Commentariat -- April 13, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Biden has decided to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 20 years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon launched the country into its longest war, United States officials said Tuesday. The decision will keep more than 3,000 American troops on the ground in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 withdrawal deadline announced by the administration of ... Donald J. Trump. But it signals what Mr. Biden plans to present as a definitive end to America's 'Forever War.'" CNN's story is here.

Aamer Madhani of the AP: "President Joe Biden called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to 'de-escalate tensions' following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border. Biden also told Putin the U.S. would 'act firmly in defense of its national interests' regarding Russian cyber intrusions and election interference, according to the White House. Biden proposed a summit meeting in a third country 'in the coming months' to discuss the full range of U.S.-Russia issues, the White House said. The call comes as concern rises in the West about a surge of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-baсked separatists and Ukrainian forces have been locked in a conflict since Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula." ~~~

~~~ Maybe Biden should call Idaho's governor, too. ~~~

~~~ "Greater Idaho." AP (via OregonLive): "Idaho lawmakers appeared intrigued but skeptical on Monday when pitched a plan to lop off about three-fourths of Oregon and add it to Idaho to create what would become the nation's third-largest state geographically.... If everything falls in line with Oregon, supporters envision also adding adjacent portions of southeastern Washington and northern California to Idaho."

Robert Burns of the AP: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday that he is expanding the U.S. military presence in Germany by 500 troops and has stopped planning for large-scale troop cuts ordered by the Trump administration. 'This planned increase in U.S. personnel underscores our commitment to Germany and the entire NATO alliance,' Austin said in a notable counterpoint to the Trump administration's repeated complaints that Germany is a weak partner on defense and security."

The New York Times' live updates of Day 12 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's liveblog is here.

Shaun Hubler & Jeremy White of the New York Times: "The chief of police for Brooklyn Center, Minn., where Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a white officer on Sunday, said on Monday that ... the officer, Kimberly A. Potter, a 26-year veteran of the force, had intended to deploy her Taser, the chief said at a news conference, but had shot her service pistol instead. Tasers look and feel different from pistols in a number of ways, and most police forces -- including Brooklyn Center's -- have standard precautions and protocols in place to prevent the sort of mix-up that can be deadly.... Tasers are often produced in bright colors, or with neon accents, to distinguish them from pistols.... [Pistols] ... pistol models weigh significantly more than a typical Taser.... Brooklyn Center Police Department protocol dictates that officers wear their guns on their dominant side and Tasers on the opposite side of their bodies, to reduce the risk that they will confuse the two weapons.... It appears that several aspects of how Officer Potter handled her weapons may have violated the protocol laid out in the manual, even if she had drawn her Taser and not her firearm." ~~~

~~~ Russ Thebault of the Washington Post: "In the span of just a couple of hours Monday evening, a Minneapolis suburb appears to have fundamentally refashioned its leadership after a local police officer shot and killed an unarmed Black man during a traffic stop the day before. Brooklyn Center, Minn., which erupted in protest Sunday as word of 20-year-old Daunte Wright's death spread, now has a new city manager and -- at least temporarily -- a new de facto leader of the police department after a city council vote that granted the mayor 'command authority' over the agency. The overhaul is likely to give Mayor Mike Elliott the power to fire the police chief and police officers, one legal expert told The Washington Post." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Mohamed Ibrahim & Mike Householder of the AP: "A white police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb resigned Tuesday, as did the city's police chief -- moves that the mayor said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest. The resignations from Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon came two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center."

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

Racists Are the "Real Victims." Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "Here is how [Tucker] Carlson defined ['replacement theory'] in the process of defending it last week: 'The Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate of the voters now casting ballots with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.' Why people should be offended by this mystifies Carlson. 'Everyone wants to make a racial issue out of it,' he continued.... There is a reason, of course, that 'everyone' wants to make a racial issue out of this. Because it is a putrescent pile of racist myths and cliches. Nearly every phrase of Carlson's statement is the euphemistic expression of white-supremacist replacement doctrine. This is what modern, poll-tested, shrink-wrapped, mass-marketed racism looks like. Carlson is providing his audience with sophisticated rationales for their worst, most prejudicial instincts. And the brilliance of Carlson's business model is to reinterpret moral criticism of his bigotry as an attack by elites on his viewers. Public outrage is thus recycled into fuel for MAGA victimhood."

~~~~~~~~~~

Dan Diamond & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "President Biden has selected Anne Milgram, a former state attorney general, prosecutor and longtime advocate for reform of the criminal justice system, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, the White House announced on Monday.... The DEA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since the Obama administration.... Donald Trump relied on several acting administrators to steer the roughly $3 billion agency, which investigates violations of the nation's drug laws."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump was waging his baseless assault on the election results last fall when Kristen Clarke, head of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, opened her inbox to a stream of vicious threats over her efforts to fight back and protect the rights of voters. Openly misogynistic, littered with racial epithets, the messages were of the variety that seeks to debase and intimidate prominent minority women.... On Wednesday, Clarke will appear at a Senate confirmation hearing as President Biden's nominee to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division.... Her confirmation path is expected to be contentious, however. At the Lawyers' Committee, Clarke was at the forefront of legal efforts to sue the Trump administration on voting rights, immigration, changes to the U.S. Census and the tear-gassing of protesters outside the White House last summer. She spoke out frequently against Trump and former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William P. Barr."

The Guardian & agencies: "The Biden administration has struck an agreement with Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras to temporarily increase border security in an effort to stop migrants from reaching the US border. The agreement comes as the US saw a record number of unaccompanied children attempting to cross the border in March, and the largest number of Border Patrol encounters overall with migrants on the southern border -- just under 170,000 -- since March 2001. According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Mexico will maintain a deployment of about 10,000 troops, while Guatemala has sent 1,500 police and military personnel to its southern border and Honduras deployed 7,000 police and military to its border 'to disperse a large contingent of migrants' there. Guatemala will also set up 12 checkpoints along the migratory route through the country."

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The number of unaccompanied minors in US Customs and Border Protection custody, akin to jail-like conditions, has dropped 45%, according to the latest government data, amid an ongoing effort by the Biden administration to find suitable spaces to accommodate kids after facing scrutiny for overcrowded facilities. As of Sunday, there were 3,130 children in the custody of CBP, an agency not intended to care for children for prolonged periods of time, marking a drop from the peak -- 5,767 on March 28 -- since the government started providing data, indicating progress in alleviating Border Patrol stations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is encouraging news, but let's not credit the Biden administration. Rather, we should give props to Ted Cruz who hid in the reeds on the banks of the Rio Grande & popped up occasionally, scaring the bejeezus out of the kids attempting to cross into the U.S.

A New Direction for CBP. Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is preparing to nominate Tucson police chief Chris Magnus to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, selecting a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run the country's largest federal law enforcement agency as it contends with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades. Magnus has led the Tucson police department since 2016 and has prominently associated himself with the reform movement favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that emphasizes a less-aggressive, community-based policing model." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lara Seligman & Connor O'Brien of Politico: "President Joe Biden plans to nominate Pentagon veteran Christine Wormuth to be the first female Army secretary, the White House announced on Monday. Wormuth, a former top policy official at the Defense Department during the Obama administration, recently led Biden's Pentagon agency review team through one of the most contentious transitions in modern history, and has been in and out of the Pentagon since she began her public service career in the policy office in 1996."

Kylie Atwood & Kevin Liptak of CNN: "The Biden administration recently decided to keep the Trump-appointed US ambassador on the job in Moscow for the foreseeable future, two senior administration officials told CNN, demonstrating a willingness to nurture areas of stability in the US-Russia relationship after it got off to a tumultuous start. John Sullivan has been on the job for almost a year and a half. He is viewed by administration officials as a steady hand as the administration ramps up the pressure on Russia for taking actions to undermine the US and democratic values broadly. President Joe Biden is still deciding on other ambassadorial posts, and the White House said Monday the President had not decided on the 'vast majority' of positions."

Patrick Kingsley, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House was saying almost nothing in public on Monday about the apparent explosion inside Iran's Natanz facility, below more than 2 feet of reinforced concrete, which destroyed the power supply that keeps the centrifuges spinning at supersonic speeds, enriching uranium. 'The U.S. was not involved in any manner,' the White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said Monday.... White House and State Department officials said they had no idea whether the Iranians would show up in Vienna again on Wednesday, when the talks [to reboot a nuclear agreement] were scheduled to resume. In Tehran, lawmakers asked Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to suspend the talks, saying that Iran should not be engaged in negotiations when it is under attack.... Mr. Zarif, in a statement broadcast by Iranian state television, said that ... '...we will take our revenge on the Zionists.'..."

Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek: "Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz said that President Joe Biden's recent announcement that Palestine will receive $250 million in U.S. funding will lead to Americans and Israelis getting killed. Cruz told the Breitbart News Sunday radio show that he believes no taxpayer money should go to the Palestinian Authority, which he believes directly fund anti-Israel and anti-American terrorists.... U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced Wednesday how the State Department funds are set to help Palestine, noting that $75 million is for 'economic development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza.' And Blinken said $10 million will go toward 'peacebuilding' with Israel in partnership with the United Nations." MB: It's easier to understand the totality of Ted's "political philosophy" if you understand that part of that belief system is the idea that humanitarian aid is self-defeating.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) & other Republicans are trying to paint Joe Biden as "not in charge" because Biden is not "engaging" like a bull in a china shop, as the former guy did. MB: IOW, they got nuthin'.

Play It Again, John. Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The special counsel scrutinizing the Russia inquiry, a Trump-era leftover, appears to be retreading ground that an inspector general explored in 2019.... [John] Durham has keyed in on the F.B.I.'s handling of a notorious dossier of political opposition research ... and questioned witnesses who may have insight into the matter. In particular, Mr. Durham[, using a subpoena,] has obtained documents from the Brookings Institution related to Igor Danchenko, a Russia researcher who worked there a decade ago and later helped gather rumors about Mr. Trump and Russia for that research, known as the Steele dossier...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Fox "News" White Immigrant CEO Good with Tucker's Anti-Immigrant Racism. Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch dismissed the Anti-Defamation League's demand that the company fire host Tucker Carlson, telling the organization in a letter that his company saw no problem with comments Carlson made about the racist 'great replacement' theory.... According to Murdoch, "A full review of the guest interview indicates that Mr. Carlson decried and rejected replacement theory. As Mr. Carlson himself stated during the guest interview: 'White replacement theory? No, no, this is a voting rights question.'"... In response, ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote that Carlson's "'attempt to at first dismiss' the replacement theory 'while in the very next breath endorsing it under cover of 'a voting rights question' does not give him free license to invoke a white supremacist trope. In fact..., it's worse, because he's using a straw man -- voting rights -- to give an underhanded endorsement of white supremacist beliefs while ironically suggesting it's not really white supremacism. While your response references a "full review" of the interview, it seems the reviewers missed the essential point here.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

** Noah Weiland, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal health agencies on Tuesday called for an immediate pause in use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of vaccination. All six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition. Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and roughly nine million more doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." CNN's story is here.

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

I can't believe I'm linking this. Surely the story is on a par with Trump's short-timer acting AG Matt Whitaker's big-dick toilets: ~~~

~~~ Big Ass Lands Job at Big Ass Fans, Promoting Pricey "Covid-Killing" Big Ass Fans. Ty Pendlebury of CNET: "Big Ass Fans, the Kentucky-based maker of a virus-killing smart fan, is seeking to boost its COVID-19 credentials by adding the former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to its ranks. Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield is now the strategic health and safety advisor for Big Ass Fans' Clean Air Systems. Redfield was appointed to the CDC by ... Donald Trump.... He's now found a new role at a time when some former Trump administration employees are having trouble landing new jobs. Shortly after the onset of the pandemic last year, Big Ass Fans introduced the Haiku UV-C. The smart ceiling fan, which starts at $1,750, uses UV light to kill viruses, bacteria, mold and other harmful airborne agents. Independent tests have also suggested the fan can kill SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19."

Michigan. Noah Weiland & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The Biden administration and Michigan's Democratic governor are locked in an increasingly tense standoff over the state's worst-in-the-nation coronavirus outbreak, with a top federal health official on Monday urging the governor to lock down her state. As the governor, Gretchen Whitmer, publicly called again for a surge of vaccine supply, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a White House news conference that securing extra doses was not the most immediate or practical solution to the outbreak. She said that Michigan -- whose metro areas include 16 of the 17 worst outbreaks in the nation -- needed to enact shutdown measures to stamp out the crush of infections."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Variety, republished by NBC News: "Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith will move production on their big-budget, runaway slave thriller 'Emancipation' out of Georgia in protest over the state's controversial new voting restrictions."

Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, et al., of the New York Times: "The officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop near Minneapolis mistakenly confused her gun for her Taser, police officials said on Monday, quickly releasing video as they tried to ease tensions in a state on edge over the Derek Chauvin trial. In a brief clip of body camera video, officers from the Brooklyn Center Police Department can be seen trying to handcuff the driver, Daunte Wright, before he suddenly lurches back into his car. One of the officers, whose name has not been released, aims a weapon at Mr. Wright and shouts, 'Taser! Taser! Taser!' She fires one round, and Mr. Wright groans in pain. 'Holy shit, I just shot him,' the officer can be heard shouting." ~~~

~~~ Griff Witte & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: Derek Chauvin's "trial hurtled toward its conclusion on Monday, with final arguments in the case ... expected next week, even as authorities were racing to stave off a second night of unrest after [Daunte] Wright's death. Officials announced curfews, schools suspended in-person classes, professional sports teams canceled games and businesses boarded up after a first night that included peaceful protests -- but also clashes between police and demonstrators, as well as looting of local businesses."

Mississippi. April Is Secret Confederate Heritage Month. Donna Ladd of the Mississippi Free Press: According to the Sons of the Confederates Facebook page, Gov. Tate Reeves has declared April to be Confederate Heritage Month. The news has not appeared on the Secretary of State's proclamation page nor in new media. MB: It's kinda like Tate put a white pointy hood on it.

Virginia. Laura Vozzella & Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) on Monday said he had launched a broad civil rights probe of the police officers and department involved in the violent traffic stop of a Black Army officer. Also Monday, the town of Windsor announced that a Virginia State Police investigation of the incident had begun and that town officials had turned over 'numerous requested documents.'"

The Commentariat -- April 12, 2021

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Day 11 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.

A New Direction for CBP. Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is preparing to nominate Tucson police chief Chris Magnus to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, selecting a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run the country's largest federal law enforcement agency as it contends with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades. Magnus has led the Tucson police department since 2016 and has prominently associated himself with the reform movement favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that emphasizes a less-aggressive, community-based policing model." Politico's story is here.

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

~~~~~~~~~~

Donald Trump's gift to Joe Biden was a very low bar. Here we were on a Monday morning, picking up our newspapers, virtually or from the front porch, and not finding headlines about how the President had made a fool of himself over the weekend. (The same is not true of Trump, of course; he's still making a fool of himself on a weekend).

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "The ability of the Department of Health and Human Services to build shelters, move children quickly into them and then unite them with relatives and other sponsors in the United States is the first major test of whether the Biden administration can respond swiftly and effectively to a growing immigration crisis that has far-reaching political and human ramifications.... More than 20,000 [migrant] children and teenagers are in the custody of a government system that is already at '103 percent of capacity,' including nearly 17,000 in shelters run by the health department, according to briefing materials from Operation Artemis, a response to the border crisis led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Government projections obtained by The New York Times show there could be more than 35,000 migrant children to be cared for by June...."

They All Fall Down

Tara Palmieri & Rachel Bade of Politico: "A slew of well-heeled Republican National Committee donors descended on Palm Beach this weekend..., eager for access to Donald Trump.... [Of Trump's speech, one of them said,] 'It was horrible, it was long and negative.... It was dour. He didn't talk about the positive things that his administration has done.... Many major donors have been fed up with Trump's antics since Jan. 6." Emphasis removed. ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha. Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Matt Gaetz, who's facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, was recently denied a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the Florida congressman. Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by aides close to the former President, who have urged Trump not to stick his neck out to defend Gaetz. Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, said the congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week." MB: Yeah, Matt, just another fake news story. Now, aren't you glad you spent all that effort humping Trump? The New York Times, in the article below, still refers to Gaetz as "a close ally of" Trump. Goes to show what Donald thinks of "close allies." ~~~

~~~ The Epitome of "A Florida Man." Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times on the strange, short political career of Joel Greenberg, one that "culminated in 33 federal charges against Mr. Greenberg, 36, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, fraud and stalking -- and led to a mushrooming political scandal that burst into national news in recent days and ensnared [Matt] Gaetz, who is a close ally of President Donald J. Trump, and other influential Florida Republicans, with the investigation continuing."

Danny Hakim & Mary Walsh of the New York Times: "For three decades, Wayne LaPierre has been the implacable face of the gun lobby, a scourge of the left who argued that giving ground on gun control was akin to giving up on America. So it was remarkable to see the shambolic turn his tenure atop the National Rifle Association has taken showcased last week in federal bankruptcy court in Dallas. Mr. LaPierre acknowledged that he had secretly taken the N.R.A. into bankruptcy -- without telling even his top lieutenants or most of his board -- essentially as an end run around attacks from the New York attorney general, who is seeking to shut down the group amid charges of financial mismanagement and corruption. And he made a string of admissions that served largely to underscore the N.R.A.'s disarray and the questions about his own fitness to lead it."

Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "In semi-private, encrypted chats, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists planned rallies in dozens of cities Sunday to promote their racist movements and spread their ideologies to larger audiences. Hyped by organizers as events that would make 'the whole world tremble,' the rallies ran into a major problem: Hardly anyone showed up. The 'White Lives Matter' rallies, the first major real-world organizing efforts by white supremacists since 2018, were planned on the encrypted app Telegram.... The poor showing underscores how the country's unpopular and disorganized extremist movements have been driven underground by increased scrutiny from the media, law enforcement agencies and far-left activists who infiltrate their private online spaces and disrupt their attempts to communicate and organize."

Mark Follman in Mother Jones on "how Trump unleashed a domestic terrorism movement": "The description of Trump as a terrorist leader is neither metaphor nor hyperbole -- it is the assessment of veteran national security experts. Trump, those experts say, adopted a method known as stochastic terrorism, a process of incitement where the instigator provokes extremist violence under the guise of plausible deniability.... His demagoguery was initially focused on 'the other,' ... Muslims..., Mexican[s]..., 'shithole' countries..., the news media. By his 2020 reelection campaign, he'd turned his incitement squarely on the American political leaders who opposed him..., [beginning with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against whom he incited a kidnapping plot]. After his election loss, Trump's incitement became ever more alarming." Follman goes on to cite expert advice on how to deal with a charismatic terrorist leader & his followers.

Charles Blow of the New York Times writes about the history & some implications of white replacement theory: "On Thursday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson caused an uproar by promoting the racist, anti-Semitic, patriarchal and conspiratorial 'white replacement theory.' Also known as the 'great replacement theory,' it stands on the premise that nonwhite immigrants are being imported (sometimes the Jewish community is accused of orchestrating this) to replace white people and white voters. The theory is also an inherent chastisement of white women for having a lower birthrate than nonwhite women."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell warned in an interview broadcast Sunday that reopening the economy too quickly could lead to another worrisome jump in coronavirus cases, arguing that the country has not completely turned the corner and that the pandemic continues to pose major risks to any recovery. Powell, speaking in a '60 Minutes' interview, also said that the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated economic disparities in the United States and that this could take time to address during an uneven recovery. In the interview, Powell described an economy that was at 'an inflection point,' showing signs of acceleration but still facing numerous risks."

Beyond the Beltway

Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia. Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers -- plus at least one NFL owner -- talked about potential ways to show they opposed the legislation, including by halting donations to politicians who support the bills and even delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures, according to four people who were on the call, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor. While no final steps were agreed upon, the meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America's stand against controversial voting measures nationwide, a sign that their opposition to the laws didn't end with the fight against the Georgia legislation passed in March. It also came just days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned that firms should 'stay out of politics.'..."" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gee, Mitch, who would have thought that threatening the hands that feed you -- especially when those hands are the appendages of (mostly) men who think they're the masters of the universe -- would not work out well for you?

Minnesota. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A police officer in Minnesota fatally shot a motorist on Sunday in the city of Brooklyn Center, about 10 miles north of Minneapolis where a police officer is on trial and charged with murdering George Floyd last year, the authorities and witnesses said. A large crowd of people was gathering Sunday evening at the scene where the driver died and some began to jump on and break the windows of police vehicles, according to video posted on Facebook. Officers with protective body gear and helmets were also at the scene, according to video posted on Twitter." An ABC News story is here.

Virginia. Rachel Chason of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Sunday he is directing Virginia State Police to investigate a traffic stop during which two police officers held an Army second lieutenant at gunpoint months ago in the southeast part of the state. Town officials said later that night that one officer was fired. Northam (D) said the incident -- in which body-camera footage shows police pepper-spraying, striking and handcuffing Caron Nazario -- 'is disturbing and angered me.' Nazario, 27, who is Black and Latino, filed a lawsuit this month against Windsor officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker that alleges excessive force due to racial profiling." Politico's story is here. MB: I had little faith that Gov. Northam had had a come-to-Jesus moment after there emerged decades-old college yearbook photos of him in blackface. I was wrong. Northam has consistently stepped up.

Way Beyond

Iran. Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "A power failure that appeared to have been caused by a deliberately planned explosion struck Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment site on Sunday, in what Iranian officials called an act of sabotage that they suggested had been carried out by Israel. The blackout injected new uncertainty into diplomatic efforts that began last week to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal repudiated by the Trump administration." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Martin Chulov of the Guardian: "Israel appeared to confirm claims that it was behind a cyber-attack on Iran's main nuclear facility on Sunday, which Tehran's nuclear energy chief described as an act of terrorism that warranted a response against its perpetrators.... As Iranian authorities scrambled to deal with a large-scale blackout at Natanz, which the country's Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged had damaged the electricity grid at the site, the Israeli defence chief, Aviv Kochavi, said the country's 'operations in the Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy'."

The Commentariat -- April 11, 2021

"Clear the Capitol!" Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "From a secure room in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as rioters pummeled police and vandalized the building, Vice President Mike Pence tried to assert control. In an urgent phone call to the acting defense secretary, he issued a startling demand. 'Clear the Capitol,' Pence said. Elsewhere in the building, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were making a similarly dire appeal to military leaders, asking the Army to deploy the National Guard.... 'We must establish order,' said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a call with Pentagon leaders. But order would not be restored for hours.... The timeline ... contained in a previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon ... adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by ... Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response by the military and law enforcement.... With Trump not engaged, it fell to Pentagon officials, a handful of senior White House aides, the leaders of Congress and the vice president holed up in a secure bunker to manage the chaos."

Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A Texas man who boasted that he was at the United States Capitol when a pro-Trump mob stormed the building in January has been charged with plotting to blow up an Amazon data center in Virginia, the Justice Department said on Friday. The man, Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, of Wichita Falls, was arrested on Thursday after he took what he believed were explosive devices from a bomb supplier but were in fact inert objects provided by an undercover F.B.I. agent in Fort Worth, prosecutors said.... Federal officials said they had begun investigating the plot after a concerned citizen contacted the F.B.I. on Jan. 8 about alarming statements posted on MyMilitia.com, a forum dedicated to organizing militia groups."

Onward, Christian Soldiers! Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "A data breach from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has revealed that millions of dollars have been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms. It also identifies previously anonymous high-dollar donors to far-right actors, some of whom enjoy positions of wealth, power or public responsibility. Some of the biggest beneficiaries have been members of groups such as the Proud Boys, designated as a terrorist group in Canada, many of whose fundraising efforts were directly related to the 6 January attack on the United States Capitol."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell before a Republican National Committee donor retreat Saturday evening, deriding him as a 'dumb son of a bitch.' Trump veered off his prepared [remarks] during a roughly 50-minute speech before several hundred well-heeled GOP donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida, saying that he was 'disappointed' in former Vice President Mike Pence, calling last year's presidential election a 'fraud' and mocking Dr. Anthony Fauci.... Trump also went after McConnell's wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, for resigning her cabinet post after the Jan. 6 insurrection.... Much of Trump's Saturday night speech was aimed at relitigating the election results, on which the former president has remained fixated." ~~~

~~~ Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "'A tremendous complication' was how Fred Zeidman, a veteran Republican fund-raiser in Texas, described Mr. Trump's lingering presence on the political scene.... 'He's already proven that he wants to have a major say or keep control of the party, and he's already shown every sign that he's going to primary everybody that has not been supportive of him,' Mr. Zeidman said. 'He complicates everything so much.'... 'It is very important the Republican Party puts Donald Trump as far into the past as possible,' said William Oberndorf, an investor in California who has given millions to G.O.P. candidates but said he would now only give to Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach Mr. Trump."

Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump's company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearly bonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents. Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president's business activity and finances. Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump's longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle."

Douglas Martin of the New York Times: "Ramsey Clark, who championed civil rights and liberties as attorney general in the Johnson administration, then devoted much of the rest of his life to defending unpopular causes and infamous people, including Saddam Hussein and others accused of war crimes, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: "Emergent BioSolutions, the troubled manufacturer at the heart of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine production problems, gave its chief executive officer a 51 percent increase in total compensation in 2020, to $5.6 million, according to a public filing Friday. The annual proxy disclosure by the publicly traded company said CEO Robert Kramer received $893,000 in salary, a $1.2 million bonus, $2.1 million in stock awards, and $1.4 million in stock options." MB: If there's a company that makes some useless product that will have no impact on people's lives, I will be happy to accept $5MM to screw up production. My contact info is at the bottom of the right-hand column. Write me, MyPillow Guy!

Marie: BTW, I had to take a Covid test yesterday of the up-your-nose-with-a-rubber-hose variety, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the tales I've heard. The technician used a flat, stiff paper "stick" about 3/16" wide & maybe 6" long. I closed my eyes the better to miss her probing the crevices of my brain, and it took only 5 seconds. I'd say the probe stung a little, but it was by no means intolerable, especially because of the brevity of the test. So, really, nothing to worry about.

Beyond the Beltway

A Florida Woman. Dan Scanlan of the Florida Times-Union, republished in Yahoo! News: A "woman seen in a viral video giving the finger to another shopper then coughing in her face at a Jacksonville mall has been sentenced to 29 days in jail for assault." Although the perp -- Debra Jo Michele Hunter of toney Fernandina Beach -- had negotiated a plea deal with the prosecutor that avoided jail time, Duval County Judge James Ruth sentenced the woman to jail. Ruth said, "... I have yet to see any expression, or a significant expression on her regret about the impact it had on the victim in this case."

Maryland. Ovetta Wiggins & Erin Cox of the Washington Post: "Maryland enacted historic police accountability measures Saturday, becoming the first state to repeal its powerful Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights and setting new rules for when police may use force and how they are investigated and disciplined. The Democrat-dominated legislature dealt Republican Gov. Larry Hogan a sharp rebuke, overriding his vetoes of measures that raise the bar for officers to use force; give civilians a role in police discipline for the first time; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate body cameras; and open some allegations of police wrongdoing for public review. Each bill had been hailed by criminal justice advocates as having the potential to make policing in the state fairer and more transparent." The New York Times' story is here.

Washington State. Shoot First, Cover Up Later. Mike Baker & Evan Hill of the New York Times: "When a U.S. Marshals task force killed a self-described antifa activist in Washington State in September, the Trump administration applauded the removal of a 'violent agitator' who was suspected of murder. Last week, local investigators concluded a monthslong homicide inquiry with the announcement that the activist, Michael Reinoehl, had most likely fired at authorities first, effectively justifying the shooting. But a review of investigation documents obtained by The New York Times suggests that investigators for the Thurston County Sheriff's Office discounted key pieces of contradicting evidence that indicate Mr. Reinoehl may never have fired or pointed a gun.... The handgun ... recovered from Mr. Reinoehl had a full magazine, according to multiple photos compiled by Thurston County authorities showing Mr. Reinoehl's handgun. The gun was found in his pocket.... One of the witnesses that Thurston County investigators relied on to reach their conclusion that Mr. Reinoehl had fired his gun was an 8-year-old boy. His father, Garrett Louis..., has consistently said he believed that officers opened fire first without shouting any warnings. Of the two other witnesses who investigators cited to support the conclusion that Mr. Reinoehl fired his gun, one did not see it happen and the other was not sure."

Way Beyond

Russia. Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russia is steadily massing its largest military presence in years near the Ukrainian border -- on land and at sea -- as the Kremlin tests Western support for Kyiv and its battles against pro-Moscow separatists less than three months into the Biden administration.... Moving forces from as far away as Siberia -- more than 2,000 miles distance -- to near Ukraine and onto the Crimean Peninsula has injected new levels of alarm in a region that has been a flash point between the West and Moscow since 2014.... [But] Russia's sudden military surge [this year] appears to be more about sending messages than launching a fresh offensive, analysts said."