The Commentariat -- April 14, 2021

Late Morning Update:

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

~~~ Mark Berman & Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "When the video of George Floyd gasping for air under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin emerged last year, it told a story that was painfully familiar to Anton Black's family. Black encountered police on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the fall of 2018, when officers responding to a call about a possible kidnapping wrestled the 19-year-old to the ground. Video footage released later showed the officers in Greensboro, Md., struggling with Black before pinning him down. Black died, and no officers were charged in his death. Then came Floyd's death last year, another video of a Black man being held down by police and dying. The cases, Black's family said in a court filing, were 'chillingly similar.' Now they are connected in another way: Among the experts Chauvin's defense is expected to call this week is the former Maryland medical examiner -- David Fowler -- who deemed Black's death an accident, a determination his family pilloried in a federal lawsuit filed in December." MB: Fowler is on the stand now @ 11 am ET. Sure hope the judge lets the prosecution examine Fowler's history.

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

Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died in a federal prison early Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said." Update: Madoff's New York Times obituary is here.

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Cariol Horne acted to keep a white officer from using what she saw as excessive force. Fifteen years later, a judge said her firing was wrong. It was a cold November day in Buffalo when Officer Cariol Horne responded to a call for a colleague in need of help. What she encountered was a white officer who appeared to be 'in a rage' punching a handcuffed Black man in the face repeatedly as other officers stood by. Officer Horne, who is Black, heard the handcuffed man say he could not breathe and saw the white officer put him in a chokehold. At that point..., she forcibly removed the white officer and began to trade blows with him. In the altercation's aftermath, Officer Horne was reassigned, hit with departmental charges and, eventually, fired just one year short of the 20 on the force she needed to collect her full pension.... On Tuesday, in an outcome explicitly informed by the police killing of George Floyd, a state court judge vacated an earlier ruling that affirmed her firing, essentially rewriting the end of her police career, and granting her the back pay and benefits she had previously been denied." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. MB: If you have a NYT subscription, read the whole story.

~~~~~~~~~~

What Melville Knew:

And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this: --

"Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States."
"Whaling voyage by one Ishmael."
"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN."

Ishmael, Moby Dick, 1851 ~~~

~~~ ** Endless War to End, Says He. 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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post tapes a few notes of caution to the decision to withdraw. ~~~

     ~~~ Juan Cole, on the other hand, writes that "It is long past time ... for the US to exit." However, he adds, "My own view is that if the US wanted to withdraw without risking a security debacle, it would have to do so through diplomacy. In particular, the US should seek an agreement between India and Pakistan that Afghanistan will be neutral territory, an agreement to which Kabul would assent.... Some American analysts want to stay in Afghanistan in hopes of making it a democracy. Afghanistan, however, is too complex a nation-building problem to solve with the kind of resources the US has been willing to put in." Cole explains why economically poor countries are also poor candidates for democracy. Afghanistan exemplifies his point.

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." (Also linked yesterday.)

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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hansi Lo Wang of NPR: "In a historic move, President Biden is naming Robert Santos, one of the country's leading statisticians and the American Statistical Association's president, as his intended nominee to head the U.S. Census Bureau. If confirmed by the Senate, Santos, who is Latinx, would be the first permanent director of color for the federal government's largest statistical agency.... The White House announced Santos as Biden's intended nominee in a statement released on Tuesday. Depending on the timing of a confirmation, Santos could finish the term left open by former Director Steven Dillingham that is ending this year. Dillingham was the Trump-appointed director who quit in January after whistleblowers filed complaints about Dillingham's role in trying to rush out an incomplete data report on noncitizens. Santos could be reappointed after the end of a first term, according to federal law." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As far as I can tell from the photo accompanying the story, I would not peg Santos as a "person of color." However, the designation seems to be appropriate here because, "'When I fill out the census form, I check the Latino-Hispanic-Mexican American box,' Santos said in a 2019 interview with North Texas member station KERA. 'And when it comes to race, I mark "other" and insert "mestizo" because that's how I feel about race and ethnicity.'"

** Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The Capitol Police had clearer advance warnings about the Jan. 6 attack than were previously known, including the potential for violence in which 'Congress itself is the target.' But officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob... like stun grenades -- according to a scathing new report by the agency's internal investigator. In a 104-page document, the inspector general, Michael A. Bolton, criticized the way the Capitol Police prepared for and responded to the mob violence on Jan. 6. The report ... will be the subject of a Capitol Hill hearing on Thursday.... The report offers the most devastating account to date of the lapses and miscalculations around the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries.... The report ... reserves some of its harshest criticism for the management of the agency's Civil Disturbance Unit, which exists to prevent tragedies like Jan. 6.... In particular, Mr. Bolton focused in on an embarrassing lack of functional shields for Capitol Police officers during the riot. Some of the shields ... 'shattered upon impact' because they had been improperly stored in a trailer that was not climate-controlled.... Others could not be used by officers ... because the shields were locked on a bus." A CNN report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times lists the report's key findings.

Meagan Flynn & Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: The memorial to Capitol Police Officer William "Billy" Evans "was the second time in less than three months that mourners were gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to honor a fallen police officer. Evans, like Brian D. Sicknick before him, was protecting members of Congress and others on Capitol Hill from a violent incursion and died in the line of duty. Evans, 41, was Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi & Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Michael Schmidt & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "A former local official in Florida indicted in the Justice Department investigation that is also focused on Representative Matt Gaetz has been providing investigators with information since last year about an array of topics, including Mr. Gaetz's activities, according to two people briefed on the matter. Joel Greenberg, a onetime county tax collector, disclosed to investigators that he and Mr. Gaetz had encounters with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex, the people said." MB: Last week we learned that Greenberg probably would cooperate as part of a plea deal. Apparently that ship sailed a long time ago -- yet Greenberg still has been indicted on dozens of charges. ~~~

~~~ Marc Caputo & Matt Dixon of Politico: "The details of [a] September 2018 trip [to the Bahamas] are sparse, but they are critical to the allegations against [Matt] Gaetz, the Florida congressman currently the subject of a federal sex-crimes investigation that is threatening his career.... Also among those on the trip: the former minor who is key to the investigation, whose presence on the trip was previously unreported. [According to one witness, the young woman had already passed her 18th birthday.]... Conspicuously absent from the 2018 Bahamas trip was ... Joel Greenberg.... This winter ... federal agents executed a search warrant and seized his iPhone, according to ... three people who were told of the matter by Gaetz, who changed his phone number in late December. Around that time, the sources said, federal agents also seized his former girlfriend's phone." ~~~

~~~ David Shortell & Paula Reid of CNN: "The first thing some of the women were asked to do when they got to the house parties in the gated community in suburban Orlando was to put away their cellphones, according to two women in attendance who spoke to CNN in recent days. The men inside, a who's who of local Republican officials that often included Rep. Matt Gaetz, did not want the night's activities documented. The partygoers, at times dressed in formal wear from a political event they'd just left, mingled and shared drugs like cocaine and ecstasy. Some had sex. Gaetz ... behaved like a 'frat type of party boy,' she said, sometimes taking pills she believed were recreational drugs. Details of the parties, which have not been previously reported, were described to CNN by two women who attended several of them over the past few years."

In yesterday's thread, Akhilleus mentioned hearing the following on the radio yesterday. He didn't seem to like it much. ~~~

~~~ Susan Davis of NPR: "A growing number of working-class voters were drawn to Donald Trump's Republican Party, and now top Republicans are searching for ways to keep those voters in the fold without Trump on the ballot. 'All of the statistics and polling coming out of the 2020 election show that Donald Trump did better with those voters across the board than any Republican has in my lifetime since Ronald Reagan,' Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told NPR. 'And if Republicans want to be successful as a party, win the majority in 2022, win back the White House in 2024, I think we have to learn lessons that Donald Trump taught us and how to appeal to these voters.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mike Allen of Axios: "A constellation of Trump administration stars today will launch the America First Policy Institute, a 35-person nonprofit group with a first-year budget of $20 million and the mission of perpetuating former President Trump's populist policies." MB: The organization's board members & employees (or whatever they will be) include people you've heard of & never hope to meet. And to paraphrase Akhilleus: populist, my ass.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Ken Vogel & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Long before he emerged as a potential champion of journalism with his bid for Tribune Publishing, the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss quietly created a sophisticated political operation to advance progressive policy initiatives and the Democrats who support them. The organization, called The Hub Project, was started in 2015 by one of Mr. Wyss's charitable organizations, the Wyss Foundation, partly to shape media coverage to help Democratic causes.... If he succeeds in his bid for Tribune Publishing, a chain that includes The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and The Daily News, he could help shape news coverage for millions of readers. In making this bid, Mr. Wyss teamed with Stewart W. Bainum Jr., a major donor to Democrats and the chairman of Choice Hotels, an international hotel chain."

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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Mitch Smith & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... the abrupt halt in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of concerns about potential blood clots upended plans to vaccinate some of the country's hardest-to-reach populations. In California, mobile vaccine clinics in rural areas were canceled. In Chicago, vaccination events for restaurant employees and aviation workers were postponed indefinitely. And at colleges in Ohio, New York and Tennessee, where the one-dose vaccine offered a chance to quickly inoculate students before they left campus for the summer, appointments were called off en masse.... In much of the country, public health officials said they were able to offer other vaccines to people who had been scheduled to receive a Johnson & Johnson shot." ~~~

~~~ Laurie McGinley, et al., of the Washington Post examine U.S. health officials' decision to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccination. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Last night Chris Hayes noted on MSNBC that some birth control pills are associated with thousands of times more blood clots than is the J&J vaccine. I thought that was pretty interesting until I read this U.S. News story citing an expert who urges against comparing clots associated with J&J & those associated with birth control pills. So I'll butt out of any pretense of understanding the science here.

Kevin Brueninger of CNBC: "Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that his company has ramped up production of its two-shot coronavirus vaccine and will be able to deliver a total of 300 million doses to the U.S. ahead of schedule. Bourla said on Twitter that Pfizer can deliver 10% more doses to the U.S. by the end of May than it had previously agreed to produce -- up to 220 million from 200 million."

In today's thread, contributor Forrest M. has some actual news -- and first-person knowledge -- of, uh, Covid-19 hesitancy (okay, make that "total vaccination aversion").

Beyond the Beltway

"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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Minnesota. Madeline Holcolme of CNN: "Hundreds of protesters gathered for a third night of protests to express anger over the police killing of a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb as prosecutors decide whether to press charges against the officer authorities say shot him. Washington County Prosecutor Pete Orput told CNN that he hopes to have a charging decision regarding former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by Wednesday." ~~~

~~~ 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.... 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ 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.' (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Minnesota. Shaila Dewan & Tim Arango of the New York Times: "As the defense began its case after 11 days of testimony against [former Minneapolis policeman Derek] Chauvin, [Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson] signaled key strategy: shifting the jurors' focus to [George] Floyd's use of illicit drugs." Update: The AP's story is here.

Wisconsin. Doha Madani of NBC News: "The Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was paralyzed from the waist down after the shooting in August, has returned to work and will not face discipline, the police department announced Tuesday. The officer, Rusten Sheskey, returned from administrative leave in late March. He was 'found to have been acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline,' according to a statement Tuesday from Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis. The determination was made after an outside investigation and an independent expert review, the statement said."

Way Beyond

Egypt. Another Fine Mess. Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "In the latest complication to the ill-fated voyage, Egypt has seized the Ever Given over its owners' 'failure to pay an amount of $900 million,' the state-run news outlet Ahram Gate reported. That amount represents the total compensation that Egypt says it is owed for the six-day blockage of the Suez Canal, including lost revenue from ships that ordinarily would have traveled through the canal during that time, as well as costs for damage to the crucial waterway and the equipment and labor deployed in the 144-hour scramble to free the ship.... 'The vessel will remain here until investigations are complete an compensation is paid,' Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), told Egyptian state television last week, according to the Wall Street Journal. 'The minute they agree to compensation, the vessel will be allowed to move.' But the National Union of Seafarers in India argues that refusing to let the crew off the ship amounts to holding them for ransom." CNN's story is here.

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "Iran said Tuesday that it would begin enriching uranium to a level of 60 percent purity, three times the current level and much closer to that needed to make a bomb, though American officials doubt the country has the ability to produce a weapon in the near future. Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, did not give a reason for the shift, but it appeared to be retaliation for an Israeli attack on Iran's primary nuclear fuel production plant as well as a move to strengthen Iran's hand in nuclear talks in Vienna. The Israeli attack on Sunday diminishes Iran's capacity to enrich uranium to 60 percent but it is unclear for how long." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Israel's attack is just one more reminder that our ostensible allies' national interests are not always the same as ours.

Comments

[Akhilleus]

The war in Afghanistan...isn’t that the one that Dick Cheney (isn’t he dead yet? Jesus, what’s the hold up?) promised would be over in a few weeks? He was only off by 1,000 or so. Pretty close for a Republican liar.

[Forrest Morris]

Extra security will be needed for Governor Whitmer. She has
just extended the lockdown in Michigan until Oct 14, 2021.
We encountered our first anti-vaxxer while working in the garden
yesterday. Judy Nye stopped for a garden tour with gardening
questions. First words out of her mouth--I won't get close because
I haven't been vaccinated and don't intend to. It's a plot. That from
an intelligent, local business woman, mother of 3, grandmother of
who knows how many.
The only question I had was don't you think it would be safer if
you ever plan to visit family to be vaccinated? Answer was I've
had a good life, if I die, I die.
Judy was Ted Turner's first wife, mother of his children.

[Marie Burns]

@Forrest Morris: Thanks for the news. Apparently Judy doesn't watch CNN, which has nearly wall-to-wall coverage of actual Covid news, where they invite expert after expert to speak about the importance of getting vaccinated. (The only breaks from Covid news are for commercials & occasional unrelated catastrophes: gun massacres, plane crashes, protests.)

[PD Pepe]

Court Vindicates female Black officer fired for stopping colleagues' chokehold:

"The legal system can at the very least be a mechanism to help justice prevail, even if belatedly."
–--Judge Dennis E. Ward

Interesting story and one that has the appropriate ending.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/nyregion/cariol-horne-police-chokehold.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

@Forest: Judy, Judy, Judy! good heavens! and once married to Ted Turner? so here we have another example of someone who surprises us with their bizarre thinking. What's sad in this scenario is that she is only thinking of herself––"if I die, I die" and not the fact that others may die BECAUSE of her.

[NiskyGuy]

NYTimes headline: "Medical Examiner Called by Defense Blames Floyd’s Heart for His Death."

If the medical examiner survives 9 1/2 minutes pinned to the ground in handcuffs by officers and with former officer chauvin's full weight on his neck, I will listen to what he has to say about George Floyd.

[Jeanne]

PD: that is exactly what I thought as I read Forrest's news. Judy is a selfish, lying hypocrite. Some plot. Every time I hear some moron defend repugnican policy or conspiracy theories, I think, how do these things get organized, but somewhere along the line I read that often it is ONE article written by ONE idiot, and someone on the right picks it up, passes it along to hundreds, who pass it along to thousands, etc etc. NO ONE bothers to check on whether whatever it is is true. They just blab (in writing) and gossip (in writing) and it comes down to what sources provide what writings. There is glaring evidence that listening and debating with the ignoramuses on the right just makes one feel awful, so why do it? They will never change their little minds. Truth does not matter to them. Only ratings. Judy needs to be banned from the neighborhood. "If she dies, she dies..." As you can see, I am totally out of compassion for brainless, jerky people.

[Whyte Owen]

Thromboses related to oral contraceptives and to adenovirus vaccines do have completely different bases. Likewise the thrombosis that occurs and is the cause of death in many COVID-19 cases. With OC's it starts in leg veins and seems related to the lining of the veins. Also much more prevalent in smokers. For the vaccines it is caused by accumulation of blood platelets, small cell fragments that clump and initiate clotting, in small vessels throughout the system and is similar to a rare complication with the blood thinner heparin. COVID-19 disrupts the system we have on the surface of all blood vessels that controls the activity of the blood clotting system. Rare genetic mutations in that system are lethal.

The good news: all three scenarios can be treated successfully with careful administration of appropriate anticoagulants (aka blood thinners, a term I dislike), but requires early diagnosis with simple lab tests and which, unfortunately, stretches the expertise of some health care providers. An academic medical center is a good place to be if one falls victim to one of these processes.

[Marie Burns]

@Whyte Owen: Thank you. You and your ilk are the reason I'm so comfortable leaving the explaining to experts.

[Whyte Owen]

@MB As an expert in that area, and biochemistry in general, I find that too many experts either talk down to their audience or stick to technical jargon. Alan Alda had a program at Stonybrook that I found very useful for learning to communicate science to educated lay people. Still learning at almost 80.