The Commentariat -- March 24, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is taking the unusual step of making a public accounting of the Trump administration's political interference in science, drawing up a list of dozens of regulatory decisions that may have been warped by political interference in objective research. The effort could buttress efforts to unwind pro-business regulations of the past four years, while uplifting science staff battered by four years of disregard. It is particularly explicit at the Environmental Protection Agency, where President Biden's political appointees said they felt that an honest accounting of past problems was necessary to assure career scientists that their findings would no longer be buried or manipulated. In a blunt memo this month, one senior Biden appointee said political tampering under the Trump administration had 'compromised the integrity' of some agency science."

Martin Farrer & Michael Safi of the Guardian: "One of the largest container ships in the world has been partially refloated after it ran aground in the Suez canal, causing a huge jam of vessels at either end of the vital international trade artery. The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given -- a so-called megaship operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen -- became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it had lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm. Eight tugboats were working to free the vessel, blocking a lane key to Asia-Europe trade through which about 50 ships a day passed in 2019, according to Egyptian government statistics."

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

Christopher Rowland & Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Moncef Slaoui, the pharmaceutical industry veteran and vaccine specialist who led ... Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, was fired from the board of a medical company Wednesday over allegations of sexual misconduct. GlaxoSmithKline, the majority shareholder of Galvani Bioelectronics and Slaoui's former longtime employer where he led vaccine development, announced it terminated Slaoui as Galvani chairman following an investigation triggered by a letter sent last month detailing alleged `sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.' The alleged misconduct occurred `several years ago' and was aimed at another employee of GlaxoSmithKline while Slaoui also worked for the pharmaceutical giant, the company said in a statement." A USA Today story is here.

Israel. Laurie Kellman of the AP: "Uncertainty hovered over the outcome of Israel's parliamentary election Wednesday, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him apparently lacking a clear path to a governing coalition. Deadlock in the 120-seat parliament was a real possibility a day after the election, which had been dominated by Netanyahu's polarizing leadership. With about 90% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning, Netanyahu's Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority -- even if the Yamina party of Netanyahu ally-turned-critic Naftali Bennett were to join a Netanyahu-led government. Bennett has refused to endorse either side." A Washington Post story is here.

Myanmar. AP: "Hundreds of people imprisoned for demonstrating against last month's coup in Myanmar were released Wednesday, a rare conciliatory gesture by the military that appeared aimed at placating the protest movement. Witnesses outside Insein Prison in Yangon saw busloads of mostly young people, looking happy with some flashing the three-finger gesture of defiance adopted by protesters. State-run TV said a total of 628 were freed. Also Wednesday, Thein Zaw, a journalist for The Associated Press who was arrested last month while covering an anti-coup protest, was released."

~~~~~~~~~~

Article Two: Armed vigilantes being necessary to the security of slaveholders, the right of white people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. -- P.D. Pepe reads the Second Amendment

     ~~~ Thanks to RockyGirl for the link.

After January 6, nothing seems impossible. -- Jeanne, in today's Comments

Annie Karni & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Faced with the second mass shooting in a week, President Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill called on Tuesday for fast action to enact stricter gun laws, a plea that was immediately met with a blockade of opposition by Republicans. In brief, somber remarks from the White House, Mr. Biden called on the Senate to pass a ban on assault weapons and to close background check loopholes, saying that doing so would be 'common sense steps that will save lives in the future.'... Mr. Biden noted that he had to draft a proclamation to keep the White House flags at half-staff because they had already been lowered to honor eight people killed by a gunman in the Atlanta area less than a week earlier...." ~~~

"But while polling regularly shows broad support for tighter gun laws and specific policies like a ban on assault weapons, Republicans in Congress remained all but immovable on the issue, repeating longstanding arguments on Tuesday that gun violence should be addressed through steps like more policing rather than limiting gun rights."

     ~~~ Marie: Isn't it time to quit focusing on deranged men who commit mass murders and start blaming Republican legislators who enable them? ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... on Tuesday Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) angrily hit back at those pushing new restrictions and those who criticized the restrictions' opponents, accusing them of 'ridiculous theater.' Democrats have increasingly criticized the 'thoughts and prayers' response to such tragedies, arguing that's insufficient and a cop-out, but Cruz took exception when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) made that point.... Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) echoed that point, saying: 'Every time that there's an incident like this, the people who don't want to protect the Second Amendment use it as an excuse to further erode Second Amendment rights.' And Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) set the line at any increased background checks, saying, 'I think we've got enough background checks.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sen. Potato Head doesn't know what's in the Constitution; I doubt if he has the slightest idea of the scope of federal background-check laws and proposed bills. (To be fair, Potato Head probably believes the Second Amendment reads exactly as P.D. Pepe suggested.) Cruz, BTW, took great umbrage at Democrats' "odd" failure to appreciate the power of prayer. ~~~

~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senators quickly splintered along partisan lines over gun control measures on Tuesday as Democrats demanded action in the wake of two mass shootings in the past week and Republicans denounced their calls, highlighting the political divide that has fueled a decades-long cycle of inaction on gun violence. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was scheduled before shootings in Atlanta and Boulder that left at least 18 people dead, Democrats argued that the latest carnage left Congress no choice but to enact stricter policies. They lamented the grim pattern of anguish and outrage followed by partisanship and paralysis had become the norm following mass shootings.... Even before the recent shootings, Democrats had already begun advancing stricter gun control measures that face long odds in the 50-50 Senate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "The city of Boulder, Colo., barred assault weapons in 2018, as a way to prevent mass shootings like the one that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland., Fla., earlier that year. But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city's south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.... With unanimous support from the council, the law banned the possession, transfer and sale of most shotguns and certain pistols and semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, a thumbhole stock, or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.... On March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman ... [ruled] that, according to a 2003 Colorado state law, cities and counties cannot restrict guns that are otherwise legal under federal and state law.... The National Rifle Association cheered the ruling on Twitter last week, noting that its lobbying arm had supported the lawsuit against the ban." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, the "thoughts and prayers" cliche makes me sick, too. Here's another one that's even more insidious, because its purpose is to shut up gun-control advocates masked behind the calculated pretext of expressing respect for the victims of gun violence. We hear this after every mass shooting:

There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. There will be a time for the discussion on motives. There will be a time for a conversation on how this could have been prevented. But today is not the time. -- Colorado State Shooting Association, a plaintiff in the Boulder assault weapons ban, in a statement

Max Fisher & Josh Keller of the New York Times: "The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns.... Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world's guns.... And gun control legislation tends to reduce gun murders.... This suggests that the guns themselves cause the violence."

Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House agreed late Tuesday to add a senior-level Asian American Pacific Islander liaison after two Democratic senators threatened to vote no on nominees because of what they said was a lack of sufficient AAPI representation in President Biden's Cabinet.... The decision came after Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) vowed Tuesday afternoon to vote no on Biden's 'non-diversity' Cabinet nominees until the White House addressed the issue. Lawmakers have been pushing Biden for months for greater AAPI representation in the most senior levels of his administration." MB: While there are a number of other factors that determine suitability for a presidential appointment, when you consider the fact that Asian-Americans are better-educated than any other ethnic group, you do have to wonder why they aren't better-represented in the top government jobs.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: Shalanda Young "was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, 63 to 37, to serve as President Biden's deputy budget director. As the first Black woman to serve as staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, Ms. Young played critical roles on Capitol Hill in negotiating not only the dozen annual spending bills, but also a series of five pandemic relief packages that together totaled $3 trillion and represented the leading edge of a sweeping federal response to the crisis.... After Mr. Biden's pick to lead the agency, Neera Tanden, withdrew amid bipartisan opposition, Ms. Young will have a leading role steering the office in the coming weeks as the administration begins to prepare its first budget proposal and pursue an ambitious infrastructure plan."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge lambasted the Justice Department on Tuesday, warning that top officials' comments in recent media interviews threatened to taint the prosecution of some of the most notorious participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. In a hastily assembled video conference, District Court Judge Amit Mehta declared he was 'surprised, to say the least' by a CBS '60 Minutes' interview with Michael Sherwin, who recently stepped aside as the lead prosecutor in the Capitol attack and as the acting U.S. attorney in Washington. In the interview aired Sunday, Sherwin said he believed the facts gathered by investigators would support a charge of 'seditious conspiracy' against some of the Capitol rioters.... Mehta also referenced a Monday evening article in The New York Times that described internal Justice Department deliberations about seditious conspiracy charges.... 'These defendants are entitled to a fair trial, not one that is conducted in the media,' Mehta said as he opened the conference, which included senior supervisors in the U.S. Attorney's office. 'I will not tolerate continued publicity in the media.'" ~~~

~~~ Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "The Justice Department has launched internal probes into a recent spate of apparently unauthorized comments to the media about the status of the Capitol insurrection investigation, a supervisor in the US attorney's office in Washington told a judge on Tuesday.... John Crabb, the head of the Criminal Division in the DC US attorney's office, told [Judge Amit] Mehta it appeared that [Michael] Sherwin had failed to comply with the department's rules and policies that govern contacts with the press. Crabb said Sherwin had been referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct allegations against DOJ lawyers and officials.... Sherwin returned to his former position as a federal prosecutor in Miami earlier this month...; he had served as the acting US attorney in DC since May 2020 and was appointed by ... Donald Trump's attorney general, Bill Barr."

Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and a former Army Special Forces soldier were ordered jailed pending trial Tuesday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while a veteran New York Police Department officer turned herself in to face trespassing charges.... [Timothy] Hale-Cusanelli ran an antisemitic podcast, wore a Hitler mustache to work and shared violent, racist fantasies with colleagues, prosecutors said.... Separately, a federal magistrate denied bond for Jeffrey McKellop, 55, of Augusta County, Va., who served two enlistments totaling 22 years in the Army, including as a Special Forces communications sergeant.... Also Tuesday, retired veteran New York Police Department officer Sara Carpenter surrendered to authorities and was released on personal recognizance to face trespassing and disorderly conduct charges after she was allegedly seen in the U.S. Capitol carrying a tambourine."

Evan Hill, et al., of the New York Times: "New videos obtained by The New York Times show publicly for the first time how the U.S. Capitol Police officer who died after facing off with rioters on Jan. 6 was attacked with chemical spray. The officer, Brian D. Sicknick, who had been guarding the west side of the Capitol, collapsed later that day and died the next night. Little had been known about what happened to Officer Sicknick during the assault, and the previously unpublished videos provide new details about when, where and how he was attacked, as well as about the events leading up to the encounter." Includes videos & descriptions of what the videos portray or suggest.

The "Big Lie Was Just a Joke!" Defense. Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Right-wing lawyer Sidney Powell is claiming in a new court filing that reasonable people wouldn't have believed as fact her assertions of fraud after the 2020 presidential election. The election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems sued Powell for defamation after she pushed lawsuits and made appearances in conservative media on behalf of ... Donald Trump to sow doubt about the 2020 election results. Dominion claims that Powell knew her election fraud accusations were false and hurtful to the company. In a new court filing, Powell's attorneys write that she was sharing her 'opinion' and that the public could reach 'their own conclusions' about whether votes were changed by election machines.... '... Plaintiffs themselves characterize the statements at issue as "wild accusations" and "outlandish claims." They are repeatedly labelled "inherently improbable" and even "impossible." Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support Defendants' position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.', [Powell's lawyers argued]."

Luxury Hotel Agency Dumps Trump. Hannah Sampson & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Virtuoso, a global network of luxury travel agencies, no longer considers Trump Hotels a preferred partner. The Texas-based company, which includes 20,000 luxury travel advisers, said the change was effective March 8; it applies to the six Trump hotels that were considered partners." ~~~

~~~ Michael D'Antonio in a CNN opinion piece: "While Federal Election Commission filings show Trump directed millions to pay Trump organizations for campaign-related expenses during both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, his net worth is now down $700 million since he became president, according to a Bloomberg News report. And much of what ails Trump's bottom line is his own fault. According to Bloomberg, revenues are down in every corner of the Trump empire and most of his assets have lost value.... According to Bloomberg, the Trump fortune has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, [which he purposely downplayed]. The deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which he fomented, has also sullied the Trump brand and cost him business.... If the Trump name ever was his business organization's biggest asset, it may now be its worst liability."

Beyond the Beltway

Massachusetts. Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "On a September morning in 1976, an 11-year-old Black girl climbed onto a yellow school bus, one of tens of thousands of children sent crisscrossing [Boston] by court order and deposited in the insular neighborhoods of Boston in an effort to force them to integrate. As her bus swung uphill into the heart of the Irish-American enclave of Charlestown, she could see police officers taking protective positions around the bus. After that, the mob: white teenagers and adults, shouting and throwing rocks, telling them to go back to Africa. That girl, Kim Janey, became acting mayor of Boston on Monday, making her the first Black person to occupy the position, at a moment of uncommon opportunity for people of color in this city. With the confirmation of her predecessor, Martin J<. Walsh, as U.S. labor secretary, the 91-year succession of Irish-American and Italian-American mayors appears to be ending, creating an opening for communities long shut out of the city's power politics.

Montana. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [R-Bully] of Montana violated a state hunting requirement last month when he trapped and killed a wolf near Yellowstone National Park without first taking a mandated trapper education course, state officials said on Tuesday. Mr. Gianforte, who has a license to hunt wolves, received a written warning for the violation, according to Greg Lemon, a spokesman for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. 'We've treated this as we would anybody' in a similar situation, he said." MB: Greg, I know you're going to be a terrible governor, but you'll always be an out-of-control body-slamming bully to me.

Texas. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "National Guardsmen transporting Covid-19 vaccines through Texas on Monday were held at gunpoint, police said. Larry Harris is accused of following a convoy of National Guard soldiers before attempting to run them off the highway with his truck several times in Lubbock County, according to Idalou police Chief Eric C. Williams. Harris, 66, of Willcox, Arizona, eventually turned his truck into oncoming traffic, stopping three National Guard vans near Idalou, Williams said. He then pointed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanded to search their vans, according to police. Idalou police responded and were able to arrest Harris without incident, Williams said. He had a loaded .45-caliber Colt 1911 pistol, an additional loaded magazine on his person and another loaded magazine in his truck. None of the guardsmen were [was!] injured, and the vaccines eventually made it to Matador. [Harris] He told police that he thought people in the vans had kidnapped a woman and child...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Chief Williams described Harris as appearing to be "mentally disturbed." He sounds like a QAnon adherent to me.

Way Beyond

Saudi Arabia. Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A senior Saudi official issued what was perceived to be a death threat against the independent United Nations investigator, Agnès Callamard, after her investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In an interview with the Guardian, the outgoing special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings said that a UN colleague alerted her in January 2020 that a senior Saudi official had twice threatened in a meeting with other senior UN officials in Geneva that month to have Callamard 'taken care of' if she was not reined in by the UN.... Callamard's 100-page report, published in June 2019, concluded that there was 'credible evidence' that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other senior Saudi officials were liable for the killing, and called the murder an 'international crime'.... The Guardian independently corroborated Callamard's account...."

The Commentariat -- March 23, 2021

Afternoon Update:

After January 6, nothing seems impossible. -- Jeanne, in today's Comments

President Biden speaks about the mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado (first 6:27 min. of video):

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "The city of Boulder, Colo., barred assault weapons in 2018, as a way to prevent mass shootings like the one that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland., Fla., earlier that year. But 10 days after that ban was blocked in court, the city was rocked by its own tragedy: Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, were killed at a supermarket in the city's south end on Monday after a gunman opened fire, law enforcement officials said.... With unanimous support from the council, the law banned the possession, transfer and sale of most shotguns and certain pistols and semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips, a thumbhole stock, or any protruding grip that allows a weapon to be stabilized with the non-trigger hand.... On March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman ... [ruled] that, according to a 2003 Colorado state law, cities and counties cannot restrict guns that are otherwise legal under federal and state law.... The National Rifle Association cheered the ruling on Twitter last week, noting that its lobbying arm had supported the lawsuit against the ban." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, the "thoughts and prayers" cliche makes me sick, too. Here's another one that's even more insidious, because its purpose is to shut up gun-control advocates masked behind the calculated pretext of expressing respect for the victims of gun violence. We hear this after every mass shooting:

There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. There will be a time for the discussion on motives. There will be a time for a conversation on how this could have been prevented. But today is not the time. -- Colorado State Shooting Association, a plaintiff in the Boulder assault weapons ban, in a statement

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Senators quickly splintered along partisan lines over gun control measures on Tuesday as Democrats demanded action in the wake of two mass shootings in the past week and Republicans denounced their calls, highlighting the political divide that has fueled a decades-long cycle of inaction on gun violence. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was scheduled before shootings in Atlanta and Boulder that left at least 18 people dead, Democrats argued that the latest carnage left Congress no choice but to enact stricter policies. They lamented the grim pattern of anguish and outrage followed by partisanship and paralysis had become the norm following mass shootings.... Even before the recent shootings, Democrats had already begun advancing stricter gun control measures that face long odds in the 50-50 Senate."

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: When I wrote a couple of days ago that the country was getting back to normal, I didn't fully comprehend that "normal" meant two mass murders within a week.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden's economic advisers are pulling together a sweeping $3 trillion package to boost the economy, reduce carbon emissions and narrow economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. After months of internal debate, Mr. Biden's advisers are expected to present the spending proposal to the president and congressional leaders this week, as well as begin outreach to industry and labor groups. On Monday, Mr. Biden's national climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, discussed his infrastructure plans -- and their role in combating climate change -- in a meeting with oil and gas industry executives. Administration officials caution that details remain in flux." An AP story is here.

Sean Sullivan & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is searching for new ways to stem the surge of migrants at the southern border, dispatching officials to Mexico and Guatemala to seek their governments' help, sending sterner warnings to would-be migrants not to come, and devising alternative pathways to apply for legal entry without showing up in person. The strategies, which administration officials outlined Monday, reflect the growing pressure on President Biden and his advisers to slow the increase in illegal crossings that has accelerated since he took office. Biden is navigating sometimes competing demands: pleas from border lawmakers to more aggressively dissuade would-be migrants, and exhortations from human rights advocates to treat them humanely. The sharpest challenge is how to deal with thousands of children taken into custody under a policy of not turning away unaccompanied minors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I know the problems seem insurmountable, but it is such a comfort & relief that we have an administration that is trying to the right thing in the right ways instead of what we experience for four years with an administration that knocked itself out to do everything wrong -- and the crueler the better. ~~~

~~~ Stef Kight of Axios: "Exclusive photos from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas, reveal the crowded, makeshift conditions at the border as the government's longer-term child shelters and family detention centers fill up.... Each of eight 'pods' in the so-called soft-sided facility has a 260-person occupancy, said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who provided the photos to Axios to raise awareness about the situation. But as of Sunday, he said, one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors. Because the Biden administration has restricted media coverage at housing facilities, images like these offer a rare window into conditions." Includes photos. ~~~

~~~ Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Border agents in the Rio Grande Valley, the center of the migrant surge, were authorized Saturday to begin releasing adult migrants and families from custody before they have been given dates to appear in court, according to an internal document obtained by NBC News. The move is 'intended to mitigate operational challenges, including risk to national security, during significant surges of illegal migration as currently exist in the Rio Grande Valley' by reducing the time immigrants spend in custody, according to the document. Some immigrants said they were being released without knowing how they would be contacted."

Rebecca Rainey of Politico: "The Senate on Monday confirmed Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor, clearing him to take the helm of the agency amid historic unemployment and economic uncertainty.... The Chamber voted 68-29 to approve Walsh, a former union leader who enjoyed Republican support for his commitment to working with the business community.... Walsh said during the Monday press conference that he would be traveling to Washington on Tuesday to be sworn in and was officially resigning as Boston mayor that evening.... Unions hailed Walsh's confirmation as a transition to a more worker-friendly Labor Department.... Walsh is the last Cabinet-level official to be confirmed, and the vote followed a blitz of Senate action on Biden's Cabinet nominees in the last few weeks...." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden is the first president in more than 30 years to have all of his original Cabinet secretary nominees confirmed to their posts.... While Biden did withdraw one nominee that he had designated Cabinet-level -- Neera Tanden, who he had selected as his budget chief -- the people now serving atop all the major administration agencies are his first pick." ~~~

~~~ BUT.  Ben LeFebvre of Politico: "The White House has withdrawn its nomination of Elizabeth Klein to become the Interior Department's deputy secretary, as the Biden administration faced push back from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, sources familiar with the situation said Monday.... Klein is a former Obama administration official and deputy director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at the New York University School of Law who focused on renewable energy and climate change issues. The Biden administration pulled her nomination after hearing of opposition coming from Murkowski, a moderate Republican whose vote is crucial to Biden's legislative agenda and who has sought to expand the oil and gas industry in her state, one of the sources familiar with the matter said."

Washington Post Editors: "After Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the regime of Xi Jinping as a 'threat to global stability' and criticized its repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang province, China's Yang Jiechi responded with a 17-minute tirade that, among other things, advised the United States to 'stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world.'... Mr. Blinken's speech and other tough opening moves by the Biden team were exactly the reset that was needed after the Trump administration's confused and often contradictory treatment of China.... The administration has made clear that its strong opposition to China's human rights abuses and belligerence toward Taiwan and other neighbors does not preclude cooperation on matters of mutual interest.... China and the United States lead opposing camps in a global contest over the future of human governance."

We Are Not Amused. Evan Perez of CNN: "Attorney General Merrick Garland is quietly ushering in a change in tone at the Justice Department, making few public comments and staying out of sight -- and unlike his predecessor -- eschewing commentary about ongoing investigations. That's one reason why an interview by Michael Sherwin, the former acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, discussing his push to use a rarely used sedition law to charge January 6 rioters and the possible culpability of ... Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection, reverberated in the new no-drama Justice Department.... David Laufman, a former Justice prosecutor echoed some of the internal criticism, saying, 'It's flat out improper,' adding 'I don't think it's OK for an [assistant US attorney] to be talking to the media about what charges are appropriate in a case under investigation.' Sherwin didn't get prior approval from his Justice Department bosses before the 60 Minutes interview, according to people briefed on the matter, a break with protocol." See yesterday's Commentariat for links to stories re: Sherwin's remarks. MB: Neal Katyal pointed out on MSNBC that Sherwin was a Trump appointee.

The New York Times synced audio & video of the Capitol insurrection:

Spencer Hsu & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Two months into one of the biggest criminal investigations in U.S. history, prosecutors are preparing to start plea discussions as early as this week with many of the more than 300 suspects charged in the U.S. Capitol riot -- even as investigators race to piece together larger conspiracy cases against those suspected of the most serious crimes, according to people familiar with the discussions. The planned plea talks follow efforts by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which is overseeing the prosecutions, to first create a system for efficiently organizing what they expect will be upward of 400 criminal cases and the growing pile of associated evidence, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Although investigators continue to bump into [Roger] Stone as they probe members of the Oath Keepers and of the Proud Boys..., it remains unclear what that means as prosecutors review what, if any, influence Stone, other high-profile right-wing figures or Trump associates had on them.... Five Oath Keepers in ... [recently-filed] photos and court filings are among 10 members and associates charged with conspiring to obstruct Congress's confirmation of the 2020 presidential election results. The Justice Department and FBI are now weighing whether a larger conspiracy case can be made.... Stone, who has consistently said he was not involved in the Capitol riot and did not have advance knowledge of the breach, is not charged and has not been accused of any crime." The article details some of the "cameos" in which Stone has appeared with Proud Boys & Oath Keepers. MB: Because Stone's face is blocked out of some court-filed photos, they have presented a sort of "Is That Roger?" game for reporters.

Divorce in the Time of Sedition. Carly Roman of the Washington Examiner: "Detective Michael Heinl, a 30-year member of the Shaler Township Police Department, filed for divorce from his wife, Jennifer, in February in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, according to records cited by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.... Jennifer Heinl, 55, told the FBI that she traveled to Washington, D.C., alone and participated in the Stop the Steal' rally..., but she denied involvement in the storming of Capitol Hill.... [But] agents reviewing security footage from inside the Capitol Rotunda saw Heinl [there and charged her].... [The man she apparently accompanied to D.C., Kenneth] Grayson was arrested on Jan. 26 on charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct impeding government business; disruptive conduct in the Capitol building; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol; and obstructing an official proceeding."

Louis DeJoy's Ten-Year Fail Plan. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will unveil the largest rollback of consumer mail services in a generation as part of his 10-year plan for the U.S. Postal Service..., including longer first-class delivery windows, reduced post office hours and higher postage prices.... DeJoy is expected to emphasize the need for austerity to ensure more consistent delivery and rein in billions of dollars in financial losses, according to the people.... The plan, which he told the panel was eight months in the making, is meant to reset expectations for the Postal Service and its place in the express-shipping market." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is one thing that in retrospect, we may thank DeJoy for. His "vision" is so grim that it could force Congress to stop making impossible demands of the USPS and start treating the postal service as a vital, Constitutionally-mandated government service. It's true that subsidizing the USPS could put private carriers at a disadvantage they don't currently suffer. But how bad is that? After all, the USPS has obligations these private companies don't have: a stamp costs the same whether you're sending a letter from Brooklyn to Brooklyn or from Brooklyn to an island in Alaska. And by developing partnerships with private carriers, the postal service might not hurt these private entities at all. A USPB board & postmaster general with actual vision could work it all out.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Of all Donald Trump's prophecies and predictions ... at least one wasn't entirely wrong. 'Newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I'm not there,' he augured in 2017, 'because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes.' Barely two months into the post-Trump era, news outlets are indeed losing much of the audience and readership they gained during his chaotic presidency.... After a record-setting January, traffic to the nation's most popular mainstream news sites, including The Washington Post, plummeted in February, according to the audience tracking firm ComScore. The top sites were also generally doing worse than in February of last year, when the pandemic became a major international news story.... Yet news organizations plainly benefited from a 'Trump effect' long before the pandemic set in." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now, if only there were some way to gauge Americans' anxiety level. I can tell you that even though I remain essentially locked in my house after more than a year (tho I'll be getting out more soon) and have the same sort of personal difficulties that we all have over the course of life, I feel so much more relaxed and hopeful than I did for the entire four years Trump had access to the Oval Office. People were reading & watching the news so much for the same reason they slow down to gawk at an accident. Whether a dumpster fire, an auto crash or a train wreck, it's a lot like Donald Trump. ~~~

~~~ Marie BTW: If you are interested in learning about Donald Trump's big plans to start his own social media network, there have been stories about it here and there over the past two days. I guess you could Google them. Because I don't care enough to look 'em up.

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel & Caitlin Moniz of CREW: "Betsy DeVos[..., Donald Trump's wealthiest cabinet member...,] reported at least $225 million -- and potentially well over $414 million -- in outside income while working as Donald Trump's education secretary, according to an analysis of DeVos's financial disclosures by CREW.... [While a big chuck of Betsy's cash haul came from her family's pyramid scheme Amway,] she maintained a stake in Neurocore, a brain performance company targeting children, and failed to recuse from matters related to the company despite the potential for conflicts of interest. She pledged that her husband would stop making political donations for the duration of her tenure, but he continued to donate throughout the 2018 and 2020 election cycles."

"The Substance of Their Cause." Michael Gerson of the Washington Post faces one true thing about his political party of preference: &"... the case of Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) remains ... instructive and disturbing. Johnson is a Republican who prefers his racism raw...: : Whites who propagate a destructive lie, attack the democratic process and commit violence are Johnson's kind of people; African Americans who protest a history of injustice are a scary horde.... But... Johnson did not face the hygienic repudiation of his party.... Republicans have abolished their ideological police. The reason is simple. After four years of Donald Trump, Johnson's sentiments are not out of the Republican mainstream. They are an application of the prevailing Republican ideology -- that the 'real' America is under assault by the dangerous other.... Under Trump's cover, this has been revealed as the majority position of Republicans.... One of the United States' venerable, powerful political parties has been overtaken by people who make resentment against outsiders the central element of their appeal. Inciting fear is not an excess of their zeal; it is the substance of their cause." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have felt a little slimy for repeatedly calling the Republican party "the party of racists," even though the evidence is there. There are white Republicans who are not particularly racist, even if few of that ilk hold public office. So I'd like to thank Gerson for giving me "permission" to keep up the slimy work.

Senate Races 2022

Alabama. As If to Make Gerson's Point. Isaac Arnsdorf of ProPublica: "... in hours of right-wing media interviews before and after the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6..., Mo Brooks, the Alabama congressman who is about to launch a campaign for Senate..., repeatedly raised the prospect of violence as a possible response to Donald Trump losing the 2020 presidential election. 'This is pretty much it for our country,' Brooks said in a December podcast interview that has not been previously reported. 'In my judgment, it rivals the election of 1860,' he added, referring to the election of Abraham Lincoln, 'and we saw what ensued from that' -- meaning the Civil War.... Brooks was outspoken in baselessly accusing Democrats of 'stealing' the presidential election and seeking ways to keep Donald Trump in power.... Brooks is set to make his announcement alongside Stephen Miller, the former White House adviser who drove Trump's hardline immigration policies, including family separation. As an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, Miller frequently drew from white nationalist and white supremacist websites.... On Dec. 2, Brooks became the first member of Congress to say he would object to the Electoral College votes from key states that delivered Biden's victory." MB: I wonder if JeffBo will lend MoBro his Confederate army uniform to set the desired tone from Mo's campaign.

Missouri, Too, Has Choices! Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "Nearly three years ago, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens left the state capitol in disgrace as he faced down two criminal charges, an ethics probe and public fallout over reports that he'd had an affair with a hairdresser and then allegedly tried to blackmail her with nude photos. Now, the criminal charges have been dropped, the ethics case has been closed and Greitens is aiming for a Lazarus-esque comeback. The Republican announced on Fox News on Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat opening next year with the retirement of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) -- a move that quickly froze out some other GOP figures angling for the seat." MB: Remember that Missouri dumped the solidly middle-of-road Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill for the seditionist Repubican brat Josh Hawley, so we know how this could go.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it would review an appeals court's decision that threw out the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, upheld Mr. Tsarnaev's convictions on 27 counts. But the appeals court ruled that his death sentence should be overturned because the trial judge had not questioned jurors closely enough about their exposure to pretrial publicity and had excluded evidence concerning Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar's older brother and accomplice.... Lawyers for the federal government urged the Supreme Court to hear the case even though it did not satisfy some of the usual criteria for review.... Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge who now teaches at Harvard Law School, said the Biden administration should consider whether it wants to pursue the appeal, noting that the Trump administration had sought Supreme Court review." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.: "Federal health officials said early Tuesday that results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine may have relied on 'outdated information' that 'may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,' casting doubt on an announcement on Monday that had been seen as good news for the British-Swedish company as well as the global vaccination drive. In a highly unusual statement released after midnight, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that the data and safety monitoring board, an independent panel of medical experts under the National Institutes of Health that has been helping to oversee AstraZeneca’s U.S. trial, had notified government agencies and AstraZeneca late Monday that it was 'concerned' by information the company had released that morning." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Richard Lyons of the New York Times: "Colorado has been the scene of a number of multiple fatal shootings in recent years, including these that made national headlines[.]" More on the Boulder mass murder under today's and yesterday's News Ledes.

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "A man who survived the shooting that killed his wife at an Atlanta-area massage business last week said police detained him in handcuffs for four hours after the attack. Mario Gonzalez said he was held in a patrol car outside the spa. The revelation, in an interview with Mundo Hispanico, a Spanish-language news website, follows other criticism of Cherokee County officials investigating the March 16 attack, which killed four people. Four others were killed about an hour later at two spas in Atlanta. Gonzalez's accusation would also mean that he remained detained after police released security video images of the suspected gunman and after authorities captured that suspect about 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Atlanta. Gonzalez questioned whether his treatment by authorities was because he's Mexican."

Illinois. Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "The proposal in Evanston, a lakefront suburb of Chicago, on Monday was both pioneering and rare: a blueprint to begin distributing $10 million in reparations to Black residents of the city in the form of housing grants.... But as the details of how the money would be distributed are beginning to take shape, elected officials, residents and activists for racial equity in the city say they are far from united on the specifics.... In Evanston, the housing grants are more narrowly targeted to residents who can show that they or their ancestors were victims of redlining and other discriminatory 20th-century housing practices in the city that limited the neighborhoods where Black people could live. Eligible applicants could be descendants of an Evanston resident who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969; or they could have experienced housing discrimination because of city policies after 1969." MB: This is the kind of reparations I can support, as it targets specific, provable instances of racist discrimination. So naturally, people don't like it. ~~~

~~~ Dorothy Brown in a New York Times op-ed (March 20): "Black Americans are often unable to build wealth from homeownership in the same way their white peers are, in large part because home prices are generally set by the people who make up the majority of buyers: white Americans. White families typically prefer to live in predominantly white neighborhoods with very few or no Black neighbors. Homes in these neighborhoods tend to have the highest market values because most prospective purchasers -- who happen to be white -- find them most desirable. Black Americans, on the other hand, tend to prefer to live in racially diverse or all-Black neighborhoods.... 'There's a carry-over of the redlining and steering days, before the fair housing laws were passed. So the difference in property values almost tracks 100 percent with the demographics of the area,' said Wayne Early, an Atlanta-based realtor and community economic activist." A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In 2000 and again in 2014, I was house-shopping. (A big difference in the two searches was that in the first, I was looking for a fairly large house and in the second for a small house.) My choice location was pretty broad: East Coast. In both instances, my ideal find would have been (1) a stone house (real stone-built, not a stone facade), (2) with some kind of water view, (3) in a racially-diverse neighborhood.In both searches, I could find only two out of three.

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of news developments about the mass shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket are here: "The Boulder Police chief said on Tuesday that a 21-year-old man from a Denver suburb had been charged with 10 counts of murder in the shooting on Monday at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., that left 10 people dead. Police Chief Maris Herold identified the suspect as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Arvada, a suburb of Denver about 20 miles from Boulder. Michael Dougherty, the district attorney in Boulder County, said he had 'lived most of his life in the United States.' Chief Herold said the suspect had been taken into custody with a leg injury but was in stable condition and was expected to be taken to jail later on Tuesday."

New York Times: "Elgin Baylor, the Lakers' Hall of Fame forward who became one of the N.B.A.'s greatest players, displaying acrobatic brilliance that foreshadowed the athleticism of later generations of stars, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 86."

New York Times: "George Segal, whose long career began in serious drama but who became one of America's most reliable and familiar comic actors, first in the movies and later on television, died on Tuesday in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 87."

The Commentariat -- March 22, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday said it would review an appeals court's decision that threw out the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, upheld Mr. Tsarnaev's convictions on 27 counts. But the appeals court ruled that his death sentence should be overturned because the trial judge had not questioned jurors closely enough about their exposure to pretrial publicity and had excluded evidence concerning Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar's older brother and accomplice.... Lawyers for the federal government urged the Supreme Court to hear the case even though it did not satisfy some of the usual criteria for review.... Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge who now teaches at Harvard Law School, said the Biden administration should consider whether it wants to pursue the appeal, noting that the Trump administration had sought Supreme Court review."

~~~~~~~~~~

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Biden said on Sunday that he will visit the U.S.-Mexican border 'at some point' as his administration struggles with a surge of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors, at the southern border. Biden was asked by reporters at The White House upon his return from Camp David whether the president was thinking about going to the border...." ~~~

~~~ Devan Cole of CNN: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declined Sunday to provide a timeline for when the Biden administration will open new facilities capable of handling the surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border. 'We established three new facilities last week. ... We are working on the system from beginning to end. We are working around the clock 24/7,' Mayorkas told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union' when pressed on the administration's timeline.... The comments from Mayorkas, who insisted the southern border is currently closed to migrants even though the administration is making an exception for unaccompanied minors, come as the situation there worsens amid a surge in unaccompanied children in US custody." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Ismay of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III landed in Afghanistan's capital Sunday morning, becoming the first member of President Biden's cabinet to set foot in the country that is home to America's longest war. The United States is tentatively set to withdraw American forces from the country on May 1, the date set in an agreement signed by the Trump administration and the Taliban more than a year ago.... Mr. Austin's trip to Kabul was kept secret, and was to remain confidential until two hours after he left, but local reporters broke news of his visit after he met with President Ashraf Ghani.... The defense secretary's visit came at the end of more than a week of travel across the Pacific during which he reassured allies that they would have the United States' support in countering potential threats from China.... Flying ... to Japan and South Korea, Mr. Austin joined Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken for talks with the foreign and defense ministers of both nations.... In New Delhi, where Mr. Austin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the defense minister, Rajnath Singh, senior U.S. defense officials said that Indian leaders spoke mostly about their concerns regarding China." An NPR story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** How to Get a Trillion Dollars in Tax Revenue -- Without Raising Taxes. New York Times Editors: "The [income tax] withholding system [-- begun during World War II --] remains the cornerstone of income taxation, effectively preventing Americans from lying about wage income.... But the burden of taxation is increasingly warped because the government has no comparable system for verifying income from businesses. The result is that most wage earners pay their fair share while many business owners engage in blatant fraud at public expense.... Billions of dollars in business profits, rent and royalties are hidden from the government each year. By contrast, more than 95 percent of wage income is reported.... Charles Rossotti, who led the I.R.S. from 1997 to 2002.... The core of Mr. Rossotti's clever proposal is to obtain that information from banks.says that Congress needs to change the rules, by creating a third-party verification system for business income, too.... The proposal would not increase the amount anyone owes in taxes. It would, instead, increase the amount paid in taxes by those who are currently cheating." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

James Laporta of the AP: "Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army base in the nation's capital, and against the Army's vice chief of staff, two senior U.S. intelligence officials said. They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting 'USS Cole-style attacks' against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors. The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to the officials.... The base, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin's official residence. The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington's bustling newly developed Waterfront District." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Evidence the government obtained in the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol most likely meets the bar necessary to charge some of the suspects with sedition, Michael R. Sherwin, the federal prosecutor who had been leading the Justice Department's inquiry, said in an interview that aired on Sunday. The department has rarely brought charges of sedition, the crime of conspiring to overthrow the government. But in an interview with '60 Minutes,' Mr. Sherwin said prosecutors had evidence that most likely proved such a charge.... Mr. Sherwin oversaw the investigation as the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, a role that he ceded to a new interim leader in early March.... Mr. Sherwin witnessed the crime as it unfolded. After he dressed in his running clothes and entered the crowd at the rally near the White House, he observed a 'carnival environment' of people listening to speeches and selling T-shirts and snacks. 'I noticed there were some people in tactical gear. They were tacked up with Kevlar vests. They had the military helmets on,' he said in the '60 Minutes' interview. 'Those individuals, I noticed, left the speeches early.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Michael Sherwin, the federal prosecutor who previously led the criminal investigation into the Capitol riot, said former President Trump could be culpable for his role in the raid. Sherwin told CBS News's '60 Minutes' in an interview that aired Sunday that it was 'unequivocal' that the former president was 'the magnet that brought the people to D.C. on the 6th' before his supporters stormed the Capitol building. 'Now the question is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege, during the breach?' Sherwin said after Scott Pelley asked if Trump's role has been part of the probe." ~~~

     ~~~ The CBS News story is here. The page includes "60 Minutes"'s interview of Sherwin. The transcript of the segment, via CBS News, is here; this page also includes the video.

Raphael Warnock Black-splains Hate Crimes to Chris Wray. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Law enforcement officials including the director of the FBI have said the shootings in Atlanta in which eight people were killed do not appear to have been racially motivated, but the Georgia senator Raphael Warnock said on Sunday: 'We all know hate when we see it.'... Speaking to NPR on Thursday, the FBI director, Christopher Wray, said: 'While the motive remains still under investigation at the moment, it does not appear that the motive was racially motivated.' But such conclusions are rejected by protesters who see a link to rising attacks on Asian Americans in light of the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China, and racially charged rhetoric from ... Donald Trump and others.... On Saturday [Warnock] and his fellow Democratic senator Jon Ossoff spoke to protesters near the state capitol in Atlanta.&" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When, on Friday, I first read Wray's comment, I considered it naive & premature. But my thinking has evolved to see the broader tragic irony: in the USA, the people who decide what a hate crime is tend to be old, white, nominally-Christian, supposedly-straight guys; that is, people who have seldom or never experienced any sort of bias because of their sex, race, religion or sexual orientation. Some of the states' legal definitions of sexual harassment, for instance, pretty much mean the CEO has to rape an employee on the dais at a stockholder's meeting before he can be charged. And good luck when the case goes before a judge.

Spotlight on the Stupidest Senator. Trip Gabriel & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Senator Ron Johnson ... has become the Republican Party's foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation now that Donald Trump himself is banned from social media and largely avoiding appearances on cable television. Mr. Johnson is an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy, as well as invoking the etymology of Greenland as a way to downplay the effects of climate change. In recent months, Mr. Johnson has sown doubts about President Biden's victory, argued that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was not an armed insurrection, promoted discredited Covid-19 treatments, said he saw no need to get the coronavirus vaccine himself and claimed that the United States could have ended the pandemic a year ago with the development of a generic drug if the government had wanted that to happen. Last year, he spent months as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee seeking evidence that Mr. Biden had tried to pressure Ukrainian officials to aid his son Hunter, which an Intelligence Community report released on Monday said was misinformation that was spread by Russia to help Mr. Trump's re-election.... His continuing assault on the truth, often under the guise of simply 'asking questions' about established facts, is helping to diminish confidence in American institutions at a perilous moment...." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Pellish of CNN: "Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson falsely claimed there was no violence on the Senate side of the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, the latest in his continued attempts to downplay the severity of the attack. Johnson described the events of January 6 to a group of conservative Wisconsin residents at a local political event on Saturday and falsely stated the rioters were more active on the House side of the Capitol than the Senate side. Johnson also repeated he did not feel threatened that day, even after learning rioters had breached the Capitol building.... Security cameras and videos from witnesses showed insurrectionists broke windows on the Senate side of the Capitol and stormed through the halls near the Senate chamber shortly after. One video showed Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman confronting protesters just outside the Senate chamber and leading them away from the room while senators were sheltering in place inside." MB: Plus, there were those oft-rerun videos of insurrectionists going through the papers on Ted Cruz's Senate chamber desk. Is Johnson on mind-altering drugs, or what?

Wasteful Spending as a Necessary Evil. Paul Kane, et al., of the Washington Post: "After years of outcry about corruption and wasteful spending, Congress took a major step a decade ago by banning earmarks -- special budget items that allow members to funnel money to projects in their districts. But now, amid a narrowly divided Congress and President Biden's desire to pursue a sweeping legislative agenda, earmarks are back. Leaders in both parties took steps this month to allow limited earmarks on spending legislation, opening the door to the sort of horse-trading that Democrats hope could lead to GOP support for Biden initiatives on issues ranging from infrastructure to the annual federal agency funding bill."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "New coronavirus infections are rising in several U.S. states, despite record vaccinations -- an increase experts attribute to the growing reach of new variants and widespread pandemic fatigue after a year of public health restrictions. The seven-day average of newly reported cases climbed 2.6 percent on Sunday, even as overall hospitalizations and deaths remain down."

Rebecca Robbins & Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford provided strong protection against Covid-19 in a large clinical trial in the United States, offering complete protection against the worst outcomes from the disease while causing no serious side effects, according to data released on Monday. The findings, announced in a news release from AstraZeneca, may help shore up global confidence in the vaccine. But the fresh data may not make a difference in the United States, where the vaccine is not yet authorized and may not be needed. If AstraZeneca wins authorization for emergency use in the U.S. based on the new results, the vaccine will likely not become available until May, when federal officials predict that three other authorized vaccine manufacturers will be producing enough doses for all the nation's adults. The announcement comes at a deeply fraught moment for AstraZeneca. More than a dozen countries this month briefly suspended inoculations with the shot over concerns about possible rare side effects, the latest in a series of problems for AstraZeneca that have undermined confidence among both the public and some government officials."

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

Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: "Pregnant women who receive a coronavirus vaccine not only acquire protective antibodies against the virus for themselves but also may pass along immunity to their babies, emerging research shows. Several preliminary studies suggest that women who received an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) during pregnancy had covid-19 antibodies in their umbilical cord blood. Another study also detected antibodies in their breastmilk, indicating that at least some immunity could be transferred to babies both before and after birth." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Older people, who represent the vast majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, are emerging this spring with the daffodils, tilting their faces to the sunlight outdoors. They are filling restaurants, hugging grandchildren and booking flights.... For now, about two-thirds of Americans over 65 have started the vaccination process and nearly 38 percent are fully vaccinated, compared with 12 percent of the overall population, giving the rest of the nation a glimpse into the after times." A related AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Christopher Rowland, et al., of the Washington Post: "The drug companies that developed and won authorization for coronavirus vaccines in record time have agreed to sell most of the first doses coming off production lines to the United States, European countries and a few other wealthy nations.... Billions of people are left with an uncertain wait, with most of Africa and parts of South America and Asia not expected to achieve widespread vaccination coverage until 2023, according to some estimates. But drug companies have rebuffed entreaties to face the emergency by sharing their proprietary technology more freely with companies in developing nations. They cite the rapid development of new vaccines as evidence that the drug industry's traditional business model, based on exclusive patents and know-how, is working. The companies are lobbying the Biden administration and other members of the World Trade Organization against any erosion of their monopolies on individual coronavirus vaccines that are worth billions of dollars in annual sales. The debate about how to immunize more people overseas is picking up greater steam in the United States now that President Biden has promised that most Americans will be vaccinated by July. Some Democrats in Congress, fresh off approving Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue package, are determined to make sure Americans don't forget about the rest of the world...." ~~~

~~~ Selam Gebrekidan & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines, achieved at record speed and financed by massive public funding in the United States, the European Union and Britain, represents a great triumph of the pandemic. Governments partnered with drugmakers, pouring in billions of dollars to procure raw materials, finance clinical trials and retrofit factories. Billions more were committed to buy the finished product. But this Western success has created stark inequity. Residents of wealthy and middle-income countries have received about 90 percent of the nearly 400 million vaccines delivered so far. Under current projections, many of the rest will have to wait years.... By partnering with drug companies, Western leaders bought their way to the front of the line. But they also ignored years of warnings -- and explicit calls from the World Health Organization -- to include contract language that would have guaranteed doses for poor countries or encouraged companies to share their knowledge and the patents they control.... President Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union's executive branch, are reluctant to change course." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Besides being mean & selfish, the West's policies are incredibly shortsighted and self-defeating. Do they think new, possibly vaccine-resistant, strains of the coronavirus won't develop over the next several years in countries where the disease runs rampant?

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "Miami Beach officials declared a state of emergency and implemented a curfew Saturday in response to large and unruly crowds of spring break visitors. Speaking during a news conference, Mayor Dan Gelber said the crush of vacationers in the city's entertainment district had overwhelmed law enforcement, even with reinforcements from other local agencies. He said city leaders wanted to act preemptively.... The first night of the curfew saw large crowds lingering on Ocean Drive, according to footage captured by local reporters. As squad cars attempted to clear the road, some people danced and twerked on cars. One man tossed money into the crowd. Pepper balls were shot at the revelers, briefly prompting a stampede, the Miami Herald reported. About an hour and a half after the curfew went into effect, the Miami Beach Police Department shared photographs showing an empty Ocean Drive." A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Neil Vigdor, et al., of the New York Times: "One day after the spring break oasis of South Beach descended into chaos, with the police struggling to control overwhelming crowds and making scores of arrests, officials in Miami Beach decided on Sunday to extend an emergency curfew for up to three weeks. The officials there went so far as to approve closing the famed Ocean Drive to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. -- the hours of the curfew -- for four nights a week through April 12. Residents, hotel guests and employees of local businesses are exempt from the closure."

New York. Catie Edmondson & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Representative Tom Reed, Republican of New York, apologized on Sunday to a woman who accused him of touching her inappropriately and said that he would not run for any political office in 2022, including governor. In a lengthy statement, Mr. Reed apologized to a former lobbyist, Nicolette Davis, whose allegation that the congressman groped her during a 2017 political trip was reported on Friday by The Washington Post. Mr. Reed said that he took 'full responsibility' for the episode and that it 'occurred at a time in my life in which I was struggling' wit an alcohol addiction.... Before Ms. Davis's allegation, Mr. Reed was publicly mulling a run for governor in 2022, as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, was besieged by a wave of accusations of sexual harassment and other misconduct." The Hill's story is here.

Way Beyond

Turkey. Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a surprise decree early Saturday withdrawing Turkey from a landmark European treaty that women's rights groups said had played a critical role in protecting Turkish women from gender-based violence. The treaty, the Istanbul Convention, sought in part to ensure equal legal protections against abuse for women across Europe. Turkey was the first country to sign the convention, in 2011, when Erdogan was prime minister. But some conservative Muslims who form a critical bloc of support for the Turkish leader had criticized the treaty from the start, framing it as part of a Western plot aimed at harming the country's traditional notions of family and encouraging divorce.... President Biden on Sunday harshly criticized the decision by Turkey, a NATO ally, calling the withdrawal 'sudden and unwarranted' and 'deeply disappointing.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

AP: "Authorities in Colorado responded to a shooting at a supermarket Monday. A man who had just left the store in Boulder, Dean Schiller, told The Associated Press that he heard gunshots and saw three people [lying] face down, two in the parking lot and one near the doorway. He said he 'couldn't tell if they were breathing.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: "A shooting at a Colorado supermarket killed 10 people Monday, including a police officer who was the first to respond to the scene, authorities said. Police arrested a suspect, but didn't reveal his name or any details about the shooting at an evening news conference where Boulder police Chief Maris Herold fought back tears."