The Commentariat -- March 30, 2021
The New York Times' live updates of Day 2 of the Derek Chauvin murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates of Day 2 are here. NBC News live updates are here.
The Wind Beneath Our Wings. Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The White House announced on Monday an ambitious plan to expand wind farms along the East Coast and jump-start the country's nascent offshore wind industry, saying it hoped to trigger a massive clean-energy effort in the fight against climate change. The plan would generate 3 gigawatts of offshore wind power by the end of the decade -- enough to power more than 10 million American homes and cut 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. To accomplish that, the Biden administration said, it would speed permitting for projects off the East Coast, invest in research and development, provide low-interest loans to industry and fund changes to U.S. ports. 'We are ready to rock-and-roll,' national climate adviser Gina McCarthy told reporters in a phone call Monday. She framed the effort as being as much about jobs as about clean energy." (Also linked yesterday.) Common Dreams' report is here.
Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "The White House is expected to release its first slate of judicial nominees as early as Tuesday, according to three sources.... President Joe Biden plans to tap 11 nominees for the federal bench, including three Black women, sources said. At least two of those women will be named to the appeals courts, according to allies of his administration briefed on the selections." ~~~
~~~ Update: Ann Marimow & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden announced his first slate of judicial nominees on Tuesday, elevating U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the influential appeals court in Washington to succeed Merrick Garland as part of the largest and earliest batch of court picks by a new administration in decades. Jackson, often mentioned as someone who could become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, is among Biden's 11 nominations that include three Black women for appeals court vacancies and the first Muslim American to serve on a District Court. The group is designed to send a message about the administration's desire for more diversity on the federal bench and how rapidly the president wants to put his mark on it." The story names all the nominees.
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A newly surfaced recording shows a senior adviser to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell conspiring with the Koch brothers' network and other conservative groups to torpedo sweeping voting rights legislation. The Jan. 8 recording obtained by The New Yorker reveals leading conservative activists are alarmed by public support for House Resolution 1 and Senate Bill 1, commonly known as the For The People Act, and they privately admitted they had no effective way to counter the argument that billionaires should not be able to buy elections." MB: Apparently even many white Republicans aren't gullible enough to support a bill that gives them more rights, too.
Dressed for Success Arrest. Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "Garret Miller didn't speak to the law enforcement officers who arrested him on charges he stormed the U.S. Capitol in January, but the T-shirt he was wearing at his Dallas home that day sent a clear and possibly incriminating message. Miller's shirt had a photograph of ... Donald Trump, and it said 'Take America Back' and 'I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021,' federal prosecutors noted in a court filing Monday.... On a recorded call immediately after his arrest, Miller told his mother, 'I don't feel that I've done anything wrong and now I'm being locked up,' according to prosecutors. Like many of the more than 300 people facing federal charges in connection with the siege, Miller thoroughly documented and commented on his actions that day in a flurry of social media posts."
Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "The proportion of Americans who consider themselves members of a church, synagogue or mosque has dropped below 50 percent, according to a poll from Gallup released Monday. It is the first time that has happened since Gallup first asked the question in 1937, when church membership was 73 percent. In recent years, research data has shown a seismic shift in the U.S. population away from religious institutions and toward general disaffiliation, a trend that analysts say could have major implications for politics, business and how Americans group themselves." The Gallup report is here.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Gina Kolata of the New York Times: "The coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are proving highly effective at preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic infections under real-world conditions, federal health researchers reported on Monday. Consistent with clinical trial data, a two-dose regimen prevented 90 percent of infections by two weeks after the second shot. One dose prevented 80 percent of infections by two weeks after vaccination."
Maegan Vazquez, et al., of CNN: "President Joe Biden announced on Monday that 90% of adults will be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine within the next three weeks as well as have a vaccination site within five miles of where they live. 'For the vast, vast majority of adults, you won't have to wait until May 1. You'll be eligible for your shot on April 19,' Biden said. The President previously said he was directing states to open eligibility to all adult Americans by May 1. Biden said the US would increase the number of pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy vaccination program from the current 17,000 locations to 40,000. He also announced a record 33 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available to vaccination sites this week -- a surge in availability that the administration hopes will mean newly eligible adults can find shots. The President, however, stressed that the country's battle against Covid-19 is 'far from won' as cases are once again on the rise and called on every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain -- and in some cases reinstate -- mask mandates." Video of President Biden's full speech is here. ~~~
~~~ Sharon LaFraniere & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden, facing a rise in coronavirus cases around the country, called on Monday for governors and mayors to reinstate mask mandates as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of 'impending doom' from a potential fourth surge of the pandemic. The president's comments came only hours after the C.D.C. director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, appeared to fight back tears as she pleaded with Americans to 'hold on a little while longer' and continue following public health advice, like wearing masks and social distancing, to curb the virus's spread." ~~~
"Impending Doom." Nicholas Florko & Andrew Joseph of STAT News: "As Covid-19 cases begin again to spike throughout the United States, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued an urgent plea to Americans Monday to continue following public health measures. 'We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I'm scared,' said Walensky, who noted she has begun experiencing a 'recurring' feeling of 'impending doom.' The plea came amid news that positive Covid-19 cases have increased by 10.6% compared to the previous seven-day period. Hospitalizations and deaths, which are a lagging metric, also rose over the last seven-day period, by 4.2% and 2.6%, respectively."
Ali Zaslav of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday encouraged 'all Republican men' to get the Covid-19 vaccine, as new polls indicate many in the group are skeptical of getting the shot. 'I can say as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that,' said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on Monday, when asked what kind of messaging he can push as the GOP leader to help encourage people, specifically Republican men, that the vaccine is safe and they should get it. McConnell added that there is 'no good argument not to get the vaccination. I would encourage all men regardless of party affiliation to get the vaccination,' at a news conference in Hazard, Kentucky, outside a health care clinic for an event focusing on the state's vaccination efforts. In a CNN poll released earlier this month, 92% of Democrats said they had gotten a dose of the vaccine or planned to get one, while just 50% of Republicans said the same."
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post has a new report on CNN's interviews of top Trump administration Covid-19 response officials."... the finger-pointing and portrayals of some episodes prompted critics to say that former Trump administration officials who managed the pandemic response have turned to a new project: managing their legacies.... Some of those officials also have compared notes and aligned their recollections, a dynamic detailed by Politico last week, as they work to rehabilitate their reputations and shape future perspectives on the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Monday went on a tirade against Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, two of his former top medical advisers on the COVID-19 pandemic, excoriating their decisionmaking during his administration on the day after CNN aired previews of comments by the top government health experts. Trump issued a lengthy statement in which he argued that he ignored both Fauci and Birx while in office as a benefit to the country and boasted that he was responsible for getting vaccines rapidly developed and approved."
Ken Moritsugu & Jamey Keaten of the AP: "A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is 'extremely unlikely,' according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press. The findings offer little new insight into how the virus first emerged and leave many questions unanswered, though that was as expected. But the report does provide more detail on the reasoning behind the researchers' conclusions. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis." (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Troy Closson of the New York Times: "New York must immediately begin to offer Covid vaccines to all incarcerated people in the state's prisons and jails, a judge ruled on Monday, making the state one of few in the nation to provide doses to such a broad population behind bars. The order, the first involving any of the country's largest correctional systems, comes as the coronavirus continues to roar through facilities in New York. At least 1,100 people living behind prison walls have tested positive for the virus since the start of last month, and five have died."
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Holly Bailey & Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Derek Chauvin violated his oath as a police officer when he knelt on George Floyd's neck for over nine minutes and ignored Floyd's cries for help 'until the very life was squeezed out of him,' a prosecutor said Monday as testimony began in the landmark trial set to be a defining moment in the nation's reckoning over race and policing.... As the video [of Floyd's death] played on television monitors set up around the socially distanced courtroom, several jurors visibly reacted, including one who drew a sharp breath as Floyd was heard saying, 'I can't breathe.'... Prosecutors opened their case with testimony from three eyewitnesses -- including a 911 dispatcher who phoned a Minneapolis police supervisor after she saw Chauvin and the other officers kneeling on Floyd on a police surveillance camera that overlooks 38th and Chicago.... 'Something was not right,' [dispatcher Jena Scurry] said, testifying she had a 'gut instinct' that she needed to phone a police supervisor to make sure he was aware of the situation."
Georgia. Maya Prabhu of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Two weeks after eight people where gunned down in three Atlanta-area spas, the Georgia Senate on Monday approved legislation to loosen the state's gun laws. House Bill 218 passed 34-18 on a party-line vote, with Republicans in support of the measure.... Canton Republican Rep. Mandi Ballinger initially proposed HB 218 to make it legally easier for travelers to bring their guns into the state. Senators amended the legislation during the committee process to allow probate judges to process gun carry licenses and license renewals online. Currently, applicants must go to the court in person. The legislation also prohibits the governor from closing weapons manufacturers or shooting ranges during a public emergency. The Senate also voted 34-18 to amend HB 218 to include a proposal ... to bar the governor from enacting any guidelines that 'specifically limit the practice of any religion' during a declared state of emergency." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Looks like that last amendment is designed to prevent a governor from imposing safe-distancing rules in churches during a communicable-illness emergency.
Michigan. James Dickson of the Detroit News: "Three men accused in an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will not face false report or threat of terrorism charges, a Jackson County judge ruled Monday. Judge Michael Klaeren of 12th District Court in Jackson dismissed the charge against Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico, both of Munith, and declined a request by prosecutors to add it to the charges against Paul Bellar, of Milford.... Klaeren on Monday ordered Bellar, Morrison and Musico to stand trial on three remaining charges, gang membership and providing material support for terrorism, both punishable by up to 20 years in prison, as well as felony firearm, punishable by up to two years in prison." (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "Another woman has accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of 'unwanted, unwelcome physical contact,' the latest in a series of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct levied against the governor. The woman, Sherry Vill, said during a press conference on Monday afternoon that the governor 'suddenly grabbed her face and kissed her' in 2017 outside of her home in the town of Greece, which borders Lake Ontario. Cuomo was visiting the area to survey flood damage in the wake of a storm. She said that Cuomo commented on her appearance and kissed her two times with other family members present, advances that she alternately described as being in a 'highly sexual' and 'highly aggressive' manner.... Vill presented ... a screengrab captured by her daughter from video footage taken by Vill's son that appeared to show the governor grabbing her by the face and kissing her."
Way Beyond
Isabel Debre & Samy Magdy of the AP: "Salvage teams on Monday set free a colossal container ship that has halted global trade through the Suez Canal, bringing an end to a crisis that for nearly a week had clogged one of the world's most vital maritime arteries. Helped by the peak of high tide, a flotilla of tugboats managed to wrench the bulbous bow of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given from the canal's sandy bank, where it had been firmly lodged since last Tuesday. After hauling the fully laden 220,000-ton vessel over the canal bank, the salvage team was pulling the vessel toward the Great Bitter Lake, a wide stretch of water halfway between the north and south end of the canal, where the ship will undergo technical inspection, canal authorities said." See Victoria's comment in yesterday's thread. Funny. (Also linked yesterday.)
Share Article
Reader Comments (17)
What is this complete bullshit about how exactly George Floyd died? So, if he had a heart attack or died from an infected hangnail or some other invented cause, Derek Chauvin is innocent?
In the old movie “Arsenic and Old Lace”, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre, a couple of serial killers, try to determine whether it’s possible that Massey’s kindly old aunts, also serial killers, had a higher body count. The Massey character counts off his scores. Then he mentions a Mr. Spinaldo. The Peter Lorre character stops him. “You cannot count Mr. Spinaldo. He died of pneumonia.” To which Massey replies “He wouldn’t have died of pneumonia if I hadn’t shot him!”
Good point.
Whatever bullshit reason the right wants to throw at the wall to “prove” that a white cop couldn’t possibly be guilty of the death of a black man, it doesn’t matter. If Chauvin hadn’t had his knee on the guy’s neck for nine and a half minutes, he wouldn’t have had a heart attack or whatever else they’re trying to come up with to explain George Floyd’s death.
If the MN cop accused was only following protocol, who is guilty of formatting the protocol? Probably no one in the medical community taught the teachers of that method that kneeling on the neck of anyone was a safe and effective method of detention. If George Floyd was prone and handcuffed, what threat was he? If this cop gets off, they should go after whoever invented this. If waterboarding is now regarded as torture, isn't this the same?
On another note, with every day, the legislators in GA (and the imitation states like ours) become monsters like their idol. I thought several months ago that traveling to GA could be the last remaining "okay" Southern state to which we might go. I have changed my mind. The monsters there are now eating their own. The Secretary of State was merely decent, and they are crucifying him. Monsters in real time.
This will include my husband's relatives, one of whom lost his house to a tornado the other day. But god apparently "saved" the Liberty U graduates, at the expense of others. We don't have much of a relationship with them, for good reasons. "Bipartisan" my big toe...
@Akhilleus: I think we can extrapolate from the defense's theory that murder is unpossible. A person dies after an assailant does something: shoots him, stabs him, chokes him. The death is always the fault of the person who dies: s/he stops breathing, her heart stops functioning, her brain waves flatten out. The assailant may be a witness, but the person who dies does so because of the failure of some or several of her own vital functions. Not guilty!
@AK: I find it amazing that we even have a trial. There is a bloody video for christ's sake––policeman's knee on black man's neck for nine minutes!!!! Watching part of this trial I was appalled at the pathetic defense–-what other kind of defense could it be?
The Jane Mayer story was such fun to read. These buggers of dark money see the light and as much as they want to drape it with filmy scarves, that wind at their backs reveals the truth. Lipstick on a pig doesn't wash anymore.
And speaking of scarves–––our Lady of Echarpe en soire, Ms Birx–-"it's too late baby" sung by Carole King would be an appropriate recording to send to her. You, Ms B. had a chance to change the discourse and the course of the virus and you remained rigid in your chair, looking grim but remaining silent. What were you so afraid of?
And the "Wind beneath our Wings" gave me a thrill–-wind farms on the East coast–-if we can continue on this trajectory no telling what heights we can climb–- she says optimistically.
Akhilleus and Marie,
Tough job, making sense out of the senselessness that has entirely taken over a political party that has rejected all notions of cause and effect.
Whether it's the cause of George Floyd's death, the war against the election fraud that wasn't, the decision to go maskless in a pandemic or the belief in the Pretender's Second Coming, there's one common thread here: They've wholly given up on the troublesome connection between cause and effect. They have their "this" and their "that," but have eschewed the "therefore" that sanity requires must lodge between them.
There is no "hence," no hinge, no tie to reality in Republican World.
And unhinged and untethered translates as just nuts.
Here's hoping that the first few acres of wind farms are off the coast of Marred-A-Lago so every time the orange one
ventures out he gets a new hairdo, or maybe that wind
cancer he invented.
And over here is what the Republicans really don't want you to see or consider: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/opinion/republican-party-supreme-court.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage. Since Republican demographics for success get more narrow, the judicial branch, which is even less representative or democratic, remains the last means for R's to implement policies.
Apropos of nothing in particular except maybe under the heading of "men behaving badly"--looking at you Andrew–-here's a wee tidbit about Lucian Freud that Adam Copnik reveals in his New Yorker piece on the painter that I found very funny:
Legend has it that Freud fathered as many as 40 children. To his contemporaries, his defection from the obligations of fatherhood seemed just another quirky side of him.
"I sometimes, instead of counting sheep, I count Lucian's children" one ex lover says.
However, what he did do was round up the daughters that were young and pretty and got them to pose for him. Perhaps desperate for some kind of attention from Papa they agreed to pose in the nude. Heres the bit from Copnik that I found delightful:
"One feels tht one has no right to find this creepy, because the people who were engaged in it didn't find it creepy, and yet one finds it creepy."
Well said!
The defense claims that Chauvin "did exactly as he was trained".
I hope the prosecution subpoenas the defense to produce a training manual, video, or other material instructing officers to kneel on the necks of handcuffed, prone, suspects until, and long after, they stop breathing.
The above just sent to me by my friend who is following the trial.
The true test of whether the George Floyd case has anything to do with race (at least for the traitors), is simple: switch races.
Show a video of a black cop kneeling on the neck of a white man who then died.
You can hear the Tucker Carlsons bellowing all the way across the country.
Apparently the training is on page 8, Richard Pryor was talking about Chauvin 40 years ago. The casualness of the joke is so depressing.
I want to wash myself after reading the bit about Lucian Freud. I bet he invited the French writer Gabriel Matzneff along with Epstein to dinner parties. It's amazing what is possible when shame is only experienced by the 'little people'. It's as though in the current moment in history we have more and more leading figures acting like the Master Race. Hence the name, Koch. Or Drumpf. Or Xi Jinping.
I see that Matt “And His Hair Was Perfect” Gaetz, the House’s own Werewolf from Florida, has gotten bored with cosplaying as a legislator and is looking to jump to a new gig at Newsmax. I guess that doing the actual work of representing his constituents just isn’t as much fun as owning the libs 24-7.
Black women? MORE black women? JUDGES? Heads with pointy white hats, like the Fucker Carlsons’, must be exploding. Yeah, there are a few women of color on the federal bench now, operative word being few. But currently there are only 53, which is about 6% of the total. In contrast, the non-white population is about 25% and growing. Whites will be a minority before we’re halfway through this century.
But that won’t stop the racists in the Party of Traitors from staving off inevitability as long as Mitch McConnell can confirm more unqualified Nazi judges.
What I’m hoping is that whenever the Turtle is finally dragged before a federal judge, he sees a black face. Not because a black judge would automatically convict his ass, but because he wouldn’t have a white KKK Trumpy judge who would automatically dismiss all charges.
I’m reminded of that old Flip Wilson sketch wherein George Wallace dies and expects to be welcomed into eternity by a white, racist god, only to find out that god is a black woman.
A very unhappy black woman.
Rockygirl,
I see what you did. Warren Zevon would be proud. “I saw Matt Gaetz, dancin’ with the Trump, doin’ the Werewolf of Florida.”
Better stay away from him, he’ll rip your lungs out, Jim.
Or squeal trying.
So now we know more about why Matt G wants to get outta Dodge as fast as he can:
https://www.axios.com/matt-gaetz-sexual-misconduct-investigation-2755fd4f-f72e-4283-b8ac-9233c952b914.html
Notorious liar, and obsequious slavering, slithering sycophant to the biggest liar and most abominable sexual predator in American political history sez he din do nothin’ with that nasty, lyin’ girl.
True?