The Commentariat -- September 21, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden defended the messy end to the of war in Afghanistan and made a case that the world can come together to confront global threats like climate change and the coronavirus in a Tuesday speech at the United Nations geared at easing allies' increasing qualms with American leadership. In his first address to the body as president, Biden also affirmed U.S. support for it and an alphabet soup of international partnerships and pledged support for poorer countries often disproportionately affected by climate change.... His measured address was notable mostly for its contrast to the boastful tone and sour reception that marked addresses by ... Donald Trump. Biden drew applause when he closed with a note that his speech was the first by a U.S. president in '20 years with the United States not at war.'... Biden met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later Tuesday, less than a week after the surprise announcement that Australia would purchase U.S.-made nuclear submarines, a major military challenge to China in its Pacific neighborhood."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Vice President Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday both decried images of horse-mounted Border Patrol agents aggressively confronting Haitian immigrants in Texas and pledged a swift but thorough investigation into the matter.... Harris, in comments to CBS News, said she supports the investigation launched by Mayorkas into what she characterized as a 'horrible' episode and said she plans to talk to him directly about it later Tuesday.... 'I am going to let the investigation run its course, but the pictures that I observed troubled me profoundly,' Mayorkas said [during an appearance on CNN]."
Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress on Tuesday that the Biden administration is aiming to relocate the thousands of migrants camped along the U.S. border in Del Rio, Texas by the month's end. 'Our goal is to do so within the next 10 days or nine days,' Mayorkas said in response to questioning from Sen. James Lankford (R-Ok.). Mayorkas told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee that officials 'expect to see dramatic results within the next 48 to 96' hours, at which point they'll have a better grasp of the remaining task. Mayorkas said that the administration is continuing to ramp up 'the frequency and number' of repatriation flights for the migrants, the bulk of whom hail from Haiti."
Democrats Behaving Badly, Republicans Behaving Worse. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government is careening toward an urgent financial crisis starting in 10 days, as a political standoff on Capitol Hill threatens to shutter the government during a pandemic, delay hurricane aid to millions of Americans and thrust Washington to the precipice of defaulting on its debt. The high-stakes feud stems from a fight to raise the U.S. government's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling. Democrats have tied the increase to a bill that funds federal operations into December, setting off a war with Republicans, who refuse to raise the cap out of opposition to President Biden's broader agenda -- even if it means grinding the country to a halt.... With the clock ticking, the House is set to take the first steps Tuesday to adopt a measure that could stave off the political and economic crisis. But the bill already has run into early political head winds, even among Democrats.... [Despite making changes,] their proposal still has no chance in the Senate, where Republicans largely have pledged to vote against combining the debt ceiling with government spending into one bill. The stalemate threatens to leave Congress with little time to resolve a set of disputes...."
Trump, et al., Were Lying and They Knew It. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Two weeks after the 2020 election, a team of lawyers closely allied with Donald J. Trump held a widely watched news conference at the Republican Party's headquarters in Washington. At the event, they laid out a bizarre conspiracy theory claiming that a voting machine company had worked with an election software firm, the financier George Soros and Venezuela to steal the presidential contest from Mr. Trump. But there was a problem for the Trump team, according to court documents released on Monday evening. By the time the news conference occurred on Nov. 19, Mr. Trump's campaign had already prepared an internal memo on many of the outlandish claims about the company, Dominion Voting Systems, and the separate software company, Smartmatic. The memo had determined that those allegations were untrue. The court papers, which were initially filed late last week as a motion in a defamation lawsuit brought against the campaign and others by a former Dominion employee, Eric Coomer, contain evidence that officials in the Trump campaign were aware early on that many of the claims against the companies were baseless.... The memo ... rebutted a series of allegations that [Trump attorney Sidney] Powell and others were making in public." ~~~
~~~ Blueprint for a Coup. Philip Bump of the Washington Post lays out how Trump, by memo and/or a mob, planned to grant himself a second term. You can read Trump attorney John Eastman's full election-theft memo here, which also is linked within the Gangel-Herb story linked below. ~~~
~~~ Matt Shuham of TPM: "Crucially, the memo was the culmination of months of work aimed at the Jan. 6 certification date, pulling together Trump's win-at-any-cost strategy with the then-President's willing accomplices in Congress. In the end, it represented the last known attempt Team Trump made at peacefully stealing a second term. After Pence rejected that effort, Trump's mob went after him and Congress.... [John] "Eastman was one of several speakers to address the D.C. rally Trump had beckoned -- the rally that turned into a mob.... 'We know there was fraud,' he said, falsely. 'We know that dead people voted.' Then, he aimed his fire squarely, and publicly, at Pence. 'All we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon at 1 o'clock, he let the legislatures of the states look into this so we get to the bottom of it and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government or not!'... 'All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people!' Trump would later the crowd that day."
#epicfail. Drew Harwell, et al., of the Washington Post: "Epik long has been the favorite Internet company of the far-right, providing domain services to QAnon theorists, Proud Boys and other instigators of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- allowing them to broadcast hateful messages from behind a veil of anonymity. But that veil abruptly vanished last week when a huge breach by the hacker group Anonymous dumped into public view more than 150 gigabytes of previously private data -- including user names, passwords and other identifying information of Epik's customers. Extremism researchers and political opponents have treated the leak as a Rosetta Stone to the far-right, helping them to decode who has been doing what with whom over several years. Initial revelations have spilled out steadily across Twitter since news of the hack broke last week, often under the hashtag #epikfail, but those studying the material say they will need months and perhaps years to dig through all of it."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here: "More people have died of covid-19 in the United States than are estimated to have died of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. Over 675,000 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in the United States since Feb. 29, 2020, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that's roughly how many died of influenza in the United States between 1918 and 1919 -- along with more than 49 million people killed globally during the 'deadliest pandemic of the 20th century.'" (The coronavirus has killed nearly 4.7 million people globally.)" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm loath to demonstrate my poor mastery of arithmetic, but it sure looks as if the U.S. accounts for about ten times more deaths per capita worldwide from Covid-19 than it did from the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. That is, 675K/4.7MM (Covid) v. 675K/49MM (flu). Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
Alabama Works on a Rewrite of Its Racist Constitution. Tariro Mzezewa of the New York Times: "The last time Alabama politicians rewrote their State Constitution, back in 1901, their aspirations were explicitly racist: 'to establish white supremacy in this state.'... One hundred twenty years later, the Jim Crow-era laws that disenfranchised Black voters and enforced segregation across Alabama are gone, but the offensive language written into the State Constitution remains. Now, as communities across the South reconsider racist symbols and statues, activists in Alabama who have labored for 20 years to convince voters that rewriting their Constitution is important -- and long overdue -- see an opportunity to get it done.... This month, a committee of lawmakers and lay people began the process of redrafting; their work will go before the voters next year to be ratified before the new Constitution can take effect."
Texas. Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week signed a new abortion bill into law, further restricting access to the procedure in the state. Senate Bill 4 -- which the Texas Legislature approved during the special session that ended on Sept. 2 -- bans the use of abortion-inducing drugs in the state seven weeks into a pregnancy, according to The Dallas Morning News. The bill also allows people who 'intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly' breach the law to be criminally charged, according to The Dallas Morning News. The penalty for such an action would be a state jail felony, which comes with fines of up to $10,000 and between 180 days and two years in prison."
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Seung Min Kim & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration plans to set the refugee admissions cap for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 to 125,000, meeting a target that President Biden set as a candidate during the 2020 campaign after facing backlash from immigrant advocates saying he wasn't accepting enough refugees from around the world. The figure was confirmed in a State Department report submitted to Congress that outlined the administration's refugee plans for fiscal 2022. In April, Biden announced that his administration would keep refugee admission levels for the current fiscal year at 15,000 -- a record-low level set by his predecessor, Donald Trump -- but abruptly backtracked after protests from Democratic lawmakers and advocates."
Photo by Paul Ratje. Getty Image.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. -- Emma Lazarus ~~~
~~~ Ellen Green of Vice: "Border Patrol officers on horseback swinging whips in the faces of Haitians. Families with toddlers scrambling across the Rio Grande back into Mexico to avoid being deported. Haitian parents crying as they faced the prospect of being deported home to a social and political crisis that seems to see no end. Those were among the scenes in the town of Del Rio, Texas, over the weekend as the U.S. government took a hard-line stance against thousands of newly-arrived Haitian migrants seeking protection. The situation is becoming a public relations and humanitarian challenge for U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, as images of Border Patrol agents on horseback screaming at and chasing desperate Haitians reverberated across the internet. 'This is why your country's shit, because you use your women for this,' one officer on horseback shouted at a group of Haitian women who were crossing the Rio Grande with bags of food, showed one report by Al Jazeera." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "White House press secretary Jen Psaki expressed dismay on Monday at images that appeared to show Border Patrol agents using whips on migrants seeking asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border. Psaki said that administration officials were aware of the situation and that 'it's horrible to watch.' She also said people were 'understandably' outraged at the possibility that law enforcement used whips or similar objects against those gathered near Del Rio, Texas, many of them from Haiti." ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: The migrants in the photo(s) probably had previously arrived in the U.S. with their families, and had gone back to Mexico to get food & bring it back to those stranded under the Del Rio bridge in the U.S. "During a news briefing later Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Border Patrol head Raul Ortiz, who used to patrol the border on horseback, addressed concerns about the incident and what the agents were holding. 'Just to add, as Chief Ortiz explained to me, that to ensure control of the horse, long reins are used,' Mayorkas added, 'but we are going to investigate the facts to ensure that the situation is as we understand it to be, and if it's anything different, we will response accordingly.'" ~~~
~~~ Nick Miroff & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled Monday to the makeshift camp in Del Rio, Tex., where nearly 15,000 border-crossers have arrived, and he was quickly pulled into an escalating controversy over the treatment of the mostly Haitian migrants by U.S. agents.... Mayorkas told reporters in Del Rio that DHS would look into the incident. By Monday evening, as criticism mounted, the department released a statement announcing more formal inquiries, which it said Mayorkas had directed after watching the videos. 'The Department of Homeland Security does not tolerate the abuse of migrants in our custody and we take these allegations very seriously,' the DHS statement read. 'The footage is extremely troubling and the facts learned from the full investigation, which will be conducted swiftly, will define the appropriate disciplinary actions to be taken.' The statement said Mayorkas has directed DHS's internal oversight office to send personnel to the camp and oversee agents' conduct 'full-time.'... Several Democratic lawmakers condemned the agents' actions shown in the footage."
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "House and Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled a measure that would fund the government through December while staving off a potential default on U.S. debts into next year, setting up a last-minute scramble ahead of key fiscal deadlines on Capitol Hill. The plan could face immediate political headwinds since Republicans previously have pledged to vote against an increase in the country's borrowing limit, even if it is attached to a measure preventing a shutdown -- part of a broader GOP effort to scuttle President Biden's economic agenda. As they presented their plan, Democrats on Monday once again sounded dire warnings about consequences of failure, which they said could destabilize global markets, shutter critical federal services during a pandemic and hold back assistance to millions of Americans in the aftermath of storms that battered the Gulf Coast and parts of the Eastern Seaboard. They urged Republicans to join them in adopting the measure, arguing that the debt ceiling helps cover prior spending...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Krugman of the New York Times, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, explains to canny politician Joe Manchin why coal is not the future of West Virginia: "So Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will be responsible for putting together the Democratic climate plan.... The best-case scenario is that Manchin will intervene in ways that help coal miners and highlight his independence without doing too much damage to Biden's objectives. The worst-case scenario is that he will cripple the climate initiative and effectively doom the planet -- because the president's climate push is almost certainly our last chance to avoid disaster.... It's actually startling how small a role coal plays in modern West Virginia's economy.... The collapse of coal mainly happened during the Reagan years.... Much of the decline was caused by automation.... Coal mining is a cultural tradition, and it's a part of Appalachia's history. But if Joe Manchin wants to actually serve the people of West Virginia, as opposed to pandering to their nostalgia, he'll support Biden's progressive agenda -- including his climate agenda."
Alice Ollstein of Politico: "The Supreme Court on Monday set Dec. 1 arguments on Mississippi's ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy -- a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. Mississippi's ban has been blocked by lower courts because it directly violates Roe's protections for pre-viability abortions."
Michael Balsamo, et al., of the AP: "A federal law enforcement officer was arrested carrying a gun at Saturday's rally at the U.S. Capitol.... The 27-year-old New Jersey man is an officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He was arrested by Capitol Police for illegally possessing a gun on the grounds of the Capitol after people in the crowd reported seeing him with a handgun and notified nearby officers. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington said prosecutors were 'not moving forward with charges' but did not provide additional information about the decision. Two law enforcement officials said the officer was not at the rally in any official capacity." Marie: The article suggests we should be surprised that a law enforcement officer would side with people who beat up law enforcement officers. But the "New Jersey man" is a Border Patrol officer, and many of those guys are not only pro-Trump, they are pretty lawless (see guy with whip, pictured above).
Jamie Gangel & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "A conservative lawyer working with ... Donald Trump's legal team tried to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could overturn the election results on January 6 when Congress counted the Electoral College votes by throwing out electors from seven states, according to the new book "Peril" from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The scheme put forward by controversial lawyer John Eastman was outlined in a two-page memo obtained by the authors for 'Peril,' and which was subsequently obtained by CNN. The memo, which has not previously been made public, provides new detail showing how Trump and his team tried to persuade Pence to subvert the Constitution and throw out the election results on January 6." ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Gaping holes in the Electoral Count Act -- the 1887 law that governs how Congress counts electoral college votes -- were central to the chances that [Trump & cohort's] scheme [to upend the 2020 presidential election results] might succeed.... [On Jan. 2, Sen. Mike] Lee [R-Utah] received a White House memo outlining how Vice President Pence could scuttle the [electoral] process, according to a new Post piece about the [Woodward/Costa] book. Because Republicans in several swing states had voted to send sham electors for Trump to Congress, it argued, Pence could simply set aside the actual electors from those states for President Biden. Both sets would be invalid, and Pence could count the remaining electors, designating Trump winner of a majority of them. The memo ... also suggested Pence could use objections by GOP lawmakers to Biden's electors to delay the process. The book reports that Pence explored this idea before rejecting it.... In a great new draft paper, election law scholar Richard L. Hasen warns that we face 'serious risk' of 'election subversion' or an 'actual stolen election.'" Hasen recommends changing the law to make election subversion much harder. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Republicans have been craven for as long as I can remember. But it took a sly man (Mitch McConnell) and a crazy one (Donald Trump) to push them over the edge to become, as a party, solidly anti-democratic. But that is where they are now -- "they" being the majority of the GOP electorate who believe Trump won in 2020 and almost every GOP official -- elected, appointed or volunteer. Democracy works only if 95 percent (or so) of the people agree about its rules, but Trump & McConnell have ensured that most Republicans do not agree to most democratic laws & norms. They have written the script for another coup, and Republicans throughout the land are ensuring that the play is a hit.
Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: In early January, both Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) & Mike Lee (R-Utah) personally investigated fraud claims Trump & his team made. Both Senators were unimpressed, according to a book by Bob Woodward & Robert Costa. "Graham and Lee, both of whom ultimately voted to certify the results, took the claims of election fraud seriously enough to get briefed on the details, involve their senior staff and call state officials throughout the country. But privately, Graham gave the arguments a withering assessment, according to the book, saying they were suitable for 'third grade.' The episode illustrates how strenuously the president's legal team sought to nullify the results of the election; how flimsy even their more serious claims were; and what little stock the president's own allies placed in his objections, even as they stood steadfastly with their standard-bearer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "Allen Weisselberg -- the former Trump Organization CFO who has been charged by Manhattan prosecutors for an alleged tax evasion scheme -- is expecting that more indictments will be filed in the case, his lawyer said in court Monday.... Weisselberg faces 15 state counts, including grand larceny, which were unveiled by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance in July.... The former president's namesake business was also charged in the indictment, but Donald Trump himself has not been charged." (Also linked yesterday afternoon. The story has since been updated to reflect investigators' rummaging around in basements.) ~~~
~~~ Jose Pagliary of the Daily Beast, republished in Yahoo! News: "Prosecutors have discovered a tranche of evidence in the basement of a co-conspirator in the Trump Organization tax fraud case, a defense lawyer for indicted chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg revealed in court on Monday, with the attorney also signaling that more shoes are yet to drop in New York's ongoing investigation."
L'Affaire Russe." Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "The indictment [of Michael Sussmann] is ... far removed from the grave FBI misconduct [prosecutor John] Durham was supposed to reveal [when then-AG Bill Barr appointed him to look into Trump's allegations that the FBI had unfairly target the 2016 Trump campaign].... In fact, it doesn't describe FBI malfeasance against Trump at all, but portrays the FBI as the victim of agitprop brought to it by outside political operatives.... The misconduct it portrays is an alleged lie by Sussmann that is, at best, wholly peripheral to the substance of the allegations Durham was supposedly peddling.... [The indictment] depends in its entirety on the testimony of a single witness [James Baker] who is on the record, under oath, saying something rather different from what the indictment alleges.... The evidence that Sussmann lied at all is weak.... [In Congressional testimony, Durham's single witness said he couldn't remember what Sussmann had said about who his client was. This testimony, of course, undercuts his testimony in the Durham case. Also,] Durham actually struggles in the text of the indictment itself to explain why Sussman's lie mattered.... I believe that the indictment of Michael Sussmann is an effort by Durham to change the subject. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I should point out, I guess that James Baker is not like some made man in a TV drama who changes his testimony to help the prosecution's case as part of a plea deal or aspiration to get some kind of leniency. Baker was general counsel to the FBI.
They're All Crooks. Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Two veteran Republican campaign operatives -- including one who got a pardon from then-President Donald Trump one month before he left office -- are charged in a new federal indictment with funneling $25,000 from a Russian national into the Trump campaign in 2016. Jesse Benton, 43, and Doug Wead, 75, made brief appearances Monday at a video hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, pleading not guilty to six felony charges including facilitating a campaign contribution by a foreign national, acting as a straw donor and causing the filing of false campaign finance reports. The grand jury indictment alleges that Benton and Wead worked together to accept $100,000 from an unidentified Russian national in order to get the foreigner a meeting with then-candidate Trump at a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Sept. 22, 2016.... The indictment suggests that Benton and Wead hoped to make money from the scheme and did -- taking $100,000 from the Russian, but paying only $25,000 to Trump Victory...." Benton, who is an in-law & was an advisor to Rand Paul also led Mitch McConnell's 2014 campaign. Trump pardoned him for previous campaign finance crimes re: Ron Paul. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Anyhow, it turns out Trump pardoned a guy who (allegedly) stiffed him to the tune of $75K. So that's nice.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November on foreigners who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, reopening the country to thousands of people, including those who have been separated from family in the United States during the pandemic. The foreign travelers will need to show proof of vaccination before boarding and a negative test for the coronavirus within three days before coming to the United States, Jeff Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said Monday." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
Missouri. AP: "A Missouri official is asking the state Supreme Court to suspend the law licenses of a St. Louis couple who gained national attention last year when they waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their home. Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, in a court filing reported by KCUR-FM, cited Mark and Patricia McCloskey's guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the June 2020 encounter. Pratzel's office is responsible for investigating ethical complaints against Missouri lawyers. Mark McCloskey, who is among several Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was ordered to pay a $750 fine. Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. Missouri gov. Mike Parson pardoned them on July 30. Pratzel's motion said that while a pardon erases a person's conviction, 'the person's guilt remains.'"
New York. Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: "In a report released Monday by the Stevens Institute of Technology and Princeton University's Electoral Innovation Lab, researchers said that missteps by the New York City Board of Elections had inadvertently allowed the lab to determine the votes of 378 New Yorkers in the mayoral primary. Those voters include the mayor's son and a former New York City deputy mayor, Robert K. Steel. Because that information is supposed to be secret, in accordance with state law, the report's findings suggest a breach of one of America's most prized guarantees, the secret ballot, and represent another blemish for the city Board of Elections.... In June, the board accidentally released an incorrect vote tally for the most important mayoral primary in a generation, and then had to retract that tally and tabulate the vote all over again." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So then. The New York Times compounded the problem by publishing all of Dante de Blasio's votes in the primary and the order in which he ranked them. It's akin to -- or worse than -- publishing paparazzis' nude photos of celebrities, then claiming, "But hey, it's newsworthy!"
If this is a free-for-all, and it's $10,000, I want my $10,000. And yes, I do aim to collect. -- Oscar Stilley, who is suing Dr. Alan Braid for performing an abortion in violation of Texas's anti-abortion law ~~~
~~~ Texas. Out-of-State Opportunists Sue Texas Abortion Doctor. David Goodman of the New York Times: "A man in Arkansas and another in Illinois on Monday filed what appeared to be the first legal actions under a strict new abortion law in Texas that is enforced by ordinary citizens, regardless of where they live. The Arkansas man, Oscar Stilley, who was described in the complaint as a 'disbarred and disgraced' lawyer, said in an interview that he had filed the lawsuit against a Texas doctor, who publicly wrote about performing an abortion, to test the provisions of the law.... Mr. Stilley said he was not trying to halt abortions by Dr. Alan Braid, a San Antonio physician who wrote in The Washington Post on Saturday that he had violated the Texas law..... Dr. Braid was also sued on Monday by an Illinois man, Felipe N. Gomez.... Both suits were filed in state court in San Antonio and both men are representing themselves." An AP story is here.
Way Beyond
Canada. Affan Chowdhry of CNN: "Several Canadian news outlets are projecting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal party will form the next government. It is unclear, based on their projections, whether it be a majority or minority government." This is a breaking story @ 11:10 pm ET. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has been updating Canadian election developments and has many more details.
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Reader Comments (6)
Because of all the other pressing news one encounters daily, I didn't pay any attention to the story of Gabby Petito––knew that she was reported missing but that's about it. Last night Joy Reid addressed this by pointing out the amount of coverage this story had been given by the press and others. One of her guests heads a coalition of Black women who have followed the disappearance of dozens of Black women we never hear about. In other words––when it's white women, it gets coverage, when it's Black women–-it's a blip on the landscape. This is something I was not aware of, although I could have come to that conclusion if asked.
Men on horseback with whips––"Naw," says the authorities, "not used for people, but used for horses," but the videos show otherwise. "We are looking into it" the head of H.S. says. You betcha!!
I’m willing to bet that the “cowboys” whipping Haitian migrants for the crime of looking out for their families are some of the “highly qualified” thugs brought in by Trump to further weaponize his war on brown people. Attacking poor people with whips is not just cruel, it’s wanton cruelty, another Trump specialty.
And another thing––if we can call this pandemic a thing––As I was brushing my teeth, thinking about the brouhaha this pandemic has encountered, I wondered whether at the very beginning of its appearance we had a president who addressed the country forcefully and clearly and said exactly what we were up against and then mandated mask wearing and free vaccines––" If we come together as a nation, we can fight this enemy–-but everyone needs to get aboard."
Maybe–--but given our present persons of naysayers there probably would have still been this resistance. I tend to forget the formula: a Republican for President–-GOOD; a Democrat for President BAD and the former gonna screw it up as much as possible cuz "That's What We Do!"
PD: Yup, if it's a white woman, they shout from the rooftop; if she happens to be indigenous Native/First Nations they're pushed into a hole out back and forgotten. When media are reminded that we give our dead pets more respect than dead black or indigenous women maybe the media will call attention to it. Really, poor Gabby is little more than clickbait. That's why I try to never click on anything that those dreadful Murdoch owned rags try to glaze our faculties with - I might as well pour sugar in the gas tank of my mind. Just look at how fast the stories about the Catholic church disposing of dead young First Nations children in Canada left the headlines. I don't see any investigation of Native children in Alaska sent to boarding schools in Sitka to name just one. It's a "dirty" subject involving powerful interests. It is not funny in the slightest that the Catholic church or Sacklers or Southern Baptists or any number of others walk away from responsibility.
Re the clamor over missing white women, it's not all white women who get the press. It's pretty, young, blond, and preferably wealthy white women. Witness the Ariel Castro kidnappings , where three lower-class, ordinary-looking girls in Cleveland were kidnapped and held for YEARS while being raped and impregnated by their captor.
Because we're so used to it the media bias goes almost unnoticed, much to all of our moral, ethical and social impoverishment. For some time this story has enjoyed too little exposure:
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799695694/activists-decry-femicides-after-another-woman-is-killed-in-ju-rez-mexico