The Commentariat -- July 19, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Eugene Scott & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: :President Biden on Monday balanced his earlier, blunt criticism of Facebook by blaming bad actors on the website for spreading dangerous misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines, but he still called on the social media platform to be more aggressive in combating the problem. The president said he hopes that 'instead of taking it personally,' Facebook spends more energy focusing on 'the outrageous misinformation' being spread about vaccines on the popular social network. Biden put Facebook on the defense last week after accusing it of 'killing people' by allowing the spread of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "In what appeared to be the first ruling upholding a coronavirus vaccine mandate by a university, a federal judge affirmed on Monday that Indiana University could require that its students be vaccinated against the virus."

Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Canada on Monday said it would begin to ease pandemic restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border next month, allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the United States who are fully vaccinated with Canadian-authorized vaccines to enter for nonessential travel without quarantining. The decision, which takes effect on Aug. 9, follows months of criticism from U.S. lawmakers across the political spectrum, business groups and some travelers over what they said was an overly cautious approach to lifting curbs that have split families, battered the tourism sector and upended life in close-knit border communities. To be eligible for entry, fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents must present a negative covid-19 molecular test taken within 72 hours of flight departure or arrival at a land crossing. They will also be required to upload proof that they have received a full series of an authorized coronavirus vaccine at least 14 days before departure to a Canadian government app."

Trump Is Getting Worse. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "It was only a matter of time until Donald Trump converted the debate over covid-19 vaccines into an occasion for his supporters to show their loyalty to him -- and even worse, to the 'big lie' that his 2020 loss was illegitimate. 'People are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don't trust his Administration,' the former president said in a statement Sunday, referring to President Biden. 'They don't trust the Election results, and they certainly don't trust the Fake News.'... Trump is telling his supporters that they are correct not to trust the federal government on vaccines, because this sentiment should flow naturally from their suspicion that the election was stolen from him.... What makes this worse is that other Republicans are playing a version of this game." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... [Chris] Wallace interviewed Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and asked why Louisiana had seen such low vaccination rates. Cassidy blamed a lack of trust in government -- and President Biden. 'When you have partisan comments coming out of the White House regarding next Jim Crow laws, or people like Senator [Charles] Schumer and the White House not cooperating on a bipartisan bill -- ... that just doesn't work.'... This is nonsensical for a variety of reasons.... The idea that Tucker Carlson's incessant rhetoric misleadingly targeting vaccine safety and effectiveness is less of a factor than Biden's praise for the vaccines while advocating Democratic policy positions is bizarre. More important, for more than a year, beginning when he was president, Donald Trump has explicitly fostered distrust in government experts, insisting to his base that the pandemic was not a big deal.... After leading his base to a place where they shrugged at the virus, he ended up either having to change their minds or join them. Over the weekend, he joined them."

Taylor Telford of the Washington Post: "Global stock markets swooned Monday, with the Dow slumping more than 900 points in afternoon trading, as investors grow increasingly anxious about a delta-led resurgence in coronavirus cases and its potential to derail the economic recovery. Oil prices also fell sharply. The delta variant has become the dominant strain worldwide and is surging rapidly, even in countries with high vaccination rates." CNBC's report is here. MB: Gee, Donald, I'll bet your hotel biz is not doing too well, either.

Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Monday repatriated a detainee from Guantánamo Bay to Morocco, the first transfer of an inmate from the high-security prison since the Trump administration mostly halted the resettlements when he took office in 2017. The transfer of detainee Abdul Latif Nasir, who was held without charge or trial for nearly two decades, leaves 39 inmates at the military facility located on the eastern tip of Cuba, and provides the first concrete illustration of how the administration may attempt to finally shutter the prison.... At its peak, the prison held some 700 detainees, and became a global symbol of U.S. excesses in its response to extremist threats. President Barack Obama vowed to close the prison but, facing congressional opposition, was unable to do so. His administration transferred more than 170 prisoners to their home nation or third countries.... Nasir ... was one of five men whose transfers had been readied at the end of the Obama administration but did not go through."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Monday formally accused the Chinese government of breaching Microsoft email systems used by many of the world's largest companies, governments and military contractors, as the United States joined a broad group of allies, including all NATO members, to condemn Beijing for cyberattacks around the world. The United States accused China for the first time of paying criminal groups to conduct large-scale hackings, including ransomware attacks to extort companies for millions of dollars, according to a statement from the White House. Microsoft had pointed to hackers linked to the Chinese Ministry of State Security for exploiting holes in the company's email systems in March...." Politico's report is here.

Florida Man Gets 8 Months. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday handed down an eight-month prison term to the first person to be sentenced for a felony in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, after attorneys argued whether the punishment would divide the country, deter future threats to lawmakers, or lead hundreds of other charged to face trial or plead guilty. Tampa crane operator Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, pleaded guilty last month to one count of obstructing a joint session of Congress meeting to confirm the results of the 2020 president[ial] election. He was seen carrying a red-and-white 'Trump 2020' flag into the well of the abandoned Senate while others stood over the vacated vice president's chair. 'The symbolism of that act was unmistakable,' U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss said. 'He was staking a claim on the floor of the U.S. Senate not with an American flag, but declaring his loyalty to a single individual over the nation. In that act, he captured the threat to democracy that we all witnessed that day.'... U.S. prosecutors had called for 18-month prison term, citing the need to deter domestic terrorism." The CNN report is here.

Haiti. Catherine Porter of the New York Times: "With foreign powers weighing in, Haitian officials announced a new prime minister on Monday, in an attempt to resolve a caustic leadership struggle in the wake of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination. Claude Joseph, the prime minister who took control of Haiti's government immediately after the killing, is stepping down in favor of Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been appointed to the position by the president before he was killed, the elections minister said Monday.... The political maneuvering by Haitian officials and international power brokers was met with anger by Haitian activists and democracy advocates, who said it did not consider what the people wanted."

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Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "Ron Klain, who after a few near misses, finally achieved his career-long goal of becoming the White House chief of staff.... Mr. Klain is an unquestioned man to see in the current White House, the most influential chief of staff of recent vintage and a marked departure from the four battered and marginalized short-timers who held the position under ... Donald J. Trump. Mr. Klain, who was the chief of staff for Vice Presidents Biden and Al Gore, is viewed in and out of the West Wing as the essential conductor of administration business, a surrogate for the president and -- in the mischievous portrayal of opponents -- an all-powerful, unelected orchestrator of an ultraliberal agenda."

Attorney General, Know Thy Job. Donald Ayer, Danielle Brian & Norman Eisen in a New York Times op-ed: "... Mo Brooks ... swore to support and defend the Constitution. His official duties certainly don't include what Mr. Brooks is accused of doing in a civil lawsuit pending in Washington federal court: helping to incite a mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.... Mr. Brooks has asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to certify that his actions on Jan. 6 were those of a government employee acting within the scope of his employment.... If the attorney general were to certify and the court agreed, Mr. Brooks would be dismissed from the lawsuit under a federal statute.... Certification that Mr. Brooks acted within the scope of his job would leave the United States government defending the right of its elected representatives to foment insurrection against itself.... Mr. Garland's choice ... carries ramifications for cases targeting possible official wrongdoing in the Trump era, including by the former president himself.... [Mr.] Garland [must] unequivocally reject any notion that a congressman is doing his job when he foments a riot based on lies in order to sabotage a legitimate national electoral process."

Amy Gets Her Groove On. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The usually obscure Senate Rules Committee is ... typically responsible for doling out precious Capitol office space, keeping the Senate running and handling fights over arcane floor procedures. But circumstances and the ambitions of the committee's current chairwoman, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, have thrust the panel into the middle of things. In just six months, she has spearheaded a push for a sweeping voting rights bill sought by Democrats while her committee has investigated failings in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The panel was also in charge of staging President Biden's inauguration, only two weeks after the deadly riot.... The panel will convene its first field hearing in 20 years in Atlanta on Monday as it seeks to put a spotlight on the new voting restrictions being imposed by Republican state legislatures there and elsewhere, hoping to build a case for the seemingly fatally stalled voting rights measure."

Calvin Woodward, et al., of the AP: "Months after the then-president's supporters stormed the Capitol [on January 6], Trump and his acolytes are taking this revisionism to a new and dangerous place -- one of martyrs and warlike heroes, and of revenge. It's a place where cries of 'blue lives matter' have transformed into shouts of 'f--- the blue.' The fact inversion about the siege is the latest in Trump's contorted oeuvre of the 'big lie' compendium, the most specious of which is that the election was stolen from him, when it was not. It is rooted in the formula of potent propaganda through the ages: Say it loud, say it often, say it with the heft of political power behind you, and people will believe.... Trump and many Republicans have cycled through various characterizations of the insurrection, each iteration wholly unlike the previous one. The attackers were said to be leftist antifa followers in disguise. Then they were said to be overexcited tourists. Now they are heralded as foot soldiers for freedom."

Marie: Akhilleus found a "True Confessions" essay where the worst part is not, "And I had an extramarital affair with Ken Starr." (Yes, yes, that seems impossible to believe; as much as I can't imagine having an affair with Ken Starr, even less can I imagine humiliating myself by admitting it.) (Also linked yesterday.)<

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "Canada's vaccination rate is now higher than the United States rate, as the country has overcome months of production and shipping delays.... The European Union has also been catching up to the United States after lagging far behind until recently...." MB: IOW, there are fewer idiots per capita in Canada & Europe than there are in the U.S. But we had already figured as much.

Madeline Holcombe of CNN: "With vaccination rates still not at the threshold needed to stop the spread of Covid-19, most Americans who are unprotected will likely contract the rapidly spreading Delta variant, one expert said. 'And for most people who get this Delta variant, it's going to be the most serious virus that they get in their lifetime in terms of the risk of putting them in the hospital,' Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration, told CBS' 'Face the Nation' Sunday."

Florida. Curt Anderson of the AP: "Pandemic restrictions on Florida-based cruise ships will remain in place after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a previous ruling that sided with a Florida lawsuit challenging the regulations. The one-paragraph decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, just minutes before a Tampa judge's previous ruling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention restrictions was set to take effect. The judges' issuance of a temporary stay keeps the CDC regulations regarding Florida-based cruise ships in place while the CDC appeals the June decision by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday. The lawsuit, championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, claims that the CDC's multiple-step process to allow cruising from Florida is overly burdensome...."

U.K. Sylvia Hui & Jill Lawless of the AP: "... England's nightclubs reopened Monday as the country lifted most remaining [Covid] restrictions after more than a year of lockdowns, mask mandates and other pandemic-related curbs on freedom. For clubbers and nightclub owners, the moment lived up to its media-given moniker, 'Freedom Day.' But the big step out of lockdown was met with nervousness by many Britons, and concern from scientists, who say the U.K. is entering uncharted waters by opening up when infections are not falling but soaring. As of Monday, face masks are no longer legally required in England, and with social distancing rules shelved, there are no limits on the number of people attending theater performances or big events.... In a reminder of how volatile the situation is, the prime minister was spending 'freedom day' in quarantine. [Boris] Johnson and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak are both self-isolating for 10 days after contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday."

Presidential Race 2024. David Siders of Politico: "Mike Pence was met by a respectful, even warm, crowd in his first trip back to Iowa since the election.... What few people said they saw in Pence, however, was the Republican nominee for president in 2024. Many Iowa Republicans had seen the results of the most recent Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, released just days earlier, in which Pence flatlined, drawing no more than 1 percent support.... By most accounts, both here and nationally, Pence is dead in the early waters of 2024."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Germany. Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday met with survivors and thanked volunteers as she made her way through a village wrecked by the extraordinary floods that have killed at least 183 people in Germany and Belgium, calling the level of destruction 'surreal and eerie.' As rescue teams continued searching for victims amid the wreckage and debris, heavy rains in the southern German region of Bavaria caused still more flooding on Sunday. The authorities said they expected the number victims to rise, as many hundreds of people remained unaccounted for, though it was unclear how many were simply unreachable by friends or family amid the chaos of the calamity and lost communications.... German meteorologists called the flooding the worst in 500 years, if not a millennium." ~~~

     ~~~ Leonie Cater of Politico: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday promised a stronger government focus on climate protection following the deadly floods that have ravaged parts of Germany and neighboring countries. 'The German language knows hardly any words for this devastation,' Merkel said during a visit to flood-stricken areas in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. 'We have to hurry to fight climate change.'"

Iran, U.K. The Iranian Armada? H.I. Sutton of USNI News: "Two Iranian warships are nearing the English Channel, according to satellite photographs reviewed by USNI News. The ships are thought to be headed to the Baltic Sea to represent Iran in a July 25 naval parade off the coast of St. Petersburg to commemorate the 325th anniversary of the Russian Navy. The pair, the frigate IRINS Sahand and former oil-tanker-turned warship IRINS Makran, sailed up the West coast of Africa and past Spain and France before approaching the southern coast of England. Leaving Iran in April with arms and likely refined fuel, the duo was first thought to be headed to Venezuela before lingering off the coast of Senegal and then heading toward the North Atlantic."

Israel, etc. Dana Priest, et al., of the Washington Post: "Military-grade spyware licensed by an Israeli firm to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, business executives and two women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an investigation by The Washington Post and 16 media partners. The phones appeared on a list of more than 50,000 numbers that are concentrated in countries known to engage in surveillance of their citizens and also known to have been clients of the Israeli firm, NSO Group, a worldwide leader in the growing and largely unregulated private spyware industry, the investigation found.... Among the journalists whose numbers appear on the list, which dates to 2016, are reporters working overseas for several leading news organizations, including a small number from CNN, the Associated Press, Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Le Monde in France, the Financial Times in London and Al Jazeera in Qatar. The targeting of the 37 smartphones would appear to conflict with the stated purpose of NSO's licensing of the Pegasus spyware, which the company says is intended only for use in surveilling terrorists and major criminals." The Guardian's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Hungary. Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the Hungary of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a spyware tool has been deployed to ... [monitor] people with technology that can turn smartphones into troves of information. More than 300 Hungarian phone numbers -- connected to journalists, lawyers, business titans and activists, among others -- appeared on a list that included numbers selected for surveillance by clients of NSO Group, an Israeli security company.... In a brochure, NSO bragged to potential clients that, by sending a text message that recipients don't even have to open, its product can turn smartphones into 'an intelligence gold mine.'" The Guardian's report is here.

Japan. Ben Dooley of the New York Times: "A Japanese court on Monday sentenced two Americans to prison for their role in helping the former Nissan leader Carlos Ghosn skip bail and flee Japan. A Japanese court on Monday sentenced two Americans to prison for their role in helping the former Nissan leader Carlos Ghosn skip bail and flee Japan. Michael Taylor, 60, was given a sentence of two years and his son Peter Maxwell Taylor, 28, received one year and eight months. The men helped to smuggle Mr. Ghosn onto a private jet and whisk him to Lebanon as he awaited trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing. The men admitted their role in the escape during a court proceeding in Tokyo in June. Michael Taylor, 60, was given a sentence of two years and his son Peter Maxwel Taylor, 28, received one year and eight months. The men helped to smuggle Mr. Ghosn onto a private jet and whisk him to Lebanon as he awaited trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing. The men admitted their role in the escape during a court proceeding in Tokyo in June." The AP's story is here.

South Africa.  Hlengiwe Motaung, et al., of the Washington Post: "... a wave of lawlessness swept across South Africa's two most populous provinces this week.... The looters were the poor who had scarcely benefited from the end of White rule 27 years ago.... South Africa has deployed 10,000 soldiers in addition to its police and expects to deploy 15,000 more in coming days even as the looting has lessened.... At least 212 ... have died in the mayhem -- killed by police or vigilantes, or crushed in stampedes as people fled law enforcement.... The killings, as well as the widespread destruction of small, uninsured businesses in townships, underscore the bitter irony of this wave of violence born of anger at inequality: Most of its victims are the poor and dispossessed, and many are ethnic Zulus, members of the same tribe from which former president Jacob Zuma draws his most fervent support. It was his jailing last week that set off the protests that quickly devolved into the worst unrest South Africa has seen since apartheid ended in 1994."

News Lede

New York Times: "A summer of unrelenting heat in the western United States and Canada hit the Northern Rockies this weekend, where temperatures reached the upper 90s and lower 100s with a heat wave that is expected to peak on Monday but ease only slightly through the week. It was the fourth major heat wave to afflict parts of the West since early June, bringing dangerously hot temperatures and helping fuel the deepening drought and exploding wildfires across the region." This is part of a liveblog.

The Commentariat -- July 18, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Marie: I try not to do anything on Sunday afternoons, but I just have to share with everyone a "True Confessions" essay Akhilleus found where the worst part is not, "And I had an extramarital affair with Ken Starr." (I know you may find that impossible to believe; as much as I can't imagine having an affair with Ken Starr, even less can I imagine humiliating myself by admitting it.)

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Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Some of Europe's richest countries lay in disarray this weekend, as raging rivers burst through their banks in Germany and Belgium, submerging towns, slamming parked cars against trees and leaving Europeans shellshocked at the intensity of the destruction. Only days before in the Northwestern United States, a region famed for its cool, foggy weather, hundreds had died of heat. In Canada, wildfire had burned a village off the map. Moscow reeled from record temperatures. And this weekend the northern Rocky Mountains were bracing for yet another heat wave, as wildfires spread across 12 states in the American West. The extreme weather disasters across Europe and North America have driven home two essential facts of science and history: The world as a whole is neither prepared to slow down climate change, nor live with it. The week's events have now ravaged some of the world's wealthiest nations, whose affluence has been enabled by more than a century of burning coal, oil and gas -- activities that pumped the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are warming the world." ~~~

~~~ Don't Think All This Evidence Will Faze Climate-Change Deniers. They Blame the Libs. Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "... many [residents] ... in a ribbon of conservative towns and backwoods settlements along the southern edge of the Bootleg Fire [in southern Oregon] have chosen to stay home, despite the urging by authorities to evacuate.... Among the small towns that have been threatened by the Bootleg Fire -- Sprague River, Beatty, Bly -- there is little talk of global warming. Instead, residents vent about the federal government's water policies and forest management. They blame liberal environmentalists for hobbling the logging industry and Mexican marijuana farmers for sucking up the area's water." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Turns out the reason Donald Trump knew he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue & his followers would stick with him is that he would lie about it & they would believe him. CCTV footage notwithstanding, Trumpbots would blame liberal New Yorkers for the murder-in-plain-sight. These people have no reasoning ability & they definitely can't handle the truth.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times notices that Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump, & Bill Barr, among others, are trying to hide their feet of clay. MB: At least Ivanka is doing so in very nice shoes.

Natalie Kitroeff & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "Through [Jovenel] Moïse's time [as president of Haiti], the United States backed his increasingly autocratic rule, viewing it as the easiest way of maintaining stability in a troubled country that barely figured into the priorities of successive administrations in Washington, current and former officials say. Even as Haiti spiraled into violence and political upheaval, they say, few in the Trump administration took seriously Mr. Moïse's repeated warnings that he faced plots against his life. And as warnings of his authoritarianism intensified, the Biden administration kept up its public support for Mr. Moïse's claim to power, even after Haiti's Parliament emptied out in the absence of elections and Mr. Moïse ruled by decree.... In interviews with more than a dozen current and former officials, a common refrain emerged: Washington bore part of the blame, after brushing off or paying little attention to clear warnings that Haiti was lurching toward mayhem...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You may brush aside this article as another of those "Michael Crowley thinks about something" pieces, but I have little doubt that Crowley & Kitroeff are essentially right. Decade after decade, the U.S. decides the convenience of backing dictators should best the inconvenience of turning a cold shoulder to said dictators. We think we give our major-power enemies -- Russia & China -- a foothold when we demand accountable governments, but it's a shortsighted convenience that inevitably becomes disastrously inconvenient. When you're giving massive amounts of aid to a poor country like Haiti, it's not that hard to demand free & fair elections & other human rights, even if -- in the face of Republican policies -- that is somewhat hypocritical.

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: Julie K. "Brown's book [about the Jeffrey Epstein case,] which comes out on Tuesday, is about a mind-blowing case of plutocratic corruption, full of noirish subplots that may never be fully understood. But it's also about the slow strangulation of local and regional newspapers. Reading it, I kept thinking of all the malfeasance likely to go unexposed as many once-formidable newspapers outside of New York and Washington either shrink or disappear altogether." MB: Goldberg & Brown are both awfully good at getting at the story behind the story.

Me and @mattgaetz are still having a rally to show all Americans how to stand up against tyrants and bullies using our great First Amendment! -- Marjorie Taylor Greene, in a tweet

Her & @mattgaetz apparently do not stand up for common English-language grammar. -- Marie Burns ~~

~~~ CBS News Los Angeles: Matt Gaetz & Marjorie Taylor Greene had to cancel their "America First" rally in Southern California after a third planned venue backed out hours before the scheduled event.

Stephen L. Carter, who once clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, reminisces about the justice in a New York Times Magazine essay.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Arkansas. Andrew DeMillo of the AP: Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has been taking road trips around the state to try to talk vaccine deniers into getting the vaccine. "His message: Listen to your own doctors and medical professionals, not conspiracy theories.... The approach is different from that of other Republicans who are portraying health leaders as adversaries.... Just 35% of Arkansas' population is fully vaccinated." ~~~

     ~~~ Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "While much of the nation tiptoes toward normalcy, the coronavirus is again swamping hospitals in places like Mountain Home, [Arkansas,] a city of fewer than 13,000 people not far from the Missouri border. A principal reason, health officials say, is the emergence of the new, far more contagious variant called Delta, which now accounts for more than half of new infections in the United States.... Hospitalizations [in Arkansas] have quadrupled since mid-May. More than a third of patients are in intensive care. Deaths, a lagging indicator, are also expected to rise, health officials said.... Even health care workers have balked. Statewide, only about 40 percent are vaccinated...." MB: These stories treat vaccine deniers as if they're normal people with reasonable concerns. They are not.

California. Max Hauptman of the Washington Post: "The Los Angeles County Sheriff announced that his department will not enforce a reinstated mask mandate, saying it is not backed by guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scheduled to into effect Saturday night, the mandate requires all residents, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks indoors. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that while the Los Angeles County Department of Health could enforce the order, 'the underfunded/defunded Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will not expend our limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance.' Villanueva also encouraged the county Board of Supervisors and law enforcement to 'establish mandates that are both achievable and supported by science.'... Los Angeles County confirmed 1,902 new coronavirus cases Friday.... Public health officials continue to express concern about community transmission among unvaccinated populations, as well as breakthrough cases of infection, noting that in Los Angeles County there have been a total of 4,122 cases reported among vaccinated people as of July 13." Emphasis added.

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

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. J. L. Cook of the Root: "... on Friday, the state Senate voted 18-4 to pass Senate Bill 3, which drops requirements for teachers to include lessons on Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, the history of Native Americans, the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other figures and documents in their curriculums. This comes after Gov. Greg Abbott previously signed a bill that banned teachers from discussing critical race theory and the 1619 Project, while also dictating how they should teach about current events in their classrooms. The idea behind this new bill is to more explicitly define what can and can't be taught. The story is a recap of a Bloomberg story, which is subscriber-firewalled.

Way Beyond

Austria. BBC News: "The US government is investigating a series of health incidents in the Austrian capital Vienna involving its diplomats and other administration staff. More than 20 officials have reported symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome - a mystery brain illness - since President Joe Biden took office in January. The syndrome is unexplained, but US scientists say it is most probably caused by directed microwave radiation. It was first found in Cuba in 2016-17. US and Canadian diplomats in Havana complained of symptoms ranging from dizziness, loss of balance, hearing loss and anxiety to something they described as 'cognitive fog'."

The Commentariat -- July 17, 2021

Tyler Pager & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden will nominate Jane Hartley, a former ambassador to France, to serve as ambassador to Britain, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. The ambassadorship to the Court of St. James's, along with the one to Paris, is considered among the most prestigious postings for an American president to fill. Of the two plum spots -- each with a lovely mansion in the heart of two of Europe's great cities --, the London position is usually considered the more consequential job because of the close diplomatic, military and historical relationship between the United States and Britain."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Texas has largely halted an Obama administration initiative that grants work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, though he allowed the more than 600,000 young people already in the program to keep their protected status. But the judge ruled that new applications may not be granted. U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, a Republican [MB: Dubya] appointee, sided with Texas and other states in his ruling that President Barack Obama (D) overstepped his executive authority when he created the program in 2012. Hanen's ruling called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an 'illegally implemented program' and said 'the public interest of the nation is always served by the cessation of a program that was created in violation of law and whose existence violates the law.'" The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Congress has an easy fix for this -- pass a law authorizing DACA -- but Republicans + filibuster.

Just What Did You-All Do with that $54BB the Taxpayers Sent You? Ian Duncan & Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "A key lawmaker..., Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Commerce Committee..., wrote to the bosses of a half-dozen domestic airlines Friday asking why apparent staffing shortages are causing flight delays and cancellations despite the carriers receiving billions of dollars in pandemic relief designed to keep workers on the payroll.... Cantwell asked each airline 11 questions about its staffing levels, the source of its challenges and how it used the government assistance. She asked that airlines brief her staff by the end of the month. Air passenger numbers dropped precipitously at the start of the pandemic, by as much as 95 percent on some days. Congress responded by approving the multibillion-dollar Payroll Support Program (PSP), designed to keep airline workers on the job. Lawmakers followed up with billions more in subsequent relief bills designed to last through September. Aid to passenger airlines ultimately totaled $54 billion."

Texas Republicans Show Joe Filibuster Manchin Some Love -- and Money. Abby Livingston & Carla Astudillo of the Texas Tribune: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin -- a key Democratic holdout over efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation -- is expected to head to Texas on Friday for a fundraiser with a host committee that includes several wealthy Republican donors. The fundraiser comes just a day after Manchin met with Texas House Democrats on Capitol Hill who are desperate for his support of the congressional efforts which could preempt the statewide GOP's push to pass bills that would restrict voting access for Texans. Manchin is also one of two Democratic senators, along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have proven to be obstacles to moving voting rights legislation through the U.S. Senate. At the center of the impasse is their opposition to eliminating or changing the filibuster, which requires 60 senators to put a bill on the floor." MB: If you were wondering why Manchin won't allow for a voting rights filibuster carve-out, you just found out the answer comes with dollar signs, not principles.

Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday denied a request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to share grand jury materials from investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot with a contractor who was hired to organize them into a database. The DOJ had revealed in a court filing last week that it had planned on paying Deloitte Financial Advisory Services $6.1 million to create a sweeping database organizing videos, photos, emails and other evidence federal authorities have acquired in their ongoing probe involving more than 500 individuals who have been charged in connection with the mob attack. However, Beryl Howell, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in a 54-page memorandum opinion that the DOJ was incorrect in arguing that employees of Deloitte contracted to work on the project could be considered 'government personnel,' which would grant them access to the grand jury evidence.... Thus, Howell argued that the secrecy provisions pertaining to grand jury rules do 'not allow disclosure of grand jury matters to Deloitte and its employees.'"

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Officials in a little-known security unit within the Commerce Department conducted unauthorized surveillance and investigations into the agency's employees that targeted people of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent, Senate investigators said in a new report. The report, informed by more than two dozen whistle-blowers and released this week by Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, concluded that the Investigations and Threat Management Service functioned for more than a decade as 'a rogue, unaccountable police force,' opening thousands of unauthorized investigations into department employees, often for specious reasons. It found that the work of the office -- consumed by concerns about rampant Chinese espionage in the United States -- sometimes veered into racial profiling, and that its leaders used extreme tactics, such as sending masked agents to break into offices to search for incriminating evidence.... Under the Biden administration, department officials suspended the unit's investigations and began an internal review of the program in April.... The report indicated that the bulk of those efforts were driven over the course of multiple administrations by one official: George Lee, the unit's longtime director, who has since been placed on leave.... Investigators said that the practice dated back 'as early as 2014,' during the Obama administration...." The Hill's story is here.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A father and son, who are current and former Florida police officers, and a North Carolina man have been charged with joining alleged Proud Boys members in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, according to a new, five co-defendant indictment unsealed in Washington on Friday. Kevin 'Tito' Tuck, 51, and Nathaniel A. Tuck, 29, of central Florida were arrested and released on $25,000 unsecured bond Thursday by a U.S. magistrate judge in Tampa, court records show. Edward George Jr. was also arrested Thursday and was scheduled to appear in federal court Friday in Raleigh, according to court records. The charges bring the number of off-duty law enforcement officers charged in the Capitol mob to at least 20, and the defendants' ties to several central Florida police agencies highlight the continued pressure on sheriffs and police chiefs nationwide to scrub their ranks of members with links to white supremacist and far-right armed groups."

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A witness directly implicated Donald Trump in the tax fraud scheme that landed his family business and longtime accountant under indictment. Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter in law to indicted Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, told investigators last month in New York that Trump personally guaranteed he would pay school tuition for her two children instead of increasing a salary that could be taxed, reported The Daily Beast.... The Trump Organization was indicted five days after Jennifer Weisselberg's interview on tax fraud charges related to unreported fringe benefits like those she described, and her claims would directly tie the twice-impeached one-term president to the running scheme." The Daily Beast story is firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.)

Did that ever occur to you? That, possibly, [you're] just repeating stuff the president is lying about? -- Federal Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter to two Trumpy lawyers ~~~

~~~ Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Just before Christmas, two Colorado lawyers [-- Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker --] filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election by the voting equipment manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems, Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan and elected officials in four states -- and asking for $160 billion in damages. The case was dismissed in April, but now a federal judge is considering disciplining the lawyers for filing a frivolous claim -- sharply questioning the duo in a Friday hearing about whether they had allowed themselves to be used as 'a propaganda tool' of ... Donald Trump.... It was the second time this week that a judge dressed down lawyers who filed cases alleging fraud in the 2020 election, as the legal system grapples with how to hold accountable those who used the court system to spread falsehoods about the vote."

The True Cost of a Coca-Cola. Laura Reilly of the Washington Post: "The true cost of food is even higher than you think, a new report out Thursday says. The U.S. spends $1.1 trillion a year on food. But when the impacts of the food system on different parts of our society -- including rising health care costs, climate change and biodiversity loss -- are factored in, the bill is around three times that, according to a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, a private charity that funds medical and agricultural research.... Health impacts are the biggest hidden cost of the food system, with more than $1 trillion per year in health-related costs paid by Americans, with an estimated $604 billion of that attributable to diseases -- such as hypertension, cancer and diabetes -- linked to diet."

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis took a significant step toward putting the Roman Catholic Church's liturgy solidly on the side of modernization Friday by cracking down on the use of the old Latin Mass, essentially reversing a decision by his conservative predecessor. The move also dealt a blow to church conservatives who have long complained that the pope is diluting the traditions of the church. Francis, in a papal Motu Proprio -- or a document issued under the pope's own legal authority -- placed new restrictions on where the traditional Latin Mass can be celebrated, who can celebrate it and requiring new permissions from local bishops for its use. Those hurdles made it clear that Francis believes that champions of the old Latin Mass are exploiting it to oppose more recent church reforms and to divide the church. Since the 1960s, the church has used a more modern and vernacular liturgical book to make the faith more accessible to the faithful." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "President Biden unleashed his growing frustration with social media on Friday, saying that platforms like Facebook were 'killing people' by allowing disinformation about the coronavirus vaccine to spread online. Mr. Biden's forceful statement capped weeks of anger in the White House over the dissemination of vaccine disinformation online, even as the pace of inoculations slows and health officials warn of the rising danger of the Delta variant. Just before boarding Marine One for a weekend in Camp David in Maryland, Mr. Biden was asked what his message was to social media platforms when it came to Covid-19 disinformation. 'They're killing people,' he said. 'Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that -- and they're killing people.'" An NBC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't think social media are as bad as Fox "News." A normal person (not to suggest that vaccination skeptics mostly fall within the "normal" category) will take health advice from a friend or an unknown source with a grain of salt. But s/he is apt to heed advice she hears on her trusted TV station. So within the bubble of Fox World, it's perfectly reasonable for a viewer to accept as fact the word of "experts" who appear on Fox "News," especially when their favorite "journalists" are nodding in agreement.

Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "The Republican governor of Utah on Thursday decried 'propaganda' spread against coronavirus vaccines, warning that those discouraging immunization are 'killing people.' 'We have these -- these talking heads who have gotten the vaccine and are telling other people not to get the vaccine,' Gov. Spencer Cox said in response to a reporter's question about anti-vaccine rhetoric coming in large part from the political right. 'That kind of stuff is just, it's ridiculous. It's dangerous, it's damaging, and it's killing people. I mean, it's literally killing their supporters. And that makes no sense to me.' Cox's sharp words at a news conference came as some lawmakers and other prominent Republicans fan doubts about the coronavirus vaccines or speak about them with outright hostility, framing efforts to promote the shots as unwelcome incursions from big government."

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky warned of rising cases on Friday, stating that COVID-19 is 'becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated' and that vaccinated people are protected against severe disease. The highly transmissible delta variant is fueling expanding outbreaks, but they are centered in parts of the country with lower vaccination rates."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "White House press secretary Jen Psaki forcefully defended the Biden administration's growing offensive on vaccine-related misinformation spreading on Facebook and other social media platforms. 'Our biggest concern, and frankly I think it should be your biggest concern, is the number of people who are dying around the country because they are getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine,' Psaki said during Friday's daily press briefing.... Psaki's defense was in response to a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy, who framed the Biden administration's concern about bad actors online as 'spying' on Americans' social media usage. 'For how long has the administration been spying on people's Facebook profiles looking for vaccine misinformation?' Doocy asked.... Psaki called the characterization 'a loaded and inaccurate question.' She said the White House flagging concerning posts to platforms like Facebook is similar to outreach to news outlets when they take issue with particular coverage. 'This is publicly open information, people sharing information online, just as you are all reporting information on your news stations,' she said during a testy exchange in which the pair talked over one another at times." ~~~

~~~ A Chip Off the Old Blockhead. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Peter Doocy, who is Fox "News" supposed White House correspondent [and the son of "Fox and Friends' nitwit cohost Steve Doocy], was in high dudgeon at the White House press briefing Friday about all the spying the Biden administration had done on a dozen Facebook users; i.e., supposedly checking out their public profiles. This was stupid enough on the face of it, but the fact that the boy Doocy made up the story rendered it particularly stupid. It took Blake 30 seconds of "research" to disprove Doocy's false premise. The "spying" was done by "the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The[ir] study was picked up by the likes of NPR and others in May."

Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: "Senior Biden administration officials overseeing an intelligence review into the origins of the coronavirus now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory. Still, more than halfway into President Joe Biden's renewed 90-day push to find answers, the intelligence community remains firmly divided over whether the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab or jumped naturally from animals to humans in the wild, multiple sources familiar with the probe told CNN. Little new evidence has emerged to move the needle in one direction or another, these people said. But the fact that the lab leak theory is being seriously considered by top Biden officials is noteworthy...."

Florida. Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "Nearly 20 percent of the nation's new coronavirus infections are now happening in Florida alone, according to a White House official. Cases are rising across the nation as a whole as the more transmissible delta variant spreads but are concentrated in areas with low vaccination rates. 'Just four states accounted for more than 40 percent of all cases in the past week, with 1 in 5 of all cases occurring in Florida alone," White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during a briefing Friday.... Currently, the state is reporting an average of 29 new infections for every 100,000 people per day -- more than four times the national average.... Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ... has proudly bucked the advice of federal health officials -- schools remained open, and statewide public health mitigation measures were minimal. The governor has encouraged people to get vaccinated but also banned businesses from requiring proof of vaccination and has banned local governments from enacting mask mandates."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The article doesn't ID the other three states. I checked half-a-dozen other stories re: Zients' remarks, & they don't say, either. However, according to this Market Watch report, "Cases are rising fastest in Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and Nevada, which have vaccinated less than half of their residents." It isn't clear if the number here are raw or per-capita. The framing suggests they're per capita.

Nevada. Ken Ritter of the AP: "Masks are back in Las Vegas, after regional health officials on Friday cited a rising number of coronavirus cases and advised everyone -- vaccinated or not -- to wear facial coverings in crowds and indoor places. The recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District isn't a requirement. But it affects casinos, concerts and clubs where business has boomed since restrictions were lifted and the state fully returned pandemic control measures to counties about seven weeks ago."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Bob Christie & Christina Cassidy of the AP: "Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year's presidential election, further discrediting ... Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state's most populous county. An Associated Press investigation found 182 cases where problems were clear enough that officials referred them to investigators for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No person's vote was counted twice.... Virtually all the cases ... are in Pima County, home to Tucson, and involved voters who attempted to cast two ballots. The Pima County Recorder's Office has a practice of referring all cases with even a hint of potential fraud to prosecutors for review, something the state's 14 other county recorders do not do."

California. Trump Fans (Allegedly) Planned to Firebomb State DNC HQ. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Two men have been charged in an alleged plot to firebomb the California Democratic Party's headquarters in Sacramento, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland were 'prompted by the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election' and believed their attack would spark a 'movement,' according to federal prosecutors, who said the men were members of a militia group. Law enforcement officers seized five pipe bombs, thousands of rounds of ammunition and 'between 45 and 50 firearms, including at least three fully-automatic weapons' during a January search of Rogers's home and business, according to the indictment." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Cheri Mossberg of CNN: "A California man is in custody after police found a cache of weapons, ammunition, and racist writings in his vehicle saying he wanted to wipe out the Black, Hispanic and Jewish populations, officials said Thursday. Wesley Charles Martines, 32, was stopped by Campbell Police officers on July 9, officials said, after a local business owner alerted police shortly after midnight that someone was prowling in the area, peering into vehicles and a storage shed. Responding officers found assault-style rifles, a handgun, body armor and ammunition, along with what was believed to be an inactive pipe bomb in Martines' truck, according to a statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. Police seized a journal that included the racist and anti-Semitic writings, along with a plan to 'go to sporting goods store, dress up as an employee and tie everybody up,' the statement said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Setting aside for a moment the guy's racism & anti-Semitism, I see an insanity defense here. A person has to be stark-staring bonkers to think he can single-handedly murder millions of people.

New Jersey. Municipal Judge Explains First Amendment to Nitwits. Rebecca Panico of NJ.com: "A municipal judge on Thursday ruled that a Roselle Park homeowner's owner's anti- President Biden flags including the F-bomb on her fence were obscene and must be removed because they violated a borough ordinance. Roselle Park Municipal Court Judge Gary Bundy ordered the Willow Avenue homeowner to remove the signs with profanity within a week or face a $250-a-day fine. Patricia Dilascio is the property owner but her daughter, Andrea Dick, had the signs, three of which include the F-word, on display. 'This is not a case about politics. It is a case, pure and simple, about language,' Bundy said. 'This ordinance does not restrict political speech. Neither this town or its laws may abridge or eliminate Ms. Dilascio's freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech is not simply an absolute right. It is clear from state law and statutes that we cannot simply put up the umbrella of the First Amendment and say everything and anything is protected speech.' Roselle Park Mayor Joseph Signorello III, a Democrat who is running for state Senate in Union County, previously said the home is close to a school and angered some residents. But Dick repeatedly said she would not remove the signs since they are political speech protected by the First Amendment."

Virginia. Stephanie Lai of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced a $700 million plan to achieve universal broadband accessibility across Virginia by 2024, a historic investment in broadband for a state long beset by a digital divide. Northam (D) and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) met in Abingdon with legislative leaders Friday afternoon to unveil their proposal for spending a portion of the state's $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding under the American Rescue Plan. The General Assembly will meet in a special session on Aug. 2 to decide how to spend the funds, as well as discuss the $353 million plan announced by Northam earlier this week to aid businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic.... According to Northam, the commonwealth has 233,500 homes, businesses and other locations without access to broadband."

News Ledes

Saturday Night in NRA-USA. Washington Post: “Saturday night's game between the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres was suspended after multiple gunshots were fired outside Nationals Park. Two people were shot, according to a D.C. police spokesman, in an incident that took place by one of the gates on South Capitol Street. Police said a man was shot in the leg and a woman was shot in the back, with wounds not said to be life-threatening."

New York Times: "Twenty-six people were hospitalized with breathing problems or skin irritation after they were exposed to bleach and sulfuric acid on Saturday afternoon at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, a water park in Spring, Texas, the authorities said. One person was in critical condition on Saturday evening, said Rachel Neutzler, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.... Ms. Neutzler said investigators did not believe the exposure to the chemicals, which are used to maintain pH balance, had been the result of an intentional act. She said it had occurred in a shallow pool intended for children."

Weather Channel: "The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Germany and Belgium rose to 150 Saturday as rescuers continued to search through the rubble of buildings, holding out hope of finding survivors. 'Whole places are scarred by the disaster,' German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a news conference.... Late Friday, a dam broke in the town of Wassenberg near Cologne, forcing 700 residents to evacuate, Reuters reported. The worst of the destruction was in areas near the Germany-Belgium border." ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to Victoria for the link.

Washington Post: "Gloria Richardson, a firebrand civil rights activist who drew national attention in the early 1960s in a showdown on Maryland's Eastern Shore that presaged the Black Power movement and led to a year-long imposition of martial law, died July 15 at her home in Manhattan. She was 99.... The uprising in Cambridge[, Maryland,] straddled a fault line between advocates for nonviolence, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and more-extremist leaders such as Malcolm X, whom Ms. Richardson considered a friend and supporter. Calling herself 'a radical, a revolutionary,' she also was reportedly one of few women leading a local civil rights protest movement at the time."

Also deceased, this guy: ~~~

~~~ Huffington Post: "William H. Regnery II, a racist, reclusive multimillionaire who used his inherited fortune to finance vile white supremacist groups in the hopes of one day forming an American whites-only ethnostate, died earlier this month, his family and associates confirmed. He was 80 years old. Regnery, whose family amassed riches from its right-wing publishing empire, died on July 2 in Florida after a 'long battle with cancer,' his cousin Alfred, the former head of Regnery Publishing, confirmed to HuffPost."