The Commentariat -- April 12, 2021

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Day 11 of Derek Chauvin's murder trial are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here.

A New Direction for CBP. Nick Miroff, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is preparing to nominate Tucson police chief Chris Magnus to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, selecting a critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies to run the country's largest federal law enforcement agency as it contends with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades. Magnus has led the Tucson police department since 2016 and has prominently associated himself with the reform movement favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that emphasizes a less-aggressive, community-based policing model." Politico's story is here.

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

~~~~~~~~~~

Donald Trump's gift to Joe Biden was a very low bar. Here we were on a Monday morning, picking up our newspapers, virtually or from the front porch, and not finding headlines about how the President had made a fool of himself over the weekend. (The same is not true of Trump, of course; he's still making a fool of himself on a weekend).

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "The ability of the Department of Health and Human Services to build shelters, move children quickly into them and then unite them with relatives and other sponsors in the United States is the first major test of whether the Biden administration can respond swiftly and effectively to a growing immigration crisis that has far-reaching political and human ramifications.... More than 20,000 [migrant] children and teenagers are in the custody of a government system that is already at '103 percent of capacity,' including nearly 17,000 in shelters run by the health department, according to briefing materials from Operation Artemis, a response to the border crisis led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Government projections obtained by The New York Times show there could be more than 35,000 migrant children to be cared for by June...."

They All Fall Down

Tara Palmieri & Rachel Bade of Politico: "A slew of well-heeled Republican National Committee donors descended on Palm Beach this weekend..., eager for access to Donald Trump.... [Of Trump's speech, one of them said,] 'It was horrible, it was long and negative.... It was dour. He didn't talk about the positive things that his administration has done.... Many major donors have been fed up with Trump's antics since Jan. 6." Emphasis removed. ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha. Gabby Orr, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Matt Gaetz, who's facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, was recently denied a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the Florida congressman. Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by aides close to the former President, who have urged Trump not to stick his neck out to defend Gaetz. Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, said the congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week." MB: Yeah, Matt, just another fake news story. Now, aren't you glad you spent all that effort humping Trump? The New York Times, in the article below, still refers to Gaetz as "a close ally of" Trump. Goes to show what Donald thinks of "close allies." ~~~

~~~ The Epitome of "A Florida Man." Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times on the strange, short political career of Joel Greenberg, one that "culminated in 33 federal charges against Mr. Greenberg, 36, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, fraud and stalking -- and led to a mushrooming political scandal that burst into national news in recent days and ensnared [Matt] Gaetz, who is a close ally of President Donald J. Trump, and other influential Florida Republicans, with the investigation continuing."

Danny Hakim & Mary Walsh of the New York Times: "For three decades, Wayne LaPierre has been the implacable face of the gun lobby, a scourge of the left who argued that giving ground on gun control was akin to giving up on America. So it was remarkable to see the shambolic turn his tenure atop the National Rifle Association has taken showcased last week in federal bankruptcy court in Dallas. Mr. LaPierre acknowledged that he had secretly taken the N.R.A. into bankruptcy -- without telling even his top lieutenants or most of his board -- essentially as an end run around attacks from the New York attorney general, who is seeking to shut down the group amid charges of financial mismanagement and corruption. And he made a string of admissions that served largely to underscore the N.R.A.'s disarray and the questions about his own fitness to lead it."

Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "In semi-private, encrypted chats, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists planned rallies in dozens of cities Sunday to promote their racist movements and spread their ideologies to larger audiences. Hyped by organizers as events that would make 'the whole world tremble,' the rallies ran into a major problem: Hardly anyone showed up. The 'White Lives Matter' rallies, the first major real-world organizing efforts by white supremacists since 2018, were planned on the encrypted app Telegram.... The poor showing underscores how the country's unpopular and disorganized extremist movements have been driven underground by increased scrutiny from the media, law enforcement agencies and far-left activists who infiltrate their private online spaces and disrupt their attempts to communicate and organize."

Mark Follman in Mother Jones on "how Trump unleashed a domestic terrorism movement": "The description of Trump as a terrorist leader is neither metaphor nor hyperbole -- it is the assessment of veteran national security experts. Trump, those experts say, adopted a method known as stochastic terrorism, a process of incitement where the instigator provokes extremist violence under the guise of plausible deniability.... His demagoguery was initially focused on 'the other,' ... Muslims..., Mexican[s]..., 'shithole' countries..., the news media. By his 2020 reelection campaign, he'd turned his incitement squarely on the American political leaders who opposed him..., [beginning with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against whom he incited a kidnapping plot]. After his election loss, Trump's incitement became ever more alarming." Follman goes on to cite expert advice on how to deal with a charismatic terrorist leader & his followers.

Charles Blow of the New York Times writes about the history & some implications of white replacement theory: "On Thursday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson caused an uproar by promoting the racist, anti-Semitic, patriarchal and conspiratorial 'white replacement theory.' Also known as the 'great replacement theory,' it stands on the premise that nonwhite immigrants are being imported (sometimes the Jewish community is accused of orchestrating this) to replace white people and white voters. The theory is also an inherent chastisement of white women for having a lower birthrate than nonwhite women."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell warned in an interview broadcast Sunday that reopening the economy too quickly could lead to another worrisome jump in coronavirus cases, arguing that the country has not completely turned the corner and that the pandemic continues to pose major risks to any recovery. Powell, speaking in a '60 Minutes' interview, also said that the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated economic disparities in the United States and that this could take time to address during an uneven recovery. In the interview, Powell described an economy that was at 'an inflection point,' showing signs of acceleration but still facing numerous risks."

Beyond the Beltway

Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia. Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers -- plus at least one NFL owner -- talked about potential ways to show they opposed the legislation, including by halting donations to politicians who support the bills and even delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures, according to four people who were on the call, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor. While no final steps were agreed upon, the meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America's stand against controversial voting measures nationwide, a sign that their opposition to the laws didn't end with the fight against the Georgia legislation passed in March. It also came just days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned that firms should 'stay out of politics.'..."" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gee, Mitch, who would have thought that threatening the hands that feed you -- especially when those hands are the appendages of (mostly) men who think they're the masters of the universe -- would not work out well for you?

Minnesota. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A police officer in Minnesota fatally shot a motorist on Sunday in the city of Brooklyn Center, about 10 miles north of Minneapolis where a police officer is on trial and charged with murdering George Floyd last year, the authorities and witnesses said. A large crowd of people was gathering Sunday evening at the scene where the driver died and some began to jump on and break the windows of police vehicles, according to video posted on Facebook. Officers with protective body gear and helmets were also at the scene, according to video posted on Twitter." An ABC News story is here.

Virginia. Rachel Chason of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Sunday he is directing Virginia State Police to investigate a traffic stop during which two police officers held an Army second lieutenant at gunpoint months ago in the southeast part of the state. Town officials said later that night that one officer was fired. Northam (D) said the incident -- in which body-camera footage shows police pepper-spraying, striking and handcuffing Caron Nazario -- 'is disturbing and angered me.' Nazario, 27, who is Black and Latino, filed a lawsuit this month against Windsor officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker that alleges excessive force due to racial profiling." Politico's story is here. MB: I had little faith that Gov. Northam had had a come-to-Jesus moment after there emerged decades-old college yearbook photos of him in blackface. I was wrong. Northam has consistently stepped up.

Way Beyond

Iran. Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: "A power failure that appeared to have been caused by a deliberately planned explosion struck Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment site on Sunday, in what Iranian officials called an act of sabotage that they suggested had been carried out by Israel. The blackout injected new uncertainty into diplomatic efforts that began last week to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal repudiated by the Trump administration." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Martin Chulov of the Guardian: "Israel appeared to confirm claims that it was behind a cyber-attack on Iran's main nuclear facility on Sunday, which Tehran's nuclear energy chief described as an act of terrorism that warranted a response against its perpetrators.... As Iranian authorities scrambled to deal with a large-scale blackout at Natanz, which the country's Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged had damaged the electricity grid at the site, the Israeli defence chief, Aviv Kochavi, said the country's 'operations in the Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy'."

The Commentariat -- April 11, 2021

"Clear the Capitol!" Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "From a secure room in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as rioters pummeled police and vandalized the building, Vice President Mike Pence tried to assert control. In an urgent phone call to the acting defense secretary, he issued a startling demand. 'Clear the Capitol,' Pence said. Elsewhere in the building, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were making a similarly dire appeal to military leaders, asking the Army to deploy the National Guard.... 'We must establish order,' said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a call with Pentagon leaders. But order would not be restored for hours.... The timeline ... contained in a previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon ... adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by ... Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response by the military and law enforcement.... With Trump not engaged, it fell to Pentagon officials, a handful of senior White House aides, the leaders of Congress and the vice president holed up in a secure bunker to manage the chaos."

Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A Texas man who boasted that he was at the United States Capitol when a pro-Trump mob stormed the building in January has been charged with plotting to blow up an Amazon data center in Virginia, the Justice Department said on Friday. The man, Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, of Wichita Falls, was arrested on Thursday after he took what he believed were explosive devices from a bomb supplier but were in fact inert objects provided by an undercover F.B.I. agent in Fort Worth, prosecutors said.... Federal officials said they had begun investigating the plot after a concerned citizen contacted the F.B.I. on Jan. 8 about alarming statements posted on MyMilitia.com, a forum dedicated to organizing militia groups."

Onward, Christian Soldiers! Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "A data breach from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has revealed that millions of dollars have been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms. It also identifies previously anonymous high-dollar donors to far-right actors, some of whom enjoy positions of wealth, power or public responsibility. Some of the biggest beneficiaries have been members of groups such as the Proud Boys, designated as a terrorist group in Canada, many of whose fundraising efforts were directly related to the 6 January attack on the United States Capitol."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell before a Republican National Committee donor retreat Saturday evening, deriding him as a 'dumb son of a bitch.' Trump veered off his prepared [remarks] during a roughly 50-minute speech before several hundred well-heeled GOP donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida, saying that he was 'disappointed' in former Vice President Mike Pence, calling last year's presidential election a 'fraud' and mocking Dr. Anthony Fauci.... Trump also went after McConnell's wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, for resigning her cabinet post after the Jan. 6 insurrection.... Much of Trump's Saturday night speech was aimed at relitigating the election results, on which the former president has remained fixated." ~~~

~~~ Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "'A tremendous complication' was how Fred Zeidman, a veteran Republican fund-raiser in Texas, described Mr. Trump's lingering presence on the political scene.... 'He's already proven that he wants to have a major say or keep control of the party, and he's already shown every sign that he's going to primary everybody that has not been supportive of him,' Mr. Zeidman said. 'He complicates everything so much.'... 'It is very important the Republican Party puts Donald Trump as far into the past as possible,' said William Oberndorf, an investor in California who has given millions to G.O.P. candidates but said he would now only give to Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach Mr. Trump."

Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump's company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearly bonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents. Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president's business activity and finances. Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump's longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle."

Douglas Martin of the New York Times: "Ramsey Clark, who championed civil rights and liberties as attorney general in the Johnson administration, then devoted much of the rest of his life to defending unpopular causes and infamous people, including Saddam Hussein and others accused of war crimes, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: "Emergent BioSolutions, the troubled manufacturer at the heart of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine production problems, gave its chief executive officer a 51 percent increase in total compensation in 2020, to $5.6 million, according to a public filing Friday. The annual proxy disclosure by the publicly traded company said CEO Robert Kramer received $893,000 in salary, a $1.2 million bonus, $2.1 million in stock awards, and $1.4 million in stock options." MB: If there's a company that makes some useless product that will have no impact on people's lives, I will be happy to accept $5MM to screw up production. My contact info is at the bottom of the right-hand column. Write me, MyPillow Guy!

Marie: BTW, I had to take a Covid test yesterday of the up-your-nose-with-a-rubber-hose variety, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the tales I've heard. The technician used a flat, stiff paper "stick" about 3/16" wide & maybe 6" long. I closed my eyes the better to miss her probing the crevices of my brain, and it took only 5 seconds. I'd say the probe stung a little, but it was by no means intolerable, especially because of the brevity of the test. So, really, nothing to worry about.

Beyond the Beltway

A Florida Woman. Dan Scanlan of the Florida Times-Union, republished in Yahoo! News: A "woman seen in a viral video giving the finger to another shopper then coughing in her face at a Jacksonville mall has been sentenced to 29 days in jail for assault." Although the perp -- Debra Jo Michele Hunter of toney Fernandina Beach -- had negotiated a plea deal with the prosecutor that avoided jail time, Duval County Judge James Ruth sentenced the woman to jail. Ruth said, "... I have yet to see any expression, or a significant expression on her regret about the impact it had on the victim in this case."

Maryland. Ovetta Wiggins & Erin Cox of the Washington Post: "Maryland enacted historic police accountability measures Saturday, becoming the first state to repeal its powerful Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights and setting new rules for when police may use force and how they are investigated and disciplined. The Democrat-dominated legislature dealt Republican Gov. Larry Hogan a sharp rebuke, overriding his vetoes of measures that raise the bar for officers to use force; give civilians a role in police discipline for the first time; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate body cameras; and open some allegations of police wrongdoing for public review. Each bill had been hailed by criminal justice advocates as having the potential to make policing in the state fairer and more transparent." The New York Times' story is here.

Washington State. Shoot First, Cover Up Later. Mike Baker & Evan Hill of the New York Times: "When a U.S. Marshals task force killed a self-described antifa activist in Washington State in September, the Trump administration applauded the removal of a 'violent agitator' who was suspected of murder. Last week, local investigators concluded a monthslong homicide inquiry with the announcement that the activist, Michael Reinoehl, had most likely fired at authorities first, effectively justifying the shooting. But a review of investigation documents obtained by The New York Times suggests that investigators for the Thurston County Sheriff's Office discounted key pieces of contradicting evidence that indicate Mr. Reinoehl may never have fired or pointed a gun.... The handgun ... recovered from Mr. Reinoehl had a full magazine, according to multiple photos compiled by Thurston County authorities showing Mr. Reinoehl's handgun. The gun was found in his pocket.... One of the witnesses that Thurston County investigators relied on to reach their conclusion that Mr. Reinoehl had fired his gun was an 8-year-old boy. His father, Garrett Louis..., has consistently said he believed that officers opened fire first without shouting any warnings. Of the two other witnesses who investigators cited to support the conclusion that Mr. Reinoehl fired his gun, one did not see it happen and the other was not sure."

Way Beyond

Russia. Isabelle Khurshudyan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Russia is steadily massing its largest military presence in years near the Ukrainian border -- on land and at sea -- as the Kremlin tests Western support for Kyiv and its battles against pro-Moscow separatists less than three months into the Biden administration.... Moving forces from as far away as Siberia -- more than 2,000 miles distance -- to near Ukraine and onto the Crimean Peninsula has injected new levels of alarm in a region that has been a flash point between the West and Moscow since 2014.... [But] Russia's sudden military surge [this year] appears to be more about sending messages than launching a fresh offensive, analysts said."

The Commentariat -- April 10, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

Douglas Martin of the New York Times: "Ramsey Clark, who championed civil rights and liberties as attorney general in the Johnson administration, then devoted much of the rest of his life to defending unpopular causes and infamous people, including Saddam Hussein and others accused of war crimes, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump's company paid a skating rink manager more than $200,000 in annual salary, $40,000 yearly bonuses and provided free company-owned apartments for his family, according to testimony of the employee, Barry Weisselberg, and his financial documents. Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president's business activity and finances. Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump's longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle."

~~~~~~~~~~

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday asked Congress to authorize a massive $1.5 trillion federal spending plan later this year, seeking to invest heavily in a number of government agencies to boost education, expand affordable housing, bolster public health and confront climate change. The request marks Biden's first discretionary spending proposal, a precursor to the full annual budget he aims to release later in the spring that will address programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The president's early blueprint calls for a nearly 16 percent increase in funding across nondefense domestic agencies, reflecting the White House's guiding belief that a bigger, better-resourced government in Washington can help address the country's most pressing political and economic challenges." An AP report is here. ~~~

~~~ Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "Not since Lyndon Baines Johnson's momentous civil rights and anti-poverty legislation has an American president so pointedly put racial and economic equity at the center of his agenda.... Yet as ambitious as [Joe Biden's] efforts are, academic experts and some policymakers say still more will be needed to repair one of the most stubborn and invidious inequalities: the gap in wealth between Black and white Americans. Wealth -- one's total assets --is the most meaningful measure of financial strength. Yet for every dollar a typical white household has, a Black one has 12 cents, a divide that has grown over the last half-century. Latinos have 21 cents for every dollar in white wealth." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Cohen's number may be skewed by the super-wealthy -- Jeff Bezos, Bill & Melinda Gates, etc. -- almost all of whom are White. One would not consider these families to fit into the "typical white household" box. Nonetheless, if you correct for super-rich White people, I assume there will still be a startling difference between the wealth of "typical" White & minority American families.

Michael Shear & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday ordered a 180-day study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, making good on a campaign-year promise to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the potentially explosive subjects of expanding the court or setting term limits for justices, White House officials said. The president acted under pressure from activists pushing for more seats to alter the ideological balance of the court...." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) The AP's story is here.

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Roberta S. Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico whom President Biden chose as his 'border czar' on the National Security Council, will step down at the end of the month, she said on Friday, even as the administration struggles to confront a surge of migrants at the nation's southwestern border. Ms. Jacobson, who had been described as one of the Biden administration's key players in dealing with the governments in the Northern Triangle area of Central America, praised what she called Mr. Biden's efforts to repair and recast the nation's immigration system after four years under ... Donald J. Trump.... Ms. Jacobson said that her appointment as a special assistant to the president and as the border coordinator in the White House was always intended to last for only about 100 days -- a period that will expire at the end of April, when she intends to leave government."; UPI's story is here.

Jeremy Herb & Annie Grayer of CNN: "The House Ethics Committee said Friday it was opening an investigation into the allegations surrounding embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican facing a federal investigation into whether he violated sex trafficking laws. The top Democrat and Republican on the Ethics Committee said they were examining Gaetz for a host of potential offenses, including both potential illegal activity and violations of House rules. 'The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,' Ethics Chairman Ted Deutch of Florida and ranking Republican member Jackie Walorski of Indiana said in a joint statement Friday." ~~~

~~~ Eric Tucker, et al., of the AP: "Federal agents have, in recent months, been examining [Matt] Gaetz's connections to several other influential Florida political figures. They include Florida state senator Jason Brodeur; Halsey Beshears, the state's former top business regulator; Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist who had served in the state House of Representatives; and Jason Pirozzolo, a hand surgeon and Gaetz campaign donor who served on the board of the Orlando Airport Authority, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.... Gaetz, who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, has retained two prominent New York attorneys while facing a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls.... a spokesperson for Gaetz said attorneys Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner will lead his legal team.... During a high-profile appearance Friday night at ... Donald Trump's Doral golf club in Miami, he vowed, 'I have not yet begun to fight.'"

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Trump appointees in the Department of Health and Human Services last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists' reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with ... Donald Trump's more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.... Even as career government scientists worked to combat the virus, a cadre of Trump appointees was attempting to blunt the scientists' messages, edit their findings and equip the president with an alternate set of talking points." ~~~

~~~ Among those cited in Diamond's report is Michael Caputo, then HHS's public affairs director. ~~~

~~~ I Forgot??? Scott Stedman & Matt Bernardini of Forensic News: "Michael Caputo, a former senior aide to Donald Trump, who spent decades working in Russia and former Soviet states, failed to disclose a lavish painting gifted to him by a Ukrainian lobbying group in 2020. The review of Caputo's lobbying comes after a recent report from the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. election which revealed that Russian intelligence assets 'helped produce' a documentary created by Caputo and aired on One America News Network (OANN) in January 2020. The documentary ... spread numerous unfounded theories about the uprising in Ukraine in 2014 that ousted the pro-Russian President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, as well as Hunter and Joe Biden's dealings in Ukraine.... The failure to report his gift to the Justice Department ... coupled with the fact that he was paid just $1 for his lobbying efforts, has raised numerous questions about the true purpose of Caputo's work given his concurrent work with Russian spies ... Konstantin Kilimnik and Andriy Derkach" on the so-called documentary.

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Karen Weise & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Amazon appeared to beat back the most significant labor drive in its history on Friday, when an initial tally showed that workers at its giant warehouse in Alabama had voted decisively against forming a union. Workers cast at least 1,608 votes against a union, giving Amazon enough to defeat the effort, as ballots in favor of a union trailed at 696, according to a preliminary count. Hundreds of votes remained to be tallied, but are not enough to bridge Amazon's margin of victory. Once the count is complete, the results will still need to be certified by federal officials." MB: First, I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump; second, I'm gonna vote for Jeff Bezos; third, I'm gonna whine about Blacks & Latinos keeping me from getting ahead. (Also linked yesterday.)

It's Not Easy Being White -- Tucker the Toad

Nikki Ramirez of Media Matters: "For decades, white nationalists have invoked the specter of nonwhite immigration, multiculturalism, and declining birthrates to argue for the existence of a vast conspiracy aimed at eliminating white populations as a dominant demographic. On Fox News, Tucker Carlson is distributing the language, grievances, goals, and inherent call to action of the conspiracy theory to massive audiences. On the April 8 broadcast of Fox News Primetime, Carlson offered perhaps his most explicit justification yet for the core belief of the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory: that a wave of 'Third World' invaders is coming to replace you and reshape your environment, and that you, the audience, should do something about it. The Fox News host claimed that 'what's true' is that 'the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,' and no one should 'sit back and take that.'"

Max Boot of the Washington Post: "On Thursday night, [Tucker] Carlson moved even closer to white supremacist ideology by explicitly endorsing the Great Replacement theory, which holds that shadowy elites are orchestrating a plot to replace native-born White people with immigrants of color. The New Zealand shooter's manifesto was literally headlined 'The Great Replacement,' and the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville chanted 'Jews will not replace us.'" Boot name-checks a number of "senior directors and managers of Fox who are immigrants -- and even more who are the children or grandchildren of immigrants," including of course Rupert Murdoch. "The irony, of course, is that, by their very success in America, so many senior Fox leaders disprove Carlson's bigoted assumption that immigration is a source of weakness for this country."

You Will Not Replace Us. Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Anti-Defamation League is calling for Fox News to fire Tucker Carlson. 'Given his long record of race-baiting, we believe it is time for Carlson to go,' ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says. There is zero indication that Fox will take such a step -- or even reprimand Carlson. But the ADL's call, delivered in a letter to Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott, underscores the extreme and unsettling nature of Carlson's anti-immigration commentary.... No one is being 'replaced.' Existing voters are not being exchanged for the 'more obedient' migrants Carlson imagines. But Carlson has raised this notion repeatedly on his own 8 p.m. program. In Friday's letter to Fox, Greenblatt said 'at ADL, we believe in dialogue and giving people a chance to redeem themselves, but Carlson's full-on embrace of the white supremacist replacement theory on yesterday's show and his repeated allusions to racist themes in past segments are a bridge too far.' The letter pointed out that 'replacement theory' is what 'undergirds the modern white supremacist movement in America.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court late Friday night lifted California's restrictions on religious gatherings in private homes, saying they could not be enforced to bar prayer meetings, Bible study classes and the like. The court's brief, unsigned order followed earlier ones striking down limits on attendance at houses of worship meant to combat the coronavirus. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court's three liberal members in dissent."

Julie Bosman & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Nowhere in America is the coronavirus pandemic more out of control than in Michigan.... Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. Officials are reporting more than 7,000 new infections each day, a sevenfold increase from late February. And Michigan is home to nine of the 10 metro areas with the country’s highest recent case rates. During previous surges in Michigan, a resolute Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shut down businesses and schools as she saw fit -- over the din of both praise and protests. But this time, Ms. Whitmer ... [said,] 'Policy change alone won't change the tide,' Ms. Whitmer said on Friday, as she asked -- but did not order -- that the public take a two-week break from indoor dining, in-person high school and youth sports. 'We need everyone to step up and to take personal responsibility here.' It is a rare moment in the pandemic: a high-profile Democratic governor bucking the pleas of doctors and epidemiologists in her state and instead asking for voluntary actions from the public to control the virus's spread."

Sean Burch of the Wrap: "YouTube has deleted a video in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a handful of medical experts questioned the effectiveness of having children wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19." MB: One of the "medical experts" was Scott Atlas. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Tim Arango, et al., of the New York Times: "In a trial where many key figures have spent hours on the stand, the prosecution whipped through one of their most anticipated witnesses, the doctor who performed George Floyd's official autopsy, in a mere 50 minutes on Friday. The reasons for their haste became clear as the witness, Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, refrained from placing the sole blame for Mr. Floyd';s death on the police as he testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer charged with murder. In his testimony, Dr. Baker said police restraint was the main cause of Mr. Floyd's death, but he also cited drug use and heart disease as contributing factors, saying that Mr. Floyd died 'in the context of' the actions taken by three police officers as they pinned Mr. Floyd to the street for more than nine minutes." The AP's report is here.

Virginia. D.W.B. Emma Ockerman of Vice News: "Caron Nazario was driving his newly-purchased Chevy Tahoe home when two police officers pulled him over in Windsor, Virginia, whipped out their guns, and started barking orders. With their weapons raised, the officers demanded that Nazario, a Black and Latino man, get out of the SUV. Nazario ... placed his cellphone on his dashboard to film the December 5 encounter. He repeatedly asked to know what was going on. At one point, he even admitted to being afraid to leave the vehicle. 'Yeah, you should be,' one of the officers responded. Nazario, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, was coming home from work and in full uniform at the time.... By the end of the incident, the cops would threaten Nazario, pepper-spray him in the face, and knee-strike him in the legs, according to body camera footage, Nazario's cellphone video, and legal filings." Nazario was pulled over supposedly because his new vehicle did not have a permanent plate. However, the car had visible temporary plates taped to the windows.

Way Beyond

Russia. Washington Post Editors: "Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime is slowly but very intentionally murdering his leading political opponent, Alexei Navalny.... The Kremlin has done this before. In 2009, Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who had uncovered a massive fraud perpetrated by a group of senior government officials, died in prison following gross mistreatment like that Mr. Navalny is enduring.... The United States and other Western governments have taken some steps to support Mr. Navalny.... But if his life is to be saved, much stronger action is needed. [William Browder, who has sought justice for Mr. Magnitsky,] argues that the right targets are the 35 oligarchs whom Mr. Navalny himself has identified as the holders and protectors of Mr. Putin's massive private fortune. Start freezing assets and applying visa bans to those tycoons and their families, he advises, and keep going until Mr. Navalny is released."

U.K. Tina Brown, in a New York Times op-ed, remembers Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died Friday morning. MB: Rather fun, reading avid snobs applauding the monarchy. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Cause of Death: Black Woman. Kaity Assaf of Salon: "On Friday, "Fox and Friends" host Brian Kilmeade wasted no time in placing the blame of 99-year-old Prince Philip's death on none other than Meghan Markle. Kilmeade seemed to indicate that Markle and her husband's interview with Oprah Winfrey while Philip was ill, affected his recovery process which ultimately led to his death. Kilmeade said on Friday's show: 'There are reports that [Philip] was enraged after the interview and the fallout from the interview with Oprah Winfrey, so here he is trying to recover and he's hit with that.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What's really great about white people is that we don't have to play "Six Degrees of Separation" to find the connection between minorities & whatever ill may befall us. Nope, it only takes one degree. I lost my job ... because a Mexican took it. Prince Philip died ... because a black woman upset him.