The Commentariat -- February 2, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Democrats made their case to convict ... Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in a sweeping impeachment brief filed with the Senate Tuesday that accused Trump of jeopardizing the foundations of American democracy by whipping his supporters into a 'frenzy' for the sole purpose of retaining his hold on the presidency. In the brief, the House's nine impeachment managers made an impassioned case that Trump was 'singularly responsible' for the mayhem that day -- and that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors..., primarily because he used the powers of his office to advance his own personal political interests at the expense of the nation." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the House brief for Trump's second impeachment trial, via NPR.

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "As Republicans splinter over how to deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene..., Democrats are seizing on the infighting to make her the avatar for an array of G.O.P. lawmakers. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday began a $500,000 advertising campaign on television and online tying eight House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, to Ms. Greene and QAnon, an effort to force them to make a public affirmation about Ms. Greene." MB: Not sure how smart this ad run is; a large percentage of Republicans are glad MTG & Kevin are saving us from Hillary & the other "Democrat" pedophiles.

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "It's Marjorie Taylor Greene's party now." Here's the graf P.D. Pepe highlighted in today's Comments: "If you're steeped in creationism and believe that elites are lying to you about the origins of life on earth, it's not a stretch to believe they're lying to you about a life-threatening virus. If what you know of history is the revisionist version of the Christian right, in which God deeded America to the faithful, then pluralism will feel like the theft of your birthright. If you believe that the last Democratic president was illegitimate, as Trump and other birthers claimed, then it's not hard to believe that dark forces would foist another unconstitutional leader on the country." MB: That's a good explanation of why the GOP is what it is.

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, to more than two years in prison on Tuesday, a decision likely to send him for a lengthy term in a far-flung penal colony for the first time. Tuesday's sentencing represented a pivotal moment for President Vladimir V. Putin's Russia. Mr. Navalny, one of the main challengers of the Kremlin, has inspired some of the biggest street protests of the Putin era and repeatedly embarrassed the president and his close allies with investigative reports about alleged corruption that were viewed many millions of times on YouTube. Until now, the authorities have tried to contain him with short jail terms of a few weeks to avoid making Mr. Navalny into a political martyr. The decision to send him to prison removes his direct voice from Russia's political landscape, but it could energize his supporters and further rally Russian opposition to Mr. Putin around the figure of Mr. Navalny."

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January 31, 2021. Washington Post photo.Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ten Senate Republicans attempted to sell President Joe Biden Monday night on a coronavirus relief compromise, even as Biden's own party made plans to leave the GOP in the dust. In the two-hour meeting, the GOP senators presented their $618 billion counterproposal to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the president described his own $1.9 trillion plan to the senators. They agreed to keep talking, although senators conceded their discussions were just beginning.... 'While there were areas of agreement, the President also reiterated his view that Congress must respond boldly and urgently, and noted many areas which the Republican senators' proposal does not address. He reiterated that while he is hopeful that the Rescue Plan can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said after the meeting."

Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath & Stef Kight of Axios: "President Biden will sign three immigration-related executive orders on Tuesday -- including one that will establish a task force aimed at reuniting migrant families separated under former President Trump's hardline immigration policies, according to senior administraiton officials."

Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "If confirmed as U.S. agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, 70, will reprise his role in a political and economic landscape vastly different from that during his eight years in the same job during the Obama administration. In prepared remarks ahead of his Tuesday hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, he alluded to those differences. 'Then, a Great Recession challenged us. Today, the pandemic, racial justice and equity, and climate change must be our priorities,' Vilsack wrote. Although the Iowa native is expected to enjoy a smooth confirmation process with broad bipartisan support, he has come under criticism from civil rights groups and Black farmers who say he didn't go far enough last time to eradicate long-standing racial discrimination in farming and at the department."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A whistle-blower complaint filed on Monday said a top Trump homeland security official sought to constrain the Biden administration's immigration agenda by agreeing to hand policy controls to the pro-Trump union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The complaint accuses Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II of 'gross mismanagement, gross waste of government funds and abuse of authority' over the labor agreements he signed with the immigration agents' union the day before President Biden's inauguration. Mr. Cuccinelli -- an immigration hard-liner whose legal legitimacy to serve in senior positions at the Department of Homeland Security was contested -- essentially sought to tie Mr. Biden's hands, according to the complaint. 'This abuse of authority is shocking,' wrote David Z. Seide, a lawyer representing the whistle-blower, whom he described as 'a current federal employee who wishes to remain anonymous' and who 'possesses information concerning significant acts of misconduct' by Mr. Cuccinelli." ~~~

      ~~~ Marie: It appears that in some regards, the union is more powerful than the POTUS* & the DHS secretary in that Cuccinelli's "deal" allows the union to veto presidential & Cabinet-level policy orders for the next eight years (i.e., the maximum length of a Biden administration).

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday vacated the Trump administration rule limiting which scientific studies the Environmental Protection Agency can use in crafting public health protections, overturning one of the last major actions taken by the agency before President Biden took office. The ruling by Judge Brian Morris, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls, marked a victory for environmental groups and public health advocates. Just two weeks before Biden's inauguration, EPA finalized a rule requiring researchers to disclose the raw data involved in their public health studies before the agency could rely upon their conclusions. The rule, which was made effective immediately, would assign less weight to studies built on medical histories and other confidential data from human subjects where the underlying information was not revealed. That sort of research -- including dose-response studies, which evaluate how much a person's exposure to a substance increases the risk of harm -- have been used for decades to justify EPA regulations."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The federal prosecutor tapped by ... Donald Trump to lead the Atlanta U.S. Attorney's Office during Trump's failed bid to overturn the election has resigned from that post, a spokesman confirmed Monday. Bobby Christine ... had been appointed by Trump as the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia after fellow Trump appointee Byung J. 'Bjay' Pak suddenly resigned Jan. 4. The move raised questions of possible political interference, as Trump bypassed Pak's deputy -- who would otherwise have taken over as acting U.S. attorney by default -- to install an official who was leading the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of Georgia. At the time, Trump was pressing officials in the state to support his unfounded claims of voter fraud, and Christine brought with him to Atlanta two prosecutors who had been assigned to monitor election malfeasance. Christine will remain as the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Georgia, a post Trump appointed him to in 2017, officials said. Kurt Erskine, who had been Pak's deputy, will take over in Atlanta on an acting basis, a spokesman for that office said. The Justice Department has previously told employees that President Biden's administration had asked Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys who remained after the inauguration to stay on 'for the time being.'"

Juliegrace Brufke & Scott Wong of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blasted Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's embrace of 'loony lies and conspiracy theories' as a 'cancer for the Republican Party.' 'Somebody who's suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality,' McConnell said in a statement first shared with The Hill.... McConnell didn't mention Greene by name in his three-sentence statement, but his rare, scathing remarks about a freshman GOP lawmaker from the other chamber suggests he recognizes the potential damage her violent rhetoric and bizarre conspiracy theories could inflict on congressional Republicans as they try to take back both the House and Senate in next year's midterms. Greene responded on Twitter, writing that 'the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully.'" The New York Times' story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Top House Democrats are moving to force Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene [R] off multiple committees this week -- with or without Kevin McCarthy's help. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered an ultimatum to McCarthy on Monday: Either Republicans move on their own to strip Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee assignments within 72 hours, or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor. ~~~

     ~~~ Tina Nguyen of Politico: "Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene [R] said on Monday that she would soon be visiting ... Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Amid revelations of more inflammatory social media posts she has made and videos she's produced, the controversial Georgia Republican has claimed to have Trump's backing, saying last week that the former president had called her and supported her.

Manu Raju of CNN: "Rep. Liz Cheney, under fire from ... Donald Trump and his staunchest defenders, is picking up support from some influential Republicans as her allies close ranks and resist the effort to oust her from the third-ranking spot in House GOP leadership. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was the latest Republican to give her a boost, saying in a statement to CNN that she had 'the courage' to act on her convictions in the aftermath of her vote to impeach Trump last month on a charge he incited the deadly insurrection that ransacked Capitol Hill on January 6. 'Liz Cheney is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them,' McConnell said. 'She is an important leader in our party and in our nation....' The statement comes as a cross-section of GOP lawmakers -- from top Republicans in Senate leadership like fellow Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso to some conservative House Freedom Caucus members like Rep. Chip Roy of Texas -- have publicly defended Cheney in the face of the onslaught from Trump defenders eager to see her defeated." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Between his comments about Marjorie Greene & those about Liz Cheney, it appears Mitch is sending a message to Kevin McCarthy, along the lines of, "You're useless." Public disagreements among the two top party leaders is, to say the least, highly unusual. So is it rare for the party leader of one House of Congress to meddle with that party's business in the other House. Update: I see the WashPo agrees: ~~~

     ~~~ Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday delivered a scathing rebuke of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's actions and defended Rep. Liz Cheney's decision to vote to impeach former president Donald Trump, weighing in for the first time on the criticism facing both lawmakers. The statements together are both an unusual venture from a Senate leader onto the other chamber's turf and an unmistakable signal to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that, for the party's sake, he must sideline extremists such as Greene (R-Ga.) and maintain a place for traditional Republicans such as Cheney (R-Wyo.). On Wednesday morning, House Republicans will hold a conference-wide meeting during which the actions of both lawmakers are expected to be discussed."

Alayna Treene of Axios: "Disagreements over legal strategy weren't the only reason Donald Trump's defense team collapsed just days before his second impeachment trial, Axios has learned.... The notoriously stingy former president and his lead lawyer, Butch Bowers, wrangled over compensation during a series of tense phone calls, sources familiar with their conversations said. The argument came even though Trump has raised over $170 million from the public that could be used on his legal defenses."

Gabby Orr & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "A constellation of conservative groups that rallied behind ... Donald Trump during his first impeachment is sitting this one out, confident that the outcome is preordained. The groups have gone quiet on social media, eschewing the pro-Trump tweets and calls for action that dominated their Twitter feeds last time Trump was approaching a Senate trial. Others said they are content to watch from the sidelines...."

Thanks, Trump! A Good Time to Be a Panda (see Feb. 1 news lede). Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As inches of snow pile up during Washington's biggest winter storm in two years, there is one place that won't be seeing any snowball fights. The Capitol grounds, one of the best spots in the city for sledding, are now off limits, another reverberation of the rampage there on Jan. 6. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting House delegate, has urged the Capitol Police to allow the tradition to continue this week. The activity could be done safely, Ms. Norton said in a statement on Saturday, 'by allowing only children and adults accompanied by children' into the area. But a Capitol Police spokeswoman, Eva Malecki, citing the current security concerns and the city's coronavirus restrictions, said it could not be permitted. 'We, however, look forward to welcoming sledders back in the future,' she said in a statement."

Matthew Choi of Politico: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday offered a deeply personal account of the Capitol insurrection, denouncing Republican calls to move on from the event as akin to tactics used by abusers and opening up about her own history with sexual assault. Via Instagram Live, the New York Democrat excoriated Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, saying they had encouraged the rioters by supporting ... Donald Trump's challenges to the 2020 election, and accusing them of failing to take responsibility for their role. She said members of Congress were aware of the risks days before the attack, adding that some of her colleagues had warned her to be careful on Jan. 6.... 'We cannot move on without accountability. We cannot heal without accountability,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'And so all of these people who want to tell us to move on are doing so at their own convenience.' What they are saying is that '"I would do it again. I don't regret it at all."' she continued. 'If that's their stance, they continue to be a danger for their colleagues.'" YouTube has a video of the Instagram forum here. (Discussion of the Capitol siege begins @ about 1:30 min. in.) It runs about an hour-and-a-half.

Gaetz Staffer Cheers on the Insurrection. Dell Cameron of Gizmodo: "As police struggled futilely to fend off a wave of rioters outside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, Joel Valdez, an aide to Congressman Matt Gaetz, made his way to the rooftop of his boss's office building across the street on Independence Ave. Surveying the mob as it surrounded the complex, he captured a five-second video with his phone and posted it to Parler -- the now-defunct social network where some supporters of President Trump are reported to have openly planned an insurrection for weeks. 'From the top of the Capitol office buildings, WE HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR!' Valdez posted, adding the hashtag '#StopTheSteal'.... Metadata from Valdez's video ... reveals it was taken at roughly 1:14 p.m. ET that day. The rioters had by that time already breached at least three police barricades and forced officers back onto the Capitol steps where they were violently engaged, according to a timeline of events reported by the New York Times."

Evan Perez & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Investigators have recommended that prosecutors decline to bring charges against a US Capitol Police officer in the shooting of a pro-Trump rioter who was killed during the insurrection, according to people familiar with the matter. The shooting of pro-Trump rioter, Ashli Babbitt, remains under investigation by the DC Metropolitan Police, the US Attorney's Office in Washington, DC, and civil rights prosecutors, a routine process for shootings involving the Capitol Police. A final decision hasn't been made, the people familiar with the probe told CNN. Justice Department officials could make a final decision in the coming days."

Cowboy Couy to Stay over in Bunkhouse Fed. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal magistrate judge in Washington has ordered that a New Mexico county commissioner charged for breaching security lines at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot be detained pending trial. Lawyers for Couy Griffin, 47, urged that he be allowed to return home, but Judge Zia Faruqui sided with prosecutors who said the Cowboys for Trump founder was a flight risk. During a videoconference hearing Monday afternoon, Faruqui said Griffin's disdain for the government was so intense that he was unlikely to obey the court's orders."

The Dingbat Brigade. Blake Ellis & Melanie Hicken of CNN: "... at least eight of the people who are now facing criminal charges for their involvement in the [insurrectionist] events at the Capitol did not vote in the November 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis of voting records from the states where protestors were arrested and those states where public records show they have lived." MB: This is hardly surprising. These are irresponsible, impulsive nitwits, and consistency plays no part in their lives.

Tales of the Grifter, Ctd. Shane Goldbacher & Rachel Shorey of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party leveraged false claims of voter fraud and promises to overturn the election to raise more than a quarter-billion dollars in November and December as hundreds of thousands of trusting supporters listened and opened their wallets. But the Trump campaign spent only a tiny fraction of its haul on lawyers and other legal bills related to those claims. Instead, Mr. Trump and the G.O.P. stored away much of the money -- $175 million or so -- even as they continued to issue breathless, aggressive and often misleading appeals for cash that promised it would help with recounts, the rooting out of election fraud and even the Republican candidates' chances in the two Senate runoff races in Georgia. What fraction of the money Mr. Trump did spend after the election was plowed mostly into a public-relations campaign and to keep his perpetual fund-raising machine whirring, with nearly $50 million going toward online advertising, text-message outreach and a small television ad campaign. Only about $10 million spent by Mr. Trump's campaign went to actual legal costs...."

Trump's Own Campaign Concludes 81 Million Americans Think He's a Lying, Incompetent Ass. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump has blamed the election results on unfounded claims of fraud and malfeasance. But at the top levels of his campaign, a detailed autopsy report that circulated among his political aides paints a far different -- and more critical -- portrait of what led to his defeat. The post-mortem, a copy of which was obtained by Politico, says the former president suffered from voter perception that he wasn't honest or trustworthy and that he was crushed by disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And while Trump spread baseless accusations of ballot-stuffing in heavily Black cities, the report notes that he was done in by hemorrhaging support from white voters. The 27-page report, which was written by Trump chief pollster Tony Fabrizio, shows how Trump advisers were privately reckoning with his loss even as the former president and many of his supporters engaged in a conspiracy theory-fueled effort to overturn the election. The autopsy was completed in December 2020 and distributed to Trump's top political advisers just before President Joe Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration. It is unclear if Trump has seen the report." The Washington Post's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Could I please be the one to read Donald the report? I will drive through the blizzard now swirling around me to get to Mar-a-Lardo to recite the highlights.

Tim Reid of Reuters: &"Dozens of Republicans in former President George W. Bush's administration are leaving the party, dismayed by a failure of many elected Republicans to disown Donald Trump after his false claims of election fraud sparked a deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol last month.... 'The Republican Party as I knew it no longer exists. I'd call it the cult of Trump,' said Jimmy Gurulé, who was Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Bush administration. Kristopher Purcell, who worked in the Bush White House's communications office for six years, said roughly 60 to 70 former Bush officials have decided to leave the party or are cutting ties with it, from conversations he has been having. 'The number is growing every day,' Purcell said. Their defection from the Republican Party after a lifetime of service for many is another clear sign of how a growing intraparty conflict over Trump and his legacy is fracturing it."

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Claims that conservative voices are being censored online by social media platforms are not backed by evidence and are themselves a disinformation narrative, according to a report released Monday. The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights' report concluded that anti-conservative bias claims, boosted by some top Republican lawmakers including former President Trump, are not based on any tangible evidence. 'The claim of anti-conservative animus is itself a form of disinformation: a falsehood with no reliable evidence to support it. No trustworthy large-scale studies have determined that conservative content is being removed for ideological reasons or that searches are being manipulated to favor liberal interests,' the report stated.... Despite the repeated accusations by Republicans, the report found that by 'many measures, conservative voices -- including that of the ex-president, until he was banished from Twitter and Facebook -- often are dominant in online political debates.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You knew this already, of course, but an independent study won't cause any wingers to quit whining; they will simply discount any study coming out of a New York City (the Village yet!) university.

Samantha Kubota of NBC's Today: Dolly Parton "told Today in an interview that ... Donald Trump's administration tried to give her the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, twice but she had to turn them down. 'I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn't travel because of the COVID,' she explained, adding that she has since heard from President Joe Biden about the award as well. 'Now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics, so I'm not sure.'"

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "A fast-spreading coronavirus variant first observed in Britain has gained a mutation that could make it harder to control with vaccines, Public Health England reported on Monday. It is the latest evidence that the virus is undergoing a worrisome evolution worldwide. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, first came to light in December. Researchers determined that it had rapidly became more common across Britain in just a couple of months."

Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "The rate of new coronavirus infections is declining in the United States after rapid increases over the holiday season. The seven-day average of new U.S. cases was down 13 percent as of Tuesday, with an especially dramatic drop of 30 percent in Arizona. Deaths, however, increased across the country by 2 percent, following record hospitalizations early in January, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. More than 441,000 people have died after contracting the coronavirus in the United States, and there have been more than 26 million infections over the past year. Data also shows growing instances of new variants of the virus, particularly the one identified in Britain."

Akilah Johnson of the Washington Post: "Race and ethnicity data was [were!] missing for nearly half of all coronavirus vaccine recipients during the first month shots were available, further stymieing efforts to ensure an equitable response to a pandemic that continues to unduly burden communities of color, federal researchers reported Monday.... 'We must address these insufficient data points as an urgent priority,' Marcella Nunez-Smith, chair of President Biden's covid-19 equity task force, said Monday during an administration coronavirus news briefing. 'I'm worried about how behind we are. So, let me be clear: We cannot ensure an equitable vaccination program without data to guide us.' The disease has spread through communities of color at higher rates, exposing the structural racism and inequality baked into the American health system that experts say has resulted in the virus's disparate toll." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This problem is no doubt due to Trump's let-the-states-figure-it-out approach. In an normal data collection effort, every state would be submitting data on the same topics & in the same format. In the Trump "system," even data collections within states was not consistent if Louisiana is any indication. But then they really didn't care, did they?

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Rochester Needs a New Police Department. Laura Ly & Eric Levenson of CNN: "Police officers in Rochester, New York, handcuffed and pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl while responding to what a police official called a report of 'family trouble' in an incident sharply criticized by city officials. Two body camera videos of Friday's incident released by the police department on Sunday show officers restraining the child, putting her in handcuffs and attempting to get her inside the back of a police vehicle as she repeatedly cries and calls for her father. After the girl fails to follow commands to put her feet inside the car, the officers are seen pepper-spraying her.... The officers involved were suspended Monday, according to a news release from city officials. CNN has reached out to the police union for comment. The incident has troubling similarities to the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died in March after Rochester police pinned him to the ground and placed a hood over his head as he experienced a mental health crisis."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Hal Holbrook, who carved out a substantial acting career in television and film but who achieved his widest acclaim onstage, embodying Mark Twain in all his craggy splendor and vinegary wit in a one-man show seen around the world, died on Jan. 23 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 95.... Mr. Holbrook had a long and fruitful run as an actor. He was the shadowy patriot Deep Throat in 'All the President's Men' (1976); an achingly grandfatherly character in 'Into the Wild' (2007), for which he received an Oscar nomination; and the influential Republican Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' (2012). He played the 16th president himself, on television, in Carl Sandburg's 'Lincoln,' a 1974 mini-series. The performance earned him an Emmy Award, one of five he won for his acting in television movies and mini-series...."

Weather Channel: "Winter Storm Orlena is making for a trying day across most of the Northeast on Monday. Some areas have already received more than a foot and a half of snow and more is expected.... All flights at LaGuardia were suspended and over 1,600 flights canceled nationwide. Officials urge people to stay off the roads after hundreds of crashes were reported. COVID vaccination sites were closed Monday because of the storm." ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post has a photo slide show of the snow storm that hit the Mid-Atlantic & Northeast Monday.

The Commentariat -- February 1, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Claims that conservative voices are being censored online by social media platforms are not backed by evidence and are themselves a disinformation narrative, according to a report released Monday. The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights' report concluded that anti-conservative bias claims, boosted by some top Republican lawmakers including former President Trump, are not based on any tangible evidence. 'The claim of anti-conservative animus is itself a form of disinformation: a falsehood with no reliable evidence to support it. No trustworthy large-scale studies have determined that conservative content is being removed for ideological reasons or that searches are being manipulated to favor liberal interests,' the report stated.... Despite the repeated accusations by Republicans, the report found that by 'many measures, conservative voices -- including that of the ex-president, until he was banished from Twitter and Facebook -- often are dominant in online political debates.'" MB: You knew this already, of course, but an independent study won't cause any wingers to quit whining; they will simply discount any study coming out of a New York City (the Village yet!) university.

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Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Ten Republican senators announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion covid relief package that could serve as a bipartisan alternative to President Biden's $1.9 trillion plan, and requested a meeting with the president to discuss it. The senators, led by Susan Collins (R-Maine), said they would release additional details of the package on Monday. In a letter to Biden they said they were offering their proposal in recognition of the president's 'calls for unity.'... Their move comes as Democrats prepare to move forward on Monday to set up a partisan path forward for Biden's relief bill, which Republicans have dismissed as overly costly.... The GOP proposal is expected to jettison certain elements that have drawn Republican opposition, such as increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It would also significantly narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks Biden wants to send to individual Americans. Biden's plan would cap eligibility for the checks at individuals making $75,000 a year and couples making $150,000. A $600 billion plan that is a fraction of the size of Biden's proposal is unlikely to draw much if any Democratic support." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden on Sunday invited a group of Republican senators to meet with him at the White House early this week after they proposed a more targeted economic relief package, but the administration gave no indication it is ready to budge from its original $1.9 trillion proposal."

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Biden on Sunday sent a letter to congressional leaders reversing former President Trump's last-minute attempt to freeze $27.4 billion in government programs. Trump had moved, with less than a week left in his term, to freeze the billions in federal funding using a budget maneuver called rescission. 'I am withdrawing 73 proposed rescissions previously transmitted to the Congress,' Biden said in the letter. The 73 budget reductions that Trump had called for were spread across almost every Cabinet-level agency and mostly lined up with his proposed cuts to domestic program spending in the 2021 federal budget that were rejected by Congress."

E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: Senate "Democrats are faced with a choice. Protect the filibuster or protect democracy.... They will never get 10 votes [to break a filibuster] from a GOP that can't even find a way to exile white-supremacist extremists from its ranks.... There is genuine urgency because Republican legislators throughout the country have been moving rapidly to rig the 2022 elections by throwing new obstacles in the way of voters. When it passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 -- with the support and leadership of many Republicans -- Congress recognized that defending democracy requires national action. The proposed For the People Act lives squarely in that tradition. Congressional leaders underscored its significance by designating it H.R. 1 and S. 1. The bill takes direct aim at voter suppression by giving all Americans easy access to postage-free mail voting under a set of clear national rules, requiring drop boxes to make casting ballots easier and guaranteeing at least 15 days of early voting. It allows for Election-Day registration and constrains voter purges that often throw legitimate voters off the rolls." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Dionne makes an irrefutable case. But Manchin, Sinema.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "The Lincoln Project is condemning co-founder John Weaver in the wake of allegations that the longtime GOP strategist made unsolicited sexual overtures to several young men, including one who was 14 years old at the time he received sexual messages from Weaver.... The Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans who opposed ... Donald Trump, rose to prominence last year as they campaigned against Trump and others who supported him. Weaver, 61, helped co-found the group. Weaver previously worked on the presidential campaigns for John McCain and John Kasich. The New York Times published a report Sunday morning based on interviews with 21 men who alleged that Weaver sent them unwanted provocative messages or solicited them for sex, often in exchange for the promise of professional help."

Remembering the Kaiser, Ctd.

** "77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert the Election." Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Thursday the 12th [of November] was the day Mr. Trump's flimsy, long-shot legal effort to reverse his loss turned into something else entirely -- an extralegal campaign to subvert the election, rooted in a lie so convincing to some of his most devoted followers that it made the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol almost inevitable.... A New York Times examination of the 77 democracy-bending days between election and inauguration shows how, with conspiratorial belief rife in a country ravaged by pandemic, a lie that Mr. Trump had been grooming for years finally overwhelmed the Republican Party and, as brake after brake fell away, was propelled forward by new and more radical lawyers, political organizers, financiers and the surround-sound right-wing media. In the aftermath of that broken afternoon at the Capitol, a picture has emerged of entropic forces coming together on Trump's behalf in an ad hoc, yet calamitous, crash of rage and denial.... Throughout, [Trump] was enabled by influential Republicans motivated by ambition, fear or a misplaced belief that he would not go too far." ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Rosenberg & Jim Rutenberg of the Times has a "key takeaways" report here, summarizing the larger report linked above.

Shane Goldmacher & Rachel Shorey of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party entered this year having stockpiled more than $175 million from fund-raising in November and December based on his false claims of voter fraud, spending only a tiny fraction on lawyers and bills for his effort to overturn the presidential election, according to new campaign finance reports filed on Sunday night. The picture that emerges in the new Federal Election Commission reports is of Mr. Trump mounting a furious public relations effort to spread the lie and keep generating money from it, rather than making a sustained legal push to try to support his conspiracy theories.... All told, Mr. Trump's campaign spent only $10 million on legal costs -- about one-fifth of what it spent on advertising and fund-raising, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings from Nov. 4 through the end of the year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This follow-the-money report is more evidence for the argument that Trump is not as delusional as he pretends to be: all of his I-wuz-robbed complaints are P.R. He plans to use even his impeachment trial to make the I-wuz-robbed case, but that doesn't mean he believes it. Not that it matters. Whether he's crazy-nuts or crazy-cunning (like Vincent Gigante, the NYC mob boss who walked the streets of the Village mumbling incoherently), Trump was and is a danger to the nation. IOW, Trump's main plan was to retain the presidency by extra-legal means; that is, violently, by popular demand.

Jim Acosta, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's office announced that David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr. will now head the legal team for his second impeachment trial, a day after CNN first reported that five members of his defense left and his team effectively collapsed. One point of friction with his previous team was Trump wanted the attorneys to focus on his election fraud claims rather than the constitutionality of convicting a former president. Trump has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case as he refuses to budge from his false claims. Trump's advisers have been talking to him about his legal strategy and he keeps bringing up election fraud for his defense, while they have repeatedly tried to steer him away from that, according to a source familiar with those discussions. It's unclear whether Schoen and Castor will go along with what Trump wants.... Schoen was on the team of lawyers representing Roger Stone in the appeal of his conviction related to issues the former Trump adviser took with the jury.... Castor, meanwhile, is a well-known attorney in Pennsylvania who previously served as Montgomery County district attorney. While in that position in 2005, Castor declined to prosecute Bill Cosby after a woman reported the actor had touched her inappropriately at his home in Montgomery County, according to a news release from his office at the time. Cosby was later tried and convicted in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Schoen & Castor make the perfect Trump legal team. One is famous for representing a life-long subversive, lying dirty-trickster & convicted criminal, and the other is best-known for letting a serial sex-abuser off the hook. They should changes their names to Crooks & Cox and start a new firm. ~~~

~~~ Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two people familiar with the discussions preceding the departure of the original legal team said that Trump wanted them to make the case during the trial that he actually won the election. To do so would require citing his false claims of election fraud -- even as his allies and attorneys have said that he should instead focus on arguing that impeaching a president who has already left office is unconstitutional.... It is also unclear whether Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), who will preside at the trial, will permit the president's team to introduce claims of alleged voter fraud.... But Trump ... has continued to insist that he actually won the election...." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: Trump's tossing his legal team "shows that Trump understands what [Butch] Bowers didn't: this isn't a trial, it's a TV show. Trump knows that his control over the Republican Party is still strong enough that he faces no chance of conviction, which means that legal arguments are unnecessary. Instead, he wants this to be a nationally televised opportunity for him to persuade the public that the 2020 election was teeming with Democratic fraud that cheated him out of reelection. He will, of course, be aided in this via coverage from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and all the rest of the right-wing media empire. I predict high ratings." MB: To Trump, his entire presidency* was a TV show, in which he was both star & producer, with the ability to hire & fire those in the cast & crew who didn't do enough to make him look great. And he could drop a few nuclear bombs if things got boring.

Zach Montellaro & Elena Schneider of Politico: "... Donald Trump amassed $31.2 million in his new political operation by the end of 2020, giving him a powerful tool to keep the Republican Party in his grip as he left office. Save America, a leadership PAC created in the aftermath of the 2020 election, is set to play a key role in Trump's plans to keep a strong hand in party politics -- both to boost loyalists and also to seek retribution against Republicans he believes have wronged him, such as the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in mid-January. Trump cannot spend the PAC funds directly on any future campaign of his own, but he can use it to wield influence in campaigns in the midterm elections, pay his political advisers and travel the country."

Zachary Petrizzo of Mediaite: "The Lincoln Project's legal counsel sent a scorching letter to& Rudy Giuliani after he falsely accused the group of helping plan the January 6th Capitol riot, demanding that Giuliani retract his statement and publicly apologize by February 3. Giuliani made the comments in an appearance on Steve Bannon's 'War Room' podcast, accusing 'antifa' and 'some right-wing groups that operate for the Lincoln Project or have been working with the Lincoln Project at various times' of being responsible for instigating the riot." MB: Wait, wait. Steve Bannon is running a show called the "War Room" & Rudy goes on it to blame the opposition for planning the "war"? (Also linked yesterday.)

Martyn McLaughlin of the Scotsman: Members of the Scottish Parliament "will be asked to vote this week on whether the Scottish Government should pursue an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) to investigate the source of financing for Donald Trump;s Scottish resorts.... A vote by MSPs calling on ministers to seek an UWO would not be binding, but it would substantially increase pressure on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to act in line with Holyrood;s will.... The Scotsman revealed last month how Aidan O;Neill QC, one of Scotland;s leading advocates, said Scottish ministers alone had responsibility for pursuing one of the so-called 'McMafia' orders, a legal mechanism designed to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through the UK."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

** Nicholas Florko of STAT News: "Top Trump officials actively lobbied Congress to deny state governments any extra funding for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout last fall -- despite frantic warnings from state officials that they didn't have the money they needed to ramp up a massive vaccination operation. The push, described to STAT by congressional aides in both parties and openly acknowledged by one of the Trump officials, came from multiple high-ranking Trump health officials in repeated meetings with legislators. Without the extra money, states spent last October and November rationing the small pot of federal dollars they had been given. And when vaccines began shipping in December, states seemed woefully underprepared." (Also linked yesterday.) 

New York. David Goodman, et al., of the New York Times: "Even as the pandemic continues to rage and New York struggles to vaccinate a large and anxious population, [Gov. Andrews] Cuomo [D] has all but declared war on his own public health bureaucracy. The departures [of top officials] have underscored the extent to which pandemic policy has been set by the governor, who with his aides crafted a vaccination program beset by early delays. The troubled rollout came after Mr. Cuomo declined to use the longstanding vaccination plans that the State Department of Health had developed in recent years in coordination with local health departments. Mr. Cuomo instead adopted an approach that relied on large hospital systems to coordinate vaccinations not only of their own staffs, but also of much of the population. In recent weeks, the governor has repeatedly made it clear that he believed he had no choice but to seize more control over pandemic policy from state and local public health officials, who he said had no understanding of how to conduct a real-world, large-scale operation like vaccinations. After early problems, in which relatively few doses were being administered, the pace of vaccinations has picked up and New York is now roughly 20th in the nation in percentage of residents who have received at least one vaccine dose."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Myanmar. AP: "Myanmar military television said Monday that the military was taking control of the country for one year, while reports said many of the country's senior politicians including Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained. A presenter on military-owned Myawaddy TV announced the takeover and cited a section of the military-drafted constitution that allows the military to take control in times of national emergency. He said the reason for takeover was in part due to the government's failure to act on the military's claims of voter fraud in last November's election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis. The announcement follows days of concern about the threat of a military coup -- and military denials that it would stage one -- and came on the morning the country's new Parliament session was to begin." the New York Times story is here.

News Lede

Weather Channel: "Winter Storm Orlena will snarl travel in the Northeast into Monday night as it brings heavy snow and strong winds from parts of New England to the northern mid-Atlantic, including parts of the Boston, New York City and Philadelphia metro areas. Orlena is producing snowfall this morning from portions of southern New England to the New York Tri-state area southward into Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee." MSNBC reported that one-third of the country's population is either under snow-storm warning or watch -- and based on reports -- in it.

The Commentariat -- January 31, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Ten Republican senators announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion covid relief package that could serve as a bipartisan alternative to President Biden's $1.9 trillion plan, and requested a meeting with the president to discuss it. The senators, led by Susan Collins (R-Maine), said they would release additional details of the package on Monday. In a letter to Biden they said they were offering their proposal in recognition of the president's 'calls for unity.'... Their move comes as Democrats prepare to move forward on Monday to set up a partisan path forward for Biden's relief bill, which Republicans have dismissed as overly costly.... The GOP proposal is expected to jettison certain elements that have drawn Republican opposition, such as increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It would also significantly narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks Biden wants to send to individual Americans. Biden's plan would cap eligibility for the checks at individuals making $75,000 a year and couples making $150,000. A $600 billion plan that is a fraction of the size of Biden's proposal is unlikely to draw much if any Democratic support." Politico's story is here.

Zachary Petrizzo of Mediaite: "The Lincoln Project's legal counsel sent a scorching letter to Rudy Giuliani after he falsely accused the group of helping plan the January 6th Capitol riot, demanding that Giuliani retract his statement and publicly apologize by February 3. Giuliani made the comments in an appearance on Steve Bannon's 'War Room' podcast, accusing 'antifa' and 'some right-wing groups that operate for the Lincoln Project or have been working with the Lincoln Project at various times' of being responsible for instigating the riot." MB: Wait, wait. Steve Bannon is running a show called the "War Room" & Rudy goes on it to blame the opposition for planning the "war"?

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

** Nicholas Florko of STAT News: "Top Trump officials actively lobbied Congress to deny state governments any extra funding for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout last fall -- despite frantic warnings from state officials that they didn't have the money they needed to ramp up a massive vaccination operation. The push, described to STAT by congressional aides in both parties and openly acknowledged by one of the Trump officials, came from multiple high-ranking Trump health officials in repeated meetings with legislators. Without the extra money, states spent last October and November rationing the small pot of federal dollars they had been given. And when vaccines began shipping in December, states seemed woefully underprepared."

~~~~~~~~~~

Remembering the Anti-President*

Illustration by Jason Seiler for Politico.~~~ Michael Kruse, in Politico Magazine, compares Trump to Benedict XIII, the last anti-pope of Avignon -- who also became power-hungry & refused to concede he had been voted out. ~~~

~~~ ** Lordy, I Hope We See Rudy. Trump's Top Impeachment Lawyers Out. Gloria Borger, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy. It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation. Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers assembled the team. Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who was recently added to the team, has also left, according to another source familiar with the changes. Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, from South Carolina, are no longer involved with the case, either.... A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard. The attorneys had not yet been paid any advance fees and a letter of intent was never signed." This is an update of a breaking story linked earlier. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course Trump didn't pay his lawyers. A New York Times story is here. A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "In the end..., Trump is who he is. He's a broken, dangerous and irredeemable man. Our greater contempt should fall on the cowards in the Republican Senate who will refuse to hold him accountable in spite of his own efforts at self-sabotage."

Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "As racial justice protests erupted nationwide last year..., Donald J. Trump, struggling to find a winning campaign theme, hit on a message that he stressed over and over: The real domestic threat to the United States emanated from the radical left, even though law enforcement authorities had long since concluded it came from the far right. It was a message that was quickly embraced and amplified by his attorney general and his top homeland security officials, who translated it into a shift in criminal justice and national security priorities even as Mr. Trump was beginning to openly stoke the outrage that months later would culminate in the storming of the Capitol by right-wing extremists.... The effect of his direction was ... substantial, according to interviews with current and former officials, diverting key portions of the federal law enforcement and domestic security agencies at a time when the threat from the far right was building ominously.... The pressure from Mr. Trump was unrelenting." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why, it's almost as if Trump determined to keep intelligence agencies' eyes off the ball in order to give his violent backers free rein.

MTG Is No Anomaly; She's the Face of the GOP. Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: Marjorie Taylor "Greene's widely reported comments about the radical ideology of QAnon and other matters had not stopped a coterie of top Republicans from urging her to run for the seat representing a deeply conservative district in north Georgia, and then issuing fervent endorsements. Greene was 'exactly the kind of fighter needed in Washington to stand with me against the radical left,' declared Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Debbie Meadows, who ran an influential political action committee and whose husband, Mark Meadows, became Trump's chief of staff, gushed, 'We cannot wait to welcome her to Congress.'... While some Republicans have tried to portray Greene as a political anomaly, her ascent demonstrates the extent to which key party leaders embraced her ... despite her well-documented history of spreading false claims and violent rhetoric. Critical to Greene's success was the early intervention on her behalf by some of the party's most staunchly pro-Trump figures and Greene's ability to tap into the far-right online world where baseless claims thrive." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ What a Friend She Has in Donald. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday that she spoke with former President Trump as she faces growing bipartisan criticism over past social media posts in which she expressed support for violence against Democrats. 'I had a GREAT call with my all time favorite POTUS, President Trump! I'm so grateful for his support...,' Greene tweeted."

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "FBI agents around the country are working to unravel the various motives, relationships, goals and actions of the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some inside the bureau have described the Capitol riot investigation as their biggest case since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and a top priority of the agents' work is to determine the extent to which that violence and chaos was preplanned and coordinated. Investigators caution there is an important legal distinction between gathering like-minded people for a political rally -- which is protected by the First Amendment -- and organizing an armed assault on the seat of American government. The task now is to distinguish which people belong in each category, and who played key roles in committing or coordinating the violence.... The FBI is also trying to determine how many people went to Washington seeking to engage in violence, even if they weren't part of any formal organization." The report cites social-media chatter that preceded the siege. For instance, "Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in." read one posting, according to the report. And, "Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A criminal complaint against two Montana brothers and a detention memo against a prominent member of the Proud Boys help explain how, the government believes, one segment of a mob overran a small, poorly defended line of Capitol Police officers. In these and other filings, prosecutors trace the actions of possible key instigators in the storming of the Capitol, including members of the Proud Boys...." The story outlines the known actions of Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who has been indicted on a number of charges, & some of those he appears to have led, including two brothers from Montana, Joshua Calvin Hughes and Jerod Wade Hughes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A related story in the Hill is here. ~~~

~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "Federal authorities arrested two women in Pennsylvania on Friday on charges related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building after the FBI said one of the women expressed an intent to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).... Dawn Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith were identified by law enforcement after the FBI said it received a tip on Jan. 12 with a video purportedly capturing the two women as they left the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 amid a large mob of people, according to a criminal complaint. 'We broke into the Capitol.... We got inside, we did our part,' Bancroft said in the video she sent to her children, according to the FBI. 'We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin' brain, but we didn't find her.' The women -- who the FBI said initially lied to authorities -- face three federal charges...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An NBC News story is here. ~~~

Lexi Lonas of the Hill: "Far-right radio show host Alex Jones and a prominent GOP donor reportedly played a larger role than previously known in the pro-Trump rally held near the White House before the Capitol riot. Jones was involved in pledging money and getting others to donate money for the Jan. 6 event, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Infowars founder originally planned to give $50,000 in seed money to secure a 'top speaking slot of his choice,' according to a funding document reported by the newspaper. strong>Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the heiress to the Publix Super Markets Inc. chain, reached out to Jones and asked to donate for the Jan. 6 event, organizers told the Journal. Jones reportedly helped Fancelli donate $300,000 through a fundraising official who helped with former President Trump's campaign. Fancelli's donation represented a majority of the funding for the $500,000 rally at the Ellipse, where Trump spoke before chaos erupted later in the day at the Capitol. During the 2020 election cycle, Fancelli donated nearly $1 million to Trump's campaign and the Republican Party, the Journal noted.... A spokesperson for Publix noted to The Hill that Fancelli is not an employee of the supermarket chain and 'is neither involved in our business operations, nor does she represent the company in any way.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Stern of the Washington Post: "... as the Biden administration settles in, some close allies of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky are opening up about one of the longest-running dramas from the Trump era -- the blitz of meetings, messages and public statements in Ukraine by ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.... The new disclosures from Ukraine do not offer any bombshell revelations about Giuliani's dealings. But they help fill in some blanks on his frantic -- and unsuccessful -- quest to press Ukraine to make statements seen as potentially helpful to the Trump reelection bid. Giuliani's overall goal, according to the accounts, was to have Zelensky's government validate the Trump campaign's unsupported claims -- including that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine and that then vice president Biden attempted to cover it up. Giuliani, saying he was acting on President Trump's behalf, also was promoting a false narrative that the Ukrainian government colluded to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections against Trump -- an unproven claim that sought to deflect attention from Russia's interference in the campaign.... The Zelensky team's decision to talk about Giuliani's tactics coincides with efforts for a reset in relations with President Biden, who dealt closely with Ukraine during his eight years as vice president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jill Filipovic of the Guardian: "In 2021 legislative sessions (which six states haven't even yet begun), [Republican] lawmakers in 28 states have pushed a whopping 106 bills that would restrict voting access.... Each one of these 106 bills aims to make voting harder, either by scaling back vote-by-mail, imposing stricter voter identification laws, limiting policies that successfully registered large numbers of voters, or allowing states to more easily and aggressively purge their voter rolls.... Republicans trying to restrict voting rights is not new..., but the context after the Capitol riot is different: Republicans now cannot deny the serious, deadly and democracy-threatening costs of exploiting lies about voting fraud to the advantage of Republican politicians.... It's not all bad news on the voting front, though. Appalled by conservative malfeasance, newly emboldened by the success of mail-in voting during Covid, and heartened by hard-won wins in Georgia, more Democrats are latching on to what leaders and organizers like Stacey Abrams have been doing for years: fighting for expanded voting rights. Legislators in 35 states have introduced a total of 406 bills that would make voting easier for more people."

Georgia. WSB-TV Atlanta: "A west Georgia police chief has resigned and an officer has resigned after body camera video shows them making racist comments ahead of a Black Lives Matter protest last year. According to the Assistant to Hamilton Mayor Julie Brown, Chief Gene Allmond and Patrolman John Brooks have both been removed from their positions with the Hamilton Police Department. Chief Allmond reportedly resigned, while Patrolman Brooks was terminated, WTVM in Columbus reported. The footage was obtained by WTVM-TV in Columbus after a city official there was made aware of the it.... WTVM said after viewing the video, it took city leaders about an hour and a half to take action, letting the chief and the officer know they would be fired if they did not resign." The article includes some of the mens' "conversation." We'll skip it here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

"It's a Mess." Tyler Pager, et al., of Politico: "After a week on the job, [President] Biden's team is still trying to locate upwards of 20 million vaccine doses that have been sent to states -- a mystery that has hampered plans to speed up the national vaccination effort.... Only a small percentage of ... unaccounted for doses -- roughly 2 million, two officials said -- is due to lags in data reporting, the Biden team believes. That would mean the rest of the crucial supply is boxed away in warehouses, sitting idle in freezers or floating elsewhere in the complex distribution pipeline that runs from the administration to individual states.... They're searching for new ways to boost production of a vaccine stockpile that they've discovered is mostly empty. And they're nervously eyeing a series of new Covid-19 strains that threaten to derail the response.... In the days since taking over, the Covid response team has confronted a situation that officials described as far worse than expected -- and that has prompted public assessments so dour they surprised some who had worked on the administration's former transition team. On Tuesday, Biden warned that the 'vaccine program is in worse shape than we anticipated or expected,' echoing complaints from his chief of staff, Ron Klain, that a 'plan didn't really exist.'"

Carla Johnson, et al., of the AP: "A racial gap has opened up in the nation's COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Black Americans in many places lagging behind whites in receiving shots, an Associated Press analysis shows. An early look at the 17 states and two cities that have released racial breakdowns through Jan. 25 found that Black people in all places are getting inoculated at levels below their share of the general population, in some cases significantly below. That is true even though they constitute an oversize percentage of the nation's health care workers, who were put at the front of the line for shots when the campaign began in mid-December. For example, in North Carolina, Black people make up 22% of the population and 26% of the health care workforce but only 11% of the vaccine recipients so far.... Experts say several factors could be driving the emerging disparity, including deep distrust of the medical establishment among Black Americans because of a history of discriminatory treatment; inadequate access to the vaccine in Black neighborhoods; and a digital divide that can make it difficult to get crucial information. Vaccination sign-ups are being done to a large degree online." ~~~

~~~ Yes, well, maybe the problem is that they didn't donate a wing to their local hospital. ~~~

~~~ Russ Bynum, et al., of the AP: "While millions of Americans wait for the COVID-19 vaccine, hospital board members, their trustees and donors around the country have gotten early access to the scarce drug or offers for vaccinations, raising complaints about favoritism tainting decisions about who gets inoculated and when.... [For instance,] the Seattle Times has reported that Overlake Medical Center & Clinics emailed about 110 donors who gave more than $10,000 to the hospital system, telling them that vaccine slots were available. The email gave the donors an access code to register for appointments 'by invite' only. At the same time, the public Overlake registration site was fully booked through March... Overlake shut down online access to the invite-only clinic after getting a call from [Gov. Jay] Inslee's [D] staff, and CEO J. Michael Marsh issued an apology."

California. Jordan Williams of the Hill: "A Los Angeles coronavirus vaccination site was temporarily forced to shut down after protesters blocked the entrance. David Ortiz, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department, told The Hill that the department temporarily closed the gates of Dodgers Stadium between 1:50 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. because there were protesters outside. About 50 anti-vaccine and far-right demonstrators gathered at the entrance on Saturday afternoon, The Los Angeles Times first reported.... One social media post shows protesters not wearing masks and carrying sings that said '99.6% Survival Rate' and 'I only like muzzles in the bedroom.'" The LAPD claims that no appointments were affected. MB: That's not possible unless the vaccination team had already planned a lunch break between 1:50 & 2:45 & had scheduled no appointments during that time. The First Amendment does not give me a right to block you from receiving medical care just because I believe that care is useless or harmful.

Florida. Speaking of Publix.... Sharon Zhang of Truthout (Jan. 28): "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing criticism after deciding this month that he would revoke COVID-19 vaccine access at health centers in Palm Beach County and instead, funnel the states' vaccine supply through Publix, a regional grocery chain. His decision comes just a few weeks after Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis. After the county runs out of its current supply, which health officials say will happen early next month, officials confirmed this week that the state would no longer distribute vaccines through Palm Beach's health department and will be giving them directly to Publix. DeSantis says that the county will be a 'test site' for the pilot program to funnel the state's vaccines through Publix.... Some of the county's residents live 40 miles away from a Publix. Florida's vaccine administration has thus far been rocky and, in some ways, discriminatory, some report, and many worry that the distribution of the vaccine through Publix will only cause further disparities.... According to data from the state, approximately 4.9 percent of the people who have been vaccinated so far are Black despite Black people making up 16.9 percent of the population. In Palm Beach, Black people make up 3 percent of the vaccinated population and 19.8 percent of the population overall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: During the time I lived in Fort Myers, Florida, Publix closed down at least two stores that served minority communities and opened up at least four that served affluent areas of the city & county.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News in ProPublica: "Acting Alaska Attorney General Ed Sniffen's abrupt resignation was announced Friday as the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica were preparing an article about allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl three decades ago. Nikki Dougherty White, now 47, recently contacted the news organizations with a detailed account of how she and Sniffen began a sexual relationship in 1991 while she was a student at West Anchorage High School. At the time, he was a 27-year-old attorney with a local law firm and a coach of her school's mock trial competition team.... Under an Alaska law enacted in 1990, months before Sniffen and White traveled to New Orleans for the national mock trial competition, it was illegal for an adult to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old whom he or she was teaching, counseling or coaching.... Public records show White and Sniffen lived at the same address in Anchorage after she turned 18.... Sniffen is the second Alaska attorney general to step down within the past six months amid a Daily News and ProPublica investigation into their interactions with women. Former Attorney General Kevin Clarkson quit in August, hours after the newsrooms revealed he had sent hundreds of unwanted text messages to a junior colleague."

Way Beyond

Russia. The New York Times is live-updating developments in protests across Russia Sunday: "Thousands of people took to the streets to show support for the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny for a second weekend, despite mass arrests and an imposing show of force by the police.