The Commentariat -- March 21, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "Miami Beach officials declared a state of emergency and implemented a curfew Saturday in response to large and unruly crowds of spring break visitors. Speaking during a news conference, Mayor Dan Gelber said the crush of vacationers in the city's entertainment district had overwhelmed law enforcement, even with reinforcements from other local agencies. He said city leaders wanted to act preemptively.... The first night of the curfew saw large crowds lingering on Ocean Drive, according to footage captured by local reporters. As squad cars attempted to clear the road, some people danced and twerked on cars. One man tossed money into the crowd. Pepper balls were shot at the revelers, briefly prompting a stampede, the Miami Herald reported. About an hour and a half after the curfew went into effect, the Miami Beach Police Department shared photographs showing an empty Ocean Drive." A CNN story is here.

Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: "Pregnant women who receive a coronavirus vaccine not only acquire protective antibodies against the virus for themselves but also may pass along immunity to their babies, emerging research shows. Several preliminary studies suggest that women who received an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) during pregnancy had covid-19 antibodies in their umbilical cord blood. Another study also detected antibodies in their breastmilk, indicating that at least some immunity could be transferred to babies both before and after birth."

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Older people, who represent the vast majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, are emerging this spring with the daffodils, tilting their faces to the sunlight outdoors. They are filling restaurants, hugging grandchildren and booking flights.... For now, about two-thirds of Americans over 65 have started the vaccination process and nearly 38 percent are fully vaccinated, compared with 12 percent of the overall population, giving the rest of the nation a glimpse into the after times." A related AP story is here.

Devan Cole of CNN: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas declined Sunday to provide a timeline for when the Biden administration will open new facilities capable of handling the surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border. 'We established three new facilities last week. ... We are working on the system from beginning to end. We are working around the clock 24/7,' Mayorkas told CNN's Dana Bash ... when pressed on the administration's timeline.... The comments from Mayorkas, who insisted the southern border is currently closed to migrants even though the administration is making an exception for unaccompanied minors, come as the situation there worsens amid a surge in unaccompanied children in US custody."

** How to Get a Trillion Dollars -- Without Raising Taxes. New York Times Editors: "The [income tax] withholding system [-- begun during World War II --] remains the cornerstone of income taxation, effectively preventing Americans from lying about wage income.... But the burden of taxation is increasingly warped because the government has no comparable system for verifying income from businesses. The result is that most wage earners pay their fair share while many business owners engage in blatant fraud at public expense.... Billions of dollars in business profits, rent and royalties are hidden from the government each year. By contrast, more than 95 percent of wage income is reported.... Charles Rossotti, who led the I.R.S. from 1997 to 2002..., says that Congress needs to change the rules, by creating a third-party verification system for business income, too.... The proposal would not increase the amount anyone owes in taxes. It would, instead, increase the amount paid in taxes by those who are currently cheating."

John Ismay of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III landed in Afghanistan's capital Sunday morning, becoming the first member of President Biden's cabinet to set foot in the country that is home to America's longest war. The United States is tentatively set to withdraw American forces from the country on May 1, the date set in an agreement signed by the Trump administration and the Taliban more than a year ago.... Mr. Austin's trip to Kabul was kept secret, and was to remain confidential until two hours after he left, but local reporters broke news of his visit after he met with President Ashraf Ghani.... The defense secretary's visit came at the end of more than a week of travel across the Pacific during which he reassured allies that they would have the United States' support in countering potential threats from China.... Flying ... to Japan and South Korea, Mr. Austin joined Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken for talks with the foreign and defense ministers of both nations.... In New Delhi, where Mr. Austin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the defense minister, Rajnath Singh, senior U.S. defense officials said that Indian leaders spoke mostly about their concerns regarding China." An NPR story is here.

James Laporta of the AP: "Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army base in the nation's capital, and against the Army's vice chief of staff, two senior U.S. intelligence officials said. They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting 'USS Cole-style attacks' against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors. The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to the officials.... The base, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin's official residence. The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington's bustling newly developed Waterfront District."

Turkey. Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a surprise decree early Saturday withdrawing Turkey from a landmark European treaty that women's rights groups said had played a critical role in protecting Turkish women from gender-based violence. The treaty, the Istanbul Convention, sought in part to ensure equal legal protections against abuse for women across Europe. Turkey was the first country to sign the convention, in 2011, when Erdogan was prime minister. But some conservative Muslims who form a critical bloc of support for the Turkish leader had criticized the treaty from the start, framing it as part of a Western plot aimed at harming the country's traditional notions of family and encouraging divorce.... President Biden on Sunday harshly criticized the decision by Turkey, a NATO ally, calling the withdrawal 'sudden and unwarranted' and 'deeply disappointing.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

It's Springtime in America. Today is another day we are inching our way back to living in a normal country. The Scourge of the 21st Century is isolated on an island not unlike Elba (though with more rich people), and the president in the White House is once again a normal person who knows the job but won't always do it right because normal presidents are human -- and humane. The people are getting shots in their arms & emerging from their homes just as daffodil shoots begin to emerge from muddy ground in parts of the country. The idiots will always be with us, and these days they are wearing their ignorance with a certain pride we shall smack down with glee.

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The Biden administration is preparing to expand the phased entry of migrants who were forced to stay in Mexico under a Trump-era policy to two additional ports of entry, the Department of Homeland Security told CNN on Friday. 'Beginning next week, after registering virtually and being tested for COVID-19 at staging sites in Mexico, approved individuals with active (Migrant Protection Protocol) cases will be processed at the Hidalgo, TX port of entry,' the department said in a statement, adding that processing will also start in Laredo, Texas, thereafter.... Three other locations have already been allowing the entry of migrants under the program.... President Joe Biden ended the [Trump] program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, and kick-started the process of allowing gradual entry of those subject to the policy. For months, officials meticulously planned the rollback of the policy and engaged with immigrant advocacy organizations along the border that have directly worked with migrants. The Biden administration has since estimated that some 25,000 migrants still have active cases. That group will be eligible for the first phase of the rollback. The administration started the gradual entry of migrants at three ports of entry -- in San Diego and in El Paso and Brownsville, Texas -- last month." ~~~

~~~ Dan Balz of the Washington Post: President "Biden and his team now face what every administration eventually confronts: the unforeseen events that can disrupt the best-laid plans and choreography of a White House. The surge of undocumented immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has done just that -- and amplified an issue that long has been a vulnerability for the Democrats.... The Biden administration has found itself with a humanitarian emergency and a political mess-in-the-making that it is ill-prepared to handle... Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this past week said the country is on pace for the highest number of individuals crossing the border in 20 years. Administration officials have blamed the Trump administration for some of its problems, claiming they inherited a broken and punitive system. But they have come face-to-face with the issue that has long nettled many Democrats: What to do when someone crosses the border illegally?... Biden has had little to say about the matter, and administration officials have, so far, not allowed reporters to get a firsthand look at conditions for the children in custody.... Republicans ... have seized on the surge of migration to pummel Biden as favoring open borders." ~~~

~~~ David Smith of the Guardian writes a fairly comprehensive overview of the severity of the problem. For instance, "when 100,441 migrants were reported attempting to cross the border last month, it was the highest level since March 2019 and included a particular rise in unaccompanied children." MB: If I knew of a magical fix, I would share it. But I can't think of one that doesn't have an Emma Lazarus ring to it.

HOWEVER. Biden Dares to Outperform Expectations. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "With a boost from Black Democrats, if not the most famous one, [Joe] Biden achieved what pretty much no one -- especially bratty Obama disciples -- had thought possible. At 78, nearly half a century after he arrived in D.C. as a senator, he became the oldest man ever sworn in as president. So now comes a delicious twist: President Biden is being hailed as a transformational, once-in-a-generation progressive champion, with comparisons to L.B.J. and F.D.R. aplenty, while Obama has become a cautionary tale about what happens when Democrats get the keys to the car but don't put their foot on the gas.... Creaky, old-fashioned Joe moved fast and broke things. Unlike the sleek, modern Obama, who kept trying to work with obstructionist Republicans, Biden blew them off, calling it 'an easy choice.'... Democrats think [Biden is] really kind of cool. Imagine that."

Biden's Advisors Are Rich! Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "President Joe Biden's closest advisors have ties to big business and Wall Street, with some making millions of dollars in their careers leading up to entering the White House, new financial disclosures show. The senior Biden aides listed in the disclosures include chief of staff Ron Klain, deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon, senior advisor Mike Donilon, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients, and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. These disclosures show that many of the president's closest aides have deep ties to the business world and have made more money in their past corporate careers than previously known."

There's a New Education Sheriff in Town. Carole Feldman of the AP (March 18): "Thousands of students defrauded by for-profit schools will have their federal loans fully erased, the Biden administration announced Thursday, reversing a Trump administration policy that had given them only partial relief. The change could lead to $1 billion in loans being canceled for 72,000 borrowers, all of whom attended for-profit schools, the Education Department said.... The department said it was rescinding the formula used by the Trump administration to determine partial relief and putting in place 'a streamlined path to receiving full loan discharges.' The decision applies to students who already had their claims approved and received only partial relief, the department said. A senior department official briefing reporters said the agency was continuing to review both the backlog of claims yet to be decided and those that have been denied. The department described Thursday's action as 'a first step' and said it would be looking at rewriting the regulations down the road."

Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Last fall, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) appeared as adamantly opposed to filibuster reform as any Democrat.... But ... in a statement released Friday night, Feinstein now says she's 'open' to changing the Senate's filibuster rules, if necessary to pass legislation such as expanded background checks for firearm purchases, reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, or a voting rights bill.... Even Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a senator who has repeatedly said that he wants to keep the filibuster alive in some form, has indicated that he's open to requiring talking filibusters -- although Manchin's been reluctant to open the door to other kinds of filibuster reform. That leaves Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who said last month that she'd even support strengthening the filibuster by rolling back previous reforms, as the primary Democratic holdout on filibuster reform." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

What the Senate Needs Is More Honest Problem-Solvers Like Ted Cruz. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Claiming Democrats want to expand voting rights to 'illegal aliens' and 'child molesters', the Texas senator Ted Cruz warned that if Republicans do not block the For the People Act, major legislation now before the Senate, they will be out of power for years." MB: I should have read the full bill the House passed. I was completely unaware of the "aliens & molesters" clause. The Senate should just remove the clause & pass the bill by voice vote.

The Detritus of the Former Guy

Ken Vogel & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The efforts to seek clemency [from Donald Trump] for [certain] wealthy or well-connected people benefited from their social, political, or financial ties to a loose collection of lawyers, lobbyists, activists and Orthodox Jewish leaders who had worked with Trump administration officials on criminal justice legislation championed by Jared Kushner. That network revolved around a pair of influential Jewish organizations that focus on criminal justice issues.... Mr Kushner ... had become interested in criminal justice and developed ties to members of the loose network of allies on the issue after his father, Charles Kushner, was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison.... The overwhelming majority of Mr. Trump's pardons and commutations bypassed [the Justice Department's selection] process, and were instead awarded through an ad hoc system run by a handful of White House aides, with assistance from outside advisers."

The Policing of American Protests -- Proved the Point of the Protests. Kim Barker, et al., of the New York Times: "For many long weeks last summer, protesters in American cities faced off against their own police forces in what proved to be, for major law enforcement agencies across the country, a startling display of violence and disarray. In Philadelphia, police sprayed tear gas on a crowd of mainly peaceful protesters trapped on an interstate who had nowhere to go and no way to breathe. In Chicago, officers were given arrest kits so old that the plastic handcuffs were decayed or broken. Los Angeles officers were issued highly technical foam-projectile launchers for crowd control, but many of them had only two hours of training; one of the projectiles bloodied the eye of a homeless man in a wheelchair. Nationally, at least eight people were blinded after being hit with police projectiles. Now, months after the demonstrations that followed the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police in May, the full scope of the country's policing response is becoming clearer.... From midsize departments like the one in Indianapolis to big-city forces like New York City's, from top commanders to officers on the beat, police officers nationwide were unprepared to calm the summer's unrest, and their approaches consistently did the opposite. In many ways, the problems highlighted in the reports are fundamental to modern American policing, a demonstration of the aggressive tactics that had infuriated many of the protesters to begin with." ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times: New York City Police said they used restraint during last year's protests. That's not what the videos show.

Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times: "... despite dramatic transformations in our collective understanding of sexual harassment at work, recent polling around Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's current scandals suggests a lingering confusion -- the reality that we are not merely arguing about consequences but, 30 years after Anita Hill, about the nature and substance of misconduct itself.... New York State's Labor Department supplies a sample training video on harassment meant to convey the bare minimum of what should be offered. In it, the labor commissioner, Roberta Reardon, explains that sexual harassment falls essentially under two large umbrellas, one in the form of quid quo pro exchanges (If you want that new job, you really ought to consider coming over for strip steak), the other in the creation of what has long been known as a hostile work environment. It is here that popular clarity seems to fade.... In August 2019..., Governor Cuomo signed legislation that strengthened protections against discrimination and harassment."

The 51st State. Another Reason to Dump the Filibuster. Mike DeBonis & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "... a fast-evolving political landscape has propelled D.C. statehood up the Democratic priority list after it passed the House for the first time last year. The issue, once a fanciful dream of local activists, now enjoys near-unanimity inside the Democratic Party.... D.C. statehood would probably result in two additional Democratic senators.... GOP leaders are mobilizing against the statehood push, labeling it a partisan 'power grab' by Democrats.... The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday will convene a hearing on a statehood bill, and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in an interview that he expects that the bill will pass the House before summer. Statehood advocates still face major obstacles: They do not yet have 51 allies inside the Senate, and as long as the body's filibuster rule requiring a supermajority margin for most legislation remains intact, it will take even more support than that."

Congressional Primary Race. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The first competitive special congressional election of the Biden era is most likely heading to a runoff next month, but the battle lines are already drawn ahead of the initial balloting on Saturday in the race to succeed former Representative Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana. At the center of the debate: which of two New Orleans Democrats positioned to face off in April can better leverage their connections to lift a South Louisiana district hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Louisiana voters will nominate candidates in two open House seats Saturday, as Democrats battle over a safe seat in the New Orleans area and Republicans decide whether the widow of a 2020 candidate should take the seat he won last year. The special election in the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, became necessary after Cedric L. Richmond (D) resigned from the seat to become an adviser to President Biden.... If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will head to an April 24 runoff. The same is true in the 5th Congressional District, where Republican candidate Julia Letlow is running to 'pick up that torch' after her late husband, Luke, won the seat in November and died of covid-19 complications before his swearing-in." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times has Louisiana's primary election results here. ~~~

     ~~~ Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Republican Julia Letlow won a special election Saturday to fill the seat won last year by her now-late husband, who died in December from Covid. She took 62 percent of the vote in the 12-way race, a commanding victory that cleared the majority threshold needed to avoid a runoff." MB: Letlow looks like a nice, intelligent woman. Appearances can be deceiving: "Letlow campaigned on a vow to uphold conservative Christian values and protect unborn children and the right to bear arms." ~~~

     ~~~ Danny Monteverde of WWL New Orleans: "Karen Carter Peterson and Troy Carter, who sought to replace former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond in the state's 2nd Congressional District, will face each other once more in a run-off April 24, according to WWL-TV projections. With 646 of 657 precincts reporting late Saturday night, Troy Carter had 36 percent of the vote to Karen Carter Peterson's 23 percent and Gary Chambers with 21 percent."

May Jeong of Vanity Fair writes an op-ed piece in the New York Times on the nexus of race, gender and class in the Atlanta murders. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

AP: "Kent Taylor, founder and CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, has died. He was 65. His family and the company say he took his own life after suffering from symptoms related to COVID-19, including severe tinnitus."

The Commentariat -- March 20, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Congressional Primary Race. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The first competitive special congressional election of the Biden era is most likely heading to a runoff next month, but the battle lines are already drawn ahead of the initial balloting on Saturday in the race to succeed former Representative Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana. At the center of the debate: which of two New Orleans Democrats positioned to face off in April can better leverage their connections to lift a South Louisiana district hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

May Jeong of Vanity Fair writes an op-ed piece in the New York Times on the nexus of race, gender and class in the Atlanta murders.

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled on Friday to Atlanta to express grief for the victims of a mass shooting that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, describing the tragedy as part of an increase in racially motivated violence and pledging to take action against hate and discrimination. The gruesome shootings on Tuesday in Atlanta thrust Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris into the middle of a national struggle to confront the harassment and violence against Asian-Americans from people angry about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than a half-million people." The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: BTW, we can forever forget the notion that the mass murderer was just a quiet country sex addict who had a bad day. The four women he murdered in Atlanta were between the ages of 51 and 74. I don't mean to suggest I'm not still a femme fatale, but I don't believe this 21-year-old man was addicted to women d'un certain âge.

Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the Biden administration officially announced its intent to nominate former Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to lead the agency as its next administrator.... If confirmed, Nelson will face a host of serious challenges that could change the course of the agency for years."

Maria Sacchetti & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Migrant children and families are dangerously packed into holding facilities on the southwest border, lawmakers and child-welfare monitors warned Friday, as Customs and Border Protection weighed taking the emergency step of putting migrant families on airplanes to states near the Canadian border for processing. The strain of a sudden, sharp spike in apprehensions became clear as Department of Homeland Security officials and Democratic and Republican lawmakers toured the El Paso sector of the border and saw hundreds of children packed into large, open rooms and families streaming across the border at night. Conditions were even worse hundreds of miles to the southeast in the Rio Grande Valley, a court-appointed monitor told a federal judge Friday, saying the crowding in Border Patrol facilities was 'profound,' 'not sustainable' and at risk of unraveling."

We Don't Smoke Marijuana in the White House. Katie Rogers & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "On Friday, responding to a news report in The Daily Beast that said dozens of young [White House] staff members had been pushed to resign or had been reassigned to remote work based on their past marijuana use, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, confirmed that some employees had been sidelined but said that it applied to fewer people. 'The bottom line is this,' Ms. Psaki wrote on Twitter, 'of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.'"

Mary Jalonick of the AP: "The House has dismissed a Republican attempt to remove California Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House intelligence panel over his contact more than six years ago with a suspected Chinese spy who targeted politicians in the United States. Democrats scuttled the effort from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, 218-200, after he forced a vote. His resolution against Swalwell cited information, first reported by Axios, that the suspected spy, Christine Fang, came into contact with Swalwell's campaign as he was first running for Congress in 2012. She also participated in fundraising for his 2014 campaign and helped place an intern in his office, the report said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erik Maulbetsch of the Colorado Times Recorder: "Congresswoman Lauren Boebert put a Q-flavored cherry atop an already controversial town hall last Monday night, when she claimed to have insider knowledge of a QAnon-linked conspiracy theory promoted by The Epoch Times that secret documents declassified in the final days of the Trump administration will expose wrongdoing by Trump's enemies and lead to resignations and arrests, allowing Republicans to gain a majority in the U.S. House and Senate prior to the 2022 election. Boebert, a Republican, claims her sources for this are close to Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Steve M.: "They love the QAnon mass-arrest fantasy in part because it allows them to imagine a world where they simply don't have to worry about the existence of an opposition party -- the Democratic Party, if their dreams come true, won't be reduced in numbers, it will be all but eliminated as a political force in America. (They've done this already at the legislative level in many states, but they can't seem to do it in Congress yet.) They don't want to live in a world where the parties share power. They want one-party rule and nothing less."

Kristin Wilson & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "The outer fencing erected around the Capitol shortly after rioters stormed the building on January 6 will be removed this weekend, earlier than expected, according to the acting House sergeant-at-arms. In a memo to members of Congress and congressional staff Friday obtained by CNN, acting Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said the US Capitol Police in conjunction with the architect of the Capitol 'will remove the outer perimeter fencing around the Capitol complex sooner than initially anticipated.'"

Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "A former Army Special Forces soldier charged with a half-dozen crimes stemming from the Capitol riot threw a flagpole at a police officer like a spear and assaulted three other officers, according to the FBI and court documents. Jeffrey McKellop, 55, who was arrested Wednesday, is among more than 30 veterans charged in the Jan. 6 incident but appears to be the first so far who served in Special Operations, according to service records analyzed by The Washington Post. McKellop, of Augusta County, Va., faces six charges, among them assaulting a police officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He did not enter a plea on Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If some of these veterans are found guilty, as I assume they will be, maybe they should be stripped of their veterans' pensions. I don't like the idea of paying a guy who has used the experience he gained in the military to wage war against the country that taught him how to do it.

Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "The wife of a detective attached to an FBI task force in Pittsburgh was charged for allegedly taking part in the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Jennifer Marie Heinl, 55, was charged in an FBI criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia on Wednesday. She is facing several federal charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Heinl reportedly told investigators that she had gone to Washington alone on Jan. 5 and returned the next day, and she claimed she did not go inside the Capitol. The FBI said in a criminal complaint that she entered the Capitol with another man, Kenneth Grayson. The two had been in communications through Facebook for several weeks discussing travel plans. Surveillance video shows Heinl, wearing a red 'Trump 20' jersey, walking through the Capitol Rotunda, Capitol Crypt and other restricted areas."

Laura Beckerman of CREW: "When Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin blocked the release of then-President Trump's tax returns, it was the first time the IRS failed to turn over tax returns following a congressional request, the IRS informed CREW. It is clear that then-Secretary Mnuchin's actions to block Trump's tax returns from scrutiny were unprecedented and against the law, and they have set the stage for the Janet Yellen-led Treasury Department to reverse course and release Trump's taxes to Congress. The Internal Revenue Code says that, upon a written request of the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Treasury Secretary shall [emphasis added] provide the committee with any return that it requests. House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal did exactly that in 2019, requesting the IRS provide six years of Trump's tax returns then issuing a subpoena when the IRS did not comply. Mnuchin famously defied the subpoena...."

Cruella DeVos Made a Mockery of the Law. Stacey Cowley of the New York Times: "Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made no secret of her disdain for a program intended to forgive the federal student loans of borrowers who were ripped off by schools that defrauded their students. She called it a 'free money' giveaway, let hundreds of thousands of claims languish for years and slashed the amount of relief granted to some successful applicants to $0. Then, after a class-action lawsuit made it impossible to stall any longer, her agency built what amounted to an assembly line of rejection. In Ms. DeVos's final year in office, her agency denied nearly 130,000 claims -- far surpassing the 9,000 rejections in the prior five years -- with a system that pressured workers to speed through applications in a matter of minutes, according to internal Education Department documents filed in federal court.... [The department] required agency employees to adjudicate claims that could stretch to hundreds of pages in less than 12 minutes. Those who did it faster were eligible for bonuses; those who took longer risked being fired."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "In a major policy revision intended to encourage more schools to welcome children back to in-person instruction, federal health officials on Friday relaxed the six-foot distancing rule for elementary school students, saying they need only remain three feet apart in classrooms as long as everyone is wearing a mask. The three-foot rule also now applies to students in middle schools and high schools, as long as community transmission is not high, officials said. When transmission is high, however, these students must be at least six feet apart, unless they are taught in cohorts, or small groups that are kept separate from others." (Also linked yesterday.)

William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Health-care workers were the first group in the United States to be offered coronavirus vaccinations. But three months into the effort, many remain unconvinced, unreached and unprotected. The lingering obstacles to vaccinating health-care workers foreshadows the challenge the United States will face as it expands the pool of people eligible and attempts to get the vast majority of the U.S. population vaccinated. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, barely half of front-line health-care workers (52 percent) said they had received at least their first vaccine dose at the time they were surveyed. More than 1 in 3 said they were not confident vaccines were sufficiently tested for safety and effectiveness." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

How Could This Have Happened? Jill Colvin & Terry Spencer of the AP: "... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, has been partially closed after staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.... An email sent to members said that service had been temporarily suspended in the club's dining room and at its beach club because some staff members had recently tested positive. It said the club had undertaken 'all appropriate response measures,' including sanitizing affected areas, and that banquet and event services remain open."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Looking for Real Election Fraud? Think GOP. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "When incumbent Democrat José Javier Rodríguez lost his Florida state senate seat to Republican challenger Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes in November, the losing party and investigators began asking questions about a suspicious third candidate. A man named Alexis 'Alex' Rodriguez -- who shared the incumbent's last name -- appeared on the ballot but never campaigned, never spoke publicly, and could not be reached by reporters after he took thousands of votes on Election Day. Now, the mysterious candidate and a former Republican state senator are facing felony charges for crimes stemming from a plot to 'confuse voters and siphon votes from the incumbent,' police said in an affidavit filed this week.... The case is a rare instance when a criminal scheme may have changed an election outcome, helping the GOP flip a state senate seat." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Minnesota. Steve Karnowski & Amy Forliti of the AP: "A judge said Friday he won't delay or move the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death over concerns that a $27 million settlement for Floyd's family could taint the jury pool, but he'll allow limited evidence from a 2019 arrest. Meanwhile, a 13th juror was seated Friday -- a woman who said she has only seen clips of the video of Floyd's arrest and needs to learn more about what happened beforehand. The jury will include 12 jurors and two alternates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "In the latest allegation against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Alyssa McGrath, an employee of the governor's office, described a series of unsettling interactions with the governor, telling The New York Times that Mr. Cuomo would ogle her body, remark on her looks, and make suggestive comments to her and another executive aide. Ms. McGrath, 33, is the first current aide in Mr. Cuomo's office to speak publicly about allegations of harassment inside the Capitol. Her account of casual sexual innuendo echoes other stories that have emerged in recent weeks about a demeaning office culture, particularly for young women who worked closely with the governor. The most serious accusation against the governor was made by another current aide who has accused Mr. Cuomo of groping her breast in the Executive Mansion. Ms. McGrath said that the aide described the encounter in detail to her after it was made public in a report in The Times Union of Albany last week." The AP has a summary report here. ~~~

~~~ David Goodman, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's handling of nursing homes during the pandemic has focused in recent weeks on whether the governor and his senior aides provided false data on resident deaths to the Justice Department, according to four people.... Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have contacted lawyers for Mr. Cuomo's aides, interviewed senior officials from the state Health Department and subpoenaed Mr. Cuomo's office for documents related to the disclosure of data last year, the people said. The interviews have included questions about information New York State submitted last year to the Justice Department, which had asked the state for data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes, according to the people. False statements in such a submission could constitute a crime."

The Commentariat -- March 19, 2021

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "In a major policy revision intended to encourage more schools to welcome children back to in-person instruction, federal health officials on Friday relaxed the six-foot distancing rule for elementary school students, saying they need only remain three feet apart in classrooms as long as everyone is wearing a mask. The three-foot rule also now applies to students in middle schools and high schools, as long as community transmission is not high, officials said. When transmission is high, however, these students must be at least six feet apart, unless they are taught in cohorts, or small groups that are kept separate from others."

William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Health-care workers were the first group in the United States to be offered coronavirus vaccinations. But three months into the effort, many remain unconvinced, unreached and unprotected. The lingering obstacles to vaccinating health-care workers foreshadows the challenge the United States will face as it expands the pool of people eligible and attempts to get the vast majority of the U.S. population vaccinated. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, barely half of front-line health-care workers (52 percent) said they had received at least their first vaccine dose at the time they were surveyed. More than 1 in 3 said they were not confident vaccines were sufficiently tested for safety and effectiveness."

Mary Jalonick of the AP: "The House has dismissed a Republican attempt to remove California Rep. Eric Swalwell from the House intelligence panel over his contact more than six years ago with a suspected Chinese spy who targeted politicians in the United States. Democrats scuttled the effort from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, 218-200, after he forced a vote. His resolution against Swalwell cited information, first reported by Axios, that the suspected spy, Christine Fang, came into contact with Swalwell's campaign as he was first running for Congress in 2012. She also participated in fundraising for his 2014 campaign and helped place an intern in his office, the report said."

Real Election Fraud. Think GOP. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "When incumbent Democrat José Javier Rodríguez lost his Florida state senate seat to Republican challenger Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes in November, the losing party and investigators began asking questions about a suspicious third candidate. A man named Alexis 'Alex' Rodriguez -- who shared the incumbent's last name -- appeared on the ballot but never campaigned, never spoke publicly, and could not be reached by reporters after he took thousands of votes on Election Day. Now, the mysterious candidate and a former Republican state senator are facing felony charges for crimes stemming from a plot to 'confuse voters and siphon votes from the incumbent,' police said in an affidavit filed this week.... The case is a rare instance when a criminal scheme may have changed an election outcome, helping the GOP flip a state senate seat."

Steve Karnowski & Amy Forliti of the AP: "A judge said Friday he won't delay or move the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death over concerns that a $27 million settlement for Floyd's family could taint the jury pool, but he'll allow limited evidence from a 2019 arrest. Meanwhile, a 13th juror was seated Friday -- a woman who said she has only seen clips of the video of Floyd's arrest and needs to learn more about what happened beforehand. The jury will include 12 jurors and two alternates."

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Quint Forgey of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered that the American flag be flown at half-staff at the White House and on all U.S. government grounds as a 'mark of respect' for the victims of the [Atlanta] attacks. The White House also announced that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would postpone a political event on their trip to Georgia on Friday evening -- part of their tour to promote the new $1.9 trillion Covid relief and stimulus package -- and would instead meet with Asian American leaders in Atlanta and visit the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.... A Georgia sheriff's office captain was replaced on Thursday as a spokesman for the investigation into the killings at three separate Atlanta-area spas, amid criticism over his perceived callousness in addressing the public." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Lemire & Bill Barrow of the AP: "During his visit to Atlanta on Friday, President Joe Biden will meet with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has been widely credited with helping flip the former Republican stronghold blue.... The meeting will come as Republicans in the Georgia state General Assembly push several proposals to make it harder to vote in the state.... Biden's visit to Atlanta was originally meant to tout that accomplishment but it has been recast after spa shootings in the area this week left eight dead and fueled fear of a rise in violence against Asian Americans."

Patrick Reevell of ABC News: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted to President Joe Biden calling him a 'killer' by challenging Biden to take part in a conversation with him broadcast live online."

Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Even before the Biden administration's first face-to-face meeting with senior Chinese diplomats on Thursday, American officials predicted the discussions would not go well. They were right: The traditional few minutes of opening greetings and remarks dissolved into more than an hour of very public verbal jousting, confirming the expected confrontational tone between the geopolitical rivals. U.S. officials said the two days of talks would continue, but immediately accused the Chinese delegation of violating the format for the sensitive discussions that had sought to find some common ground amid the many conflict points between them. Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, accused the United States of taking a 'condescending' approach to the talks and said the American delegation had no right to accuse Beijing of human rights abuses or give lectures on the merits of democracy." CNN's story is here. MB: Sounds as if Yang thinks he is talking to the former guy's administration.

FBI Washington, D.C.: "The FBI's Washington Field Office has released new information and videos of suspects in the most egregious assaults on federal officers during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and is seeking the public's help to identify them." The page contains the newly-released videos.

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "About 72,000 people will have their federal loans fully canceled after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Thursday scrapped a plan to give partial debt relief to students defrauded by their colleges, ending a controversial policy instituted by his predecessor Betsy DeVos. The move -- Cardona's first major higher education announcement since being confirmed -- amounts to roughly $1 billion in debt relief. But it only addresses a subset of the nearly 200,000 people who have filed claims in the last six years under a statute known as 'borrower defense to repayment.'"

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "Xavier Becerra narrowly won confirmation Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency pivotal to President Biden's urgent goal of defeating the coronavirus pandemic and expanding access to health care. Becerra, a congressman from Los Angeles for two dozen years and then California attorney general, squeaked by on a vote of 50 to 49, the closest margin for any of the Biden Cabinet members the Senate has confirmed so far. He becomes the first Latino secretary of HHS, the largest federal department in terms of spending." The Hill's story is here.

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "The Senate confirmed William J. Burns as the next director of the CIA on Thursday, placing one of the country's most experienced career diplomats in charge of the spy agency. The chamber confirmed Burns by unanimous consent, an indication of broad bipartisan support. Burns, who retired from the Foreign Service in 2014 after a three-decade career, will take over at the agency at a moment of high tension between the United States and Russia, where he once served as the U.S. ambassador."

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Democratic-led House voted on Thursday to create a path to citizenship for an estimated four million undocumented immigrants, reopening a politically charged debate over the nation's broken immigration system just as President Biden confronts a growing surge of migrants at the border. In a near party-line vote of 228 to 197, the House first moved to set up a permanent legal pathway for more than 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, including those brought to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, and others granted Temporary Protected Status for humanitarian reasons. Just nine Republicans voted yes. Hours later, lawmakers approved a second measure with more bipartisan backing that would eventually grant legal status to close to a million farmworkers and their families while updating a key agricultural visa program. This time, 30 Republicans, many representing agriculture-heavy districts, joined nearly every Democrat to vote in favor." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Republicans don't care about granting citizenship to the immigrants who will do the most to help the American economy & otherwise contribute to society. DREAMers, on the whole, are far-better-educated than farm workers. Thus, DREAMers are much more likely to get high-paying jobs and contribute much more to the U.S. economy. How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm? -- Make sure farm labor is all they can do.

Kevin McCarthy Thinks You're a Stupid as He Is. Annie Grayer & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to rewrite history on Thursday by claiming that he was not involved in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election in a heated exchange during a news briefing. When asked by CNN's Manu Raju why it was acceptable for him to support Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election in Congress but to criticize Democrats for doing the same in a contested Iowa US House race, McCarthy repeatedly rejected the notion that he was trying to overturn the election at all. 'You're saying something that is not true,' [McCarthy told Raju].... Trump tried to pressure Congress to overturn the election and McCarthy raised no concerns about it. He also backed a Texas lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes, and ultimately voted in favor of overturning the election results of two states during votes that took place after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.... McCarthy tried to make the case that he was objecting to only two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, which he argued would ultimately not have changed the outcome of the election."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: There's an idea floating around "that [Mitch] McConnell doesn't want a simple-majority Senate because many things Republicans want to do can't get 50 GOP votes anyway, because they&'re deeply unpopular. Meanwhile, important GOP priorities that can get 50 GOP votes, such as tax cuts, can be passed via the simple-majority reconciliation process: This is how the 2017 tax cut passed. As Benjy Sarlin put it in a Twitter thread, there aren't 'many GOP priorities that could get 50 votes.' And Sarlin added a nuance: If the filibuster were done away with, and Republicans did take the majority, there would be tremendous pressure from the conservative grass roots to pass unpopular items, something McConnell might prefer to avoid."Sargent specifies a few other reasons McConnell's threat -- that Republicans would wreak havoc on the country if the filibuster were eliminated -- are hollow. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Somebody is right here. If McConnell had wanted to eliminate the filibuster, he would have done so already. And if, in the future, he becomes majority leader, and he wants to eliminate the filibuster, he will do so; the fact that he had railed against majority rule wouldn't make a whit of difference to him.

Texas Rep Touts Lynchings at Hearing on Racism. Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "Two days after an Atlanta-area shooting left eight dead, including six Asian women, members of a House judiciary subcommittee met to discuss the rise in racist rhetoric and attacks aimed at Asian Americans during the pandemic. But GOP Rep. Chip Roy (Tex.) decided to focus on ... the right of Republicans to criticize China.... The San Antonio-area congressman also seemed to celebrate lynchings..., in urging justice for wrongdoers: 'There's old sayings in Texas about "find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree."' Roy's remarks sparked an immediate and emotional outcry -- including a tearful response from Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) -- and set the tone for Thursday's tense and often divisive three-hour hearing, as members battled along partisan lines over the extent of the threats facing Asian Americans and whether Republicans, including ... Donald Trump, were partly to blame.... Many Democrats say a steady rise in attacks focused on Asian Americans during the pandemic has been due in part to divisive rhetoric from Republicans, including Trump's descriptions of the coronavirus as the 'China virus' and 'kung flu.' In a Fox News interview on the same night of the Atlanta shootings, the former president complained that the 'China virus' had tanked the U.S. economy."

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (RAnon-Ga.) claimed she had no idea she was spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories because she didn't know the Rothschild banking family was Jewish. MB: Maybe Margie should take this opportunity to acknowledge that she's pretty ignorant in general, and that her entire conspiracy theory -- that the California wildfires were purposely started by a space laser (funded by bankers of, uh, unknown ethnicity) -- is stupid.

Putin's Republican Tools. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) this week released a declassified intelligence community assessment on foreign threats to our 2020 elections, and the top-line takeaway was important: Russia once again targeted our political system for the express purposes of giving Donald Trump power.... This week's ODNI report also made clear that many leading Trump administration officials deliberately misled the public about foreign threats, especially related to alleged Chinese election interference.... It's obviously not great that Donald Trump's personal lawyer [Rudy Giuliani] partnered with a Russian agent [Andriy Derkach], directed by [Vladimir] Putin.... But ... Derkach claimed he fed information to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who was searching for anti-Biden dirt ahead of last fall's elections.... A month earlier, at a House Intelligence Committee meeting, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) pressed Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) ... on whether the Republican had received anti-Biden information from Derkach. According to a transcript from the closed-door discussion, Nunes didn't want to answer.... Maloney spoke [Wednesday] to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and said, '[T]he fact is that [Russian operatives] were so comfortable using people like Devin Nunes that Andriy Derkach ... sent information to Devin Nunes at the Intelligence Committee. We literally had the package receipt.'"

Ewan Palmer of Newsweek: "QAnon followers are once again pulling in all directions as they struggle to explain why Donald Trump would urge people to get COVID-19 vaccinations, which are highly-detested among Q-conspiracists.... With Trump contradicting QAnon theories that the vaccine is dangerous and the coronavirus is a hoax, many of its supporters came up with ways to cope with the latest cognitive dissonance, including suggesting it was not actually Trump speaking to Fox."

Annals of "Teen Journalism," Ctd. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Alexi McCammond, who made her name as a politics reporter at the Washington news site Axios, had planned to start as the editor in chief of Teen Vogue next Wednesday. Now, after Teen Vogue staff members publicly condemned racist and homophobic tweets Ms. McCammond had posted a decade ago, she has resigned from the job." A Mediaite story is here. MB: I'm more open-minded about stupid teenaged tricks. While I had the advantage of an upbringing that would have rendered me highly unlikely to write racist & homophobic tweets, I get that many young people did not have my good fortune. These young people can evolve. I have no idea if McCammond -- who is Black -- is a racist & homophobe today, but if she isn't, I'd ignore her stupid teenaged "opinions."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Molly Nagle & Arielle Mitropoulos of ABC News: "President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that on Friday his administration will deliver on his promise to get 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office. 'Fifty-eight days into our administration, we will have met my goal of administering 100 million shots to our fellow Americans. That's weeks ahead of schedule,' Biden said, speaking Thursday afternoon at the White House." MB: Mighty remarkable. My thanks to every individual who made that possible, including the National Guard who took time out of their personal lives to manage distribution & shoot us in the arms.

Natalie Kitroeff, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States plans to send millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada, the White House said Thursday, a notable step into vaccine diplomacy just as the Biden administration is quietly pressing Mexico to curb the stream of migrants coming to the border.... Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine have been sitting in American manufacturing sites. While their use has already been approved in dozens of countries, including Mexico and Canada, the vaccine has not yet been authorized by American regulators. [Press Secretary Jen] Psaki said the shipments to Mexico and Canada would essentially be a loan, with the United States receiving doses of AstraZeneca, or other vaccines, in the future. The announcement of the vaccine distribution came at a critical time in negotiations with Mexico. President Biden has moved quickly to dismantle some of former President Trump's signature immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, stopping the swift expulsion of children at the border and proposing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States."

Tony Fauci Has Had Enough of Rand Paul. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "From the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has positioned himself as the Senate's foremost skeptic of coronavirus expert Anthony S. Fauci. The two have tussled repeatedly. Paul brought it again Thursday, and Fauci again made clear he has little patience for Paul's nonexpert theories about the outbreak and Paul's reading of studies about it. At a Senate hearing, Paul pressed Fauci on health experts' continued recommendation of masks even for people who have contracted the virus or who have been vaccinated. Paul repeatedly suggested wearing masks in those cases was 'theater' -- pointing specifically to Fauci wearing masks even though he has been vaccinated." Fauci tried to explain to Paul why he (Paul) was misreading a study on the subject. MB: At one point, Fauci said to Paul, "I totally disagree with you, Senator." The Hill's story is here.