The Commentariat -- March 3, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Biden has agreed to narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments in his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, under pressure from moderate Senate Democrats who've pushed for more 'targeted' spending in the bill. Under the new structure, the checks would phase out faster for those at higher income levels, compared to the way the direct payments were structured in Biden's initial proposal and the version of the bill passed by the House on Saturday.... The change comes as the Senate prepares to take an initial procedural vote to move forward on the bill as early as Wednesday afternoon."
Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The commanding general of the D.C. National Guard told lawmakers Wednesday how restrictions the Pentagon placed on him in the run-up to Capitol riot prevented him from more quickly sending forces to help quell the violence. Maj. Gen. William J. Walker said he didn't receive approval to change the D.C. Guard's mission and send his forces to the Capitol on Jan. 6 until three hours and 19 minutes after he first received an emotional call from the Capitol Police chief requesting urgent backup. Walker described the Pentagon's restrictions as 'unusual,' noting that he didn't have such limitations last June when the D.C. Guard was tasked with responding to local racial justice protests.... Walker's timeline for when he was finally authorized to send forces to the Capitol differed from that of another witness at the hearing, Robert G. Salesses, the Pentagon official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security. Walker said that he didn't receive the order from senior Army officials to send his forces to the Capitol until 5:08 p.m., but Salesses said the acting defense secretary ordered forces to depart at 4:32 p.m. Walker said personnel did not arrive until 5:20 p.m." Politico's story is here.
** Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Internal reports and emails from the Homeland Security Department show that federal law enforcement authorities were alert to the potential for violence by extremist groups attending a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6, which preceded the attack on the Capitol. A security bulletin, along with other reports on protests, was compiled by the department's Federal Protective Service (FPS) a day before the attack and warned that anti-government and racially motivated extremists were likely to participate in the rally near the White House and 'use the activities as an opportunity to promote their ideologies and motivate followers to promote violence.'... The bulletin indicates that it was shared with other DHS security teams. It's not clear whether it was provided to the FBI, D.C. police or Capitol Police.... But the documents do show a level of awareness of potential threats on the part of the FPS, which is responsible for protecting federal properties, including some buildings around the Capitol."
John Amato of the Crooks & Liars: "The Federal Election Commission has its eye on Rep. Jim Jordan and his campaign committee, because of huge discrepancies in their filings. Cleveland.com reports that many of discrepancies are over $100,000 -- in one instance, the amount was over $900,000. Rep. Jordan claims the problems arose because of massive donations he's received as a Trump apologist and voter fraud grifter." The Cleveland.com page is subscriber-firewalled.
The New York Times now has a story on the DOD inspector general's report on Ronny Jackson, doctor to presidents and now a member of Congress. CNN's report is linked below.
"Happy Women's History Month, Idaho!" Brian Holmes of KTVB Boise: "March is Women's History Month and on Tuesday, one Idaho state representative voted against accepting federal grants to help kids get ready for kindergarten because it 'makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home.' Rep. Charlie Shepherd (R-Pollock) testified against House Bill 226, which would allow the State Board of Education to use nearly $6 million in federal grants to increase early childhood education in the Gem State by making it more available and accessible.... The bill failed on a 34-36 vote, but it is expected to be reconsidered." MB: I checked & Charlie is married.
~~~~~~~~~~
Politico: "President Joe Biden is withdrawing Neera Tanden's nomination to be his budget director, Biden said in a statement on Tuesday evening. Tanden faced opposition from at least one Democratic senator and was struggling to win any Republican support, leaving her nomination to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget with no clear path toward confirmation.... Biden's statement indicated that he expects Tanden to serve in another role in his administration." The story has been updated, with Sam Stein on the byline. The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a key Senate swing vote, said Tuesday evening she never told the White House she would vote against Neera Tanden, President Biden's former nominee to serve as White House budget director, and appeared surprised by the news that the nomination had been withdrawn. Murkowski also noted that White House officials never directly asked how she would vote.... Now she will be spared what could have been a difficult decision after she met with Tanden Monday and carefully walked the nominee through the various issues facing Alaska and the impact of Biden's seven executive actions on her home state." MB: However she might have voted, you do have to give Murkowski credit for giving serious consideration before arriving at a decision.
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton University economist, as the chair of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, making her the first Black leader of C.E.A. in its 75-year history. The final vote was 95 to 4. Dr. Rouse is the dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a former member of the council under President Barack Obama. Her academic research has focused on education, discrimination and the forces that hold some people back in the American economy. She won widespread praise from Republicans and Democrats alike in her confirmation hearing, with senators on the Banking Committee voting unanimously to send her nomination to the full Senate." ~~~
~~~ Andrew Solender of Forbes: "Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Tuesday voted to confirm former Princeton University dean Cecilia Rouse as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, casting his first vote in favor of one of President Joe Biden's Cabinet-level nominees after a dozen straight 'no' votes.... The only 'no' votes coming from Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) -- all of whom have opposed more than half of Biden's nominees so far. Hawley remains the reigning champion when it comes to voting against Biden's nominees, followed by Scott and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) at 11 'no' votes, Cotton at 10 and Tuberville at 9." MB: The big difference between Republican & Democratic "no" votes is that Democrats tend to vote against GOP nominees who have no qualifications for the positions they seek, while Republicans vote against Democratic nominees because Republican senators are nasty little pricks. And, no, I have no bias whatsoever against Republican senators.
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) won Senate confirmation Tuesday as the next U.S. commerce secretary, a post that will thrust her into some of the most contentious economic and security questions confronting the Biden administration. The Senate easily approved her nomination by a vote of 84 to 15. She is expected to be sworn in Wednesday. Raimondo, 49, a former venture capitalist who was reelected to her second term as Rhode Island's chief executive in 2018, will assume command of a federal agency with sweeping responsibilities and an increasingly important portfolio." Politico's story is here.
Jaclyn Diaz of NPR: "Without naming [Amazon] specifically, President Biden said in a video posted late Sunday that he supports the organizing drive in Bessemer, Ala. 'Today and over the next few days and weeks, workers in Alabama and all across America are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace,' Biden said in a video shared on Twitter. 'This is vitally important -- a vitally important choice, as America grapples with the deadly pandemic, the economic crisis and the reckoning on race -- what it reveals is the deep disparities that still exist in our country.'... More than 5,800 warehouse workers at the facility are voting this month whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The mail-in ballot election runs through March 29 and could be the first Amazon warehouse union in the United States. If successful, it would also be a major victory for labor organizing in the South, a region difficult for union success." (Also linked yesterday.)
Anne Gearan & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Tuesday announced punitive sanctions on senior Russian government figures over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and reiterated a demand that Navalny be released from detention. The sanctions block access to financial or other assets in the United States for seven top figures around Russian President Vladimir Putin. They are largely symbolic, but represent the first Biden administration action against Russia. U.S. officials who described the measures said they are a signal that the new administration will treat Russia differently than the Trump administration did." A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Tuesday that his agents are pursuing roughly 2,000 domestic terrorism cases -- a huge spike as the FBI tries to show it is taking the threat of such attacks seriously in the wake of January's pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol.... Wray also defended the bureau's handling of intelligence in advance of the attack on the Capitol, asserting that agents rapidly shared what they were learning with other law enforcement agencies, but conceding that FBI officials will review internal practices because Jan. 6, was not an 'acceptable result.' (Also linked yesterday.)
"Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee chairman, pressed Wray on how the bureau shared a situation report, prepared by the FBI's Norfolk field office a day before the riot, which warned of specific appeals for violence -- including a call for 'war' at the Capitol.... Wray said the report was shared in three ways -- sent by email to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the D.C. and Capitol Police; posted on a law enforcement web portal; and mentioned in a command center briefing in D.C....Wray ... said that he had not been briefed on the information before Jan. 6 either. Wray said he believed the report was handled in accordance with standard FBI practice." See also Jeanne's & Anonymous's commentary in yesterday's thread (& Jeanne's comment today). (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that the Jan. 6 insurrection has been 'an inspiration to a number of terrorist extremists' -- foreign and domestic -- and that the bureau is still eyeing whether any foreign actors might seek to infiltrate domestic groups to exploit vulnerabilities. Wray also said he considers the siege 'domestic terrorism' and is deploying intensive resources in every field office to pursue perpetrators.... Wray declined to disclose the cause of death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died following the insurrection, and he evaded saying whether a cause of death had been determined." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “On Jan. 6 came the white supremacists. Now comes the whitewash.... To hear the Republicans tell it, the country is besieged by left-wing anarchists. [During Christopher Wray's hearing,] Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who helped to foment the Capitol attack with his effort to overturn the electoral college results, proclaimed that 'we have seen massive rioting and violence as extremists, many of them leftist extremists, took to the streets,' part of an 'ongoing pattern of domestic terrorism.' Even after Wray said the FBI had found no sign of antifa or anarchist involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) took issue with 'the narrative' of who was involved on Jan. 6 -- and again suggested that anarchists played a role.... Key to the effort is to derail plans for a 9/11-style commission to probe the Jan. 6 attacks.... Republicans want to turn the Capitol insurrection commission into an antifa commission...." ~~~
~~~ About all those Antifa guys we've been hearing about who were masquerading as Trump supporters in the January 6 insurrection: well, there is this guy: ~~~
~~~ Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "The day before a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, William Robert Norwood III texted a group of friends and family to boast he had traveled to D.C. with a plan to fool the police. 'I'm dressing in all black,' Norwood texted a group chat on Jan. 5, according to images included in a federal criminal complaint filed last week. 'I'll look just like ANTIFA. I'll get away with anything.' Then, after joining in the mob, assaulting police officers and storming the Capitol rotunda, federal agents said, Norwood texted the group again to boast that his ploy had been a success. 'It worked,' Norwood texted, along with photos of himself wearing a police officer's vest that he allegedly took from the Capitol. 'I got away with things that others were shot or arrested for.' Norwood was arrested in Greer, S.C., on Feb. 25 and charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstruction of justice and Congress, theft of government property and other charges." (Also linked yesterday.)
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors alleged for the first time that a Washington state leader of the Proud Boys was nominated by members of the group to take charge of the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6 and carried out a plan to split into groups to break into the building from as many points as possible. In a 24-page filing Monday, U.S. prosecutors asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to keep Ethan Nordean, 30, of Seattle, in jail pending trial, appealing a lower court's Feb. 8 release order. Nordean was 'nominated from within to have "war powers"' to lead activities at the Capitol after the group's chairman, Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio, was arrested by D.C. police upon arriving in the city two days earlier, Assistant U.S. Attorneys James B. Nelson and Jason B.A. McCullough alleged. They do not state whether Nordean and/or others were formally selected to lead events that day." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Law enforcement agencies around Washington, D.C., are adding extra security out of concern about a coming date -- March 4, which is Thursday -- that has swirled online among QAnon supporters. An internal memo sent by the Timothy P. Blodgett, the acting House sergeant-at-Arms, which was obtained by NBC News, said his office 'is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police to monitor information related to March 4th and potential protests and demonstration activity surrounding what some have described as the "true Inauguration Day."' Blodgett wrote that plans are in place for 'additional personnel' to "support the safety and security of Members and staff.... QAnon adherents ... believe Democrats will be arrested en masse or the day that Trump will be re-inaugurated as president."
Sonia Moghe of CNN: "The New York City Bar Association added its name to the list of groups urging the state court committee that recommends whether to disbar attorneys to investigate complaints against Rudy Giuliani.... The NYC Bar Association said allegations call for a 'serious investigation' into Giuliani's actions, saying he used his position as an attorney who served in senior government positions including Manhattan US Attorney's office and Associate Attorney General of the United States to 'lend credence' to ... Donald Trump's baseless assertions that the 2020 Presidential Election results were the product of widespread election fraud. Giuliani is not a member of the NYC Bar Association, which is a voluntary organization." MB: Rudy 9/11 Giuliani of course was mayor of NYC.
Doing the Math. Robert Frank of CNBC: "Jeff Bezos would owe $5.7 billion in taxes for 2020 under the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act proposed by a group of Senate and House Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sanders, I-Vt., and others unveiled their proposed wealth tax, saying it would raise trillions in much-needed revenue and help reduce a wealth divide that has only grown wider during the pandemic. The tax would be a 2% annual levy on wealth over $50 million and 3% on wealth over $1 billion.... Bezos, the world's richest person..., still would have been left with a net worth of more than $185 billion after the tax, according to the analysis."
** Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "The Department of Defense inspector general has issued a scathing review of Rep. Ronny Jackson during his time serving as the top White House physician, concluding that he made 'sexual and denigrating' comments about a female subordinate, violated the policy for drinking alcohol while on a presidential trip and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted concerns from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper care. The findings outlined in the report, which was obtained by CNN prior to its expected release on Wednesday, stem from a years-long IG investigation into Jackson -- who currently represents Texas in the House of Representatives and sits on the House Armed Services subcommittee overseeing military personnel -- that was launched in 2018 and examines allegations that date back to his time serving during the Obama and Trump administrations. Members of Congress were briefed on the IG report findings on Tuesday...." MB: In the photo accompanying the article, Jackson appears to be high on something. The report is worth reading for the details.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House Ethics Committee is investigating Representative Steven M. Palazzo, Republican of Mississippi, for potential misuse of funds, after a preliminary inquiry found that he engaged in what investigators called a 'concerning pattern' of spending more than $80,000 in campaig money on a $1.2 million waterfront house that he was trying to sell.... At issue, among other allegations, the report said, was a 'concerning pattern of campaign expenditures on a large riverfront home which Representative Palazzo owned and rented to Palazzo for Congress as an ostensible campaign headquarters.' Investigators also alleged that Mr. Palazzo may have improperly used campaign funds to pay his brother and used his position in Congress to do a special favor for his brother.... 'The wide array of campaign-funded improvements to the home appear to have been directly related to the sale of the property rather than any true campaign purpose,' investigators wrote." ~~~
~~~ The luckiest guy in this possible felonious misuse of campaign funds is Steve's brother Kyle, who was homeless till Steve let him live rent-free in what he calls the "River House" & paid Kyle $23K for hanging out there. Steve also allegedly "used official resources to try to get the secretary of the Navy to intervene personally to upgrade Kyle Palazzo's military status so he would be eligible to re-enlist."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed poised on Tuesday to uphold two Arizona voting restrictions, one requiring election officials to discard ballots cast at the wrong precinct and the other making it a crime for campaign workers, community activists and most other people to collect ballots for delivery to polling places, a practice critics call 'ballot harvesting.' Several members of the court's conservative majority said the restrictions were sensible, commonplace and at least partly endorsed by a bipartisan consensus reflected in a 2005 report signed by former President Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker III, who served as secretary of state under President George Bush. The Biden administration, too, told the justices in an unusual letter two weeks ago that the Arizona measures appeared to be lawful." MB: Yeah, making black people guess the correct number of jellybeans was "lawful" in some places, too, but that doesn't make it right. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "The company that was hired to set up the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida last weekend has taken full responsibility for the design of the stage that resembled a Nazi insignia. In a ... statement to the Forward on Tuesday evening, Design Foundry, a stage design firm based in Hyattsville, Maryland, said it 'had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did.' The organizers of CPAC have announced that it will not use the firm for future events."
Amanda Watts & Leah Asmelash of CNN: "Six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published because they 'portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,' the business that preserves the author's legacy said. The titles are: 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'; 'If I Ran the Zoo'; 'McElligot's Pool'; 'On Beyond Zebra!'; 'Scrambled Eggs Super!'; 'The Cat's Quizzer'.... Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it made the decision after consulting educators and reviewing its catalog.... Dr. Seuss had a long history of publishing racist and anti-Semitic work, spanning back to the 1920s when he was a student at Dartmouth College. There, Dr. Seuss once drew Black boxers as gorillas and perpetuated Jewish stereotypes by portraying Jewish characters as financially stingy, according to a study published in the journal 'Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.'" (Also linked yesterday.) A New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: When I was a toddler, my favorite book was "And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street." I do recall a blatantly stereotypical Chinese guy in it. I just took a look at the book again. And there's more. There is also an Italian guy, I presume, dressed in Roman garb; some Inuits, I guess, in furry snowsuits; a presumably Indian 'rajah" in a turban, fancy shirt & pointy-toed shoes; and cops, at least one of whom ("Sergeant Mulvaney") is Irish. All of the people are the same color -- white. There are zebras, but no African characters. And here's something: I don't think the book made me even slightly racist. If anything, I thought people in different parts of the world wore different kinds of clothing and rode on different kinds of conveyances (like chariots & sleds & elephants). I guess if the reader (my father, in this case) isn't racist, the little hearer & viewer of "Mulberry Street" won't be, either. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, here's one positive outcome of the Seuss purge. It's, like, worse than the "Potato Head" "scandal"!: ~~~
~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Conservative media turned 2021's National Read Across America Day into an epic culture war meltdown. On Tuesday morning and into the afternoon, programming on Fox News and Fox Business ceaselessly harped upon the purported 'cancellation' of legendary children's author Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, as the latest example of woke liberalism run amok -- conveniently ignoring the fact that Dr. Seuss has not, in fact, been canceled. 'The cancel culture is canceling Dr. Seuss,' lamented Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade, adding later, 'It's out of control.'... A Fox News reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki a question during Tuesday's briefing about why [President] Biden didn't mention Dr. Seuss in his statement commemorating Read Across America Day, and Fox News then tried to spin Psaki's response (she referred the reporter to the Department of Education) as some sort of scandal.... Dr. Seuss was an even bigger topic on Newsmax -- a Trumpier, further right alternative to Fox News.... It's perfectly reasonable to reassess classic works of culture through the prism of the prevailing values of today. Doing so does not mean that those works have been 'canceled' or are worthless -- it just means being honest about the ways in which they have fallen short in terms of inclusivity and respect for other people."
More Sad News from Right Wing World. Michael Hayden of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch: "Before multimillionaire conspiracy theorist Alex Jones riled up Donald Trump's fans with lies about a stolen election, he privately expressed revulsion over the 45th president, a video leaked to Hatewatch reveals. 'It's the truth and I'm just going to say it. That I wish I never would have fucking met Trump,' Jones said on camera in January 2019, while shooting a documentary in Austin, Texas. 'I wish it never would have happened. And it's not the attacks I've been through. I'm so sick of fucking Donald Trump, man. God, I'm fucking sick of him. And I'm not doing this because, like, I'm kissing his fucking ass, you know. It's, like, I'm sick of it.' According to Caolan Robertson, a filmmaker Jones hired to shoot a propaganda film called 'You Can't Watch This' that produced this outtake, the conspiracy theorist's comments disparaging Trump are emblematic of his cynical business model. The leaked footage contrasts starkly with Jones' public rhetoric about Trump. Jones' talk show Infowars promoted and idealized Trump daily, throughout both the 2016 presidential campaign and the former president's time in office." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In fairness to Jones, he's only saying what many elected Republicans say to their mirrors.
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Diana Falzone & Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox News officially announced on Tuesday that it has hired former Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany as a contributor.... The addition of a known and frequent liar to the Fox News roster set off some alarms within a newsroom that has been 'purged' in recent months in favor of right-wing opinion programming and content geared towards keeping a diehard MAGA audience satisfied. 'It's truly disgusting they fired hard-working journalists who did care about facts and news reporting only to turn around and hire a mini-Goebbels whose incessant lies from the White House helped incite an insurrection...,' a Fox News insider raged to The Daily Beast. 'Post-Trump Fox is quickly becoming a very scary place and quite dangerous for our democracy. It's not even conservative news anymore. They've plunged into an alternate reality where extremist propaganda is the only course on the menu.'"
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
** Justin Gomez & Sarah Kolinovsky of ABC News: "President Joe Biden announced a major partnership Tuesday afternoon between pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson to help produce J&J's newly authorized vaccine and changed the vaccine timeline, saying there would be enough for every American adult by the end of May.... He compared the two companies collaboration to what the U.S. saw during World War II.... The president also announced Tuesday that he wants teachers and school workers to receive at least one vaccine shot 'by the end of March.' While Biden can't mandate that states prioritize teachers for their vaccine supplies, Biden is challenging them to do so." ~~~
Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leade Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the Senate will move forward as soon as Wednesday on President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill and pledged, 'We'll have the votes we need to pass the bill.' Schumer's comments at a news conference Tuesday came even as moderate Senate Democrats maneuvered to limit some of the expenditures in the bill, over objections from liberals who insisted they'd already made concessions on Biden's first major legislative proposal. The president urged Senate Democrats during a lunchtime call Tuesday to stay united behind the bill, arguing that it's broadly popular with the public and controversial only on Capitol Hill...."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Texas. Amir Vera of CNN: Texas "Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he's lifting the mask mandate in Texas, even as health officials warn not to ease safety restrictions. Abbott made the announcement during a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event where he issued an executive order rescinding most of his earlier executive orders like the mask mandate. Also announced Tuesday, Abbott said businesses of any type will be allowed to open 100% beginning March 10. Abbott's announcement comes as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to drop across the country. However, health experts say relaxing restrictions now could lead to another surge, especially with the variants spreading." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Julie Bosman & Lucy Tompkins of the New York Times: "The move by Texas, with its 29 million residents, goes further than similar actions in other states and cities that are rushing to ease as many limits as they can.... All around the country, governors and mayors are calibrating what is feasible, what is safe and what is politically practical.... 'I know people are tired; they want to get back to life, to normal,' Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday. 'But we're not there yet.' The divergent guidance has left many Americans in a quandary: wondering whether to follow the lure of optimism, as some officials in California, Michigan and North Carolina endorsed widespread reopenings of businesses and schools, or to heed their own lingering concerns about the virus and the warnings of federal health officials who have said it is premature to lift too many limits." ~~~
~~~ In Mississippi's capital Jackson, thousands of homes haven't had running water since the same winter storm that devastated Texas, and the whole town is under a boil-water advisory. Evidently, Mississippi's governor thinks a dangerous distraction would help: ~~~
~~~ Mississippi. Jacob Gallant & Courtney Jackson of WLBT Jackson: "Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is massively scaling back COVID-19 protocols in Mississippi. He is replacing all current executive orders with 'recommendations.' This effectively ends all mask mandates within the state. it also means businesses will be able to operate under full capacity with no restrictions."
Herman Wong of the Washington Post: "Dolly Parton, the country music legend who wrote 'Jolene' -- and updated its lyrics for the coronavirus era -- was in Nashville on Tuesday to get the Moderna vaccine, which she helped fund. Amid swaths of vaccine skepticism in the United States, prominent politicians and celebrities have received their shots publicly to encourage others to sign up. Parton's Instagram video came as President Biden said the country would have enough vaccine doses for every adult by the end of May, earlier than July, as previously announced, bringing the promise of a more normal summer." ~~~
~~~ Marie: That vaccination-ready sparkly dress is the best, isn't it? I just ordered myself a "vaccination sweater." Thanks, Dolly!
Beyond the Beltway
Texas. Jaclyn Diaz of NPR: "The largest power cooperative in Texas filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, citing a massive bill from the state's electricity grid operator following last month's winter storm that left millions of residents without power for days. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to court documents reviewed by NPR. The company in court documents says it received an essentially unpayable $1.8 billion bill from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the entity that maintains and operates much of the state's electricity grid. Brazos Electric is the wholesale energy provider for its 16-member cooperative.... Brazos said in court documents that the company was in solid financial shape leading up to the late February cold storm.... Dozens of other energy providers face enormous charges for electricity and other fees during February's freak winter storm in Texas. Many others may also face bills that list billions of dollars in charges." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Evidently Gov. Greg doesn't want Texas voters to think about the energy fiasco, so he's changing the subject -- and of course, by rescinding the state's mask mandate & opening Texas "100 percent," making matters worse for Texans, and for the rest of us.
News Lede
New York Times: "Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the civil rights leader and Washington power broker whose private counsel was sought by the powerful at the top levels of government and the corporate world, died on Monday at his home in Washington. He was 85.... Mr. Jordan, who was raised in segregation-era Atlanta..., went on to a dazzlingly successful career as a civil-rights leader and then a high-powered Washington lawyer in the mold of past capital insiders like Clark M. Clifford, Robert S. Strauss and Lloyd M. Cutler. Along the way he cultivated a who's who of younger Black leaders, inviting them to monthly one-on-one lunches, dispensing advice on everything from what to read to what to wear and using his unmatched influence to promote their careers in business, politics and the nonprofit world."
Share Article 
