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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
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first thread is here TEXAS POWER OUTAGES: HOW THE LARGEST ENERGY-PRODUCING STATE FAILED IN FREEZING TEMPS thru Feb. 20, includes Ted Cruz-related
Let me be clear: I posted this because I'm jealous. It's an intriguing choice. Morphine would be fine with me, I had it in a hospital once and it was like heaven.
Four years' worth of stories about VIP visits and grooming protocols, palm-greasing, rotten vegetables, and that time they lost Steve Mnuchin’s coat.
By Jessica Sidman @ The Washingtonian, March issue, online now
[....] THE BIGGEST PAIN IN MY BUTT WAS GIULIANI [....]
[....] I ALWAYS TRIED TO DRESS LIKE A FOX NEWS ANCHOR [....]
By Erec Smith @ Quilette.com, Smith is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of PA
How soon life returns to normal depends on what we do now.
Op-ed by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Rick Bright and Céline Gounder @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 17. The authors were members of President Biden’s advisory board on Covid-19, which counseled him during the presidential transition period on how to respond to the pandemic.
The Covid-19 omens are not good.
Yes, over the past two weeks ending Monday, Covid-19 cases were down by 41 percent and deaths by 22 percent. Yes, people are wearing masks. In a recent national survey, 80 percent of the respondents said they “very closely” followed public health recommendations to don a mask outside the home. And yes, since the fall, fewer Americans are attending in-person gatherings with family and friends.
This is all good. Americans confronted the realities of a dark winter and stepped up. But this feel-good moment is obscuring what could be a dismal spring and the potential of further lockdowns unless we can continue to slow the spread of this virus.
Some signs point in the wrong direction. We probably just had millions of Super Bowl parties, ideal spaces for increasing spread. More worrisome, states are celebrating prematurely, rolling back their mask mandates, opening up indoor dining and permitting large gatherings, such as religious services and funerals — all well-established mechanisms for superspreading events.
Compounding these threats, new virus variants, especially B.1.1.7, are spreading across states. Their increased transmissibility could lead to tens of thousands of additional Covid-19 cases and, inevitably and tragically, a surge in hospitalizations and deaths, not to mention longer economic pain [....]
LAST COVID NEWS THREAD IS HERE, covers 2/15 thru 2/17
Democratic lawmakers have begun to challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of virus-related nursing home deaths, and the governor also faces a federal inquiry
By Jesse McKinley & Luis Ferre-Sadurni @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 17
ALBANY, N.Y. — The Democratic leaders of the New York State Senate are moving to strip Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of unilateral emergency powers granted during the pandemic, setting up a remarkable rebuke for the governor from members of his own party.
The Senate’s measures, which could be voted on as soon as next week, underscore the deepening division between Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers since the governor admitted to intentionally withholding critical data on virus-related deaths from the Legislature.
The moves came even as it emerged that the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York had opened an inquiry into the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic. It was not known whether the inquiry, which was confirmed by three people familiar with the matter, was focused on Mr. Cuomo or any individual, only that it was in its earliest stages [....]
more photos at link
Photo credit: © Stavros Petropoulos_Alaska For Onassis Foundation
By Grif Witte @ WashingtonPost.com, Feb. 14
[....] Though Dyer is a Republican, he’s rooting for the president to successfully push through federal aid that, after a nightmarish year for Fresno, will “help get us to the end.”
The first-term mayor’s stance reflects a broader split, one that gives Biden and his fellow Democrats a key tactical advantage as negotiations near an expected climax early next month.
Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly oppose the relief bill, casting it as bloated and budget-busting, with some heaping particular scorn on a measure to send $350 billion in assistance to states and cities. Should Biden go ahead without their approval, GOP leaders say, it will prove that his mantra of bipartisanship rings hollow.
But to many Republicans at city halls and statehouses across the country, the relief package looks very different. Instead of the “blue-state bailout” derided by GOP lawmakers, Republican mayors and governors say they see badly needed federal aid to keep police on the beat, to prevent battered Main Street businesses from going under and to help care for the growing ranks of the homeless and the hungry.
“It’s not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue,” said Dyer, who became mayor last month following a long career as the city’s police chief. “It’s a public health issue. It’s an economic issue. And it’s a public safety issue.”
Surveys show that a broad majority of Americans support the assistance, including large numbers of Republicans. Only a minority among Republican voters agree with GOP lawmakers that the aid package is too large, polls have found.
Biden on Friday highlighted the rift, inviting a bipartisan group of mayors and governors to the White House to discuss the specifics of the bill.
“You folks are all on the front lines and dealing with the crisis since day one,” he told the group, which included the Republican governors of Maryland and Arkansas, as well as Republican mayors.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) later told reporters from the podium in the White House briefing room that he had spoken with Biden and Vice President Harris more in the first several weeks of their administration “than I had spoken to the prior administration in the entirety.”
Biden said he brought the group to the White House to ask “what do they think they need most.” [....]
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN Business, Updated 5:08 PM ET February 16
After committing one of the "biggest blunders in banking history," Citibank won't be allowed to recover the almost half a billion dollars it accidentally wired to Revlon's lenders, a US District Court judge ruled.
Citibank, which was acting as Revlon's loan agent, meant to send about $8 million in interest payments to the cosmetic company's lenders. Instead, Citibank accidentally wired almost 100 times that amount, including $175 million to a hedge fund. In all, Citi (C) accidentally sent $900 million to Revlon's lenders.
Citibank filed a lawsuit in August seeking the return of its funds, but it still has not received $500 million from 10 investment advisory firms after the accidental transfer [....]
Former Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake told CNN's Pamela Brown that he has been in touch with the Biden administration when asked about recent reporting that the administration is considering him for an ambassador position.
IN A BID for reconciliation, United Arab Emirates Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba has invited Rep. Ro Khanna, the leading House opponent of the war in Yemen, onto the ambassador’s official podcast. The invitation follows a public dispute over whether Otaiba raised his voice at Khanna during a meeting over Khanna’s opposition to the conflict.