Good Day, Gnusies and Happy Wednesday! Let’s get straight to the news:
President Biden’s Trustbusters Aren’t Just Experts on Tech. They Know About Big Ag. Tom Philpott, Mother Jones, March 29, 2021.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren After he tapped antitrust stalwarts Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission and Tim Wu to the National Economic Council, media accounts focused on a possible crackdown of the giant companies that dominate the internet. “Biden taps another Big Tech trustbuster,” declared Politico Playbook. “Biden Is Assembling a Big Tech Antitrust All-Star Team,” echoed Wired. And for good reason. Khan, a legal scholar most recently at Columbia University, made headlines in 2017 with her blistering paper “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” an exposé of the everything store’s monopolistic behavior and the assault on the the antitrust establishment that has allowed it to flourish. She also served as counsel for the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law and co-authored its landmark 2020 report teasing out Big Tech’s anti-competitive tendencies. Wu, author of the 2018 book The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age and also a Columbia Law School professor, is most famous for coining the phrase “net neutrality” and calling for Facebook to be broken up. But their hirings should make agribusiness titans quake, too. Biden’s appointments might now be famous for wanting to break up big tech. But both have aimed their antitrust chops at farm country, too, says Joe Maxwell, executive director of Family Farm Action, a non-profit that fights corporate control of agriculture. “Those are tremendous choices,” Maxwell said of Wu and Kahn. “They signal a seriousness about antitrust within the Biden administration that was not indicated in his campaign.” Governed by a five-member panel that will soon include Khan, the FTC operates a bit like an FBI for antitrust, with the power to launch investigations and lawsuits against companies suspected of violating antitrust law.
After he tapped antitrust stalwarts Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission and Tim Wu to the National Economic Council, media accounts focused on a possible crackdown of the giant companies that dominate the internet. “Biden taps another Big Tech trustbuster,” declared Politico Playbook. “Biden Is Assembling a Big Tech Antitrust All-Star Team,” echoed Wired. And for good reason. Khan, a legal scholar most recently at Columbia University, made headlines in 2017 with her blistering paper “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” an exposé of the everything store’s monopolistic behavior and the assault on the the antitrust establishment that has allowed it to flourish. She also served as counsel for the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law and co-authored its landmark 2020 report teasing out Big Tech’s anti-competitive tendencies. Wu, author of the 2018 book The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age and also a Columbia Law School professor, is most famous for coining the phrase “net neutrality” and calling for Facebook to be broken up.
But their hirings should make agribusiness titans quake, too. Biden’s appointments might now be famous for wanting to break up big tech. But both have aimed their antitrust chops at farm country, too, says Joe Maxwell, executive director of Family Farm Action, a non-profit that fights corporate control of agriculture. “Those are tremendous choices,” Maxwell said of Wu and Kahn. “They signal a seriousness about antitrust within the Biden administration that was not indicated in his campaign.”
Governed by a five-member panel that will soon include Khan, the FTC operates a bit like an FBI for antitrust, with the power to launch investigations and lawsuits against companies suspected of violating antitrust law.
Biden announces diverse first slate of judicial nominees, Darlene Superville and Jessica Gresko, AP News, March 30, 2021.
U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Biden’s group includes candidates who, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, would be the first Muslim federal judge in U.S. history, the first Asian American Pacific Islander woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge for the District of Maryland. Three of the picks are Black women who were nominated to the federal courts of appeals, a pathway to the Supreme Court. The most prominent of the three is U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Biden says he will nominate to the seat left vacant on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Judge Merrick Garland’s departure to become Attorney General. ✄ “This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession,” Biden said in a statement. “Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people — and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong.”
Biden’s group includes candidates who, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, would be the first Muslim federal judge in U.S. history, the first Asian American Pacific Islander woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge for the District of Maryland.
Three of the picks are Black women who were nominated to the federal courts of appeals, a pathway to the Supreme Court. The most prominent of the three is U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom Biden says he will nominate to the seat left vacant on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Judge Merrick Garland’s departure to become Attorney General. ✄
“This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession,” Biden said in a statement. “Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people — and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong.”
Biden Borrowed the Federalist Society’s Tactics. Good. Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, March 30, 2021.
In one important way, the names on Joe Biden’s first list are a striking rebuke to the hackneyed claims from conservative legal activists that they simply couldn’t scare up a woman or person of color in their quest to seat more than 220 federal jurists over the past four years, and that such people were judicial unicorns and remarkably difficult to come by. (Already the deeply capable Brown Jackson is being singled out by some in that same movement for having a “middling reputation.”) The three Black nominees for appeals courts seats and four Asian American and Pacific Islanders on this list reflect the reality that women, people of color, and young lawyers of diverse professional backgrounds are ready and willing to serve in the highest echelons of the judiciary if the party in power values their service. But also, credit where it is due: It’s amply clear that Biden’s judge-picking machine has learned some important lessons from the Federalist Society’s stranglehold on judicial selection. The game has now changed for both sides. For one thing, Biden moved very quickly on judges and announced a big slate; both moves that served George W. Bush when he named a big tranche of 11 judicial nominees in a ceremony in May of 2001. With this new list, Biden outpaces his predecessors. By this point in their first terms, Barack Obama had made a single judicial nomination, and Donald Trump had named two. But Biden is also flooding the field in a way that is closer to a Republican move on the courts, than that of Obama or Bill Clinton. Biden has also downgraded the role of the American Bar Association, the massive federal legal institution that describes itself as the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world in rating judicial nominees as qualified or not. This is a move that both the George W. Bush and Trump administrations had already taken. For progressive critics of the rating system, doing away with the approximately monthlong ABA pre-review opens the door for more diverse nominees, because most of the “not qualified” ratings went to women or people of color. But sidelining the ABA arguably deemphasizes backgrounds in the corporate law pipeline and thus also opens the gates for lawyers with backgrounds as civil rights attorneys and public defenders to be fully considered. These candidates sometimes got tangled up in the Obama judicial vetting process, frustrating those pushing for more minority candidates. While the ABA is understandably frustrated at this demotion, it’s a Fed Soc play if ever there was one (again, it was Bush and Trump who first did this, so for Biden, reinstating it would only add time and hurt Democratic nominees).
In one important way, the names on Joe Biden’s first list are a striking rebuke to the hackneyed claims from conservative legal activists that they simply couldn’t scare up a woman or person of color in their quest to seat more than 220 federal jurists over the past four years, and that such people were judicial unicorns and remarkably difficult to come by. (Already the deeply capable Brown Jackson is being singled out by some in that same movement for having a “middling reputation.”) The three Black nominees for appeals courts seats and four Asian American and Pacific Islanders on this list reflect the reality that women, people of color, and young lawyers of diverse professional backgrounds are ready and willing to serve in the highest echelons of the judiciary if the party in power values their service.
But also, credit where it is due: It’s amply clear that Biden’s judge-picking machine has learned some important lessons from the Federalist Society’s stranglehold on judicial selection. The game has now changed for both sides. For one thing, Biden moved very quickly on judges and announced a big slate; both moves that served George W. Bush when he named a big tranche of 11 judicial nominees in a ceremony in May of 2001. With this new list, Biden outpaces his predecessors. By this point in their first terms, Barack Obama had made a single judicial nomination, and Donald Trump had named two. But Biden is also flooding the field in a way that is closer to a Republican move on the courts, than that of Obama or Bill Clinton.
Biden has also downgraded the role of the American Bar Association, the massive federal legal institution that describes itself as the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world in rating judicial nominees as qualified or not. This is a move that both the George W. Bush and Trump administrations had already taken. For progressive critics of the rating system, doing away with the approximately monthlong ABA pre-review opens the door for more diverse nominees, because most of the “not qualified” ratings went to women or people of color. But sidelining the ABA arguably deemphasizes backgrounds in the corporate law pipeline and thus also opens the gates for lawyers with backgrounds as civil rights attorneys and public defenders to be fully considered. These candidates sometimes got tangled up in the Obama judicial vetting process, frustrating those pushing for more minority candidates. While the ABA is understandably frustrated at this demotion, it’s a Fed Soc play if ever there was one (again, it was Bush and Trump who first did this, so for Biden, reinstating it would only add time and hurt Democratic nominees).
First Openly Transgender Top U.S. Official is Set to Tackle Inequity, Amy Maxmen, Nidhi Subbaraman, Nature, March 30, 2021.
“COVID-19 has shown us the tip of the iceberg of the lack of health equity,” Levine told Nature last September, while still head of Pennsylvania’s health department. “Socio-economic status, food security, affordable housing, access to childcare and health care, systemic racism and discrimination” all contribute to disparities in the effects of COVID-19 and other diseases, she said. Health officials and community groups who worked with Levine during her six years at the Pennsylvania Department of Health say she sought to correct disparities in how COVID-19 and other health issues affect various groups, by considering their root causes. “She thought about rural Pennsylvanians, LGBTQ, disabled people, incarcerated citizens,” says David Saunders, director of the department’s Office of Health Equity. “She understands the problems that people are dealing with because she listens.”
“COVID-19 has shown us the tip of the iceberg of the lack of health equity,” Levine told Nature last September, while still head of Pennsylvania’s health department. “Socio-economic status, food security, affordable housing, access to childcare and health care, systemic racism and discrimination” all contribute to disparities in the effects of COVID-19 and other diseases, she said.
Health officials and community groups who worked with Levine during her six years at the Pennsylvania Department of Health say she sought to correct disparities in how COVID-19 and other health issues affect various groups, by considering their root causes.
“She thought about rural Pennsylvanians, LGBTQ, disabled people, incarcerated citizens,” says David Saunders, director of the department’s Office of Health Equity. “She understands the problems that people are dealing with because she listens.”
We are so lucky to have President Joe Biden at this point in our history.
The New York Times has a lengthy article explaining the For the People Act, but in case you’ve already exceeded your number of free articles this month, here’s the Cole’s notes:
Here’s How Democrats’ Sweeping Voting Rights Law Would Work, Michael Wines, New York Times, March 30, 2021.
The bill, clocking in at 818 pages, includes a laundry list of Democratic priorities like expanded ballot access, tighter controls on political money and support for District of Columbia statehood. It had no chance of becoming law when Republicans controlled the Senate and the White House. But with Democrats in power, the wish list has become a potentially historic law and the most pervasive overhaul of federal election rules in recent memory. Republicans have assailed it as a Democratic effort to rig the political system in their favor, even as some privately acknowledge that the bill’s broad aims are overwhelmingly popular, even among conservatives. Here is a summary of some of the central elements of the measure: -The bill would set a national floor for ballot access. -The measure makes it much easier to register to vote. -It would defang many voting restrictions imposed by Republicans. -Partisan gerrymandering would end. -Political contributions would be reined in.
The bill, clocking in at 818 pages, includes a laundry list of Democratic priorities like expanded ballot access, tighter controls on political money and support for District of Columbia statehood. It had no chance of becoming law when Republicans controlled the Senate and the White House.
But with Democrats in power, the wish list has become a potentially historic law and the most pervasive overhaul of federal election rules in recent memory. Republicans have assailed it as a Democratic effort to rig the political system in their favor, even as some privately acknowledge that the bill’s broad aims are overwhelmingly popular, even among conservatives.
Here is a summary of some of the central elements of the measure:
-The bill would set a national floor for ballot access.
-The measure makes it much easier to register to vote.
-It would defang many voting restrictions imposed by Republicans.
-Partisan gerrymandering would end.
-Political contributions would be reined in.
Democrats’ new plan for passing more bills with 51 votes, explained, Li Zhou and Ella Nilson, Vox, March 30, 2021.
Budget reconciliation was always going to be a key tool that Senate Democrats relied on in a 50-50 Senate: By using the 2021 fiscal year bill to pass landmark coronavirus relief, they’ve already been able to advance legislation that’s far more generous than what a compromise bill with Republicans would have looked like. When it comes to Democrats’ next priority — infrastructure — and the expansive plans they’ve laid out thus far, Democrats could well do the same. If they were able to get a third attempt at budget reconciliation, that would mean that Democrats — if they remain united — could push through even more of their priorities with little need for concessions to the GOP, though many bills like voting rights and gun control probably can’t pass through the reconciliation process. As Vox’s Dylan Scott has previously explained, each budget resolution is able to set up three bills, though lawmakers usually pass them as one large package, meaning they effectively get one shot at using this tool every fiscal year: The budget resolution can, in theory, set up three separate reconciliation bills: one for taxes, one for spending, and one for the federal debt limit. However, in practice, most reconciliation bills have combined taxes and spending into a single piece of legislation. That’s the reason that, historically, the Senate has usually been limited to passing only one budget reconciliation bill in a given fiscal year. By making their case, Democrats are hoping to eke out what would basically be two budget reconciliation bills for fiscal year 2021 instead of just one. At this point, they’ve yet to elaborate on what exactly this third reconciliation bill would cover.
Budget reconciliation was always going to be a key tool that Senate Democrats relied on in a 50-50 Senate: By using the 2021 fiscal year bill to pass landmark coronavirus relief, they’ve already been able to advance legislation that’s far more generous than what a compromise bill with Republicans would have looked like. When it comes to Democrats’ next priority — infrastructure — and the expansive plans they’ve laid out thus far, Democrats could well do the same.
If they were able to get a third attempt at budget reconciliation, that would mean that Democrats — if they remain united — could push through even more of their priorities with little need for concessions to the GOP, though many bills like voting rights and gun control probably can’t pass through the reconciliation process.
As Vox’s Dylan Scott has previously explained, each budget resolution is able to set up three bills, though lawmakers usually pass them as one large package, meaning they effectively get one shot at using this tool every fiscal year:
The budget resolution can, in theory, set up three separate reconciliation bills: one for taxes, one for spending, and one for the federal debt limit. However, in practice, most reconciliation bills have combined taxes and spending into a single piece of legislation. That’s the reason that, historically, the Senate has usually been limited to passing only one budget reconciliation bill in a given fiscal year.
By making their case, Democrats are hoping to eke out what would basically be two budget reconciliation bills for fiscal year 2021 instead of just one. At this point, they’ve yet to elaborate on what exactly this third reconciliation bill would cover.
Georgia sued for third time over voting restrictions as Delta, Coke face boycott calls, Joseph Ax, Reuters, March 30, 2021.
Civil rights groups intensified their legal fight against Georgia’s new voting restrictions with a third federal lawsuit, while Atlanta-based corporations Delta Air Lines Inc and Coca-Cola Co continued to face boycott calls from activists who say they need to do more to oppose the law. ✄ “This law is voter suppression, plain and simple, and aimed at making it harder for Black and brown and other historically disenfranchised communities to have a voice in our democracy,” said Sophia Lakin of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed the latest lawsuit on behalf of several grassroots groups. They included the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), which takes in more than 500 churches in Georgia, and the historically Black sorority Delta Sigma Theta.
Civil rights groups intensified their legal fight against Georgia’s new voting restrictions with a third federal lawsuit, while Atlanta-based corporations Delta Air Lines Inc and Coca-Cola Co continued to face boycott calls from activists who say they need to do more to oppose the law. ✄
“This law is voter suppression, plain and simple, and aimed at making it harder for Black and brown and other historically disenfranchised communities to have a voice in our democracy,” said Sophia Lakin of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed the latest lawsuit on behalf of several grassroots groups. They included the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), which takes in more than 500 churches in Georgia, and the historically Black sorority Delta Sigma Theta.
Charles Koch among several GOP donors worried the Republican war on voting will backfire: report, Jon Skolnik, Salon, March 30, 2021.
The GOP's war on voting, while raging on in red states across the country, remains incredibly unpopular — and Republican megadonors are reportedly growing nervous. Republican operatives are making a strategic pivot in their efforts to combat the For the People Act or H.R. 1, dismissing the notion of a broad messaging campaign to instead exert pressure on Congress to kill the bill, according to a private call obtained by The New Yorker. In the call, a policy adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and several prominent right-wing advocacy groups expressed distress over the broad public support behind H.R. 1, the Democratic-backed ethics and voting overhaul that proponents claim will enshrine the electoral system in unprecedented transparency and accountability. ✄ On the call, Kyle McKenzie, the research director for Stand Together, a Koch-backed advocacy group, reportedly aired out concerns over the broad-based conservative support for H.R. 1. "There's a large, very large, chunk of conservatives who are supportive of these types of efforts," he warned. According to public opinion testing conducted by Stand Together, he noted, attempting to "engage with the other side" –– or combating the idea that the bill "stops billionaires from buying elections" –– is a losing battle. The only way to defeat it, he concluded, is by GOP obstructionism.
The GOP's war on voting, while raging on in red states across the country, remains incredibly unpopular — and Republican megadonors are reportedly growing nervous.
Republican operatives are making a strategic pivot in their efforts to combat the For the People Act or H.R. 1, dismissing the notion of a broad messaging campaign to instead exert pressure on Congress to kill the bill, according to a private call obtained by The New Yorker. In the call, a policy adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and several prominent right-wing advocacy groups expressed distress over the broad public support behind H.R. 1, the Democratic-backed ethics and voting overhaul that proponents claim will enshrine the electoral system in unprecedented transparency and accountability. ✄
On the call, Kyle McKenzie, the research director for Stand Together, a Koch-backed advocacy group, reportedly aired out concerns over the broad-based conservative support for H.R. 1. "There's a large, very large, chunk of conservatives who are supportive of these types of efforts," he warned. According to public opinion testing conducted by Stand Together, he noted, attempting to "engage with the other side" –– or combating the idea that the bill "stops billionaires from buying elections" –– is a losing battle. The only way to defeat it, he concluded, is by GOP obstructionism.
Regarding the obstructionism strategy — just thought I’d remind you real quick that a poll that hpg brought us in the last week shows that Americans’ approval of Congress has ticked up sharply since it came under full Democratic control. Highest approval since 2013. GQP obstructionism isn’t likely to endear them to the voters. Just sayin’
Biden To Initiate Additional Student Loan Relief This Week — But Borrowers Demand Full Cancellation, Adam S Minsky, Forbes, March 30, 2021.
Today, the U.S. Department of Administration announced that it would be easing burdensome bureaucratic requirements for student loan borrowers who have had their student loans forgiven due to a medical disability. The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge program allows student loan borrowers who are unable to maintain substantial, gainful employment due to a medical impairment to get their student loans forgiven. ✄ The Biden administration announced today that the Department of Education would be waiving the paperwork requirements during the so-called post-discharge monitoring period for the TPD Discharge program for the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The change will be retroactive to March of 2020, when the pandemic emergency was first declared. Student loan borrowers who have had their disability discharges reversed (and their student loans reinstated) due to failure to send in the required paperwork during their post-discharge monitoring period will be eligible to have their loans re-discharged. A total of approximately 230,000 student loan borrowers will be impacted, including 41,000 borrowers who had their discharges reversed. ✄ The Biden administration is also reportedly planning to announce additional student loan relief this week: an expansion of emergency student loan protections to potentially cover additional student loans. Currently, collections on defaulted federal student loans has been suspended under the CARES Act, which President Biden extended to September 30, 2021. However, only government-held federal student loans are subject to the collections suspension. Collections activities may continue against student loan borrowers who have defaulted federal student loans that are not held by the government, such as Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) program loans held by guaranty agencies, and federal Perkins loans held by schools. An expansion of the collections moratorium to these other types of federal loans could benefit borrowers who are experiencing wage garnishment and other collections activity, but relief may be limited only to borrowers in default. The White House has not yet released any formal details.
Today, the U.S. Department of Administration announced that it would be easing burdensome bureaucratic requirements for student loan borrowers who have had their student loans forgiven due to a medical disability. The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge program allows student loan borrowers who are unable to maintain substantial, gainful employment due to a medical impairment to get their student loans forgiven. ✄
The Biden administration announced today that the Department of Education would be waiving the paperwork requirements during the so-called post-discharge monitoring period for the TPD Discharge program for the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The change will be retroactive to March of 2020, when the pandemic emergency was first declared. Student loan borrowers who have had their disability discharges reversed (and their student loans reinstated) due to failure to send in the required paperwork during their post-discharge monitoring period will be eligible to have their loans re-discharged. A total of approximately 230,000 student loan borrowers will be impacted, including 41,000 borrowers who had their discharges reversed. ✄
The Biden administration is also reportedly planning to announce additional student loan relief this week: an expansion of emergency student loan protections to potentially cover additional student loans. Currently, collections on defaulted federal student loans has been suspended under the CARES Act, which President Biden extended to September 30, 2021. However, only government-held federal student loans are subject to the collections suspension. Collections activities may continue against student loan borrowers who have defaulted federal student loans that are not held by the government, such as Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) program loans held by guaranty agencies, and federal Perkins loans held by schools. An expansion of the collections moratorium to these other types of federal loans could benefit borrowers who are experiencing wage garnishment and other collections activity, but relief may be limited only to borrowers in default. The White House has not yet released any formal details.
The argument from Amazon (and other corporations) that “workers can win adequate compensation and conditions by dealing with management directly” is patently false, as 40 years of wage stagnation and worsening employment conditions/ diminished or eliminated benefits sadly attest. The vote in Alabama may not be successful for unionizing due to a variety of factors (Amazon’s ferocious campaign against it and the culture of anti-unionism in the south being two biggies), but the fact that it is happening is important. It may spark more efforts to organize workers so that they can more effectively fight for better treatment all over the country. Corporations want workers isolated and unable to fight the corporate machinery. Unions change that which is why Amazon, Walmart and others fight so hard to prevent them from organizing.
The count should be completed this week. Keep an eye out. But whatever the result, this was a step forward for workers in the USA.
‘Lighting a fuse’: Amazon vote may spark more union pushes, Joseph Pisani and Bill Barrow, AP News, March 30, 2021.
What happens inside a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, could have major implications not just for the country’s second-largest employer but the labor movement at large. ✄ “This is lighting a fuse, which I believe is going to spark an explosion of union organizing across the country, regardless of the results,” says RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum. ✄ Advocates say a victory would signal a shift in the narrative about unions, helping refute the typical arguments from companies, including Amazon, that workers can win adequate compensation and conditions by dealing with management directly. “It is because of unions that we have a five-day work week. It is because of unions that we have safer conditions in our places of work. It is because of unions that we have benefits,” says Rep. Terri Sewell, whose congressional district includes the Amazon facility. “Workers should have the right to choose whether they organize or not.”
What happens inside a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, could have major implications not just for the country’s second-largest employer but the labor movement at large. ✄
“This is lighting a fuse, which I believe is going to spark an explosion of union organizing across the country, regardless of the results,” says RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum. ✄
Advocates say a victory would signal a shift in the narrative about unions, helping refute the typical arguments from companies, including Amazon, that workers can win adequate compensation and conditions by dealing with management directly.
“It is because of unions that we have a five-day work week. It is because of unions that we have safer conditions in our places of work. It is because of unions that we have benefits,” says Rep. Terri Sewell, whose congressional district includes the Amazon facility. “Workers should have the right to choose whether they organize or not.”
A Big, Big Deal, Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, March 29, 2021.
As we’ve discussed in various contexts over recent months, a big, big question is whether mRNA vaccines prevent COVID infection itself or the just illness that the virus causes. If the vaccine keeps you from getting a severe case of the disease or dying that is obviously a huge benefit. But the initial efficacy studies could not rule out one possibility: that vaccinated individuals were still getting infected and that the vaccine was pushing their cases into the asymptomatic category. That may not be a huge difference for individuals. But it’s all the difference in the world in terms of stopping the on-going spread of the disease through the population. ✄ The study followed 4,000 health care and other essential workers who got the vaccine starting in December. They tracked these individuals in 8 cities. The participants ranged from the unvaccinated, to people who had gotten just one shot, to people who were fully vaccinated (two weeks after their second shot). Rather than wait for participants to be diagnosed as they got ill or by happenstance, they tested everyone weekly. The results were dramatic. The unvaccinated group had 161 cases; the one shot group had 16 cases and the fully vaccinated group had 3 cases. ✄ This seems like the kind of study that has limitations that prevent the results from being truly definitive. But the results are clear enough that it seems highly likely that people who get vaccinated have very high protection (around 90% efficacy) against any infection at all. With enough people vaccinated that should mean we can not only prevent serious disease but break the chain of transmission. If enough people get vaccinated.
As we’ve discussed in various contexts over recent months, a big, big question is whether mRNA vaccines prevent COVID infection itself or the just illness that the virus causes. If the vaccine keeps you from getting a severe case of the disease or dying that is obviously a huge benefit. But the initial efficacy studies could not rule out one possibility: that vaccinated individuals were still getting infected and that the vaccine was pushing their cases into the asymptomatic category. That may not be a huge difference for individuals. But it’s all the difference in the world in terms of stopping the on-going spread of the disease through the population. ✄
The study followed 4,000 health care and other essential workers who got the vaccine starting in December. They tracked these individuals in 8 cities. The participants ranged from the unvaccinated, to people who had gotten just one shot, to people who were fully vaccinated (two weeks after their second shot). Rather than wait for participants to be diagnosed as they got ill or by happenstance, they tested everyone weekly. The results were dramatic. The unvaccinated group had 161 cases; the one shot group had 16 cases and the fully vaccinated group had 3 cases. ✄
This seems like the kind of study that has limitations that prevent the results from being truly definitive. But the results are clear enough that it seems highly likely that people who get vaccinated have very high protection (around 90% efficacy) against any infection at all. With enough people vaccinated that should mean we can not only prevent serious disease but break the chain of transmission. If enough people get vaccinated.
The Atlantic is making all of its Covid-19 coverage available to the public with no paywall:
The Fourth Surge Is Upon Us. This Time, It’s Different. Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic, March 30, 2021.
We appear to be entering our fourth surge. The good news is that this one is different. We now have an unparalleled supply of astonishingly efficacious vaccines being administered at an incredible clip. If we act quickly, this surge could be merely a blip for the United States. But if we move too slowly, more people will become infected by this terrible new variant, which is acutely dangerous to those who are not yet vaccinated. The United States has an advantage that countries such as Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, who are also experiencing surges from this variant, don’t. The Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines work very well against this variant, and the U.S. has been using them to vaccinate more than 3 million people a day. That’s more than 4 percent of our vaccine-eligible population every three days. An astonishing 73 percent of people over 65, and 36 percent of all eligible adults in the country, have already received at least one dose. More than 50 million people are now considered fully vaccinated, having received either their booster dose or the “one and done” Johnson & Johnson shot. Many states have already opened up vaccination to anyone over 16, and everyone eligible is expected to have a chance to get at least a first dose no later than May. ✄ It’s pretty clear that large numbers of people in the U.S. already are, or will soon be, protected from COVID-19’s more severe outcomes, such as death and hospitalization, which the vaccines reduce so close to zero that clinical trials have reported hardly any such cases. And it gets better: Yesterday, the CDC released real-life data showing that, just two weeks after even a single dose, the two mRNA vaccines were 80 percent effective in preventing infection. The effectiveness rose to 90 percent after the second, booster dose. People in the study were routinely tested regardless of whether they had symptoms, so we know that vaccines prevented not just symptomatic illness—the vaccine-efficacy rate reported in the trials—but any infection. People who are not infected by a virus cannot transmit it at all, and even people who have a breakthrough case despite vaccination have been shown to have lower viral loads compared with unvaccinated people, and so are likely much less contagious.
We appear to be entering our fourth surge.
The good news is that this one is different. We now have an unparalleled supply of astonishingly efficacious vaccines being administered at an incredible clip. If we act quickly, this surge could be merely a blip for the United States. But if we move too slowly, more people will become infected by this terrible new variant, which is acutely dangerous to those who are not yet vaccinated.
The United States has an advantage that countries such as Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, who are also experiencing surges from this variant, don’t. The Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines work very well against this variant, and the U.S. has been using them to vaccinate more than 3 million people a day. That’s more than 4 percent of our vaccine-eligible population every three days. An astonishing 73 percent of people over 65, and 36 percent of all eligible adults in the country, have already received at least one dose. More than 50 million people are now considered fully vaccinated, having received either their booster dose or the “one and done” Johnson & Johnson shot. Many states have already opened up vaccination to anyone over 16, and everyone eligible is expected to have a chance to get at least a first dose no later than May. ✄
It’s pretty clear that large numbers of people in the U.S. already are, or will soon be, protected from COVID-19’s more severe outcomes, such as death and hospitalization, which the vaccines reduce so close to zero that clinical trials have reported hardly any such cases. And it gets better: Yesterday, the CDC released real-life data showing that, just two weeks after even a single dose, the two mRNA vaccines were 80 percent effective in preventing infection. The effectiveness rose to 90 percent after the second, booster dose. People in the study were routinely tested regardless of whether they had symptoms, so we know that vaccines prevented not just symptomatic illness—the vaccine-efficacy rate reported in the trials—but any infection. People who are not infected by a virus cannot transmit it at all, and even people who have a breakthrough case despite vaccination have been shown to have lower viral loads compared with unvaccinated people, and so are likely much less contagious.
Keep Your Covid-19 Vaccination Card Safe — You’re Going To Need It, Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes, March 27, 2021.
If you are among the 48 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the only proof that you have received your Covid shots is typically your paper vaccination record card with the CDC logo in the upper corner. ✄ All Covid-19 vaccination providers are required to report data within 72 hours in their state’s immunization system, so there should be a back-up record of your vaccination status there. The CDC has a list of the Immunization Information System (IIS) in each state, which is where to start if you need a replacement card and either can’t remember where you were vaccinated or have difficulty contacting the facility. -Make a photocopy of your vaccination card. -Take a photo of your CDC vaccination record card. -Ask for a digital backup of your vaccination card.
If you are among the 48 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the only proof that you have received your Covid shots is typically your paper vaccination record card with the CDC logo in the upper corner. ✄
All Covid-19 vaccination providers are required to report data within 72 hours in their state’s immunization system, so there should be a back-up record of your vaccination status there. The CDC has a list of the Immunization Information System (IIS) in each state, which is where to start if you need a replacement card and either can’t remember where you were vaccinated or have difficulty contacting the facility.
-Make a photocopy of your vaccination card.
-Take a photo of your CDC vaccination record card.
-Ask for a digital backup of your vaccination card.
Brain tumors — and in particular gliomas like glioblastoma multiforme (the brain cancer that took the lives of Sen Ted Kennedy, Sen John McCain and my own beloved Dad) — are among the most relentlessly untreatable of cancers. Chemo is useless because it can’t cross the blood brain barrier. Radiation has limited use as a way to reduce tumor size to buy time. Debulking surgery is about the only option that buys a patient a few more precious months. But, you know, brain surgery has to be survived first. So, when I saw this popular diary on DK front page the other day I knew I needed to put it in the health section today. Many will already have seen it, but it bears repeating because it is astoundingly hopeful good news:
Vaccine stops tumor growth in humans, skralyx, Daily Kos, March 28, 2021.
As we learn more and more about cancer, we begin to find characteristics of cancer cells that betray their identity in a way we can attack. One example: Many types of cancer cells have a specific mutation in a protein called IDH1 that normal cells don’t have. The mutation in that protein changes its structure enough that you can induce antibodies to go after it but leave the normal protein — and hence normal cells — alone. Researchers based in Heidelberg, Germany, led by Michael Platten, have done just that, as they reported March 24 in Nature. They developed a brain cancer vaccine, and the first real tests in humans show that brain tumors are being infiltrated by T cells programmed to go after this protein, and in most cases the progression of the disease is being halted. We may just be on to something here, folks.
As we learn more and more about cancer, we begin to find characteristics of cancer cells that betray their identity in a way we can attack. One example: Many types of cancer cells have a specific mutation in a protein called IDH1 that normal cells don’t have. The mutation in that protein changes its structure enough that you can induce antibodies to go after it but leave the normal protein — and hence normal cells — alone.
Researchers based in Heidelberg, Germany, led by Michael Platten, have done just that, as they reported March 24 in Nature. They developed a brain cancer vaccine, and the first real tests in humans show that brain tumors are being infiltrated by T cells programmed to go after this protein, and in most cases the progression of the disease is being halted.
We may just be on to something here, folks.
Looks like Dominion really means business. Here’s hoping they succeed beyond their wildest dreams!
Dominion Builds Legal Behemoth to Drain Trumpland of Billions, Adam Rawnsley, Lachlan Cartwright and Asawin Suebsaeng, Daily Beast, March 30, 2021.
Clare Locke—the legal firm spearheading Dominion’s lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and pillow magnate Mike Lindell—recently brought in seven attorneys from the Texas-based firm of Susman Godfrey, which has experience litigating against the so-called “Kraken” suits filed by one-time Trump attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell. “There are great synergies between the work that the Susman team had done on the 2020 election and the defamation cases we were pursuing for Dominion,” Tom Clare, from the notoriously aggressive law firm Clare Locke, told The Daily Beast. “As those discussions unfolded we also discovered the two firms have a great cultural similarity in having a ready for trial approach to litigation,” he added. “I think it's going to be a very effective team.” Dominion expanding its legal team is the latest effort to punish leading players in the months-long propaganda push to trash the company and baselessly assail the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential contest.
Clare Locke—the legal firm spearheading Dominion’s lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and pillow magnate Mike Lindell—recently brought in seven attorneys from the Texas-based firm of Susman Godfrey, which has experience litigating against the so-called “Kraken” suits filed by one-time Trump attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell.
“There are great synergies between the work that the Susman team had done on the 2020 election and the defamation cases we were pursuing for Dominion,” Tom Clare, from the notoriously aggressive law firm Clare Locke, told The Daily Beast.
“As those discussions unfolded we also discovered the two firms have a great cultural similarity in having a ready for trial approach to litigation,” he added. “I think it's going to be a very effective team.”
Dominion expanding its legal team is the latest effort to punish leading players in the months-long propaganda push to trash the company and baselessly assail the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential contest.
Why the defamation lawsuits against Fox News could seriously hurt the company, Ian Milhiser, Vox, March 30, 2021.
Fox’s decision to broadcast these lies could prove very expensive for the conservative media company. On Friday, Dominion filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, and this lawsuit mirrors a similar $2.7 billion case brought by Smartmatic. To put those numbers in perspective, the Fox Corporation is valued at about $23 billion. So the two voting companies are seeking nearly one-fifth of Fox’s total valuation. ✄ Overall, Dominion’s “current projections show lost profits of over $600 million over the next eight years”; the company also claims that “the viral disinformation campaign has irreparably damaged Dominion and destroyed the enterprise value of a business that was worth potentially more than $1 billion.” It remains to be seen whether these catastrophic losses actually play out, but Dominion’s suggestion that the smear campaign against it could have ruined the company is, at the very least, plausible. Even fully rational election officials, who are completely aware that the lies about Dominion are in fact lies, may be reluctant to deal with the legions of Republican voters who could rise up in anger if a state or local government signs a contract with Dominion. So Fox, in other words, could be in for a world of hurt.
Fox’s decision to broadcast these lies could prove very expensive for the conservative media company. On Friday, Dominion filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, and this lawsuit mirrors a similar $2.7 billion case brought by Smartmatic. To put those numbers in perspective, the Fox Corporation is valued at about $23 billion. So the two voting companies are seeking nearly one-fifth of Fox’s total valuation. ✄
Overall, Dominion’s “current projections show lost profits of over $600 million over the next eight years”; the company also claims that “the viral disinformation campaign has irreparably damaged Dominion and destroyed the enterprise value of a business that was worth potentially more than $1 billion.”
It remains to be seen whether these catastrophic losses actually play out, but Dominion’s suggestion that the smear campaign against it could have ruined the company is, at the very least, plausible. Even fully rational election officials, who are completely aware that the lies about Dominion are in fact lies, may be reluctant to deal with the legions of Republican voters who could rise up in anger if a state or local government signs a contract with Dominion.
So Fox, in other words, could be in for a world of hurt.
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch Heads To Australia As Fox News Faces Headwinds, David Folkenflik, NPR News, March 30, 2021.
Lachlan Murdoch, the Fox Corp. CEO and executive chairman, has departed Los Angeles and returned to Australia with his wife and children, according to three people with ties to the Murdoch family. His move comes at a time when the company's most profitable property is confronting daunting challenges: Fox News currently faces two new defamation lawsuits from election machine and software companies seeking combined damages of $4.3 billion.
Lachlan Murdoch, the Fox Corp. CEO and executive chairman, has departed Los Angeles and returned to Australia with his wife and children, according to three people with ties to the Murdoch family.
His move comes at a time when the company's most profitable property is confronting daunting challenges: Fox News currently faces two new defamation lawsuits from election machine and software companies seeking combined damages of $4.3 billion.
Also from the Daily Beast: The Unlikely Team of Prosecutors Hunting Trump in Georgia, Jose Pagliary, Daily Beast, March 28, 2021.
A sheriff’s deputy who went to law school but remained a cop for another two decades. A prosecutor best known for tackling juvenile offenders. And the guy who literally wrote the book on racketeering cases against mafia goons. This is the team Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is assembling to investigate Donald Trump—to go after his advisers and their attempts to manipulate election results in Georgia. In interviews with Willis, her staff, five former members of the team, and several people who interacted with them, The Daily Beast has learned there are now two grand juries underway in Fulton County, and jurors in these secret proceedings will soon be asked to issue subpoenas demanding documents and recordings related to the Trump investigation. It’s practically unheard of for a regional prosecutor to target a former U.S. president. But this is Donald Trump. Manhattan’s district attorney and New York State’s attorney general have active investigations. And so does the DA of Fulton County, Georgia. The case in Georgia may be the strongest; there’s a trove of evidence—documents, phone calls, witnesses—that Trump personally interfered with and pressured elections officials in Atlanta as they recounted votes.
A sheriff’s deputy who went to law school but remained a cop for another two decades. A prosecutor best known for tackling juvenile offenders. And the guy who literally wrote the book on racketeering cases against mafia goons.
This is the team Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is assembling to investigate Donald Trump—to go after his advisers and their attempts to manipulate election results in Georgia.
In interviews with Willis, her staff, five former members of the team, and several people who interacted with them, The Daily Beast has learned there are now two grand juries underway in Fulton County, and jurors in these secret proceedings will soon be asked to issue subpoenas demanding documents and recordings related to the Trump investigation.
It’s practically unheard of for a regional prosecutor to target a former U.S. president. But this is Donald Trump. Manhattan’s district attorney and New York State’s attorney general have active investigations. And so does the DA of Fulton County, Georgia. The case in Georgia may be the strongest; there’s a trove of evidence—documents, phone calls, witnesses—that Trump personally interfered with and pressured elections officials in Atlanta as they recounted votes.
Trump Facing ‘Criminal Exposure’: Ex-DOJ Official Says Subpoenas Likely Next, Ed Mazza, HuffPost, March 30, 2021.
“He certainly is looking at criminal exposure,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal told Melber. “Donald Trump is the only president to have more open grand juries than election wins.” Katyal called the grand juries “a very serious prosecutorial step.” And the next step may be even more significant. “It looks like, according to the news reports, that they’re on the verge of using their inquisitive powers to subpoena ― that is, get documents ― from the president,” he explained. Katyal said there were still questions as to why two grand juries were involved instead of just one. “But if you’re Donald Trump right now, it’s not looking good,” he said.
“He certainly is looking at criminal exposure,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal told Melber. “Donald Trump is the only president to have more open grand juries than election wins.”
Katyal called the grand juries “a very serious prosecutorial step.” And the next step may be even more significant.
“It looks like, according to the news reports, that they’re on the verge of using their inquisitive powers to subpoena ― that is, get documents ― from the president,” he explained.
Katyal said there were still questions as to why two grand juries were involved instead of just one.
“But if you’re Donald Trump right now, it’s not looking good,” he said.
More Than Half Of Registered Voters Wouldn’t Use Trump’s Social Media Platform, Poll Suggests, Carlie Porterfield, Forbes, March 30, 2021.
More than half of registered voters indicated in a poll they would not sign up for a social media platform sponsored by President Donald Trump, after his former campaign advisor Jason Miller said last week Trump planned to launch his own platform after being banned by Twitter, Facebook and others over his role in the Capitol Hill attack in January. In a Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday, 54% of respondents said they would not use such a platform, while 30% said they would sign up and 16% said they were unsure. Republicans were far more likely to say they would sign up for a Trump-backed social media platform — 54% of Republicans said they would use it, while 78% of Democrats and 58% of independent voters said they would not.
More than half of registered voters indicated in a poll they would not sign up for a social media platform sponsored by President Donald Trump, after his former campaign advisor Jason Miller said last week Trump planned to launch his own platform after being banned by Twitter, Facebook and others over his role in the Capitol Hill attack in January.
In a Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday, 54% of respondents said they would not use such a platform, while 30% said they would sign up and 16% said they were unsure.
Republicans were far more likely to say they would sign up for a Trump-backed social media platform — 54% of Republicans said they would use it, while 78% of Democrats and 58% of independent voters said they would not.
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Reportedly Under Investigation Over Relationship With 17-Year-Old Girl, Rachel Sandler, Forbes, March 30, 2021.
The Justice Department is reportedly investigating whether Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) had a sexual relationship with 17-year-old girl and paid her to travel with him across state lines, which could violate sex trafficking laws, the New York Times reported, citing three people briefed on the matter. The probe into Gaetz is part of a larger investigation into one of his political allies, a Tax Collector in Seminole County named Joel Greenberg, according to the New York Times, who was indicted on sex trafficking charges last year. Democratic Rep. Ted Liu called on Gaetz to be removed from the House Judiciary Committee until the investigation is completed because “he should not be sitting on a Congressional Committee with oversight over the DOJ while the Department is investigating him.”
The Justice Department is reportedly investigating whether Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) had a sexual relationship with 17-year-old girl and paid her to travel with him across state lines, which could violate sex trafficking laws, the New York Times reported, citing three people briefed on the matter.
The probe into Gaetz is part of a larger investigation into one of his political allies, a Tax Collector in Seminole County named Joel Greenberg, according to the New York Times, who was indicted on sex trafficking charges last year.
Democratic Rep. Ted Liu called on Gaetz to be removed from the House Judiciary Committee until the investigation is completed because “he should not be sitting on a Congressional Committee with oversight over the DOJ while the Department is investigating him.”
He also tried to rope Tucker into the web of his guilt. Rs in disarray; everyone panic and CYA!
Matt Gaetz Shocks Tucker Carlson With Wild Interview, Names Ex-DOJ Official He Claims Demanded Millions to Make Sex Allegations ‘Go Away’, Josh Feldman, Mediaite, March 30, 2021.
Why would Rep Matt Gaetz go on national TV and volunteer a new derogatory allegation about himself that hadn’t appeared in the press articles? https://t.co/yA9pSgRwEU— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 31, 2021
Why would Rep Matt Gaetz go on national TV and volunteer a new derogatory allegation about himself that hadn’t appeared in the press articles? https://t.co/yA9pSgRwEU
Italian Mob Fugitive Caught In Caribbean After Posting Cooking Videos Online, Rachel Treisman, NPR, March 30, 2021.
An Italian organized crime suspect was caught in the Caribbean after police tracked him down through cooking videos he had uploaded online in which he managed to hide his face but not his distinctive tattoos. Biart, 53, had been living in the Dominican Republic town of Boca Chica for five years, where he kept a low profile and posted cooking videos to a YouTube channel started with his wife, Italian authorities said in a statement reported by NBC News. They said his "love for Italian cuisine" made the arrest possible. ✄ Citing the "unique and urgent threat" posed by the "spread of mafia-type crime," Interpol recently created a three-year initiative that unites law enforcement in several countries to "combat the 'Ndrangheta." Authorities said they have already made a number of major arrests since launching the project last year. The trial (of 355 defendants), which began in January, is expected to involve more than 900 witnesses and last more than two years.
An Italian organized crime suspect was caught in the Caribbean after police tracked him down through cooking videos he had uploaded online in which he managed to hide his face but not his distinctive tattoos.
Biart, 53, had been living in the Dominican Republic town of Boca Chica for five years, where he kept a low profile and posted cooking videos to a YouTube channel started with his wife, Italian authorities said in a statement reported by NBC News. They said his "love for Italian cuisine" made the arrest possible. ✄
Citing the "unique and urgent threat" posed by the "spread of mafia-type crime," Interpol recently created a three-year initiative that unites law enforcement in several countries to "combat the 'Ndrangheta." Authorities said they have already made a number of major arrests since launching the project last year.
The trial (of 355 defendants), which began in January, is expected to involve more than 900 witnesses and last more than two years.
⚡️ Yer Wonkette: Koch A-Holes CAN'T BELIEVE Americans *Against* 'Billionaires Secretly Buying Elections'! Evan Hurst, Wonkette, March 30, 2021.
⚡️ Opinion: Biden is facing a Roosevelt moment, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, March 30, 2021.
⚡️ Maddow walks through bonkers scandal of Florida Republican that led to Matt Gaetz sex trafficking investigation, Sarah K Burris, Raw Story, March 30, 2021.
⚡️Helpful! Here's What You Can and Cannot Do Once You're Fully Vaccinated, NBC Chicago, MArch 29, 2021.
⚡️ Yes! YAY! Are You Ready To Rock? Music Festivals Prepare For A 2021 Comeback, Andrew Limbong, NPR, March 30, 2021.
⚡️ ‘Laundry Guy’ shares his tips: vodka yes, cold water no, Miriam Di nunzio, Chicago, Sun-Times, March 30, 2021.
⚡️ A great idea (overdue, IMO): CTA, Metra and Pace urged to test sharply reduced fares or no fares to lure back riders lost during pandemic, Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times, March 30, 2021.
⚡️ Wow!: Not Heading To Paris This Summer? The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Artworks, Neda Ulaby, NPR, March 30, 2021.
⚡️Arizona declares state holiday to honor Navajo code talkers, Russell Contreras, Axios, March 30, 2021.
Put your beautiful bleeding heart into it!
Democratic litigation hero, Marc Elias was the legal eagle behind the 60 Big Lie losses after the election. Here’s his website, Democracy Docket. You can find information about current cases he is fighting to defend voting rights around the country, as well as actions you can take to help fight voter suppression at the link!
Write to voters around the country with Postcards to Voters. Progressive Muse usually posts an update on current campaigns in the comments and you can also check out the website. It’s easy, fun and it really works to GOTV!
🎩 Also, Goody posted a great list of links and I am going to borrow it because it’s great! 🎩
The only way they can win is by keeping people from voting. They are working like heck to make that happen and we need to do all we can to keep 2022 from being a year when they grab the Senate and House back from us.
How do we do that? Fight voter suppression!
What can you do?
U.S. House of Representatives:* Telephone: 202-225-3121 * Website: http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate:* Telephone: 202-224-3121 * Website: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your member of Congress and contact him or her: Contact your Representative Contact your Senator
That’s it from me for another week. Sorry no music today — I had to rush this one, sadly. I’ll bring lots of great music back next week though!
Remember, this work will take time and patience and oh so much dedication. I am so glad to be a part of this group of progressive, compassionate gnusies!
Look after yourselves and those you love. You are needed so much! Eat nutritious food, get some rest and try to get outdoors every day, even for a few minutes, for a breath of fresh air and some nature. Even if you’re in a city like me, look up at the sky for a few moments. It really does help revive the spirits!
Have a good day, Gnusies!
(OK,OK- One musical selection! 😊)
![Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, during a panel discussion titled "A Conversation on Judging - Then and Now." The event, also featuring Senior Judge Paul Friedman, was organized by the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit and the Society's Law Clerk Initiative, and was moderated by Miguel Estrada, of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. February 25, 2015. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/741548/large/JudgeKetanjiBrownJackson.jpg?1574720275 "Judge Ketanji Jackson Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, during a panel discussion titled "A Conversation on Judging - Then and Now." The event, also featuring Senior Judge Paul Friedman, was organized by the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit and the Society's Law Clerk Initiative, and was moderated by Miguel Estrada, of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. February 25, 2015. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL.")
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