Good Day, Gnusies. The verdict in the trial of George Floyd’s murderer pushed everything else out of my mind yesterday evening, so this roundup may be a bit untidy. I know you all understand and probably had some of the same feelings. It was surreal walking in Chicago yesterday afternoon as we awaited the verdict. I couldn’t really tell if stores were even open, due to the eerie atmosphere — and that so many were boarded up. The streets were strangely quiet, people walking along staring at their phones, waiting. CG and I walked past a black woman who had pulled her car over and was sitting there crying. I was afraid to look at my phone to find out if they were tears of relief or renewed grief. We kept walking longer than normally, putting off the moment when we would have to hear the verdict.
I had left my TV on when I left to walk Curlygirly — that added to the weird vibe, too, because I do not normally have the TV on during the day (or most nights either, tbh) and never just leave it on. But today was different.
George Floyd’s family and our own POTUS and VPOTUS spoke eloquently on the subject of the verdict and the long road to justice, so I’m going to go straight to them and then on to other news:
‘Today, we are able to breathe again’: Floyd’s family members celebrate verdict, vow to fight on for racial justice, Toluse Olorunnipa and Robert Samuels, Washington Post, April 20, 2021.
For the family of George Floyd, the murder conviction of the former police officer who killed him was a confirmation of something they knew but feared the justice system might never validate: that their loved one's life mattered. “Today, we are able to breathe again,” one of Floyd’s younger brothers, Philonise, said during a news conference in Minneapolis after the verdict was released. “Justice for George means freedom for all.” After Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd with a prolonged knee to the neck last year, was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, Floyd’s family members hugged one another tightly and shed tears of joy.
For the family of George Floyd, the murder conviction of the former police officer who killed him was a confirmation of something they knew but feared the justice system might never validate: that their loved one's life mattered.
“Today, we are able to breathe again,” one of Floyd’s younger brothers, Philonise, said during a news conference in Minneapolis after the verdict was released. “Justice for George means freedom for all.”
After Derek Chauvin, who killed Floyd with a prolonged knee to the neck last year, was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, Floyd’s family members hugged one another tightly and shed tears of joy.
Joe Biden on Chauvin guilt: 'Murder in the full light of day that ripped the blinders off of systemic racism', Sarah Burris, Raw Story, April 20, 2021.
President Joe Biden addressed the nation after the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin, sending blessings to George Floyd and his family. But more than that, Biden called for this to be the beginning of the systemic change to put an end to police brutality in America. “Today, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May. It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the Vice President just referred to -- the systemic racism that is a stain our nation's soul; the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day. The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn't seen since the Civil Rights era in the '60s -- protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose to say, "Enough. Enough. Enough of the senseless killings."
President Joe Biden addressed the nation after the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin, sending blessings to George Floyd and his family. But more than that, Biden called for this to be the beginning of the systemic change to put an end to police brutality in America.
“Today, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May. It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the Vice President just referred to -- the systemic racism that is a stain our nation's soul; the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day. The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn't seen since the Civil Rights era in the '60s -- protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose to say, "Enough. Enough. Enough of the senseless killings."
By bearing witness — and hitting ‘record’ — 17-year-old Darnella Frazier may have changed the world, Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, April 20, 2021.
After so many previous instances in which police officers were acquitted of what looked to many people like murder, this time was different. And it was different, in some significant portion, because of a teenager’s sense of right and wrong. ✄ That video clip, now seen millions of times around the world, was a powerful, irrefutable act of bearing witness. ✄ In conversation with ABC’s David Muir last week, Hostin called it “the strongest piece of evidence I have ever seen in a case against a police officer.” ✄ “Your quick thinking and bravery under immense pressure has made the world safer and more just,” Hill said. Like the others, Hill added: “Thank you.” Again, Frazier was quiet but centered when she spoke: “I never would imagine out of my whole 17 years of living that this will be me,” she said. “It’s just a lot to take in, but I couldn’t say thank you enough.”
After so many previous instances in which police officers were acquitted of what looked to many people like murder, this time was different. And it was different, in some significant portion, because of a teenager’s sense of right and wrong. ✄
That video clip, now seen millions of times around the world, was a powerful, irrefutable act of bearing witness. ✄
In conversation with ABC’s David Muir last week, Hostin called it “the strongest piece of evidence I have ever seen in a case against a police officer.” ✄
“Your quick thinking and bravery under immense pressure has made the world safer and more just,” Hill said. Like the others, Hill added: “Thank you.”
Again, Frazier was quiet but centered when she spoke: “I never would imagine out of my whole 17 years of living that this will be me,” she said. “It’s just a lot to take in, but I couldn’t say thank you enough.”
This Verdict Was About the Power of Bystanders, Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, April 20, 2021.
There is something profound that brought about this verdict and that thing may be new and worth celebrating: This was a lesson in the power of bystanders. Not just the bystanders who stood by and filmed the police as the travesty was unfolding and not just the bystanders who implored the police to stop, or the bystanders who improbably and amazingly called the cops on the cops. This verdict was also the result of the police officers who stepped in to testify against their own. What was astounding, watching the Chauvin trial play out, wasn’t just the fact that people who had every reason to bolt at the scene stood their ground and bore witness. What was astounding, watching this trial, were the cops who could have faded back and held their tongues who decided instead to speak truth not merely to power, but to their own best interests. Perhaps as important as all that is the fact that millions and millions of Americans saw the video of George Floyd’s death. People who could have reacted by turning away, or persuading themselves it didn’t matter, who also chose to bear witness, and then chose to stand up, to march, to learn. For the people who witnessed the actual truth of things and decided that the time for silence was over, this too, is a lesson in the transformational power of bystanders. In an age in which celebrity and individualism seems to count for everything, this verdict stands perhaps for the possibility that crowds of millions may count for more.
There is something profound that brought about this verdict and that thing may be new and worth celebrating: This was a lesson in the power of bystanders. Not just the bystanders who stood by and filmed the police as the travesty was unfolding and not just the bystanders who implored the police to stop, or the bystanders who improbably and amazingly called the cops on the cops. This verdict was also the result of the police officers who stepped in to testify against their own. What was astounding, watching the Chauvin trial play out, wasn’t just the fact that people who had every reason to bolt at the scene stood their ground and bore witness. What was astounding, watching this trial, were the cops who could have faded back and held their tongues who decided instead to speak truth not merely to power, but to their own best interests.
Perhaps as important as all that is the fact that millions and millions of Americans saw the video of George Floyd’s death. People who could have reacted by turning away, or persuading themselves it didn’t matter, who also chose to bear witness, and then chose to stand up, to march, to learn. For the people who witnessed the actual truth of things and decided that the time for silence was over, this too, is a lesson in the transformational power of bystanders. In an age in which celebrity and individualism seems to count for everything, this verdict stands perhaps for the possibility that crowds of millions may count for more.
Opinion: Biden’s next big plan could blow up one of the GOP’s worst lies, Greg Sargent, Washington Post, April 20, 2021.
We shouldn’t let it be forgotten that Donald Trump ran for reelection on a monstrous lie. If Joe Biden won, then-President Trump told us, the mentally declining Biden would fall captive to his party’s rabid socialist left flank, which would immediately drive the country into a depression. ✄ In short, Republicans have repurposed the lie that Democrats are captive to leftist ideas that are fundamentally radical and destructive. Yet they are proving overwhelmingly popular. Large majorities approve of the infrastructure proposals and approve of the covid rescue package. If these are radical leftist ideas, then big majorities of Americans approve of radical leftist ideas. ✄ What’s more, Democrats no longer fear that bold progressive policies will attract grumbling about undermining economic “confidence” from either deficit scolds or Wall Street “job creators.” “Biden’s economic advisers evidently believe that if you build a better economy, confidence will take care of itself,” Krugman notes, adding that “all indications are that we’re heading for an economic boom,” which means “Biden’s policies might get even more popular.”
We shouldn’t let it be forgotten that Donald Trump ran for reelection on a monstrous lie. If Joe Biden won, then-President Trump told us, the mentally declining Biden would fall captive to his party’s rabid socialist left flank, which would immediately drive the country into a depression. ✄
In short, Republicans have repurposed the lie that Democrats are captive to leftist ideas that are fundamentally radical and destructive. Yet they are proving overwhelmingly popular. Large majorities approve of the infrastructure proposals and approve of the covid rescue package. If these are radical leftist ideas, then big majorities of Americans approve of radical leftist ideas. ✄
What’s more, Democrats no longer fear that bold progressive policies will attract grumbling about undermining economic “confidence” from either deficit scolds or Wall Street “job creators.”
“Biden’s economic advisers evidently believe that if you build a better economy, confidence will take care of itself,” Krugman notes, adding that “all indications are that we’re heading for an economic boom,” which means “Biden’s policies might get even more popular.”
What’s the Secret of Biden’s Success? Paul Krugman, New York Times, April 19, 2021.
Biden, then, benefits from having a nonthreatening persona and an opposition that has forgotten how to make persuasive policy arguments. But the popularity of Bidenomics also reflects the effectiveness of a party that is far more comfortable in its own skin than it was a dozen years ago. ✄ Now the deference is gone. Wall Street clearly has a lot less influence this time around; Biden’s economic advisers evidently believe that if you build a better economy, confidence will take care of itself. The obsession with bipartisanship is also gone, replaced with a realistic appreciation of Republican bad faith, which has also made the new administration uninterested in G.O.P. talking points. And the old diffidence has evaporated. Biden isn’t just going big, he’s going obvious, with highly visible policies rather than behavioral nudges. Furthermore, these forthright policies involve doing popular things. For example, voters have consistently told pollsters that corporations pay too little in taxes; Biden’s team, buoyed by the Trump tax cut’s failure, is willing to give the public what it wants. So Biden’s 2021 isn’t playing anything like Obama’s 2009, and Republicans don’t seem to know what hit them.
Biden, then, benefits from having a nonthreatening persona and an opposition that has forgotten how to make persuasive policy arguments. But the popularity of Bidenomics also reflects the effectiveness of a party that is far more comfortable in its own skin than it was a dozen years ago. ✄
Now the deference is gone. Wall Street clearly has a lot less influence this time around; Biden’s economic advisers evidently believe that if you build a better economy, confidence will take care of itself. The obsession with bipartisanship is also gone, replaced with a realistic appreciation of Republican bad faith, which has also made the new administration uninterested in G.O.P. talking points.
And the old diffidence has evaporated. Biden isn’t just going big, he’s going obvious, with highly visible policies rather than behavioral nudges. Furthermore, these forthright policies involve doing popular things. For example, voters have consistently told pollsters that corporations pay too little in taxes; Biden’s team, buoyed by the Trump tax cut’s failure, is willing to give the public what it wants.
So Biden’s 2021 isn’t playing anything like Obama’s 2009, and Republicans don’t seem to know what hit them.
Biden Cabinet Calls on Senate to Loosen Grip, Spend Big on Infrastructure, Brandi Buchman, Courthouse News Service, April 20, 2021.
Getting down to INFRASTRUCTURE business! WASHINGTON (CN) — Looking to pry open the congressional purse, a quartet of President Joe Biden’s senior cabinet officials came to the Senate on Tuesday in support of a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that faces fierce headwinds on Capitol Hill. The pitch is not completely controversial. There is bipartisan agreement in Washington that the nation’s infrastructure — typically understood to mean its roads, highways, waterways and bridges — are in disrepair and have gone neglected to varying degrees for some time, often at great cost, and regardless of which administration occupies the Oval Office. ✄ The department heads said Tuesday that infrastructure effectively encompasses all that is essential, from child care to oversight of the national manufacturing supply chain to regulations for the water pipes to affordable housing. And after years of havoc on the economy wreaked by climate change — in 2017 Hurricane Harvey cost $125 billion in damages alone — Secretary Buttigieg told lawmakers not to scorn the plan’s climate-based initiatives as liberal fever dreams.
WASHINGTON (CN) — Looking to pry open the congressional purse, a quartet of President Joe Biden’s senior cabinet officials came to the Senate on Tuesday in support of a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that faces fierce headwinds on Capitol Hill.
The pitch is not completely controversial. There is bipartisan agreement in Washington that the nation’s infrastructure — typically understood to mean its roads, highways, waterways and bridges — are in disrepair and have gone neglected to varying degrees for some time, often at great cost, and regardless of which administration occupies the Oval Office. ✄
The department heads said Tuesday that infrastructure effectively encompasses all that is essential, from child care to oversight of the national manufacturing supply chain to regulations for the water pipes to affordable housing.
And after years of havoc on the economy wreaked by climate change — in 2017 Hurricane Harvey cost $125 billion in damages alone — Secretary Buttigieg told lawmakers not to scorn the plan’s climate-based initiatives as liberal fever dreams.
US takes steps to protect electric system from cyberattacks, Eric Tucker, AP News, April 20, 2021.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is taking steps to protect the country’s electric system from cyberattacks through a new 100-day initiative combining federal government agencies and the private industry. The initiative, announced Tuesday by the Energy Department, encourages owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put into use technologies so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The department is also soliciting input from electric utilities, energy companies, government agencies and others for recommendations about how to safeguard the energy system supply chain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is taking steps to protect the country’s electric system from cyberattacks through a new 100-day initiative combining federal government agencies and the private industry.
The initiative, announced Tuesday by the Energy Department, encourages owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put into use technologies so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time.
The department is also soliciting input from electric utilities, energy companies, government agencies and others for recommendations about how to safeguard the energy system supply chain.
The Biden administration finalized a rule that will conserve approximately 118,000 square nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean as protected habitat for the humpback whale. @MatthewCRenda https://t.co/SjYMv1y6rJ— Courthouse News (@CourthouseNews) April 20, 2021
The Biden administration finalized a rule that will conserve approximately 118,000 square nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean as protected habitat for the humpback whale. @MatthewCRenda https://t.co/SjYMv1y6rJ
U.S. Senate Panel to Consider Biden Postal Board Nominees April 22, David Shepardson, Reuters, April 15, 2021.
Biden nominated Anton Hajjar, former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union; Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, a non-partisan non-profit dedicated to expanding vote-by-mail systems and former elections official in Denver; and Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general. ✄ Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee overseeing USPS, has circulated draft legislation that would eliminate a requirement USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits. It also would require postal employees to enroll in government-retiree health plan Medicare. USPS reported net losses of $86.7 billion since 2007. One reason is 2006 legislation mandating it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree health care and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.
Biden nominated Anton Hajjar, former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union; Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, a non-partisan non-profit dedicated to expanding vote-by-mail systems and former elections official in Denver; and Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general. ✄
Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee overseeing USPS, has circulated draft legislation that would eliminate a requirement USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits. It also would require postal employees to enroll in government-retiree health plan Medicare.
USPS reported net losses of $86.7 billion since 2007. One reason is 2006 legislation mandating it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree health care and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.
And they have the support of 77% of Americans!
BREAKING: A coalition of House & Senate Democrats—led by @SenSherrodBrown @JamaalBowmanNY @SenWarren @SenSanders w/@RonWyden—have teamed up to call on @POTUS to include long-overdue updates to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the #AmericanFamilyPlan 👇 pic.twitter.com/t02VzN7dJ0— Rebecca Vallas (@rebeccavallas) April 19, 2021
BREAKING: A coalition of House & Senate Democrats—led by @SenSherrodBrown @JamaalBowmanNY @SenWarren @SenSanders w/@RonWyden—have teamed up to call on @POTUS to include long-overdue updates to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the #AmericanFamilyPlan 👇 pic.twitter.com/t02VzN7dJ0
3) eliminate the archaic “in-kind support and maintenance” rule that slashes benefits by a third if folks get help from loved ones4) end SSI’s marriage penalty so marriage equality extends to disabled people5) updating SSI's income disregards, which haven’t changed since 1974— Rebecca Vallas (@rebeccavallas) April 19, 2021
3) eliminate the archaic “in-kind support and maintenance” rule that slashes benefits by a third if folks get help from loved ones4) end SSI’s marriage penalty so marriage equality extends to disabled people5) updating SSI's income disregards, which haven’t changed since 1974
It’s getting harder and harder for the GQP to keep pushing fossil fuels on us while denying the reality of global climate change. I mean, the industries they were propping up are now saying, “lol, nevermind — we want a habitable world in which to spend our ill-gotten riches!”
But whatever their motivations, this is good news for the planet:
The Shipping Industry Wants to Be Taxed for Its Carbon Emissions, Jack Wittels, Bloomberg, April 20, 2021.
It’s rare for an industry powered by fossil fuels to call for a tax on its own carbon emissions. Yet the shipping sector is doing just that. Several trade groups, representing more than 90% of the world’s merchant fleet, have submitted a proposal to shipping’s United Nations regulator calling for it to prioritize a carbon tax for the industry, the International Chamber of Shipping said Wednesday. While it’s unlikely any levy will be imposed immediately, the call highlights the growing pressure shipping is under to decarbonize from customers and politicians alike. The International Maritime Organization approved new emissions rules in November, but the trade groups say these won’t be enough to hit the UN body’s 2050 climate targets -- which include a halving of annual greenhouse gas emissions versus 2008 levels. Instead, talks on a market-based-measure that would put a price on pollution should start “as soon as possible and before 2023,” the groups say.
It’s rare for an industry powered by fossil fuels to call for a tax on its own carbon emissions. Yet the shipping sector is doing just that.
Several trade groups, representing more than 90% of the world’s merchant fleet, have submitted a proposal to shipping’s United Nations regulator calling for it to prioritize a carbon tax for the industry, the International Chamber of Shipping said Wednesday. While it’s unlikely any levy will be imposed immediately, the call highlights the growing pressure shipping is under to decarbonize from customers and politicians alike.
The International Maritime Organization approved new emissions rules in November, but the trade groups say these won’t be enough to hit the UN body’s 2050 climate targets -- which include a halving of annual greenhouse gas emissions versus 2008 levels. Instead, talks on a market-based-measure that would put a price on pollution should start “as soon as possible and before 2023,” the groups say.
Miners' union backs shift from coal in exchange for jobs,
Wow. The United Mine Workers of America are coming out in favor of a just transition program.https://t.co/dsMJx9ozpT— Jonah Furman (@JonahFurman) April 19, 2021
Wow. The United Mine Workers of America are coming out in favor of a just transition program.https://t.co/dsMJx9ozpT
This is a big deal — maybe even a Green New Deal https://t.co/XdOOZf7XNs— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 20, 2021
This is a big deal — maybe even a Green New Deal https://t.co/XdOOZf7XNs
Ahead of Biden’s climate summit, lawmakers relaunch ‘Green New Deal’, Makini Brice, Reuters, April 20, 2021.
The plan calls for 100 percent of power demand to be met from zero-emission energy sources like wind and solar, modernizing transportation infrastructure, cutting carbon emissions from the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, making buildings and homes more energy efficient and increasing land preservation. It also aims to create an economic safety net for communities affected by climate change and the shift away from fossil fuel use, including through guarantees of healthcare, jobs and job training. ✄ Separately, Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, on Monday introduced their Green New Deal for Public Housing Act. The bill would modernize the country's 950,000 housing units to make buildings more energy efficient. It would also require jobs created under the initiative to meet certain labor standards and allow for the creation of more public housing units.
The plan calls for 100 percent of power demand to be met from zero-emission energy sources like wind and solar, modernizing transportation infrastructure, cutting carbon emissions from the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, making buildings and homes more energy efficient and increasing land preservation.
It also aims to create an economic safety net for communities affected by climate change and the shift away from fossil fuel use, including through guarantees of healthcare, jobs and job training. ✄
Separately, Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, on Monday introduced their Green New Deal for Public Housing Act.
The bill would modernize the country's 950,000 housing units to make buildings more energy efficient. It would also require jobs created under the initiative to meet certain labor standards and allow for the creation of more public housing units.
“All of the rhetoric, promises, plans, and budgeting cannot obscure the shameful reality of this crisis — that year after year, there are more homeless Angelenos, and year after year, more homeless Angelenos die on the streets,” Carter wrote.
Judge orders LA to offer shelter for homeless on Skid Row, Christopher Weber. AP News, April 20, 2021.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge overseeing a sweeping lawsuit about homelessness in Los Angeles on Tuesday ordered the city and county to find shelter for all unhoused residents of Skid Row within 180 days and audit any spending related to the out-of-control crisis of people living on the streets. ✄ The judge’s order was released a day after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to spend nearly $1 billion in the coming year to get people off the streets. Carter on Tuesday ordered “that $1 billion, as represented by Mayor Garcetti, will be placed in escrow,” with a spending plan “accounted for and reported to the Court within seven days.” In addition, Carter ordered the city auditor to examine all public money spent in recent years to combat homelessness, including funds from a 2016 bond measure approved by voters to create 10,000 housing units over a decade.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge overseeing a sweeping lawsuit about homelessness in Los Angeles on Tuesday ordered the city and county to find shelter for all unhoused residents of Skid Row within 180 days and audit any spending related to the out-of-control crisis of people living on the streets. ✄
The judge’s order was released a day after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to spend nearly $1 billion in the coming year to get people off the streets. Carter on Tuesday ordered “that $1 billion, as represented by Mayor Garcetti, will be placed in escrow,” with a spending plan “accounted for and reported to the Court within seven days.”
In addition, Carter ordered the city auditor to examine all public money spent in recent years to combat homelessness, including funds from a 2016 bond measure approved by voters to create 10,000 housing units over a decade.
Your reminder that Congress has already changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times before.This is not radical. If we’re going to save our democracy, it’s essential. Expand the court.— Paul Cogan (@PaulCogan) April 19, 2021
Your reminder that Congress has already changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times before.This is not radical. If we’re going to save our democracy, it’s essential. Expand the court.
LA County Votes to Initiate Return of Beach Property to Black Family, Martin Macias Jr, Courthouse News Service, April 20, 2021.
LOS ANGELES (CN) — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to initiate the return of oceanfront property to the descendants of a Black couple who operated a popular resort that stood on the Southern California shore a century ago. ✄ The five-member, all-female board voted unanimously to direct county staff to develop a timeline and exact steps for transferring the property to the Bruce’s descendants. A third-party trustee could eventually oversee the ownership claims process and the eventual transfer of property, according to the motion, which did not provide an expected completion date. “While we cannot change the past, we can act now in the present to right this historic wrong by returning the land that was unjustly taken from the Bruce family so that the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce have the opportunity to participate in the American Dream that their great-grandparents sought out a century ago,” the motion said.
LOS ANGELES (CN) — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to initiate the return of oceanfront property to the descendants of a Black couple who operated a popular resort that stood on the Southern California shore a century ago. ✄
The five-member, all-female board voted unanimously to direct county staff to develop a timeline and exact steps for transferring the property to the Bruce’s descendants.
A third-party trustee could eventually oversee the ownership claims process and the eventual transfer of property, according to the motion, which did not provide an expected completion date.
“While we cannot change the past, we can act now in the present to right this historic wrong by returning the land that was unjustly taken from the Bruce family so that the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce have the opportunity to participate in the American Dream that their great-grandparents sought out a century ago,” the motion said.
Lightfoot’s massive rewrite of affordable housing ordinance sails through committee, Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times, April 20, 2021.
The 14-to-3 vote by the City Council’s Housing Committee sets the stage for final action at the City Council meeting Wednesday. That would allow Lightfoot to deliver on her campaign promise to raise the bar for developers receiving city subsidies, city land or a zoning change. ✄ The existing ordinance requires developers to make 10% to 20% of the units they build or renovate affordable or pay hefty fees in lieu of building on-site units. The new ordinance would raise the bar to 20%, but only downtown, in neighborhoods facing displacement of low-income residents or with “low current levels” of affordable housing. Developers would still be able to pay their way out of the requirement to build affordable units, but those fees could cover only 50% of the units, instead of 75%.
The 14-to-3 vote by the City Council’s Housing Committee sets the stage for final action at the City Council meeting Wednesday. That would allow Lightfoot to deliver on her campaign promise to raise the bar for developers receiving city subsidies, city land or a zoning change. ✄
The existing ordinance requires developers to make 10% to 20% of the units they build or renovate affordable or pay hefty fees in lieu of building on-site units.
The new ordinance would raise the bar to 20%, but only downtown, in neighborhoods facing displacement of low-income residents or with “low current levels” of affordable housing.
Developers would still be able to pay their way out of the requirement to build affordable units, but those fees could cover only 50% of the units, instead of 75%.
Illinois coronavirus positivity rate falls back below 4%: ‘Things are looking up a little bit’, Mitchell Armentrout, Chicago Sun-Times, April 20, 2021.
The numbers have now trended in the right direction for eight straight days, including in Chicago, where the regional positivity rate has inched down to 5.5% after more than a month of troubling increases. “Things are looking up a little bit,” Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during an online Q&A. “Just over the last three to four days, we’ve seen stabilization or just a little decline. … That’s exactly what we want to see.” ✄ Meanwhile, more than 3.4 million residents are fully vaccinated — almost 27% of the population. The state reported 81,963 shots were doled out Monday, though that’s likely an undercount “due to a technical issue” with doses administered through Walgreens, officials said. More than half of all state residents have gotten at least one vaccine dose so far.
The numbers have now trended in the right direction for eight straight days, including in Chicago, where the regional positivity rate has inched down to 5.5% after more than a month of troubling increases.
“Things are looking up a little bit,” Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during an online Q&A. “Just over the last three to four days, we’ve seen stabilization or just a little decline. … That’s exactly what we want to see.” ✄
Meanwhile, more than 3.4 million residents are fully vaccinated — almost 27% of the population.
The state reported 81,963 shots were doled out Monday, though that’s likely an undercount “due to a technical issue” with doses administered through Walgreens, officials said. More than half of all state residents have gotten at least one vaccine dose so far.
The new variants of the coronavirus have raised
COVID-19 Variants: Here's How The Vaccines Still Protect You, Julia Ries, HuffPost, April 19, 2021.
The immune system is very complex, and in addition to antibodies, there’s a whole other aspect, known as the cell-mediated immune response, that’s just as important, if not more. This part helps create something called T-cells, which are crucial to preventing infections. The COVID-19 vaccines don’t just generate antibodies; they also prompt your immune system to produce T-cells. “T-cells are the main line of defense against the virus,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist with UCSF. T-cells can identify many different parts of the coronavirus (some studies say up to 52 parts) and get rid of any cells that are carrying the virus. The cell-mediated immune response can also help our systems produce new antibodies if need be. Mutations or not, T-cells will still be able to detect the virus and jump into action. “Your immune response is very complex, very robust, and very in-breadth against multiple parts of the virus,” Gandhi said. From the looks of it, even if antibody levels wane over time, T-cells are probably going to keep us protected against variants for a while, especially when it comes to severe disease, according to Gandhi.
The immune system is very complex, and in addition to antibodies, there’s a whole other aspect, known as the cell-mediated immune response, that’s just as important, if not more. This part helps create something called T-cells, which are crucial to preventing infections. The COVID-19 vaccines don’t just generate antibodies; they also prompt your immune system to produce T-cells.
“T-cells are the main line of defense against the virus,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist with UCSF. T-cells can identify many different parts of the coronavirus (some studies say up to 52 parts) and get rid of any cells that are carrying the virus. The cell-mediated immune response can also help our systems produce new antibodies if need be. Mutations or not, T-cells will still be able to detect the virus and jump into action. “Your immune response is very complex, very robust, and very in-breadth against multiple parts of the virus,” Gandhi said.
From the looks of it, even if antibody levels wane over time, T-cells are probably going to keep us protected against variants for a while, especially when it comes to severe disease, according to Gandhi.
Opinion: The covid-19 vaccines are an extraordinary success story. The media should tell it that way. Leana S Wen, Washington Post, April 20, 2021.
By themselves, the numbers sound concerning. But let’s take a closer look. An infection rate of 5,800 infections out of 77 million fully vaccinated people is less than 0.008 percent — a remarkably low rate. Compare this with 68,000 daily new infections in the United States — which, over a 30-day period, is nearly 100 times higher than the infection rate for those vaccinated. Put another way: A total of 5,800 infections among the inoculated is orders of magnitude better than 68,000 infections per day in the general population. Furthermore, the CDC reported that nearly 30 percent of breakthrough infections were asymptomatic. Just 7 percent resulted in hospitalization, and 1 percent of those infected died. This is particularly stunning considering that the initial groups inoculated included the most medically frail; 80 percent of those over 65, who constituted 80 percent of earlier deaths, have now received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Even including this group most at risk for adverse outcomes from covid-19, there were only 74 deaths total among the fully vaccinated, compared with an average of more than 700 deaths daily overall. ✄ A headline like this one in the British Medical Journal is a much better descriptor: “U.S. reports low rate of new infections in people already vaccinated.” Another helpful framing appeared in this article from the Hill: “Hospitalizations have occurred in 0.0005 percent of all full vaccinations and deaths in almost 0.0001 percent.”
By themselves, the numbers sound concerning. But let’s take a closer look. An infection rate of 5,800 infections out of 77 million fully vaccinated people is less than 0.008 percent — a remarkably low rate. Compare this with 68,000 daily new infections in the United States — which, over a 30-day period, is nearly 100 times higher than the infection rate for those vaccinated. Put another way: A total of 5,800 infections among the inoculated is orders of magnitude better than 68,000 infections per day in the general population.
Furthermore, the CDC reported that nearly 30 percent of breakthrough infections were asymptomatic. Just 7 percent resulted in hospitalization, and 1 percent of those infected died. This is particularly stunning considering that the initial groups inoculated included the most medically frail; 80 percent of those over 65, who constituted 80 percent of earlier deaths, have now received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Even including this group most at risk for adverse outcomes from covid-19, there were only 74 deaths total among the fully vaccinated, compared with an average of more than 700 deaths daily overall. ✄
A headline like this one in the British Medical Journal is a much better descriptor: “U.S. reports low rate of new infections in people already vaccinated.” Another helpful framing appeared in this article from the Hill: “Hospitalizations have occurred in 0.0005 percent of all full vaccinations and deaths in almost 0.0001 percent.”
Netanyahu—on Trial and Trying to Form a Government—Is Promoting His Own Big Lie, Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, April 20, 2021.
Netanyahu’s tone of desperation was understandable. Every week that passes without his forming a coalition emboldens his opponents and makes the lie seem more stale. And he’s not alone on the field. The anti-Netanyahu bloc, composed of an array of right, center, and left parties, has fifty-one seats—just one less than Netanyahu’s. This bloc is secular in outlook, ranging from bourgeois liberal to social democratic, and all the constituent parties, right and left, are led by people who abhor either Netanyahu’s politics or his character. But the real problem for Netanyahu is in the parties that have yet to commit. He needs nine more seats for a majority. The hard-right leader of the Yamina Party, Naftali Bennett, is refusing to pledge his seven seats to either bloc. The same is true of the leaders of the Arab-Israeli parties, who, between them, control ten seats. For very different reasons, Netanyahu needs both Bennett and one particular Arab faction—the rural-Islamist party, Ra’am—to think that he is as popular as ever in Likud precincts. ✄ Which returns us to the Big Lie. To keep Bennett, especially, in tow, Netanyahu needs to prove that failing to stand with him would mean courting discredit with future supporters. Here, the comparison with Trump is inarguable. With the Knesset so evenly split, moreover, Netanyahu needs to deter new defections from among the leaders of his own party. The former Likud Education Minister, Gideon Saar, ran against Netanyahu, in March, and gained a disappointing six seats. Presumably, this is a caution to others, which the lie reinforces. (Netanyahu said that Saar would be taken back into the Likud; Saar responded that you open your arms “in order to strangle someone.”)
Netanyahu’s tone of desperation was understandable. Every week that passes without his forming a coalition emboldens his opponents and makes the lie seem more stale. And he’s not alone on the field. The anti-Netanyahu bloc, composed of an array of right, center, and left parties, has fifty-one seats—just one less than Netanyahu’s. This bloc is secular in outlook, ranging from bourgeois liberal to social democratic, and all the constituent parties, right and left, are led by people who abhor either Netanyahu’s politics or his character. But the real problem for Netanyahu is in the parties that have yet to commit. He needs nine more seats for a majority. The hard-right leader of the Yamina Party, Naftali Bennett, is refusing to pledge his seven seats to either bloc. The same is true of the leaders of the Arab-Israeli parties, who, between them, control ten seats. For very different reasons, Netanyahu needs both Bennett and one particular Arab faction—the rural-Islamist party, Ra’am—to think that he is as popular as ever in Likud precincts. ✄
Which returns us to the Big Lie. To keep Bennett, especially, in tow, Netanyahu needs to prove that failing to stand with him would mean courting discredit with future supporters. Here, the comparison with Trump is inarguable. With the Knesset so evenly split, moreover, Netanyahu needs to deter new defections from among the leaders of his own party. The former Likud Education Minister, Gideon Saar, ran against Netanyahu, in March, and gained a disappointing six seats. Presumably, this is a caution to others, which the lie reinforces. (Netanyahu said that Saar would be taken back into the Likud; Saar responded that you open your arms “in order to strangle someone.”)
All but impossible for Netanyahu to form a government. Arab MKs help anti-Netanyahu parties win control of key Knesset committees https://t.co/9trBKjE56a— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) April 20, 2021
All but impossible for Netanyahu to form a government. Arab MKs help anti-Netanyahu parties win control of key Knesset committees https://t.co/9trBKjE56a
GQP: When we said “keep out of politics” we didn’t mean keep the $$ out! Oops!
Corporate money really dried up for the 147 election objectors.Exhibit A:.@GOPLeader received two PAC contributions worth a combined $2,800 this quarter.During the same quarter last cycle, he received 78 contributions worth $314K.https://t.co/kKwhCm9vYY pic.twitter.com/I3RqVelBac— Will Ragland (@citizenwillis) April 19, 2021
Corporate money really dried up for the 147 election objectors.Exhibit A:.@GOPLeader received two PAC contributions worth a combined $2,800 this quarter.During the same quarter last cycle, he received 78 contributions worth $314K.https://t.co/kKwhCm9vYY pic.twitter.com/I3RqVelBac
GOP sheds college-educated voters, Dante Chinni, Yahoo News, April 18, 2021.
But another trend in politics suggests that what we are seeing might be more than a somewhat typical election-related bump for Democrats. Data from the Pew Research Center show that, increasingly, different people are populating the two major political parties — with Republicans and Democrats moving in sharply different directions among college-educated voters. ✄ In 2018, voters with a bachelor's degree cast ballots at a much higher rate than other parts of the electorate, according to data from the U.S. Census. Their 64-percent voting rate was 12 points higher than those with some college and 25 points higher than those whose highest level of educational attainment is a high school diploma. As Republicans shed college-educated voters, the party could find a new challenge that compounds the Democratic edge in affiliation. Even if the affiliation numbers bounce back this time, the different people in the GOP might make it more difficult for the party to get big turnout numbers in 2022. Midterm elections in particular are often about which party can excite and turn out their voters.
But another trend in politics suggests that what we are seeing might be more than a somewhat typical election-related bump for Democrats. Data from the Pew Research Center show that, increasingly, different people are populating the two major political parties — with Republicans and Democrats moving in sharply different directions among college-educated voters. ✄
In 2018, voters with a bachelor's degree cast ballots at a much higher rate than other parts of the electorate, according to data from the U.S. Census. Their 64-percent voting rate was 12 points higher than those with some college and 25 points higher than those whose highest level of educational attainment is a high school diploma.
As Republicans shed college-educated voters, the party could find a new challenge that compounds the Democratic edge in affiliation. Even if the affiliation numbers bounce back this time, the different people in the GOP might make it more difficult for the party to get big turnout numbers in 2022. Midterm elections in particular are often about which party can excite and turn out their voters.
MAGA rioter who vowed 'no remorse or shame' for his actions arrested by feds, Brad Reid, Raw Story, April 20, 2021.
A Trump-loving rioter who vowed to have "no remorse" for his decision to storm the United States Capitol building was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning. According to the U.S Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, 56-year-old Tennessee resident Michael Timbrook was arrested on charges related to the infamous January 6th Trump-incited riots that left five people dead. The Department of Justice's website states Timbrook has so far been charged with "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority" and "violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."
A Trump-loving rioter who vowed to have "no remorse" for his decision to storm the United States Capitol building was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning.
According to the U.S Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, 56-year-old Tennessee resident Michael Timbrook was arrested on charges related to the infamous January 6th Trump-incited riots that left five people dead.
The Department of Justice's website states Timbrook has so far been charged with "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority" and "violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."
I don’t know much about tech, but this sounds pretty interesting (can’t wait to read the discussion about this in the comments! I’m talking to you, tljdk, 88Keys, Wolverine and all the clever tech- gnusies):
Act 1. (last week)
Pro tip: if you own an iOS device, next week is likely to bring you the most significant improvement in digital privacy in the history of the internet. And it will kneecap Facebook. 🍿— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) April 17, 2021
Pro tip: if you own an iOS device, next week is likely to bring you the most significant improvement in digital privacy in the history of the internet. And it will kneecap Facebook. 🍿
Act 2.
Facebook has embedded code inside of millions of apps which links an individual’s app usage/location back to their profile to microtarget ads and content. The link leverages an ID called IDFA. Once iOS 14.5 is pushed out, you’ll have to consent to this happening. Make sense?— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) April 17, 2021
Facebook has embedded code inside of millions of apps which links an individual’s app usage/location back to their profile to microtarget ads and content. The link leverages an ID called IDFA. Once iOS 14.5 is pushed out, you’ll have to consent to this happening. Make sense?
Act 3. (Yesterday after Apple Announcements)
For the internet old-timers, I challenge you to share a better industry checkmate in the last thirty years. Tim Cook just murdered Mark Zuckerberg. https://t.co/24VluVcwCe— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) April 21, 2021
For the internet old-timers, I challenge you to share a better industry checkmate in the last thirty years. Tim Cook just murdered Mark Zuckerberg. https://t.co/24VluVcwCe
⚡️ I picked this Wonkette for the INFRASTRUCTURRR!! LIVE: There Is Also Too An Infrastructure Week Hearing In The Senate! Evan Hurst, Wonkette, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Bonus Wonkette! Republicans Cower In Fear Of Tiny Octogenarian Congresswoman, Maxine Waters, A Very Bad Lady, Liz Dye, Wonkette, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Relax, everyone’s in the same pickle: The Pandemic Has Made “Summer Body” Pressure Even Worse, Michael Blackmon, BuzzFeedNews, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Listen (podcast) or read (transcript): That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Unlearn, Ezra Klein, New York Times, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Remembering Walter Mondale, Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, April 19, 2021.
⚡️ Republican attacks on Maxine Waters prove the GOP is committed to a politics of white whining, Amanda Marcotte, Salon, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ The Chauvin Verdict Represents an Absolute Minimum of Justice, Elie Mystal, The Nation, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ For George Floyd, a complicated life and consequential death, Luis Andres Henao, Nomann Merchant, Juan Lozano and Adam Geller, AP News, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Yeah, we know: Opinion: The Republican Party is beyond salvation — even without Trump, Max Boot, Washington Post, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Here's why Republicans are suddenly panicked by the free market they used to love, Magdi Semrau, ALternet via Raw Story, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ How the Rich Mask Their Greed With Ostentatious Philanthropy, Lewis Beale, Daily Beast, April 20, 2021.
⚡️ Corruption, all the way down: REVEALED: How Trump’s DHS Cozied Up To The Allegedly Fraudulent We Build The Wall Gambit, Tierney Sneed, TPM, April 20 2021.
⚡️ Thoughtful, long(ish) read about our environmental crises: The Dark Side of the Houseplant Boom, Megan Garber, The Atlantic, April 20, 2021.
⚡️Necessary explainer: ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Is What You Say When ‘Whites Only’ Is Too Inclusive, Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, April 20, 2021.
That’s it from me for another week. It’s been like a month since last weekend, hasn’t it?
Curlygirl and I want to wish you a peaceful rest of the week. Take care of yourself and those you love. Remember you are valued and important. Be kind to yourself, eat nutritious food, get some rest and try to spend some time outdoors every day if you can. Being out in nature truly restores the human spirit. If you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by trees and green spaces, I hope you can walk or sit there for awhile every day. Even in the city, though, you can look up at the sky and watch the clouds against a blue sky, or the grey overcast sky rippling in the wind. You might catch a glimpse of the brighter stars some evenings between the buildings. Or a dandelion poking up between the cracks in a sidewalk. We get the occasional bird on the windowsill, twenty floors up in an apartment building! Look around and let the natural world recenter you as a human being on a planet full of interesting and beautiful flora and fauna, magnificent geology and glorious seas and sky.
I’m closing today with music which speaks to me of this day’s complicated emotions. “Bittersweet” doesn’t describe it, because there is no pleasure mixed with the sadness, just relief. I’ve tried to put it into words but I just can’t tonight, so hopefully the music will express something of the pain, relief and hope for justice that today stirred up for so many people.
Thanks for reading and Happy Wednesday, Gnusies!
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