10 May 20
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David Sirota | A Bipartisan Effort to Prevent Accountability for the Coronavirus Response Is Underway
David Sirota, Jacobin
Sirota writes: "A chorus from politicians and mainstream media is rising to demand we 'look forward, not backward' on the criminally negligent US response to coronavirus."
EXCERPTS:
onald Trump and his Republican allies have epically botched the response to the pandemic. This is not in dispute by anyone who is being even vaguely honest about the situation. What is in dispute is whether or not we will do what’s necessary to learn from the mistakes and malice that defined this dark moment in history. And if you pay attention, you can detect the nascent effort to make sure that we will not learn anything.
In specific, you can hear the quiet but steady drumbeat that could set the stage for a cover-up — one designed to quarantine all the inconvenient facts at a safe social distance from the power elite that made this mess so much worse than it had to be.
This push for a cover-up is coming from the Trump administration, from Democrats in Congress, and most recently from a former Bush administration official who has been insisting that there is “near zero lethal risk” in sending kids back to the college he leads — and who probably doesn’t want to face consequences if things go bad.
In this whodunit, keep in mind one timeless axiom: the call for bipartisanship is the last refuge of scoundrels who don’t want to be held accountable for anything.
Congress and Trump Begin Making It Harder to Hold Anyone Accountable
The bipartisan move to prevent accountability began last month when Congress passed a grotesque corporate bailout without a recorded vote.
The bill included provisions allowing the Federal Reserve to evade long-standing transparency rules.
“The new law would absolve the board of the requirement to keep minutes to closed-door meetings as it deliberates on how to set up the $450 billion loan program,” Politico reported. “That would severely limit the amount of information potentially available to the public on what influenced the board’s decision-making. The board would only have to keep a record of its votes, though they wouldn’t have to be made public during the coronavirus crisis.”
Trump then moved to undermine the already pathetically weak oversight panel charged with monitoring the bailout funds, and House majority whip James Clyburn promised that the panel will not “be looking back on what the president may or may not have done back before this crisis hit.” Meanwhile, the panel’s first report is supposedly due — but congressional leaders haven’t even named the panel’s chair.
All of this could make it more difficult to hold individual House lawmakers responsible for passing the legislation, and more difficult to hold other governmental officials accountable if they help their cronies get rich off the bailout.
Calls for Anti-Partisanship Designed to Marginalize Demands for Accountability
Now we seem to be moving into a new phase of a cover-up, one that uses themes of “bipartisanship” — or really, anti-partisanship — to try to create the conditions for blanket immunity.
First, there was a widely circulated op-ed by longtime Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty that admitted Americans deserve answers about why we were left so vulnerable to such a predictable problem like a pandemic. She admits that answers “can come only from a credible, independent commission whose mandate is finding out why the government was caught so unprepared.” But then, in the spirit of anti-partisanship, she asserts that “there are two people ideally situated to lead the inquiry as its co-chairs: former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.”
While it is almost certainly true that the Trump administration is most responsible for the immediate governmental failures right now, it is also true that any commission serious about finding answers and holding people accountable would also look back at the actions of the Bush and Obama administrations.
Having Bush and Obama lead any commission would use the patina of bipartisanship to set the stage for a cover-up of any facts or information that politically embarrassed them.
Tumulty’s piece laid the groundwork for Bush’s reentry on the national scene. Soon after, Bush — one of the most hyperpartisan scorched-earth politicians in American history — released a video telling everyone to be less partisan and less mad.
Donald Trump childishly lashed out at Bush while liberals praised the former president as a unifying statesman. Somehow ignored was the fact that Bush was effectively helping Trump by introducing the “bipartisanship” themes that so often marginalize enraged demands for accountability from presidents.
Bush, ever the politician, knows that the best way to prevent accountability is to use soothing bromides about unity and national purpose to tamp down the public anger that might metastasize into calls for justice and prosecution.
Former Bush Aide Cites the Iraq War as Proof That Nobody Should Be Held Accountable
Now, only days later, there is a new Washington Post op-ed from former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, a divisive partisan and former pharmaceutical industry executive who first made his name in the Bush administration that knowingly lied America into the Iraq War.
In his op-ed, Daniels doesn’t lament the hundreds of thousands of dead from that war, nor does he lament the incessant and blatant mendacity that defined the era. Instead, he cries about “the ugly Iraq War aftermath” when people were mad, and insists that “it is easy to imagine the coronavirus producing the same potentially deadly symptom,” which he calls “Hindsight Recrimination Disorder (HRD).”
“I want us to discover that this was the wisest course, that the ghastly price we’re paying was all worth it. But it’s the long term that matters. I can already hear the outcry claiming, ‘They lied to us,’” Daniels writes through crocodile tears. “Let’s not reprise Iraq. How about we self-vaccinate against HRD and all agree that, whatever comes, people right now are doing their best with the information they have.”
Daniels’s tenure as an Eli Lilly executive was marked by major lawsuits against the company alleging all sorts of corporate wrongdoing — so it’s not surprising that he seems generally allergic to accountability. His new essay isn’t merely crafted to distract us from Trump’s flagrant lying about the coronavirus emergency. It also builds off the “look forward as opposed to looking backward” ideology promoted by both parties as a way to justify avoiding holding politicians and political appointees accountable for anything. The idea is that it’s a waste of time to ever review what happened in a crisis.
Daniels is doubling down on that Orwellian mantra by suggesting that it would actually be bad to hold anyone accountable for governmental mismanagement and wrongdoing during a public health crisis that is killing tens of thousands of people. And, irony of all ironies, he’s making his case against accountability and transparency in a newspaper whose motto is “democracy dies in darkness.”
If Daniels and others successfully bury all the history of what happened and prevent a thorough investigation into what went wrong, the cover-up wouldn’t just protect Daniels’s Republican friends — it may also serve to protect Daniels himself from any day of reckoning.
Remember, Daniels parlayed his governorship into a plum job as president of Purdue University — and, in that gig, he is now pushing to quickly reopen the school by insisting that “the young people who make up over 80 percent of our campus population are at near zero lethal risk.”
If that proves to be incorrect, you can bet Daniels doesn’t want to have to answer any uncomfortable questions by any future investigators — and you can bet he will want the past to be buried in bipartisan silence.
Hyperpartisanship Is Bad — But a Lack of Accountability Is Worse
To be sure, all of the voices attempting to preemptively prevent any future accountability are citing partisanship as the big evil. And yeah, hyperpartisanship can certainly be overly polarizing and counterproductive. But reducing hyperpartisanship is a less important goal than enforcing basic accountability, even if that accountability is driven by partisan motives.
After all, who wants to live in a world where the parties are extremely bipartisan and nice to one another as they let government officials mismanage everything and fleece everyone?
Now, sure, you may read Daniels’s piece and wonder: yeah, what’s the point of looking back and holding people accountable?
Well, for one thing, we want a deterrent: we want public officials to fear that if they break laws, act unethically, or otherwise harm the public during a lethal pandemic, they will face some form of justice in the future from those looking back on their actions. That justice can be meted out in all kinds of ways — prosecution, firing, or at least public shaming in front of a national commission that has subpoena and discovery power.
But beyond deterrence, we should also want accountability in order to learn and grow as a society.
A country that doesn’t hold accountable those who lied us into the Iraq War is a country that effectively says it is fine with being lied into any war in the future.
A country that doesn’t hold accountable those corporate executives who created the financial crisis is a country that tells those executives they can continue fleecing us without fear of punishment — just as they have.
In short, a country that lets demands for bipartisanship create a cover-up is a country that refuses to learn from history — and then is doomed to repeat it.
Little Richard, the massively influential rock & roll pioneer whose early hits inspired a generation of musicians, has died at 87. (photo: Dezo Hoffmann/REX/Shutterstock)
Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87
David Browne, Rolling Stone
Browne writes: "Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday."
Voters cast their ballots in person during California's March primary. (photo: Melina Mara/WP/Getty Images)
California Becomes the First State to Send All Voters Mail-In Ballots for November Election
Riley Beggin, Vox
Beggin writes: "California has become the first state to commit to automatically mailing all registered voters a ballot for the November election, a significant move as states consider how to protect both voting rights and public health during the coronavirus pandemic."
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Some graffiti in Los Angeles on May 1. (photo: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
A Third of Americans Didn't Pay Their Rent or Mortgage in May, Survey Says
Harry Cheadle, VICE
Cheadle writes: "As May 1 approached, fears began to spike among landlords that their tenants would not be able to pay rent."
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Jill Nelson. (photo: West Side Rag)
Award Winning African-American Author Arrested After Writing "Trump = Plague" in Chalk
Michael McDowell, West Side Rag
McDowell writes: "On Broadway and 162nd Street, she passed a boarded-up storefront, and wrote 'Trump = Plague' in pink chalk. Seconds later, she was in handcuffs, she told us."
Seconds later, she was in handcuffs, she told us.
“Before I could step back and see my handiwork, two police SUVs roared up on either side of me, and blocked me in,” Nelson told the Rag. “Four officers jumped out: ‘What are you doing? Why are you doing that? Do you own this building? Do you have a weapon?’
“They roughly cuffed me, took my purse, and shoved me into the back of an SUV. I was taken to the 33rd Precinct and put in a cell at about 1 p.m. I was never read my rights. They took mug shots, they fingerprinted me, I was searched by a female officer, and they itemized my belongings,” she recounted.
“I thought, are you kidding me? You’re arresting me for writing graffiti in chalk? Are you serious? Now I have a desk appearance ticket for August 14,” she said. “It’s unbelievable. Something so petty! It’s just so stupid and so enraging and a total waste of resources.”
Nelson has been charged with graffiti, a misdemeanor, and was held at the 33rd Precinct for more than five hours.
“They didn’t let me call my husband until 3 p.m., after I’d already been there for a couple hours,” she said. “This is in the midst of coronavirus. I did demand a mask and they gave me one, but they weren’t going to let me out because I didn’t have a picture ID,” Nelson continued. For a short trip to run a few errands, Nelson had left it behind at her apartment.
During a phone call that Nelson claims was cut short by an NYPD officer, she was unable to communicate her whereabouts to her husband, Flores A. Forbes, an associate vice president at Columbia University. Although Nelson says she was told that a squad car would be sent to her building to meet her husband, who had located her ID, Forbes waited for a car that never arrived.
“They began saying that they were going to take me downtown, take me to the Tombs,” Nelson said, referring to the Manhattan Detention Complex. “It was almost gleeful, I felt. This is going to be your punishment for being an uppity human being. An uppity female. And the guy is like yeah, you probably won’t get out of there until tomorrow morning.”
Nelson paused.
“I’ve known people who went to the Tombs, and they disappear for days.”
Eventually, Forbes arrived, having given up on the squad car and determined his wife was almost certainly at the 33rd Precinct.
“They had a plastic evidence bag and I saw my license, from my cell,” Nelson said.
When she asked if her husband was there, Nelson says she was told that he had left, and that she couldn’t have seen him anyway.
It wasn’t until 6:37 p.m. that Nelson was able to leave the precinct, and not without a stern reminder as to her impending day in court, she said.
“When I left, the desk sergeant, who was of African-American descent, said, you better show up, because if you don’t we’re going to come to your house and arrest you.”
On her way home, Nelson noticed that “Trump = Plague” had already been smudged away.
Reached by phone, the NYPD told the Rag that the complaint was “sealed.”
In a subsequent email, an NYPD spokeswoman wrote that “there is nothing on file with the information you provided,” despite being presented with the information listed on the desk appearance ticket—the department’s own record—a copy of which Nelson provided.
Although New York City has recorded a precipitous drop in crime during the coronavirus pandemic, the NYPD has come under increasing scrutiny following videos depicting aggressive enforcement of social distancing guidelines. Photos shared on social media of the NYPD handing out masks to West Village sunbathers present a marked contrast to aggressive arrests of New Yorkers like Donni Wright, who was hospitalized following an encounter with an NYPD officer who had previously been named in seven lawsuits.
“It’s all part of a continuum, I feel. With those guys who got beat up, at least they’re alive. But the level of disrespect, of harassment, of abuse, it builds. My experience was one level, and theirs was another, but it’s part of the same piece of cloth,” Nelson said. “There’s moments in life where you realize, this is how most people are treated most of the time. It really was an experience of feeling like, this is how they treat everyday people. Who don’t have backup. Who don’t have husbands.”
Nelson, who spent much of her life on the Upper West Side, had never previously been arrested, and the experience has kept her up at night.
“I find that I wake up earlier, and I wake up during the night. I feel vulnerable, and I’ve had to push myself to not feel that way—to go on about my business with a sense of rigor and the right to do so,” she said.
She’s ready for an explanation, and an apology.
“After the first few days, I woke up one day and I was really angry. I thought, this shit is ridiculous. I want an explanation, I want an apology, and I want this desk appearance dismissed. I want any record I might have expunged, and I want to know what the police precinct is going to do to have better training for its officers.”
That her experience occurred during the coronavirus pandemic is all the more frustrating.
“When I was walking to the drug store that day, I saw families picking up food at a school. Don’t the police have anything better to do in this community? Like handing out masks?”
Nelson sighed.
“One of the cops said, ‘do you do this often?’
And I said, ‘yeah, graffiti grandma.’”
She shrugged.
“In the cosmic essence of horrors, this is minor, but these little things are part of a structure of taking people’s rights away, and making us acquiesce to whatever the powers that be tell us. I think it’s all a piece, a small part, it has a chilling effect, and I think that’s just what it’s supposed to do.”
Paramilitary officers wearing face masks walk on a bridge over Yangtze river after the lockdown against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was lifted in Wuhan, Hubei province, China April 14, 2020. (photo: Aly Song/Reuters)
Wuhan Reports First New COVID-19 Case Since April 3
Judy Hua, Yew Lun Tian and Ryan Woo, Reuters
Excerpt: "Chinese authorities reported on Sunday what could be the beginning of a new wave of coronavirus cases in northeast China, with one city in Jilin province being reclassified as high-risk, the top of a three-tier zoning system."
Jilin officials raised the risk level of the city of Shulan to high from medium, having hoisted it to medium from low just the day before after one woman tested positive on May 7.
Eleven new cases in Shulan were confirmed on May 9, all of them members of her family or people who came into contact with her or family members.
Shulan has increased virus-control measures, including a lockdown of residential compounds, a ban on non-essential transportation and school closures, the Jilin government said.
The new cases pushed the overall number of new confirmed cases in mainland China on May 9 to 14, according to the National Health Commission on Sunday, the highest number since April 28.
Among them was the first case for more than a month in the city of Wuhan in central Hubei province where the outbreak was first detected late last year.
While China had officially designated all areas of the country as low-risk last Thursday, the 14 new cases represent a jump from the single case reported for the day before.
Apart from the cluster case in Jilin, Harbin, capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, confirmed one new case.
The 70-year-old patient had been quarantined in a hospital since April 9 and had tested negative seven times before results turned positive on May 9, the Heilongjiang health commission said on Sunday.
Shenyang, capital of neighbouring Liaoning province, also confirmed on Sunday one new case, a 23-year-old who travelled to Shenyang on May 5 from Jilin.
ASYMPTOMATIC CARRIERS
Equally worrying in China is the unknown number of asymptomatic virus carriers who show no clinical signs of infection such as a fever or a cough.
Asymptomatic carriers are mostly detected through contact tracing or health checks.
The new Wuhan case, the first reported in the epicentre of China’s outbreak since April 3, was previously asymptomatic, according to the Hubei provincial health commission.
The 89-year-old man had not left his residential compound in Dongxihu district since the Lunar New Year in late January. His wife also tested positive, though she showed no symptoms, the Wuhan municipal health commission said.
The residential compound has had 20 confirmed cases, and experts say the new infection was mainly due to previous community infections.
After the case was confirmed, medical officials have carried out nucleic acid tests on residents of the compound and found five asymptomatic infections.
The infections highlight the continued potential for new clusters of infections due to carriers who do not look ill or have a fever.
On Sunday, the risk level of Dongxihu district was raised to medium from low.
The National Health Commission said the number of new asymptomatic cases stood at 20 on May 9, the highest since May 1 and up from 15 a day earlier.
China does not include asymptomatic cases in its official tally of confirmed infections.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China reached 82,901 as of May 9, while the total death toll from the virus stood at 4,633, according to the commission.
Elizabeth Warren. (photo: VegNews)
Elizabeth Warren Backs Cory Booker's Bill to Shut Down Factory Farms
Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews
Starostinetskaya writes: "Legislators are getting behind Booker's Farm System Reform Act which aims to break up the monopoly in the meat industry."
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