Let's hear it for elections that eventually end.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021
BY SARAH LAZARUS & CROOKED MEDIA


** -Sidney Powell's ([link removed]) legal defense of her election-fraud claim...performance art?
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In the wake of two horrific mass shootings in under a week, Democrats have raised a radical question: What if Americans could go about their daily lives without the perpetual fear of either a deadly pathogen or a man armed with a high-powered weapon of war?

* A gunman opened fire in a Boulder, CO, grocery store on Monday, killing 10 people ([link removed]) . The victims included 51-year-old Eric Talley, who was the first police officer to arrive on the scene. The other nine people killed were Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Rikki Olds, 25; Neven Stanisic, 23; Denny Stong, 20; and Jody Waters, 65.

* The 21-year-old male suspect has been charged with 10 counts ([link removed]) of first-degree murder. Authorities say he purchased an assault rifle just six days before the attack ([link removed]) , on March 16. That was all of four days after a Colorado judge struck down ([link removed]) Boulder’s assault-weapons ban, which the city enacted in 2018 as a way to prevent mass shootings exactly like this one—a common-sense response to the school shooting that left 17 people dead in Parkland, FL, earlier that year, and Colorado’s long history ([link removed]) of devastating gun violence.

* On Tuesday, President Biden called for a federal ban ([link removed]) on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and urged the Senate to immediately approve two bills recently passed by the House that would close loopholes in background-check requirements. The White House is also considering ([link removed]) a number of executive actions to regulate firearms. None of this is controversial among the majority of Americans, who have been traumatized by at least 29 shootings ([link removed]) with four or more fatalities in the last five years alone, and would like some stricter gun laws ([link removed]) , please.

Well, well, well, if it isn’t another extremely compelling reason to abolish the Senate filibuster.

* Democrats aren’t in total lockstep on gun control—Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Tuesday that he’s still opposed ([link removed]) to the House bills—but what there’s no point in doing is waiting for the GOP to start giving a shit. Back in 2013, Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) introduced a narrower, bipartisan background-check plan after the Sandy Hook massacre, and in fealty to the NRA, Republicans filibustered it anyway ([link removed]) . Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell does not appear to want a mulligan ([link removed]) on that one.

* We know stricter gun control would save lives ([link removed]) , we know Americans overwhelmingly want it, and we know that while simply whispering the words “voter fraud” dishonestly into the wind is enough to launch hundreds of voter-suppression bills, no number of real mass shootings in a week will convince Republicans to take action. Until Democrats resolve to do so without them, we’re stuck with the national “normal” Barack Obama described ([link removed]) : “We should be able to live our lives without wondering if the next trip outside our home could be our last. We should. But in America, we can’t.”


There are several factors that make this a hopeful moment for change: Biden has made clear that he considers gun control an urgent priority, the NRA is weaker than it’s ever been, and a whole country is asking itself why a return to public life means a return to the threat of gun violence. Why not decide to usher in a better normal?

On this week’s episode of Pod Save the People, DeRay McKesson and the crew are joined by author Cleo Wade to talk about her new book, What The Road Said. The story explores the idea that it's okay to be afraid or to sometimes wander down the wrong path. It's a great conversation! Listen and subscribe to Pod Save the People wherever you get your podcasts ([link removed]) →
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Today in Things Joe Manchin Should Be More Worried About Than Broad Gun Control Legislation, West Virginia lawmakers are trying to criminalize needle-exchange programs amid the worst HIV outbreak in the country ([link removed]) . An outbreak in Charleston, WV, has spread to at least 50 people, most of whom are intravenous-drug users. Last month, the HIV-prevention chief at the CDC informed the Charleston City Council that the best public-health response would be to increase needle exchanges. Instead, the state legislature is moving to block them entirely, with a bill that would give local sheriffs final say over needle exchanges, require the tracking and returning of each needle, and impose criminal penalties for operating without a license—a provision aimed directly at shutting down a key volunteer needle exchange in Charleston, which launched after the city’s health department shut down its own needle exchange in 2018.
We’ve already seen how moral panic as a public-health strategy works out (thanks, Mike Pence ([link removed]) ), and it’s not great.
* Health officials have raised concerns about AstraZeneca’s U.S. vaccine-trial results ([link removed]) , less than a day after the company announced them. Medical experts accused the company of selecting data that was “most favorable for the study as opposed to the most recent and most complete.”

* A jury has been seated in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin ([link removed]) , and opening statements are scheduled to begin on Monday.

* Michael Sherwin, the former lead prosecutor overseeing the January 6 investigation, didn’t have the Justice Department’s approval to talk about the case on 60 Minutes ([link removed]) , and his comments (particularly on Trump’s possible culpability) did not go over well. The DOJ has launched an internal probe ([link removed]) .

* Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) have pledged to oppose any of Biden's non-minority nominees on the Senate floor ([link removed]) until the White House takes steps to diversify the administration with AAPI nominees.

* Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has announced his master plan to make the Postal Service even shittier ([link removed]) . It includes slower first-class mail delivery, reduced post office hours, and higher prices for postage. Could be fun if the Senate went ahead and confirmed those three USPS Board of Governors nominees ([link removed]) sooner rather than later?

* Israeli parliamentary elections have ended in a deadlock for the fourth time in two years ([link removed]) . Say what you will about American elections, but it’s cool how they eventually end.

* A fire at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh killed at least 15 people ([link removed]) , injured hundreds, and left tens of thousands homeless once again after fleeing Myanmar.

* An Arizona man was arrested after holding up a caravan of National Guardsmen at gunpoint ([link removed]) while they were transporting vaccines in Texas.

* Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), who supported Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, announced he will run to unseat Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ([link removed]) . Trump immediately endorsed his candidacy.

* The National Weather Service has adopted a new model that’s better at predicting extreme weather ([link removed]) , having recognized (sorry) which way the winds are blowing (thank you for subscribing).

* Please join us on this hellish Cinnamon Toast Crunch saga ([link removed]) , unless you have plans to ever eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch again, in which event please delete this email, turn off your phone and laptop, and place them in a bucket of water.

Hospitals that have published their pricing data under a new federal rule have also blocked that information from appearing in web searches ([link removed]) , in a creative interpretation of transparency. As of January 1, hospitals are mandated to disclose prices that patients and insurers pay for ordinary items and services. But hundreds of hospitals—including some of the biggest health-care systems in the country—have embedded code on their websites that prevents Google from displaying their pages with price lists, forcing users to click through multiple pages to hunt them down. The information is technically there, but consumers and doctors have to really want to find it. Some of the hospitals said those search-blocking code snippets had been left up unintentionally, while three major hospitals said it was meant to direct patients toward information they considered more useful than the raw pricing data.
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Evanston, IL ([link removed]) has officially become the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents.

Oakland, CA ([link removed]) has become the latest city to launch a universal basic income pilot program, which will allocate $500 per month to low-income families.

New York City ([link removed]) has formed a Racial Justice Commission that will make policy recommendations aimed at dismantling structural racism.

Kim Janey ([link removed]) has become acting mayor of Boston, making her the first woman and the first Black person to occupy the position.
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