Citizen Cartwright

Note to readers

Congress is taking a two-week recess. I am, too. See you next on April 12.

Biden’s first formal news conference: migrants, voting, filibuster

After the president opened Thursday’s press conference with an update on coronavirus vaccinations, school reopenings and delivery of stimulus checks, not a single reporter asked him about the coronavirus or the economic recovery, notes longtime analyst Susan Page of USA Today, among many others.

 

“Perhaps it was a sign of his success on those fronts,” Page says.

 

Most of the questions were about the unaccompanied child migrants at the border. As my husband John Dineen, himself a skilled analyst, points out, many of those questions were “performative,” as media sought to create footage for their own purposes.

 

My husband also alerted me to this Washington Post opinion article by Julio Ricardo Varela, the editorial director of Futuro Media, calling out sensationalized reporting such as references to a “flood” or “surge” of migrants at the border.

 

Varela also has published an internal Associated Press memo on its effort to "consistently use accurate and neutral language in its coverage along with giving proper context to border numbers given the political rhetoric on the topic." 

 

Among responses to other questions, Biden said:

 

— GOP efforts in states to regulate voter access are "un-American" and "despicable."

 

— He favors a return to the requirement that a senator keep talking to maintain a filibuster and that he'll consider other options as necessary to getting things done.

 

— American troops probably won’t be out of Afghanistan by former President Trump’s May 1 deadline, but he said he couldn’t picture that troops would be there next year.

 

— He expects to run for a second term, with Vice President Harris on the ticket.

 

Here is a fact check, from AP.

 

Here is a transcript of the press conference, from the White House.

Also in the news

Some African elephants are a step away from extinction

 

Israel’s fourth election in 2 years ends in another stalemate

 

Supreme Court widens ability to sue police for excessive force

Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibility

 

Techdirt: 'Beware of Facebook CEOs bearing Section 230 reform proposals'

 

Bipartisan group of senators is meeting to try to find common ground on policy

 

Georgia governor signs bill setting voter ID requirements, limiting drop boxes, allowing state takeover of local elections

 

Nate Silver in FiveThirtyEight: 'The death of polling is greatly exaggerated’

 

New problems for food storage as planet warms

 

Scientists identify a toxin that's been killing birds in Southern states

 

Study: Gen X, millennials in worse health than previous generations at same age

FDA cracking down on abuse of over-the-counter decongestant marketed under brand name Benzedrex

 

FDA panel rejects Pfizer arthritis drug tanezumab as too risky

Voting rights fight gets going in Senate

Democrats are starting their push for the ‘biggest expansion of voting since the 1960s,” headlines The New York Times.

 

The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday held a hearing on the Senate version of voting rights legislation that passed the House earlier this month on a 220-210 vote, with one Democrat and all Republicans voting against it.

 

"Democrats and Republicans both see the legislation, which touches on nearly every aspect of the electoral process, as fundamental to their parties’ political futures,” says The Associated Press.

 

The bill would mandate automatic voter registration nationwide, expand early and mail-in voting, allow former felons to vote, end gerrymandering that skews congressional districts for maximum partisan advantage, require more disclosure from political donors, and bolster election security and ethics laws.

 

The legislation is intended to counter the more than 250 bills have have been introduced in 43 states that would change the way Americans vote, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice, which supports expanded voting access. Some of those measures would limit mail voting, cut hours at polling places and impose restrictions that Democrats say amount to the greatest assault on voting rights since the Jim Crow era.

 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both members of the committee, made rare appearances at a hearing to press their parties’ views.

 

The bill already has run into roadblocks that have become familiar since Democrats began their narrow control of the Senate two months ago, says AP. As he has on other party priorities, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has expressed skepticism about the legislation, threatening united Democratic support.

Lacking the 60 votes needed for passage, Democrats have discussed options like lowering the threshold to break a filibuster, or possibly breaking the bill into pieces. For now, Democrats have suggested they'll start with bringing up potentially popular proposals like the voting rights measure and expanded gun background checks and let them fail, forcing Republicans to go on the record in opposition.

 

Here are more details of provisions of the voting rights legislation, from Vox.

Also in the news

North Korea missile launch tests Biden, alarms Japan in runup to Olympics

 

The risks of India’s new ‘double mutant’ coronavirus variant

 

Biden tasks Vice President Harris with leading response to border migration challenges

 

Biden to hold first news conference Thursday

 

House Energy and Commerce Committee to press Big Tech CEOs over speech, misinformation in Thursday hearing

 

Outer fencing around Capitol is taken down

 

Rachel Levine is first openly transgender person confirmed by Senate — on 52-48 vote, to be assistant health secretary

 

With the elderly in mind, Supreme Court is wary of limiting police in home entries

 

Virginia, which has carried out the second-most executions, becomes the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty

 

Study: Too much high-intensity exercise could be bad for your health

 

AstraZeneca says it recalculated data from disputed study, and coronavirus vaccine is 76 percent effective

DeJoy unveils Postal Service plan: Slower service at higher prices

The postmaster general on Tuesday "unveiled the largest rollback of consumer mail services in a generation," part of a 10-year plan that includes longer first-class delivery times, reduced post office hours and higher postage prices, says The Washington Post.

 

The long-awaited plan comes amid intense scrutiny of the agency over persistent delivery delays under DeJoy, a major Republican donor who took over the agency last summer, says The Associated Press.

 

Let’s also take a minute to note the systemic challenges facing the agency, as Americans need it less to deliver letters and more to deliver packages.

 

Ron Bloom, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors — and a private equity executive, former Obama “car czar,” who helped manage the auto bailout after the 2008 financial crisis, and union adviser — began the press conference by noting that the Postal Service is the most complex organization he’s ever been associated with.

 

Bloom also noted this truism about organizations: the biggest single impediment to a positive outcome is stakeholders who support the abstract need for change but want to avoid any change that affects their own interests.

 

The agency is supposed to be self-sustaining but has lost $87 billion in the past 14 fiscal years and is projected to lose another $9.7 billion in fiscal year 2021 alone, says The New York Times.

 

DeJoy’s plan to make up the agency's projected $160 billion shortfall over the next 10 years largely depends on Congress repealing a retiree health care pre-funding mandate and allowing postal workers to enroll in Medicare, says the Post. The agency also will ask President Biden to order a review of how much the Postal Service should have paid into its pension funds, the Post says.

 

Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Oversight subcommittee responsible for postal issues, says the plan “guarantees the death spiral of the United States Postal Service.”

Also in the news

Bangladesh marks 50 years of independence amid economic boom, concerns about democratic backsliding

 

Reuters: How and why smugglers are bringing more migrant children to U.S. border

After second mass shooting in a week, Biden calls for assault weapons ban, background checks

 

AP: Biden’s disciplined agenda rollout being tested by the unexpected

 

Senate confirms Vivek Murthy to return as surgeon general on 57-43 vote

 

Senate confirms Shalanda Young as White House’s deputy budget director on 63-37 vote

 

NASA helicopter has a stamp-size piece of Wright Brothers' plane with it on Mars

 

KHN: Deborah Birx joins air-cleaning company that’s in grab for billions in federal coronavirus relief funds for schools

 

Is it safe to go back to group exercise classes at the gym?

 

KHN: Biden extends deadline to sign up for Obamacare to Aug. 15; here’s how to navigate the new benefits

Results of first study on long-term neurological issues after mild coronavirus

 

More than half the food Americans eat is 'ultra-processed,’ and  it’s ultra-bad for our hearts, researchers say

Note to readers

Nothing is calling to me for a news summary this morning. Here’s wishing you a wonderful day!

In the news

Chinese, Russian officials meet in show of unity against Western nations

 

Biden administration preparing 2 proposals for infrastructure, education, climate change totaling $3 trillion

 

Democrats framing D.C. statehood as a central issue of their voting rights platform

 

Senate confirms Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a former union leader, as secretary of Labor on 68-29 vote

 

New Mexico legislature approves bill to create bipartisan redistricting commission

 

Chicago suburb of Evanston to be first U.S. city to pay reparations to African American families

Supreme Court justices appear to lean toward reining in unions in property rights case

 

AP: Stocks soar 75 percent in historic 12-month run with potential signs of 'too much greed and not enough fear'

 

Experts on whether driving still is safer than flying if you’re vaccinated

 

AstraZeneca may have used outdated information in vaccine trial results released Monday, U.S. health officials say

World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on how people have fared during pandemic

Of all the factors usually supporting happiness, the most important for explaining coronavirus death rates were people’s trust in each other and confidence in their governments, according to the report.

 

The usual countries are in the top 10 this year. Finland is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Austria.

 

This year, the United States is 19th, below the Czech Republic and above Belgium.

 

"It comes as no surprise as Finland once again takes the top spot as the happiest country in the world according to survey data taken from the Gallup World Poll,” says the press release for the report. "It has always ranked very high on the measures of mutual trust that have helped to protect lives and livelihoods during the pandemic."

 

The base for the reports is the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network and The Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, directed by Jeffrey Sachs.