Crooked Media - What A Day: The gift of jab

Here in the 13th consecutive month of March, the U.S. has authorized three extremely effective coronavirus vaccines, the vaccine rollout has hit record speed after weather disruptions, and additional funding for distribution is on the way. As long as nobody gets too relaxed, we may soon experience...a different month.
 

• The FDA authorized Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine on Saturday, kickstarting the addition of what epidemiologists call an “absolute buttload of doses” to the national supply. The company will ship out four million doses this week, and has pledged to make 100 million doses available by the end of June. Combine that with the 600 million Pfizer and Moderna doses scheduled to arrive by the end of July, and there will be more than enough shots to cover any adult who wants one this summer.
   
• Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the J&J One Jab Wonder (trying to get this to catch on) can be stored at standard fridge temperatures for up to three months, making it much easier to distribute in hard-to-reach areas. That could go a long way toward speeding up vaccinations in marginalized communities, but good communication will be key—public health officials are worried that people will view the single-shot vaccine as inferior, and interpret its deployment in underserved areas as the latest example of a (very real) pattern of vaccine inequity.
   
• That perception is based on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s 66 percent reported efficacy rate against all symptomatic infections, compared to efficacy of 95 percent reported for the Moderna and Pfizer shots. But there’s a bigger headline: Like the two-dose vaccines, the One Jab Wonder (let it happen) was found to be 100 percent effective at protecting against hospitalizations and deaths. Trials have already shown it to hold up well against the sneakier new variants, and while this needs more research, there’s reason to think it should protect against long-term symptoms, too. You probably won’t get to choose your vaccine anyway, but you should feel wholeheartedly amped about taking whichever one you’re offered. 

The faster everyone gets any of the three very good vaccines, the faster we will reach herd immunity and get back to eating corn on the cob in movie theaters (or whatever we once did). 
 

• So it’s a great sign that the vaccine rollout seems to have recovered from last month’s winter stumble: The U.S. administered more than two-million shots per day for three consecutive days over the weekend, bringing the seven-day average back to pre-storm levels. At the same time, vaccine enthusiasm has been growing. A new KFF Vaccine Monitor poll found that 55 percent of adults have either already received at least one dose or plan to get jabbed as soon they can, up from 47 percent in January. 
   
• The U.S. isn’t out of the woods yet—it’s still March, after all. New coronavirus cases have begun ticking upwards again after steadily declining for weeks, and on Monday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky warned states not to ease up on public-health mandates: “At this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.” Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) have urged the White House to consider deploying doses intended for second shots as first doses, to maximize the number of Americans with some level of protection and help avert a variant-fueled spike. 

The availability of three highly effective vaccines is astonishingly good news, and a far better scenario than anyone could’ve hoped for at this time last year. One of the Biden administration’s biggest remaining challenges in the vaccine rollout will be selling a traumatized, March-weary public on just how good they actually are. 

Over on our YouTube channel, Crooked's political director Shaniqua McClendon interviews Rep. James Clyburn, Rep. Alma Adams, and Rep. Cori Bush, to hear about how their experiences as students of HBCUs have impacted their careers and shaped their perspectives. Watch and subscribe → youtube.com/crookedmedia

A second former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has accused him of sexual harassment, prompting demands for an independent investigation, which Cuomo has reluctantly agreed to. Charlotte Bennett, 25, told the New York Times that Cuomo had asked her about her sex life and whether she had ever had sex with older men. That allegation came just a few days after Lindsey Boylan published an essay detailing how Cuomo harassed her on several occasions when she worked in his administration. After Bennett came forward, Cuomo initially named a former federal judge with close ties to his top aide to lead an independent review of the allegations. That idea drew a swift backlash, and Cuomo’s office has instead sent a formal referral to New York Attorney General Letitia James, allowing her to lead an investigation with subpoena power. For the first time, Cuomo apologized (if you can call it that) to anyone who may have “misinterpreted” his “playful” comments. On Monday, a third woman, Anna Ruch, accused Cuomo of unwanted touching and sexual advances at a wedding—and provided a photo corroborating her story.

• President Biden has thrown his support behind the Amazon workers in Alabama in the midst of a vote on whether to unionize, while denouncing Amazon’s anti-union propaganda efforts. Biden’s comments marked the strongest pro-labor intervention by a sitting president in decades. 
   
• The Senate will vote on Biden’s $1.9-trillion coronavirus-relief package this week, after House Democrats passed it on Friday with zero (0) GOP votes. Democratic leaders have decided to abandon the minimum-wage plan B of imposing tax penalties on corporations that don’t pay a $15 minimum wage, mostly because it would be difficult to implement and easy for corporations to avoid. 
   
• Disgraced former President Trump spoke at CPAC in his first public appearance since leaving office, and didn’t have much new to say. Trump repeated the Big Lie that the election was stolen, lashed out at the Supreme Court for not installing him as king, and made clear that the future of the GOP depends on voter suppression and gerrymandering. (One small, important shift: Trump encouraged vaccine-hesitant Republicans to get the shot.)
   
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has unveiled her wealth-tax bill, which would levy a two percent annual tax on the net worth of households above $50 million, and a three percent annual tax wealth in excess of a billion dollars. 
   
• Several former college classmates of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) have accused him of sexual harassment, a story that none of the Republicans dunking on Andrew Cuomo appear to have seen?
   
• Myanmar’s military government shot and killed at least 18 protesters on Sunday amid continuing pro-democracy demonstrations. 
   
• Iran has rejected an offer to negotiate with the U.S. on the terms for reviving the nuclear deal, a few days after the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias in Syria (which drew bipartisan backlash). 
   
• Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to a year in prison, though he’s unlikely to actually serve time behind bars.
   
• The ODNI quietly republished the intelligence report on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi with the names of three men (whom the report had said were complicit) mysteriously omitted.
   
• The Golden Globes was a deranged medley of celebrity Zoom chaos, if you're into that kind of thing. (If nothing else, behold Jeff Daniels' Chamber of Doors.)

The Supreme Court will hear two consolidated cases on Tuesday that could shred what’s left of the Voting Rights Act. The DNC brought the two lawsuits against the state of Arizona and the Arizona Republican Party over two Arizona laws that make it more difficult to vote, both of which were struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for discriminating against Native American, Black, and Latino voters. Prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), hope to use the case as a vehicle to weaken or strike down Section Two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting laws that discriminate based on race. That would allow Republicans to freely enact new voting restrictions aimed at disenfranchising voters of color, and strip voting rights groups of one of their most powerful tools to fight back. Considering that Chief Justice John Roberts—who as a young lawyer once led the GOP’s fight to weaken Section 2—is the most moderate of the Court’s six conservative justices, that outcome is entirely possible. We need Congress to pass H.R. 1—or we’re fucked! Get involved: votesaveamerica.com/forthepeople

Voters of color continue to be targeted by discriminatory election practices intended to diminish their voting power. In 2020, we witnessed even more attempts to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters through attacks on vote by mail, cuts to early voting periods, and unnecessary identification requirements. And, in the wake of record levels of turnout last year, we are now seeing proposals in many states seeking to cut back on voter access. Voting rights can’t wait. Add your name if you agree.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would begin to root out voting barriers that discriminate against voters of color. Our democracy works best when all eligible voters can cast their ballot freely and fairly. 

The ACLU is demanding that Congress pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect our fundamental right to vote and defend us against discrimination. Are you with us? Sign our petition today and demand that Congress pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act now. 

The Biden administration will give migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration the option of reuniting in the U.S.

Bethany Christian Services, one of the country’s largest adoption and foster care agencies, announced that it will begin serving LGBTQ parents. 

Women and girls are now eligible to be screened for anxiety as part of a routine checkup, as a preventive service under the ACA. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) has signed a bill repealing New Mexico’s antiquated abortion ban, eliminating the possibility of it being enforced in the future.