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With vaccine doses pouring in, the Biden administration is preparing to confront the next big obstacle on the immunization horizon: The right-wing vaccine skeptics who decidedly do not want to hear reassurances from Sleepy Joe—but who might not be persuaded by Donald Trump’s all-caps pleading, either.
- President Biden kicked off the administration’s “Help is Here” campaign on Monday, announcing the twin goals of administering 100 million vaccine doses and distributing 100 million relief checks over the next 10 days: “Shots in arms and money in pockets.” Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be traveling across the country this week to promote various benefits of the American Rescue Plan, and hopefully boost national Doug Emhoff awareness.
- At the same time, the White House is set to unveil a $1.5 billion “Help is Here But If You Don’t Take It We Are All Fucked” PR campaign (real name pending), aimed both at persuading vaccine-hesitant Americans to get the jab, and educating the jab-curious on where and how they can access it. The Biden administration will recruit celebrities and trusted local officials to target three key groups: Young people, people of color, and conservatives.
- The White House hasn’t announced its specific messaging strategy, but given the diversity of reasons underlying vaccine skepticism, ads will need to be tailored to specific communities. A new Carnegie Mellon report based on an enormous survey regarding peoples’ attitudes around the coronavirus suggested that vaccination campaigns should address fear of side effects, a main reason respondents gave for their hesitancy. People across demographics also said that vaccine recommendations from local health care workers meant more than from any other messenger, with politicians at the bottom of the list.
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That’s a hopeful piece of information for a Democratic administration tasked primarily with changing the minds of Trump supporters.
- As general vaccine enthusiasm grows, Republicans have emerged as the staunchest vaccine skeptics. According to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, nearly half of Republican men said they won’t get the vaccine—an increase from the results of the same poll question in December. On the one hand, it sure seems like Donald Trump should be doing more to clean up his own conspiratorial mess. “It would make all the difference in the world” if Trump urged his supporters to get vaccinated, said Anthony Fauci on Sunday.
- On the other hand, his indifference probably doesn’t spell disaster. Over the weekend, a focus group of Trump voters echoed Carnegie Mellon respondents in saying they’re just not interested in hearing vaccine messaging from politicians, no matter which party. Direct appeals from GOP politicians during the session not only fell flat, but in some cases inspired more doubts. As Biden put it on Monday, “The thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, what the local preachers, what the local people in the community say.” That said, it would be very cool if Fox News would stop directly undermining those efforts.
If polls and focus groups have accurately captured how right-wing vaccine holdouts feel, it’s encouraging news: Donald Trump’s politicization of the virus sowed doubts and fears about the vaccine, but it’s health care workers and community leaders who will provide the educational antidote, and Biden’s ready to hand them the mic.
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Refresh your pro-democracy wardrobe with our new t-shirts featuring lines like “Organizing Works,” “Abolish the Filibuster,” “Make Democracy Easier,” and more. They’re perfect for making your re-entrance into the world! Head to crooked.com/store now to shop →
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Federal authorities have arrested two men for assaulting Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick with chemical spray on January 6, but it’s still unclear whether that exposure caused Sicknick’s death. Julian Khater, 32, and George Tanios, 39, allegedly worked together to attack Sicknick and two other officers with an unknown chemical spray, which Khater referred to as “that bear shit.” The two officers who survived said the chemical was “as strong as, if not stronger than, any version of pepper spray they had been exposed to during their training.” Sicknick’s autopsy results are still pending, but investigators have determined that initial reports suggesting he was hit with a fire extinguisher weren’t true. Khater and Tanios have been charged with nine counts, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
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- President Biden declined to say whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) should resign. A new Siena College poll—mostly conducted before a majority of New York’s congressional delegation called for Cuomo to step down—found that more than a third of New York voters think Cuomo committed sexual harassment, but half of voters said he shouldn’t immediately resign.
- Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin has come out in favor of eliminating the filibuster—or at least replacing it with a talking filibuster.
- Derek Chauvin’s lawyer has asked that the trial be delayed and moved out of Minneapolis after the city arrived at a $27 million settlement with George Floyd’s family. Judge Peter Cahill said he would consider a postponement, and re-interview the seven people already seated on the jury to see what they know about the settlement.
- An Army reservist charged with storming the Capitol was a well-known Nazi at the Navy base where he worked, but in the Navy’s defense, it’s not like he was walking around with a Hitler mustache saying hateful things about Jews. (Touches earpiece) It seems he was walking around with a Hitler mustache saying hateful things about Jews.
- Germany, France, and Italy have become the latest European countries to temporarily suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Scientists have still found no causal link between the AstraZeneca shot and blood clotting issues.
- It appears that disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens (R-MO), who resigned in 2018 after a woman accused him of sexual assault, plans to run for Senate, raising both general nausea levels and Democratic hopes of picking up a seat.
- Peter Thiel has donated $10 million to a super PAC supporting Hillbilly Elegy writer/venture capitalist J.D. Vance, who might run for Senate in Ohio.
- The Vatican said that priests cannot bless same-sex unions, indicating the hard limits of Pope Francis’s “Cool Pope” persona.
- Here’s Tiffany Haddish finding out she won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album and immediately turning it into a pitch-perfect teaching moment for two young kids.
- A walrus evidently fell asleep on an iceberg and wound up in Ireland. We now go live to this Irish man doing an impression of the walrus.
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A London vigil for Sarah Everard on Saturday night ended with police aggressively detaining and dispersing mourners. Everard, 33, disappeared while walking home in London on March 3, despite taking all of the right safety precautions, and was found dead a week later. After her disappearance, police officers went door to door telling women in the neighborhood to stay inside for their own safety, sparking a wave of fury and a social movement demanding safety from male violence. Metropolitan Police Constable Wayne Couzens has been charged with Everard’s abduction and murder, making the optics of Metropolitan Police officers breaking up a peaceful vigil all the more offensive. The mayor of London and the British cabinet minister responsible for policing have called for an investigation into police actions at the vigil, and a proposed bill that would give U.K. police more power to control protests has come under new scrutiny.
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Racism was, and remains, at the center of our country's systems of education, home ownership, employment, and virtually every other facet of life. Simply taking racist policies off the books is not going to be enough to achieve true justice for our Black and Indigenous communities of color.
That is why the ACLU is launching Systemic Equality, a racial justice agenda that seeks to address America’s legacy of racism and systemic discrimination. You can be a part of this urgent work – click here to join us and learn how you can take action on racial justice.
Our Systemic Equality agenda is holistic and includes specific demands of our nation's leadership. In 2021 alone, we will be pushing the Biden administration and Congress to take action on issues like protecting and expanding voting rights, student loan debt cancellation, fair housing, reparations, and many more.
Please, click here to add your name in support of this crucial racial justice agenda today. We look forward to having you with us in the fight ahead.
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The Senate has confirmed Deb Haaland as secretary of the interior, making her the first Native cabinet secretary in U.S. history.
President Biden has tapped Janie Simms Hipp, a member of the Chickasaw Nation and an advocate for Native American farmers, to be USDA general counsel.
Coca-Cola and Home Depot have come out in opposition to Republican voter suppression bills in Georgia, under sustained pressure from civil rights groups.
Yo-Yo Ma gave an impromptu concert after receiving his second vaccine dose on Saturday, as the U.S. continued to shatter daily vaccination records.
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