Crooked Media - What A Day: The Kevin fear sitch

A GOP leader who promoted election lies that fueled a violent insurrection has come out against forming a commission to investigate that insurrection, for some reason. Life is full of crazy twists like this. 
 

• On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced he won’t support the bipartisan deal to establish a January 6 commission, on the grounds that its scope would be too narrow to derail the investigation with diversionary investigations of unrelated political violence, like a 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice. Shortly after McCarthy’s public pants-wetting, the White House formally backed the bill. 
   
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi correctly called McCarthy a coward, and noted that Democrats had already made major concessions that would limit their appointees’ power: “Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer. In his Feb. 22 letter, he made 3 requests to be addressed in Democrats’ discussion draft. Every single one was granted by Democrats, yet he still says no.” McCarthy’s bad-faith opposition won’t prevent the bill from passing in the House on Wednesday, likely on a bipartisan basis. 
   
• What will happen in the Senate is less clear, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear that he’ll bring the bill to the floor and force Republicans to go on the record. Schumer also highlighted the trademark GOP obstruction on display: “This shows how difficult it is to negotiate with Republicans. If the Republican leaders are just going to throw their lead negotiators under the bus, why do they even participate in negotiations?” Why indeed!

Thanks to the bad blood between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the disgraced former president who now calls him a “dumb son of a bitch,” the commission might not be doomed.
 

• McConnell said on Tuesday that the Senate GOP is “undecided at this point” and “willing to listen” to arguments in favor of establishing the commission, if anyone has a minute to call his office and play back his own impeachment speech. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who was not among the handful of Republicans who voted to convict Trump after January 6, expressed support for the commission: “We clearly had an insurrection on that particular day, and I don’t want it to be swept under any rug.”
   
• Rounds does not speak for his colleagues in the House, where Republicans are not only trying to sweep the insurrection under the rug, but building their next coup attempt on its lumpy foundation. Here’s how Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (Q-QQ) characterized the violent rioters on Tuesday: “The people who breached the Capitol on January 6 are being abused.” Combine that unabashedly pro-insurrection attitude with a House majority achieved through targeted redistricting, and we’ve got ourselves a problem.

McCarthy’s opposition to the January 6 commission isn’t just about his fear of being called to testify—it’s about positioning the GOP to keep using the same anti-democratic playbook in the future, potentially with a very different outcome. Exposing that playbook through a high-profile investigation is a necessary step, but it can’t be the only one: votesaveamerica.com/forthepeople.

This week on America Dissected, Dr. Abdul El Sayed is joined by doctor Sanjay Gupta to talk about all of the changes that have happened over the past year in medical journalism and highlight a few stories he wished more people were paying attention to. New episodes of America Dissected every Tuesday, don’t miss out: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts →

Early research suggests that coronavirus vaccines may not fully protect millions of immunocompromised people, placing them in limbo as states start reopening. Immunocompromised folks weren’t included in the vaccine trials, so this has been a big question mark, but it now looks like somewhere between 15 to 80 percent of people with certain conditions, like specific blood cancers or past organ transplants, are not generating enough antibodies to be sure they’re protected. The data is still limited because neither the federal government nor vaccine makers have launched a comprehensive study, and the academic centers conducting research haven’t all been reaching the same conclusions. Until scientists land on the best way to boost the antibody response, immunocompromised people could face a greater risk of infection as other Americans ditch their masks. It’s not their bad luck alone: Case studies have suggested that immunocompromised patients might carry the virus longer and thus act as incubators for new variants.

• The Trump Justice Department tried to use a grand-jury subpoena to identify Twitter users who were making fun of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), a bonkers abuse of power that should lead to hearings and consequences for the officials involved, and at least a few new Twitter accounts dedicated to mocking Devin Nunes. 
   
• Millions of Palestinians across Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank have gone on strike, an usual collective protest in response to Israel’s multi-front targeting of Palestinians. 
   
• A North Carolina prosecutor said the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. was “justified” because Brown used his car as a “deadly weapon” while fleeing arrest, a claim his family has rejected. The sheriff’s deputies will not face criminal charges.
   
• Elsewhere in North Carolina, Black Lives Matter protesters have accused a court of appeals judge of trying to hit them with his car. North Carolina’s criminal-justice system appears to be in fine working order, no notes!
   
• Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) will run for Senate against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). You very sincerely love to see it. Less thrillingly: Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis asshole who waved a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters last year, has launched a bid for Missouri’s open Senate seat. 
   
• Andrew Giuliani has announced his candidacy for governor of New York, offering voters an exciting choice between some of the state's all-time worst Andrews.
   
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin may keep a Trump-era policy change that allows the military to run psyops more quickly and with less State Department input.
   
• Two White House officials experienced episodes consistent with Havana Syndrome last year, though the intelligence community still has no clear sense of who or what has been causing the symptoms. 
   
• A psychedelic fungus could cause Brood X cicadas in Indiana to lose their butts. Stop laughing! Who among us has not woken up after 17 years underground, only for our butts to immediately fall off? 
   
• Thank you for voting, and congratulations on being the discerning reader of a Webby Award-winning newsletter. 

The Senate voted to move forward with a bill aimed at making the U.S. more technologically competitive with China, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thinks will pass by the end of the month. The bill would authorize more than $100 billion over five years to boost research and development of new technology and manufacturing at academic institutions, and create a new entity within the National Science foundation to focus on technology. Lawmakers are still negotiating over a provision to allocate $50 billion to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., amid a global chip shortage. President Biden included that funding in his infrastructure proposal, but has thrown his support behind the Senate bill, which seems likely to pass much faster.

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The CDC said that more than 600,000 kids ages 12 to 15 have received a vaccine shot, less than a week after the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for that age group.

The House has overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at strengthening the federal response to anti-Asian hate crimes, sending it to President Biden’s desk.

Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) has signed a dozen police reform bills aimed at reducing the use of deadly force and holding officers accountable.

The Brooklyn Center City Council has voted to create an unarmed community response department to handle medical and mental health calls, and to prohibit arrests and searches for low-level offenses.