As COVID Gallops Across Florida, DeSantis Lashes Out … At Biden

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.

A Big Mad Governor

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose state is positively drowning in COVID-19 cases, is up in arms after Biden said that governors like him who ban mask mandates need to “get out of the way.”

  • DeSantis’ rebuttal essentially amounted to “immigrants bad”: “Why don’t you do your job, why don’t you get this border secure and until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you,” he fumed during a press briefing.

  • DeSantis declared that he very much wants to stand in the way of implementing COVID-19 prevention measures because freedom:

  • What Biden had said: “We need leadership from everyone, and if some governors aren’t willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic, then they should allow businesses and universities who want to do the right thing to be able to do it. I say to these governors, please help. If you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way of people who are trying to do the right thing.”

How Did We Get Here?

A county coroner in Missouri has been excluding COVID-19 from death certificates at families’ request.

  • Also, some people are wearing disguises while getting the vaccine, one doctor (also in Missouri) reports.

‘You Are The Ultimate Knuckleheads’

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) chewed out a group of anti-vaxxers during a press briefing:

Maybe Not Such A Fringe Idea After All

Nearly half of Americans (48%) support expanding the Supreme Court, according to a new poll by Marquette University Law School.

Where Did Pompeo’s Fancy Booze Go?

A $5,800 bottle of whiskey the Japanese government gave then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a gift in 2019 has gone missing, the State Department says.

Let’s Try To Stop Setting The Planet On Fire, Shall We?

Biden is going to set an aspirational, non-binding goal to have 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. be electric by 2030, the White House announced this morning.

  • Foreign and domestic automakers, seeing the writing on the wall, will join Biden for a formal announcement later today.
  • They put out a joint statement saying they aspired to “achieve sales of 40-50% of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles… by 2030.”

We Don’t Stan

“The ‘Cuomosexual’ phenomenon was disgraceful. We’re politicians’ bosses, not their fans.” –  Alyssa Rosenberg:

  •  “Across the political spectrum, it’s long past time for Americans to rediscover some self-respect and to adjust the terms of our relationships with public figures. Andrew Cuomo isn’t a hottie. Even if he was, it wouldn’t matter more than the thousands of dead New York nursing home residents or 11 women he allegedly harassed.”

See also: This beefy rendering of special counsel Robert Mueller (“Robert Moral”) in notorious “Resistance” grifters Brian and Ed Krassenstein’s children’s book

The final page of the Krassensteins’ magnum opus, “How the People Trumped Ronald Plump”

You Aren’t ‘Political Prisoners’

A federal judge ripped into a Jan. 6 insurrectionist in his sentencing hearing, blowing up the myths GOP revisionists are spewing that the Jan. 6 defendants are “political prisoners.”

  • “Your vote doesn’t count any more than anyone else’s. You don’t get to cancel them out and call for a war because you don’t like the results of the election,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington, DC, told him. “You called yourself and the others patriots, but that’s not patriotism. Patriotism is loyalty to country, loyalty to the Constitution, not loyalty to a single head of state. That’s the tyranny we rejected on July 4th of 1776.”

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We Need More Data. Stat.

I want to flag again what I discussed here yesterday. Only a handful of jurisdictions across the country are tracking and publishing COVID data broken down by vaccination status. As far as I can tell all of two states – Oregon and Virginia and one county, San Diego County in California – are tracking so-called breakthrough infections in any way that gives us a helpful understanding of the state of the pandemic.

Continue reading “We Need More Data. Stat.”

The Infrastructure Bill Amendment Process Starts To Get Weird

When the Senate reconvenes today, it will have an amendment by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) before it to consider that would bar the Biden administration from cancelling the Trump administration’s border wall construction contracts. And there are reportedly plenty more amendments to follow.

As the amendment process begins to lose focus, it will be up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) when to cut it off. Sen. McConnell (R-KY) yesterday warned Schumer against filing cloture too soon and trying to move the process along, saying that, if the majority leader did so, he’d whip against it. He wants Schumer to move “slow but steady.”

Schumer has other priorities. He wants to get the Senate moving on the Democrats reconciliation bill sooner rather than later, with recess and a possible government funding fight looming.

Follow along with our coverage below.

Federal Judge Slaps Two Lawyers With Sanctions Over Big Lie Lawsuit

A federal judge in Colorado has sanctioned two lawyers who he said pursued “bad faith” litigation that falsely alleged widespread illegal behavior in the 2020 election, ordering the attorneys to pay the legal fees of several states, private companies and individuals targeted by the suit. 

Continue reading “Federal Judge Slaps Two Lawyers With Sanctions Over Big Lie Lawsuit”

READ: Letter Jeffrey Clark Circulated At DOJ In Attempted Georgia Coup

A drafted letter circulated by a top Department of Justice official in the Trump administration puts in stark terms the effort to hand the Republican-led Georgia legislature an opportunity to overturn the election results.

Continue reading “READ: Letter Jeffrey Clark Circulated At DOJ In Attempted Georgia Coup”

For Some Candidates, A Trump Endorsement Could Actually Be The Kiss Of Death

This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. 

Former President Donald Trump may see himself as a winner, but the candidates he endorses don’t always win. In fact, his endorsement often helps the opponents of his candidates. Continue reading “For Some Candidates, A Trump Endorsement Could Actually Be The Kiss Of Death”

GOP AR Guv. Now Regrets Signing Ban On Mask Requirements: ‘I Wish That Had Not Become Law’

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), whose state is seeing skyrocketing cases of COVID-19, on Tuesday made a stunning about-face on his decision to sign a bill that prohibited local mask mandates.

Continue reading “GOP AR Guv. Now Regrets Signing Ban On Mask Requirements: ‘I Wish That Had Not Become Law’”

Judge Blocks TX Guv Abbott’s New Rule Allowing Troopers To Pull Over Cars Carrying Immigrants

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked an order from Texas’ governor prohibiting anyone except law enforcement from driving undocumented immigrants anywhere, and instructing state police to pull over people they thought were violating the rule. 

Continue reading “Judge Blocks TX Guv Abbott’s New Rule Allowing Troopers To Pull Over Cars Carrying Immigrants”