More Than 700 Civilians Killed By Myanmar Junta Since Coup
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/11/986283416/more-than-700-civilians-killed-by-myanmar-junta-since-coup
https://aappb.org/?p=14239
Hubble telescope captures striking image of a dying galaxy
https://www.space.com/hubble-telescope-sees-dying-galaxy-ngc1947
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EMPyNRPn9SfFHoMht3XZEK-1024-80.jpeg
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is directing Virginia State Police to investigate a traffic stop during which two police officers held an Army second lieutenant at gunpoint months ago in the southeast part of the state. One officer, a Latin American, was fired.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/northam-nazario-windsor-police/2021/04/11/fb147f88-9b05-11eb-9d05-ae06f4529ece_story.html
https://twitter.com/GovernorVA/status/1381341980446367747
Twins-Red Sox postponed due to curfew and potential for riots
https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1381671477066498049
Don't let them change you Major! You're supposed to bite! Major, one of President Biden's German shepherds, will be moved from the White House complex to receive training after he was involved in a series of biting episodes, the East Wing said on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/politics/major-bidens-dog.html
Breaking: The CDC still definitely does not recommend licking the handrails on the Metro even once you're vaccinated because you will definitely pick up something else
How the fuck are you going to shoot a person and then act surprised? People's life's depend on you and you fuck up like that? Who gave you a job if you're this prone to mistaking tasers for guns.
Max Richter - Vals Im Bashir (2008)
Ari Folman
Multiple people, including a police officer, reported shot at a high school in Knoxville, Tennessee,
"Judge" releases only Trump appointee known to have been charged in pro-Trump terrorist attack on Congress. Judge says Federico Klein's actions were terrorism (he tried murdering a police officer as well.....) but his work at State Dept exonerated him
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/12/judge-trump-appointee-capitol-riot-481021
Former general manager Billy King joined The Audacy NBA Show with Ryan McDonough and he explained what the Sixers would have to do to try and protect Iverson: When he was injured and we knew he couldn't play we used to hide his jersey. Because he would come to the locker room looking for his jersey, we'd lock it somewhere so he couldn't get it…. One time, in New York, he found his jersey but didn't have any shoes. He was trying to send the ball boy to the Foot Locker around the corner. He said 'just give me a pair of their Reeboks. I can play in those.' Then he pointed to an attendant, 'what size are you, just give me those shoes,' because he wanted to play so bad."
https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/2021/04/09/ex-sixers-gm-would-hide-allen-iversons-jersey-so-he-wouldnt-play-injured/
Iverson was pound for pound the toughest player in NBA history. He always played with injuries and doesn't get nearly enough credit as he deserves.
Republicans met with Biden today to discuss infrastructure spending. As far as Republicans are concerned:
- America is #1 in all categories and is the bestest nation in existence and is not in competition with any country and therefore needs no infrastructure investment
- Nothing in existence will make Republicans vote for the legislation
- Biden refusing to drop the legislation means Biden refuses to work with Republicans
- Biden is being controlled by leftist antifa radical social communists
- Republicans will never under any circumstances vote to increase corporate taxes or gas taxes
- Democrats want to steal money from hard-working people and use the money to kill babies and police
It's a troubled history, but if we're going to create an equitable infrastructure for the future, we cannot look away from the past. In his $2 trillion plan to improve America's infrastructure, President Biden is promising to address the racism ingrained in historical transportation and urban planning. Biden's plan includes $20 billion for a program that would "reconnect neighborhoods cut off by historic investments," according to the White House. It also looks to target "40 percent of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities." Planners of the interstate highway system, which began to take shape after the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, routed some highways directly, and sometimes purposefully, through Black and brown communities. In some instances, the government took homes by eminent domain. It left a deep psychological scar on neighborhoods that lost homes, churches and schools, says Deborah Archer, a professor at the New York University School of Law and national board president of the American Civil Liberties Union. Archer recently wrote for the Iowa Law Review about how transportation policy affected the development of Black communities.
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/07/984784455/a-brief-history-of-how-racism-shaped-interstate-highways
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3797364#
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3539889
The #Patriots have terminated the contract of WR Julian Edelman. He's listed as a failed physical.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1381702367754747904
Veteran RB Giovani Bernard is signing a one-year deal with the #Bucs,
https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1381696600053964800
Julian Edelman officially retires.
https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/1381722282570170373
A day after losing outfielder Dexter Fowler for the season, the #Angels place third baseman Anthony Rendon on the 10-day injured list with a strained groin.
https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1381730360598274049
So much for climate change being an emergency huh: Biden brought up gas tax increase in Oval meeting with lawmakers in order to shoot down idea. Biden isn't in favor of a gas tax increase and will never under any circumstances support it. The gas tax is the most fair way to pay for new roads and bridges it literally taxes the users.
https://twitter.com/elwasson/status/1381727933505634308
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1381727600540852229
Those involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot are older and more professional than other right-wing protesters, they are 95 percent White and 85 percent male, and many live near and among Biden supporters in blue and purple counties, one analysis showed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/12/data-about-capitol-rioters-serves-another-blow-white-working-class-trump-supporter-narrative/
Domestic terrorism incidents have soared to new highs in the US, driven chiefly by white-supremacist, anti-Muslim and anti-government extremists on the far right. Since 2015, right-wing extremists have been involved in 267 plots/attacks and 91 fatalities.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/domestic-terrorism-data/
In February, Haley said this about Trump's role in stoking 1/6 pro-Trump terrorist attack on Congress: "We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn't have, and we shouldn't have followed him, and we shouldn't have listened to him. And we can't let that ever happen again." Today she said if Trump ran again in 2024 she would support him and would not run against him.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1381705335505879044
________________________________________
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-12/the-high-cost-of-clearing-homeless-encampments
The High Cost of Clearing Tent Cities
A first-ever study of homeless encampments finds that cities are paying millions in clearance costs — only to shuffle unhoused people from one camp to another.
By Kriston Capps
April 12, 2021, 1:07 PM EDT
Late in March, authorities in Los Angeles attempted to remove a large encampment of unhoused people who had settled in tents along Echo Park Lake. Such encampments are increasingly common sights on sidewalks and beneath overpasses in U.S. cities, where the number of single adults sleeping outside surpassed the number of single adults in shelters for the first time ever in 2020. The tent city in Echo Park, which grew to encompass more than 170 tents in a "commune-like" atmosphere, turned into a high-profile symbol of L.A.'s homelessness crisis; its presence bitterly divided neighborhood residents, homeless advocates and city authorities.
https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-03-23/city-plans-to-close-echo-park-lake-and-clear-homeless-encampment
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978244891/hud-growth-of-homelessness-during-2020-was-devastating-even-before-the-pandemic
https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-03-13/echo-park-encampment-exposes-bigger-la-homeless-issues
But clearing the Echo Park tent city quickly blossomed into a crisis of its own: Advocates and allies showed up to defend the park against authorities looking to sweep the encampment. Law enforcement made at least 180 arrests over two nights of protests. In the wake of the incident, the Los Angeles Police Department has announced an internal review of its procedures for closing encampments. Some city officials are demanding to know how much the effort cost the city in terms of overtime, equipment and helicopter expenses.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-06/lapd-to-review-echo-park-homeless-encampment-response
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-31/echo-park-lapd-rollout-cost
"There were both sides of the coin," says Nichole Fiore, senior associate for the consultancy Abt Associates and a homelessness researcher. "People who wanted the encampment closed, and also people who were saying, leave the encampment open, these encampment residents have formed a community, they've lived here for a year or so, let it stay open because they're not going to permanent housing."
In many ways, the standoff in Echo Park illustrates the complexity of a problem that city leaders and residents struggle with across the country. Among the factors in play: dignity for unhoused people, political pressure from neighbors, concerns for safety and sanitation and stopgap solutions that seem futile against the backdrop of an affordable housing crisis. The strategy that cities have adopted — clearing and closing encampments, with varying levels of support for people living in them — comes with high costs and mixed results.
That's according to a first-of-its-kind report on tent cities, conducted by Abt Associates and commissioned by the federal government. Analysts spoke with people living in encampments as well as leaders and advocates in four cities — Chicago, Houston, San Jose, and Tacoma in Washington — and interviewed stakeholders in five others. The report finds a spectrum of policies in place and a growing awareness that simply sweeping away encampments is an ineffective response.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/Exploring-Homelessness-Among-People.html
Clearing tent cities, it turns out, is expensive: The report determined that Chicago paid $3.6 million to respond to encampments in fiscal year 2019. San Jose, with a much higher proportion of people sleeping outdoors, paid $8.6 million. Costs for smaller cities also ran high: Tacoma paid $3.9 million to manage its encampments, several hundred thousand more than Houston despite having only a fraction of its population. The report doesn't study what happened in 2020, but if anything, encampments have only grown in these cities since the beginning of the pandemic.
Overall, cities in the study paid between $1,672 and $6,208 managing camps per unsheltered person per year in 2019, requiring coordination across multiple agencies, with little to show for their efforts. Abt also says that there are costs that can't be easily quantified, such as the trauma and losses endured by unhoused people when cities clear their communities. Few cities have dedicated funding for any approach.
"It's a hard tradeoff for cities. Cities are funding these responses, and in a lot of cases that's money that would have been going to something else," says Lauren Dunton, senior associate for Abt and a co-author of the report. "They're not able to utilize federal resources to the same extent that traditional homeless service programs get funding."
The study points to three factors driving the growth of encampments: a lack of decent shelter options, a lack of political will to solve the problem and, above all, a lack of affordable housing options. Encampments pose unique challenges for local governments and for people dwelling in tents. Local agencies not traditionally tasked with or especially suited for serving homeless people wind up bearing a lot of responsibility for encampments, such as sanitation or environmental departments.
One factor shaping local policy is the realization that tent cities serve as supportive communities for their occupants.
Trust is a factor in how cities are learning to manage encampments. When cities conduct sweeps to clear out tent cities without an alternative — be it shelter beds, housing vouchers or permanent housing — that breaks the trust that outreach workers have built up with unhoused people. Trust is a factor for the larger population, too, as the public response in the Los Angeles incident would appear to indicate. The cheapest option for treating homelessness is housing, Dunton says, but scarce resources for permanent supportive housing units means that cities must take caution when it comes to evicting people from encampments.
"Cities don't want to just clear and close encampments, because people will just move to another encampment," Dunton says. "In some instances, they closed one encampment, and then outreach workers a week or two later found that people who refused services or weren't able to connect popped up in another encampment."
Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Housing and Urban Development, Abt's report is the first federal survey on encampments. The report reveals the lack of depth of understanding of the phenomenon: There is no shared or official definition for encampments, for example, a limitation that sometimes shows up in the ad hoc strategies for responding to encampments. (Abt's parameters include the presence of structures, continuity of location and permanency of people living there.) Cities have struggled with this increasingly visible manifestation of "invisible homelessness," referring to families and individuals who do not stay in sanctioned shelters.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02723638.2016.1147755?journalCode=rurb20
Denver, for example, banned urban camping citywide in 2012, an ordinance that has been subject to litigation ever since. Opponents of the encampment ban say that the city routinely destroys the property of unhoused people and violates their right to due process. Supporters of the ban — namely the city government, which appealed a January order by a federal judge requiring Denver officials to give a week's notice before sweeping encampments — say that conditions in encampments are dangerous and deteriorating.
https://denverhomelessoutloud.org/
https://denverite.com/2021/01/25/the-city-must-give-7-days-notice-before-clearing-encampments-of-unhoused-residents/
The study also explores the reasons why many unhoused people choose to live in encampments over shelters. Sex-segregated shelters do not allow couples to stay together, for example, and many forbid pets. Some shelters, and faith-based shelters in particular, enforce strict curfews and sobriety requirements. LGBTQ people and transgender youths in particular can face violence and discrimination in shelter settings. People of all ages, races and ethnicities stay in encampments, according to Abt, although most residents are adult men. Population patterns vary from city to city: Chicago and Houston have high percentages of Black people living in encampments, while in Minneapolis the population is largely Native. Some encampments in San Jose are composed primarily of veterans, while few veterans live in any encampments in Chicago.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-17/hud-targets-protections-for-homeless-trans-people
"Some people are closed off from their personal support networks for a variety of reasons. Some people talk about their encampment family," Dunton says. "It's a group of people who are really providing support."
The rise of tent cities may stem in part from a fundamental disagreement between many shelter operators and housing advocates over the policy known as Housing First — an approach that prioritizes providing housing to people before treating any physical, mental or substance-abuse disorders. CityGate Network, the nation's largest shelter provider, which operates more than 300 faith-based missions across the country, prioritizes sobriety, employment and spiritual salvation. CityGate opposes Housing First, arguing that this system makes homelessness worse. So did the Trump administration. For its part, Abt says that the report's conclusions align with "a Housing First approach that invests in homelessness prevention, rental assistance, supportive housing, and services to ensure stable housing acts as a platform for people" to live productive lives.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-12/trump-s-homeless-policy-gets-a-controversial-boss
https://www.citygatenetwork.org/agrm/Eight-s.asp
https://www.citygatenetwork.org/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=1384
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-12/trump-s-homeless-policy-gets-a-controversial-boss
While President Joe Biden, housing advocates and many local governments might agree that Housing First can reduce the number of unsheltered people living on streets, enacting local policies that get people into permanent supportive housing has been harder in practice. Cities struggling with homelessness all suffer a fundamental lack of housing options. The four primary cities in the study have had varying experiences rearranging the deck chairs in response: Following a rise in encampments after Hurricane Harvey, Houston enacted a city tent ban in 2017. San Jose cleared hundreds of encampments before creating its first sanctioned encampment in 2018, Hope Village, only to dismantle it the following year. None of the cities has the resources in place to shelter its homeless population.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-27/biden-s-housing-agenda-begins-with-undoing-trump-s
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/30/as-hope-village-homeless-camp-comes-down-residents-wonder-whats-next/
Homeless encampments touch on other policy issues beyond housing supply and social safety net funding. It falls on police to enforce encampment ordinances, and the use of law enforcement resources for this purpose has emerged in activist arguments to defund police. But Dunton says that the role of police is sometimes misunderstood. In Houston, for example, police work with outreach teams to help unhoused people acquire various forms of identification that they are often missing, such as birth certificates, drivers licenses and Social Security cards. Police are, or course, also involved in the sweeps that create so much hardship for homeless people — so, it's complicated.
https://theappeal.org/defund-the-police-and-abolish-laws-used-to-target-vulnerable-people/
"When we say police, it means different things. In the case of several of these communities, it's not your typical police force," Dunton says. "A lot of cities have these homeless outreach teams, or HOTs. They're smaller units within the police department. They're really not focused on enforcement. They're often going out with outreach workers and trying to build rapport with people living in encampment settings."
She adds, "It's not just the beat cops in that neighborhood. Many of these officers — most of them — elect to be in these roles."
Over the last four years, officials in Chicago, Houston, San Jose, Tacoma and other cities have slowly converged on a strategy that Abt describes as "clearance and closure with support." On paper, this means taking action to close encampments only once transitional or permanent housing options are available for occupants; in practice, it means a grab bag of ideas as cities wrestle with the issue and share strategies. Local policies are evolving rapidly: Elk Grove, a small city outside of Sacramento, is testing out a pilot to pay people to clean their encampments, which saves the city thousands of dollars in staff time and equipment, and has also helped connect residents to more stable housing.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/10/us/california-town-is-paying-homeless-to-pick-up-trash-trnd/index.html
One factor shaping local policy is the realization, perhaps slow in coming, that tent cities serve as supportive communities for their occupants. Most encampment residents in the study grew up in the city or neighborhood where they now reside. Striking numbers of encampment residents have disabilities. There is growing support for treating encampments as cohorts and even working to preserve these communities in supportive housing arrangements. Chicago piloted one model for a local shelter: When the city clears an encampment, the entire camp moves into the shelter, which maintains the community (at the expense of sometimes holding the shelter vacant).
Most of the 180 or so people living in the Echo Park Lake encampment ended up in hotels via Project Roomkey, a pandemic response program to move Californians out of congregate shelter settings and into vacant hotel rooms. The strategy of using pandemic-emptied hotels as shelters is popular at the federal level: On his second day in office, Biden signed an executive order instructing FEMA to reimburse municipalities for 100% of the cost of renting hotel rooms to shelter unhoused people safely through the end of September. Yet this too is ultimately a temporary solution. As the Los Angeles Times reports, some of the Echo Park encampment occupants are already being moved again, farther from the communities and places they call home.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-03/echo-park-lake-homeless-housing-los-angeles
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/no-easy-fixes-as-covid-19-hits-homeless-shelters
https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2021-01-27/manna-from-heaven-l-a-officials-say-biden-funding-could-get-thousands-of-homeless-off-streets
"There are concerns coming from everywhere," says Fiore — from people worried about the welfare of those experiencing homelessness to advocates concerned about the supply of affordable and emergency housing to residents and businesses located near encampments. "The first step is bringing the stakeholders to the table."
________________________________________
Greinke throws a 51 MPH 4 seamer for a strike
https://streamable.com/5djotz
Freddy Peralta tonight: 6IP, 10K's, 1ER, 2BB, and a miraculous 5 runs of support.
Tyler Glasnow vs TEX: 7.2IP 2H 0ER 1BB 14K
Alex Cobb vs the Royals tonight: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K
Citing grave threat, Scientific American replaces 'climate change' with 'climate emergency'
https://www.yahoo.com/news/citing-grave-threat-scientific-american-replacing-climate-change-with-climate-emergency-181629578.html
Madison Bumgarner vs. A's: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. 3rd straight start giving up >= 5 ER over <= 5 IP
Gerrit Cole tonight: 6.0 IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 8K, raises ERA to 1.47
Steph passes Wilt to become the top scorer in Warriors history
https://streamable.com/wnd9gt
On a night he passes Wilt for the all-time franchise scoring record, Steph Curry drops 53-6-4 on 14-24 shooting and 10-18 from 3 to lead shorthanded Warriors past Denver
SIGH....Jamal Murray goes down hard and is grabbing his knee
https://streamable.com/0pfrrj
Too many NBA players getting hurt with this shortened season
Stephen Curry is the first player age 32 or older with 3 or more 50+ points games in a single season.
Russell Westbrook in a win against Utah to break their home streak. 25/14/14 on 50% shooting and a +10
With 53 points tonight, Stephen Curry is now averaging 30.4PPG for the season, his highest ever.
https://www.nba.com/stats/
Steph with the stepback 3 to give him 43 for the game, his 9th three of the game so far
https://streamable.com/u1emny
The New York Knicks (28-27) defeat the Los Angeles Lakers (33-21) 111-96 behind Julius Randle's 34 points
Julius Randle Tonight: 34/10/3 on 13/23 shooting, 2/6 from three and 6/7 from the line
DeRozan gives the Spurs the lead
https://streamable.com/84zr95
Ja Morant cocks the alley-oop wayyy back
https://streamable.com/g4n7l7
Mattisse Thybulle plays ridicilous defense on Doncic, blocks his shot
https://streamable.com/mkk6ms
Zion smash
https://streamable.com/jzejei
Brandon Ingram in a win against the Kings: 34/6/7 on 11/18 shooting, 3/8 from 3, 9/10 from the line
Luka makes an insane shot from behind the backboard in pregame
https://streamable.com/gfa0ai
Embiid hits the dream shake
https://streamable.com/o7609s
Jordan Poole tries to posterize Javale, can't dunk it, but the ball goes into the hoop
https://streamable.com/bm9ri2
Donovan Mitchell crosses Ish Smith into the screen and drains the stepback 3
https://streamable.com/yy2q8h
The Mavs have played 4 centers against Embiid in the first half. They have combined for 2 points and 9 fouls. Embiid has 23 points and 13 free throws at the half.
The Washington Wizards (20-33) defeat the Utah Jazz (40-14), 125 - 121. The Washington Wizards snapped the Utah Jazz's 24 game home win streak
Casual 48 through 3 quarters š¤£š¤£ 30 got a cannon
https://twitter.com/CJMcCollum/status/1381818720218087427
Joel Embiid Tonight: 36/7/2 on 10/17 shooting, 2/3 from three and 14/15 from the line
Joel Embiid drains fadeaways from both sides of the court on back to back possessions
https://streamable.com/kgkmpp
Nico Mannion submits his Shaqtin-a-fool resume
https://streamable.com/e9y2k9
Zion hits the turnaround mid range jumper from the baseline
https://streamable.com/b6gb7s
The Philadelphia 76ers (37-17) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (29-24), 113 - 95
Draymond Green tonight: 18/7/7/4 on 7-8 shooting, 2-3 from three, and 2-2 from thye line.
Luka DonÄiÄ has received 12 technical fouls so far this season. He's only 4 away from being suspended a game
Danny Green blocks Doncic on one end, drains the 3 on the other
https://streamable.com/slxw94
Russel Westbrook's past 16 games: 22.8 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 12.5 apg, 43 fg%, 29 3p%, 70 ft%.
Warriors with some nice ball movement leading to Steph's 10th 3 of the game
https://streamable.com/sg7wfu
De'Aaron Fox in today's loss vs. the Pelicans: 43 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal on 15-30 shooting
Kevin Porter Jr. tonight: 22 points/5 rebounds/14 assists/2 steals in a competitive loss to the Suns
John Wall (Houston Rockets) tonight: 13 points, 8 assists, 5 turnovers on 5/20 shooting from the floor and a -13 for the game
Embiid beats the shot clock with the triple
https://streamable.com/7okbuo
The Memphis Grizzlies (27-25) defeat the Chicago Bulls (22-31), 101-90
Derrick Rose blocks Ben McLemore's 3-Point Attempt
https://streamable.com/agqin5
And this is why most Americans are refusing to get vaccinated: The FDA and CDC have paused and stopped the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a woman died from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. So far six known recipients - all females - of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of vaccination. One woman died and another has been hospitalized in critical condition. Blood clots are life-threatening and require a lifetime of medical checkups, even if the blood clots are surgically removed. Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and roughly nine million more doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. | The move could substantially complicate the nation's vaccination efforts at a time when many states are confronting a surge in new cases and seeking to address vaccine hesitancy. Regulators in Europe and elsewhere are concerned about a similar issue with another coronavirus vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers. That concern has driven up some resistance to all vaccines, even though the AstraZeneca version has not been authorized for emergency use in the United States. The vast majority of the nation's vaccine supply comes from two other manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which together deliver more than 23 million doses a week of their two-shot vaccines. There have been no significant safety concerns about either of those vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/us/politics/johnson-johnson-vaccine-blood-clots-fda-cdc.html
MLB is expecting Republicans to try to rescind baseball's antitrust exemption in the wake of the All-Star Game being moved out of Atlanta in response to Georgia's new stricter voting laws. No word yet on how concerned MLB is about what experts view as a long shot attempt.
https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1381977444765339659
Nato tells Russia to stop military buildup around Ukraine. Alliance warns about 'largest massing of Russian troops since annexation of Crimea'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/13/nato-tells-russia-to-stop-military-buildup-around-ukraine
Biden will withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-us-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan/2021/04/13/918c3cae-9beb-11eb-8a83-3bc1fa69c2e8_story.html
Egypt seizes the Ever Given, saying its owners owe nearly $1 billion for Suez Canal traffic jam. The ruling allowing Egypt to seize the Ever Given was issued by a court in Ismailia, a city on the west bank of the canal, according to the Ahram Gate website. The Suez Canal Authority, which made the request, noted that Egypt's maritime trade laws allow the "precautionary seizure" of vessels that have outstanding debts, including failure to pay the costs from an accident.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/13/ever-given-seized-egypt/
Number of Rhinos in Nepal on the Rise
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56731079
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO: Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray has a torn ACL in his left knee.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1381986351214698505
PLEASE STEPH CURRY GO TO THE NUGGETS, THEY NEED YOU, OMFG, WHAT A FUCKING TRAGEDY FOR THE DENVER NUGGETS
There simply is not a W O R S E time for Murray to have a significant injury. Denver has two years to pay both Porter and Gordon. Then Jokic's contract is up after that. For the rug to be pulled out from under them *now* is devastating. Injuries fucking suck.
Quote from KD where he talks about the current state of the game and how that is leading to more injuries than ever. You're seeing more injuries cause I feel like there's more pace and we are using more possessions in a game. And guys are the most athletic in the world, so they up and down, jumping and using so much force to get up in the air, and running 94 feet back and forth. So you see more achilles injuries, you're seeing more foot injuries, knee injuries and it seems like to me that is just because of the pace of the game. And now I'm seeing more training staff being hired that were former soccer trainers. You know, cause they see how much load we put on our body, and you know as far as how much mile we running. They track how many miles we run in the game. So you know I think all that stuff are factoring into injuries here and there, guys being out for key matchups. You're seeing Lebron and AD out for 4 weeks. You seeing out for not just 2, 3 games, Gordon Hayward... out for 4 weeks. The game is just so fast paced man.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/70BtV3Ds7l5CeOyNkbs8XK?si=nl4kXfy8T5Sn8oUbLrTO6g&nd=1
More than 300 corporate leaders will ask the Biden administration to nearly double the emission reduction targets set by the Obama administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/business-executives-climate-change.html
400 state and local officials call for ban on new fracking permits
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/547759-nearly-400-state-and-local-officials-call-for-ban-on-new-fracking
The Hornets say PJ Washington (right ankle sprain) has been ruled out and Terry Rozier (left knee tendinitis) has been downgraded to doubtful for tonight's game against the Lakers.
https://twitter.com/thesteinline/status/1382012495502700547
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/12/statement-from-the-president-on-the-beginning-of-ramadan/
Statement from the President on the Beginning of Ramadan
April 12, 2021 • Statements and Releases
Jill and I send our warmest greetings and best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.
As many of our fellow Americans begin fasting tomorrow, we are reminded of how difficult this year has been. In this pandemic, friends and loved ones cannot yet gather together in celebration and congregation, and far too many families will sit down for iftar with loved ones missing.
Yet, our Muslim communities begin the month of revelation with renewed hope. Many will focus on increasing their consciousness of the presence of G-d in their lives, reaffirming their commitment to the service of others that their faith compels, and expressing gratitude for the blessings they enjoy—health, well-being, and life itself.
Muslim Americans have enriched our country since our founding. They are as diverse and vibrant as the America they have helped build. Today, Muslims are leading in our efforts to fight COVID-19, playing a pioneering role in vaccine development and serving as frontline health care workers. They are creating jobs as entrepreneurs and business owners, risking their lives as first responders, teaching in our schools, serving as dedicated public servants across the nation, and playing a leading role in our ongoing struggle for racial equity and social justice.
But still, Muslim Americans continue to be targeted by bullying, bigotry, and hate crimes. This prejudice and these attacks are wrong. They are unacceptable. And they must stop. No one in America should ever live in fear of expressing his or her faith. And my administration will work tirelessly to protect the rights and safety of all people.
On my first day as President, I was proud to end the shameful Muslim travel ban, and I will continue to stand up for human rights everywhere, including for Uyghurs in China, Rohingya in Burma, and Muslim communities all over the world.
As we remember those who we have lost since last Ramadan, we are hopeful for brighter days ahead. The Holy Qur'an reminds us that "G-d is the light of the heavens and earth," who leads us out of darkness to the light. Although our White House festivities will be held virtually this Ramadan, Jill and I look forward to resuming the traditional White House Eid celebration in person next year, inshallah. We wish your families an inspiring and rewarding month.
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Biden administration to reinstate fair-housing policies dismantled under Trump, including one aimed at combatting residential segregation
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden-to-reinstate-fair-housing-policies-dismantled-under-trump-including-one-aimed-at-combatting-residential-segregation-11618332207
New York pension fund divests $7 million from Canadian oil sands firms
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-pension-oil-sands/new-york-state-pension-fund-divests-from-seven-oil-sands-companies-idUSKBN2BZ1UT
Guatemala and Honduras join Mexico in deploying troops to "stem tide" (kill) of Latin Americans travelling toward U.S.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/guatemala-and-honduras-join-mexico-in-deploying-troops-to-stem-tide-of-migrants-toward-u-s-01618257425?mod=home-page
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/13/a-proclamation-on-black-maternal-health-week-2021/
A Proclamation on Black Maternal Health Week, 2021
April 13, 2021 • Presidential Actions
In the United States of America, a person's race should never determine their health outcomes, and pregnancy and childbirth should be safe for all. However, for far too many Black women, safety and equity have been tragically denied. America's maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the developed world, and they are especially high among Black mothers, who die from complications related to pregnancy at roughly two to three times the rate of white, Hispanic, Asian American, and Pacific Islander women — regardless of their income or education levels. This week, I call on all Americans to recognize the importance of addressing the crisis of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in this country.
Ensuring that all women have equitable access to health care before, during, and after pregnancy is essential. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to addressing these unacceptable disparities, and to building a health care system that delivers equity and dignity to Black, Indigenous, and other women and girls of color.
Health care is a right, not a privilege, and our country needs a health care system that works for all of us. That is something both Vice President Harris and I have fought for throughout our careers. As a Senator, Vice President Harris was a champion of Black maternal health, introducing legislation to close gaps in access to quality maternal care and educate providers about implicit bias. And during my time as Vice President, I fought for the Affordable Care Act and to strengthen Medicaid, both of which ensure access to critical services to support maternal health. Within just a few years of the Affordable Care Act's passage, Black uninsured rates dramatically declined — a key factor in ensuring better maternal health outcomes — as did the persistent health insurance coverage gap between Black and white Americans, which fell by more than 40 percent in the wake of the law's implementation.
As we fight to bring an end to the COVID-19 crisis, we will continue to make quality health care more accessible and affordable for all Americans, as we did through the passage of the landmark American Rescue Plan. We will also work to ensure that everyone — including hospitals, insurance plans, and health care providers — do their part to provide every American with quality, affordable, and equitable care.
Vice President Harris and I are committed to pursuing systemic policies that provide comprehensive, holistic maternal health care that is free from bias and discrimination. The morbidity and mortality disparities that Black mothers face are not the results of isolated incidents. Our Nation must root out systemic racism everywhere it exists, including by addressing unequal social determinants of health that often contribute to racial disparities such as adequate nutrition and housing, toxin-free environments, high-paying job sectors that provide paid leave, and workplaces free of harassment and discrimination.
Addressing systemic barriers across the board will improve outcomes for Black mothers and their families, and make our entire country stronger, healthier, and more prosperous. At the same time, the United States must also grow and diversify the perinatal workforce, improve how we collect data to better understand the causes of maternal death and complications from birth, and invest in community-based organizations to help reduce the glaring racial and ethnic disparities that persist in our health care system.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 11 through April 17, 2021, as Black Maternal Health Week. I call upon all Americans to raise awareness of the state of Black maternal health in the United States by understanding the consequences of systemic discrimination, recognizing the scope of this problem and the need for urgent solutions, amplifying the voices and experiences of Black women, families, and communities, and committing to building a world in which Black women do not have to fear for their safety, their wellbeing, their dignity, and their lives before, during, and after pregnancy.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of April, in the year of our L-rd two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/13/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-initial-actions-to-address-the-black-maternal-health-crisis/
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Initial Actions to Address the Black Maternal Health Crisis
April 13, 2021 • Statements and Releases
Today—during Black Maternal Health Week—the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing initial actions it has taken to address the maternal health crisis in the United States. America's maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the developed world, and they are especially high among Black women and Native American women— regardless of their income or education levels. Recent data show that Black women are roughly two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than non-Hispanic white women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that two out of three of these deaths are preventable.
Quality, equitable health care is a right, not a privilege. The actions announced today are initial steps in the critical work this Administration will do to address our maternal mortality crisis, close disparities in maternal care and outcomes for all birthing people, and address the systemic racism that has allowed these inequities to exist.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have both championed policies to improve Black maternal health. As a Senator, Vice President Harris championed legislation to close gaps in access to quality maternal care and educate providers about implicit bias. As Vice President, President Biden fought for the Affordable Care Act and to strengthen Medicaid, both of which ensure access to critical services to support maternal health. Within just a few years of the Affordable Care Act's implementation, Black uninsured rates dramatically declined — a key factor in ensuring better maternal health outcomes — and the persistent health insurance coverage gap between Black and white Americans fell by more than 40 percent.
The Biden-Harris Administration continues that commitment to reducing unacceptably high maternal mortality and morbidity rates and to tackling health disparities that are rooted in systemic racism. That's why today, the President issued the first-ever presidential proclamation calling on all Americans to recognize the importance of addressing the crisis of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in this country. And, in his first 100 days, President Biden issued executive orders to implement a comprehensive approach to advancing racial equity, and to establish the White House Gender Policy Council to take a whole-of-government approach to gender equity. Both of these interagency processes will work to end disparities that affect women and girls of color, including the maternal health crisis.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/03/08/executive-order-on-establishment-of-the-white-house-gender-policy-council/
The Administration has taken the following actions to strengthen health equity and address racial disparities in maternal health through:
Increased investment in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. The President's discretionary funding request includes significant funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, improve health equity, and end race-based disparities nationwide, including:
- Investing $200 million to: implement implicit bias training for healthcare providers; create State pregnancy medical home programs; bolster Maternal Mortality Review Committees; expand the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program; and help cities place early childhood development experts in pediatrician offices with a high percentage of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program patients;
- Increasing funding for the HHS Office for Civil Rights by 24 percent, to $47.9 million, to ensure protection of civil rights in healthcare;
- Providing $340 million, an increase of 18.7 percent, to the Title X Family Planning program, which will improve access to vital reproductive and preventive health services and advance gender and health equity;
- Prioritizing investments in programs that protect rural health care access and expand the pipeline of rural healthcare providers; and
- Supporting women and young children by providing $6 billion for the critical Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), to help vulnerable families put healthy food on the table and address racial disparities in maternal and child health outcomes.
Approval of the First Medicaid Section 1115 Waiver to Broadly Extend Postpartum Coverage. The Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, approved a Medicaid Section 1115 waiver in Illinois that will allow the state to extend post-partum coverage to Medicaid-eligible women beyond 60 days and up to 12 months. This approval will help ensure access to vital health care services, promote better health outcomes, and reduce the rate of maternal morbidity and mortality. Illinois is the first state to extend postpartum coverage to all pregnant women under Medicaid. The Administration invites all states to provide full Medicaid benefits during pregnancy and the extended postpartum period.
$12 Million in Additional Funds for Maternal Obstetrics Care in Rural Communities. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity that will make $12 million available in new awards for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy's RMOMS Program. RMOMS is designed to develop models and implement strategies that improve access to and continuity of maternal obstetrics care in rural communities, and will help improve maternal health outcomes for underserved rural mothers, including Black rural mothers. For the first time, applicants are required to focus on populations that have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes, health disparities, and other inequities.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/13/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan-supports-small-businesses/
FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan Supports Small Businesses
April 13, 2021 • Statements and Releases
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses struggled to grow and compete globally as a result of the U.S.' aging infrastructure, constrained workforce, and tax code that benefits large, multi-national corporations. Prior to the pandemic, more than half of small business owners said infrastructure investments are crucial to the success of their business, 7 in 10 felt it was important for Congress to fund broadband projects, and nearly two-thirds considered local roads and bridges average, poor, or very poor quality.
The American Jobs Plan will reduce small business shipping delays by upgrading our nation's transportation infrastructure; help "mom-and-pop" shops reach new customers by providing universal broadband; and enable Main Street win the 21st century by training American workers for the jobs of the future.
And, President Biden's plan provides direct support to small businesses, including by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical assistance programs that will benefit small businesses, including small manufacturers.
- Increase federal contracting opportunities for small businesses. From fixing highways and rebuilding bridges to upgrading Veterans Affairs medical centers and rehabilitating other federal buildings, the President's plan will mobilize small contractors to meet the great challenges of our time.
- Launch a historic effort to empower small business creation and expansion in underserved communities. The American Jobs Plan will create a national network of small business incubators and innovation hubs to ensure all Americans have a fair shot at starting and growing their own business.
- Encourage small businesses – especially underserved small businesses – to fully engage in the innovation economy. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $5 billion in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and development initiatives that have the potential for commercialization.
- Help minority-owned manufacturing businesses access capital. The American Jobs Plan will create a new grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help small, Brown- and Black-owned manufacturers access private capital.
- Create a new financing facility for small manufacturers. President Biden is calling on Congress to seed a new financing program to co-invest with private capital in the industrial base.
- Increase access to billions of dollars of lending and investment capital. The American Jobs Plan will enable small businesses to drive the recovery by investing $15 billion in the Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan program and $5 billion in the Small Business Investment Company program.
- Strengthen manufacturing supply chains and innovation ecosystems. President Biden is also calling on Congress to bolster the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Manufacturing USA; create a new office to monitor industrial capacity and support the production of critical goods; and establish regional hubs to fuel technology development and create new businesses around the country.
Alongside his American Jobs Plan, President Biden is releasing a Made in America Tax Plan that will help level the playing field between small businesses and large, multinational corporations. President Biden's plan will reward investment at home and fundamentally shift how countries around the world tax corporations so that big corporations can't escape or eliminate the taxes they owe by offshoring jobs and profits from the United States and pay a lower tax rate than small businesses.
To view this fact sheet in your browser, click here.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AJP-Small-Business-Fact-Sheet.pdf
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/13/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-call-with-president-vladimir-putin-of-russia-4-13/
Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia
April 13, 2021 • Statements and Releases
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They discussed a number of regional and global issues, including the intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the extension of the New START Treaty. President Biden also made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference. President Biden emphasized the United States' unwavering commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The President voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine's borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions. President Biden reaffirmed his goal of building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia consistent with U.S. interests, and proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months to discuss the full range of issues facing the United States and Russia.
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Zack Greinke on his slider: "I don't want to ever throw it again after today." Monday offered finality for Zack Greinke. He is done with his slider, a problematic pitch since 2020 that he's tired of trying to tinker. Greinke threw nine sliders against a free-swinging Detroit lineup. The Tigers entered Monday with a 47.7 percent swing rate and, according to FanGraphs, chased pitches outside the strike zone 32.4 percent of the time. They swung five times at Greinke's nine sliders. Not one elicited a whiff. Greinke entered spring training set on solving his slider woes. Four seasons ago, in an All-Star season where he finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting, it was one of his most successful pitches. Greinke threw it 710 times in 2017 — comprising 22.5 percent of his pitch selection. Opponents swung and missed against it 44.4 percent of the time. Greinke's thrown it less frequently in each season since. He possesses four other pitches and can mix them masterfully, somewhat masking the slider's ineffectiveness. Greinke often throws the slider primarily against righthanded hitters. Through three starts this season, righties have an .857 OPS against him. To start this season, Greinke tried throwing the slider slower. It averaged 81.5 mph in his first three starts. He threw it at least 83.4 mph in each of the past four seasons. Greinke said he had no command of the pitch in spring training, but the movement was what he desired. "If I can control it, it'd be great," Greinke said in spring. "But I threw way too many nowhere close to where I wanted to throw them. It's not a good pitch if I can't command it." Monday prolonged the misery. Greinke gave up three hits against his slider, including two to seven-hole hitting first baseman Renato NĆŗƱez. NĆŗƱez redirected a first-pitch slider off the left field foul pole in the second inning — the second of three home runs Greinke allowed Monday. Mike Trout launched a two-run home run against Greinke's slider during his second start of the season, too. Yielding a home run to the sport's best player does not cause much concern. NĆŗƱez's success, coupled with the total attack of the Tigers' lineup, offers more worry. Greinke threw two terrific games to start the season against better competition — scattering two earned runs in 13 innings against the A's and Angels, respectively. He acknowledged a "bad thought process" entering Monday's start. Analytics suggested the Tigers were a chase-happy lineup. Greinke presumed he could induce wild swings with his expert mix of pitches. He could not, and now one pitch may disappear as a result. "I threw (the slider) where I wanted sometimes and they hit it good, still," Greinke said. "It's been a big negative to the season — spring training and season. I had one good game with it against Oakland. It's just been bad. Focus on the other pitches, the pitches that I throw good, from here on out."
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/astros/article/Zack-Greinke-giving-up-slider-16097908.php
Exhausted by 3 intensive days of consulting with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and their team from Florentine Films on their series America and the Holocaust. Still in production.... it will be at least a year. But it's going to be worth waiting for.
https://twitter.com/deborahlipstadt/status/1382081632094523394
The FDA plans to propose reductions (but not elimination) on arsenic, lead and mercury in baby food, with the agency taking action two months after a congressional report found products from several of the country's largest manufacturers "tainted" with toxic heavy metals.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arsenic-lead-baby-food-fda/
Behind the Gaetz scandal, there's a bigger issue: Most states have loopholes that let men exploit teenage girls, thanks to DEMOCRATS whom support legalizing sex trafficking and prostitution and pedophilia.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/13/behind-gaetz-scandal-theres-bigger-issue-most-states-have-loopholes-that-let-men-exploit-teen-girls/
Gotta root for the Nuggets to do a 3-1 comeback trolltrain to the LA Clappers again. Flextape that knee Murray and get back soon. It was eerie how quiet it was in the arena when he was hurt. Think we need to burn down Chase center and return to Oracle. This is probably the most upset I've been seeing a non-Warriors injury. Nuggets are such a fun up and coming team who seemed primed to make noise in the playoffs. Hoping for a speedy recovery. PLEASE send Steph to Denver to help Denver eliminate the Lakers in the first round.
Lone Sen. Amy Klobuchar pays respect to line of police officers standing silently in front of Capitol out of respect to fallen officer Billy Evans.
https://twitter.com/alexanderbolton/status/1382098787812962310/photo/1
SenWarren: "If we cancel $50,000 in student loan debt, 36 million borrowers would be completely relieved of their debt burdens… It's time to act now."
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1382059919097147392
Brazil Supreme Court sides with Indigenous people on land rights: Landmark decision is seen by analysts as a victory for Indigenous groups in Brazil, and a setback for President Bolsonaro
https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/landmark-decision-brazil-supreme-court-sides-with-indigenous-land-rights/
India's farming community averaging 28 suicides a day
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-farmers-suicide-1.5968086
Nearly a million going hungry in conflict-hit Mozambique, U.N. says
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mozambique-insurgency-food/nearly-a-million-going-hungry-in-conflict-hit-mozambique-u-n-says-idUSKBN2C01DF
Joe Biden Is Proceeding With Donald Trump's Biggest Arms Deal That Will Increase Destabilization And Mass Genocide Across Middle East
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-united-arab-emirates-sale-trump_n_60761e0fe4b01654bb7754bb?fkzg
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-arms-deal-uae_n_5fb6e9b3c5b618e45b468a37
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https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/supreme-court-commission/
Biden's Supreme Court Commission Is Designed to Fail
By Elie MystalTwitter
April 13, 2021
I can distill the Democrats' decades-long failure to control the Supreme Court into a single concept: Republicans use the nation's highest court to reward their hard-core voting base; Democrats use it to pacify their moderates. The staunch refusal of establishment Democrats to offer anything more than a token defense of their voters through the court is the reason Democrats are always fighting an asymmetrical war over the third branch of government—and always losing.
The latest Democratic Party failure is Joe Biden's Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. Last week, in fulfillment of his campaign promise, Biden announced the composition of an 180-day commission to study expanding the court. Biden's choices confirm the worst fears court reformers had about the president: He doesn't want a solution; he wants an excuse to do nothing.
Democrats have the factual, moral, and political authority to expand and rebalance the Supreme Court. Factually, the number of justices has been changed many times in the past and doing this is the most unambiguously constitutional avenue for court reform. Morally, Republicans lost the right to object some time between stealing a Supreme Court seat from Barack Obama during an election year and then rushing to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg (may her memory be a blessing) after an election had already started. And politically, these acts of Republican manipulation have finally alerted Democratic voters of the importance of translating electoral victories into control of the unelected branch of government. There simply hasn't been a moment more ripe for court reform since the end of the Civil War—which happens to be the last time we changed the number of justices on the court.
The problem is that Biden has never been a leader on the issue. In fact, this commission was born out of the president's refusal to take a stance on court reform during the campaign. He came up with the commission to kick the court-expansion can down the road, and now that we've reached that part of the road, he's lacing up for another punt.
Instead of creating a commission of high-minded reformers or bare-knuckle politicos, Biden has created the quintessential government committee that is purposefully designed to accomplish nothing. The "Commission on the Supreme Court" isn't even allowed to make policy recommendations on what to do about the Supreme Court. It is merely supposed to "study" the issue, which is like hiring a chef to draw pictures of food instead of cooking a meal. When Republicans take power, they don't commission a book report on what they should do with the courts. They show up to Washington prepared to reshape the judiciary from day one. Biden showed up prepared to read a law review article.
Make no mistake, Biden has picked people of the highest intellectual caliber to do the homework he could have completed during the transition. The "liberals" on the 36-member commission are impeccably credentialed, well-respected, and well-known within legal circles. The committee includes Sherrilyn Ifill, head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; Caroline Fredrickson, former president of the American Constitutional Society; and Lawrence Tribe, who is probably the best-known constitutional law professor in the country.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/09/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states/
The problem is not with these progressives on the commission. The problem is with all the progressives who are not. None of the people who have been out front on the issue of court reform are on the commission. Brian Fallon and Aaron Belkin, two people who founded organizations specifically around the idea of reforming the courts, are not part of this group. Samuel Moyn, the Yale Law professor last seen advocating using budget reconciliation to add seats to the lower courts, was left off. Daniel Epps and Ganesh Sitaraman, the law professors who wrote a court reform plan endorsed by Pete Buttigieg during the campaign, back when Mayor Pete was the only candidate willing to talk about this, were also not included on the commission. And, not for nothing, there are quite a few people outside the legal academy who have a track record of explaining court reform to non-legal audiences. Just saying.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-judges-trump/
https://www.vox.com/authors/ian-millhiser
https://slate.com/author/mark-joseph-stern
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/reform-supreme-court/
Perhaps even more troubling, instead of balancing some of the center-left people on the commission with more, or any, outspoken advocates of court reform, Biden went the other way and put Federalist Society scholars and judges in there to drag the whole thing to the right. I cannot recall the last time a Republican president bothered even to consult a Democratic voice, never mind a genuinely left voice, on how to proceed with a matter related to the Supreme Court. But Democrats continue to act like they need a hall pass from Republicans before they take any action.
Consider: Biden placed conservative scholar Adam White on the commission; White is one of those conservative think tank creations—half lawman/half Twitter troll—who seems eternally befuddled and offended by trans pronouns. (On Slate, Mark Joseph Stern makes the excellent point that there is no trans representation on Biden's commission, a shocking omission on a three-dozen-member body, given that trans rights are among the ones most directly under attack by the current conservative court.)
https://twitter.com/adamjwhitedc/status/819965101390331904
https://www.aei.org/podcast/adam-white-on-amy-coney-barrett-the-supreme-court-and-the-administrative-state/
Other conservatives include former judge Thomas Griffith, whom some might remember from the time he almost killed Obamacare, and originalist scholar Keith Whittington, whom I would say bad things about, but then he'd write a whole book about my "canceling" him.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15333446924860763904&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/keith-whittington
I don't recall any of these conservatives telling their brethren, "No, we cannot steal a Supreme Court seat, confirm an alleged attempted rapist, and then rush through a controversial ideologue after the election has already started," so I don't see why any of them get a seat at the table in Biden's study group. Their inclusion—again, at the expense of some of the individuals who have been actively fighting these people and their conservative takeover of the courts—is insulting.
It's also a giant waste of time. Donald Trump appointed 226 fire-breathing conservative judges to the federal bench in just four years; we are 20 months away from a midterm election during which Democrats might lose their tenuous grip on power; yet Biden's committee on studying whether we should maybe, possibly try to fix the court will spend 180 days dickering with Federalist Society people about what Thomas Jefferson would do.
All of this would be more upsetting if it weren't so pointless. The sad reality is that the battle for court reform was likely lost last November, when states such as Maine, Iowa, and North Carolina reelected Republican senators who had helped break the court instead of electing Democrats who may have been willing to fix it. It's hard to imagine Democratic senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who don't seem to give a damn if Republicans bring back full Jim Crow voting discrimination, doing anything to reform or rebalance the courts.
A high-profile commission could have been a way to educate the public about court reform and put political pressure on moderate senators who would rather leave Black voters, women, and the LGBTQ community to fend for themselves against a reactionary conservative judiciary. A task force of advocates, each with independent constituencies and networks they could access to spread the gospel of court reform, might have been a useful thing. But it's clear from this commission that Biden is not willing to spend a whole lot of political capital trying actually to secure the rights of the people who voted for him.
At this rate, Democrats will probably still be "studying" how to fix the Supreme Court in 2025, when a Republican president joins forces with Mitch McConnell to appoint and confirm a test tube filled with Antonin Scalia DNA to replace Stephen Breyer. Maybe by then Democrats will figure out that fighting for the Supreme Court is the only way to win it.
Elie MystalTwitterElie Mystal is The Nation's justice correspondent—covering the courts, the criminal justice system, and politics—and the force behind the magazine's monthly column "Objection!" He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He can be followed @ElieNYC.
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Carmelo Anthony tonight: 25 points on 10-15 FG (3-5 3P)
Bogdan Bogdanovic's past 9 games: 22/4/4 on 50% FG, 51% 3PT
The 2019 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors have 9 starters on 5 teams and are averaging a combined 301.1 minutes a game in 2021
Attorney Tony Buzbee says in a statement that all 22 victims will publicly reveal their identity. "The Watson team thinks that if these courageous women are forced to identify themselves, they would slink away and not pursue this matter. Watson & his counsel badly miscalculated."
https://twitter.com/mysportsupdate/status/1382134490311573508
Matt Gaetz's iPhone seized by the FBI in sex trafficking probe
https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-iphone-seized-fbi-sex-trafficking-probe-2021-4
China fighter jets will fly over Taiwan to declare sovereignty
https://www.newsweek.com/china-fighter-jets-will-fly-over-taiwan-declare-sovereignty-state-media-says-1583109
Thousands of machines in Iran used to create nuclear weapons were destroyed or damaged in Israeli attack
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56734657
The kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls from Chibok seven years ago led to the launching of a multi-million dollar plan, to bolster security at schools but it failed to stop abductions and protect children and teenagers (thousands more kidnapped, raped, tortured, dozens killed).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56732909
Japan's Plan for Fukushima Wastewater Meets a Wall of Mistrust in Asia | The government in Tokyo says criticism of its intention to release treated water into the ocean is unscientific. South Korea has called the proposal "utterly intolerable."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-wastewater.html
Leftists try to burn down police union.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1382199931243356161
Daunte Wright had arrest warrant on him for attempted robbery and chokeholding a woman and holding her at gunpoint. Karma. He's not a victim. Almost all the Black Lives Matters cases were worthless violent criminals whom brutalized other Black people
https://news.yahoo.com/daunte-wright-accused-choking-robbing-004851464.html
Federal Court Ends Trump Effort to Open 128 Million Acres of Atlantic, Arctic Oceans to Drilling
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/14/federal-court-ends-trump-effort-open-128-million-acres-atlantic-arctic-oceans
The Pacers have had a winning record at home for 31 consecutive seasons. They can only lose 1 more home game this season to keep that streak going.
Mark Cuban hates the NBA play-in because now you have to try to win all the time
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/262246/Mark-Cuban-Play-In-Tournament-An-Enormous-Mistake
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/opinion/opioids-us.html
In My Hometown, Opioids Are Still Stealing Lives
A decade ago, it was already a crisis. But it feels as if it's getting worse.
By Shawn McCreesh
April 14, 2021
HATBORO, Pa. — I'd almost lost my capacity to be shocked by drug overdose. At 28, I'm of Generation Opioid. During high school, prescription pills were as easy to abuse as a learner's permit. Our reunions take place coffin-side and often.
But shock is what I felt when I got the call, three days before Thanksgiving, that David was dead. He was found slumped against a tree in the neighborhood where we grew up, where both of our mothers live still. Technically, David was my earliest friend. We called each other cousins because our mothers are like sisters — I refer to his as my Aunt Tammy. Like many people in this suburb just north of Philadelphia, he became saddled with addiction when we were teenagers, then spent his short adulthood fighting it.
Clean for almost two years, with a good job as a lead install technician at an HVAC company, married and with two little sons, he seemed to be winning the fight. A few months before his death, I had come home to write about what it was like to grow up in a society awash in prescription drugs. I thought I had enough distance to look back and freeze-frame the blur of our high school years, but knew I couldn't do it justice without talking to David. He had more clarity about this catastrophe than anyone. The article was published, and then he died. Now all I have left of him, apart from some ashes, are the pages of notes in which he talked to me so recently about the very thing that would soon kill him.
https://libertiesjournal.com/issues/issue-1-autumn-2020/
"Everybody was dabbling in high school," he reminded me in that conversation. "It was fun, readily available. It was expensive but everybody would put their money together and it became a social thing. But by the end it was an isolated addiction. You cross the line, and you never know when or where it is. It's cunning and it's baffling but once you're over that line, it's a battle between you and you. You have to defeat yourself if you want to get out of it and not die. It's almost good versus evil in your brain."
In a period of sobriety, David got married; four years ago, his first son was born. More than anything else, it was fatherhood that compelled him to get and stay sober. But there were slip-ups. "It's ongoing and at any second I can go back," he said.
After David's body was discovered, Aunt Tammy's house became packed with mourners. Five of the mothers standing around the tiny kitchen that night had lost a child this way. Nobody was much concerned about Covid distancing. That crisis feels intangible, compared with the durable and familiar opioid crisis.
"I can't tell you how many funerals I've been to since Carly died," said one of the mothers, Renee Whyte. "It's hideous."
Carly, her daughter, went to school with me and David. She was smart and artistic, a total cool girl. She died in 2013. "Losing your child, you could have a thousand people around you and feel so alone," Ms. Whyte said. "It's not because people don't care. It's because only you know what your child meant to you."
One of the hardest parts, she said, is when someone asks: How many kids do you have?
"And you don't know how to answer."
*
By the time I graduated from high school, 10 years ago, opiates were everywhere. Percocet and Vicodin became a regular presence at parties. Mixed with booze and some weed, pills were a new way to kick a Saturday night up a notch. Teenagers eager to get their paws on something stronger had no trouble finding OxyContin. Those pills were designed to mete out pain relief over 12 hours, but they could be crushed and snorted for immediate zombification. Addiction came quickly after. In 2010, when I was in 11th grade, Purdue Pharma tweaked OxyContin to make it uncrushable. But rather than deter my friends, this pushed classmates already keen for the high straight to heroin — why bother with a pesky pill that takes its time when a "stamp bag" of the real stuff could be had for cheap? The overdoses ramped up.
David named his first son DJ, after his best friend, DJ McGettigan, another classmate of ours who overdosed. "It's coming up on five years since DJ passed," said his mother, Laurie McGettigan. "So my grief is at a different point than Tammy's. In the addiction world, I always talk to her about how you can't cure this, you can't control this, and you didn't cause this. I just find ways to honor who I knew DJ really was, not who the world saw. That's probably the saddest part for me."
Ms. McGettigan now volunteers with the nonprofit Shatterproof, working to reverse the stigma of addiction. "The stigma still exists in tons of little ways," she said. "Even when someone dies, people want to talk about how, and then when they find out they don't want to talk about it further. There's a shame attached."
https://www.shatterproof.org/
In some ways, though, the stigma has been blown apart here because the whispering has turned into one perpetual scream. As David himself said to me: "It's in our face every day, whether you go to 7-Eleven or Walmart, driving down the road you see people dipping out" — dozing off. "You see it no matter where you're at."
Two weeks before David died, another old friend of mine felt himself start to spiral. He tried to get help from the local drug clinic but was turned away because all the beds were full. He died.
Addiction woes threaten to swallow families whole. Parents learn to speak the language of the netherworld in which their children walk. Stamp bags. Speedballs. Suboxone. Vivitrol. Narcan. Fentanyl. Perc 30s. Blues, bars, 40s and 80s — the lexicon of the unlucky.
Some are left to grapple with the living, breathing wreckage of their worst moment: how to live in the same town with the neighborhood kid you've known since he was a toddler but who sold the lethal dose to your child. Or the one who helped him shoot up and then left him for dead. There are no answers. "You can be the best person in the world and this stuff will make you do something so screwed up," David had said to me.
"Nobody wants their child's life defined in one moment of a bad decision," Ms. Whyte said. "My daughter was more than one night, more than an overdose. She was defined by 23 years of greatness to my family."
*
While we planned David's funeral, Christmas lights began to blink awake throughout the neighborhood, and new reporting in The Times that week cast light on the nature of the crisis that killed him. McKinsey & Company, the prestigious consulting firm that helped Purdue Pharma "turbocharge" opiate sales, had proposed awarding Purdue's distributors with a rebate for every OxyContin overdose, as a way to maintain sales. Earlier reports revealed that McKinsey had strategized how "to counter the emotional messages from mothers with teenagers that overdosed."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/mckinsey-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html
The heinous documents confirmed that so much about this crisis was manufactured. There is no amount of money the odious Sackler family can throw around to counter the emotion here. Especially because these days, things are worse than ever, since heroin has been largely edged out by the far more lethal fentanyl. It's difficult to even find a block in North Philadelphia that sells just heroin anymore; even cocaine is being cut with fentanyl.
The drug has closed the door to many hoping for a path back to their lives. Of fentanyl, David presciently told me, before the drug turned up on his own autopsy report, "It's much harder to get off of, because it's so much stronger, and much easier to overdose on, too."
The pastor who presided over David's funeral was himself recovering from addiction. He spoke during the service of his own rock bottom: Breaking open his children's piggy banks, scrounging for quarters and driving to "the Badlands" — Philly-speak for the neighborhood of Kensington and its open-air drug markets — for 10 bucks worth of dope. In pews around me, friends and family nodded knowingly. Some of these mothers have spent untold hours scouring those blocks, hoping their child isn't one of the bodies face down in the street. Sometimes they do find their kid, but can't convince him or her to get in the car. All they can really do is give them a warm coat, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a hug.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/fentanyl
What doesn't shock me is that high school students are still falling down this well the same way we did 10 years ago. The nature of a teenager — that heady and sometimes lethal mix of feeling invincible, curious, bored and reckless — is immutable. As long as drugs are everywhere, kids will do them.
When we got home from the funeral, my younger sister flipped her phone back on, looked down at it and began to bawl. An avalanche of text messages told how her friend had overdosed on OxyContin that same day. He was 19. She turned back around and got in the car, headed to wherever mourners were gathering this time.
Three weeks later, it happened again.
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The Nets say Kevin Durant, James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin are all out for tonight's game against the Sixers.
https://twitter.com/TimBontemps/status/1382379893925818384
After playing 38 minutes in last night's win against Indiana, Clippers star Paul George is *out* tonight vs. Detroit, for rest. Kawhi Leonard (sore right foot) also remains out.
https://twitter.com/AndrewGreif/status/1382380803649269767
Yesterday, umpire Joe West was responsible for the three largest misses of the day. 3.71 inches outside to James McCann. 3.95 inches outside to Michael Conforto. 5.51 inches outside to Bryce Harper.
https://twitter.com/UmpireAuditor/status/1382320232098779136
Yadier Molina receives a standing ovation after becoming the first catcher to catch 2,000 games with one team
https://streamable.com/1asnxr
Police officer Kim Potter arrested on a joke charge of non-existent second degree manslaughter charge in murder of Daunte Wright
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/daunte-wright-shooting-former-police-officer-kim-potter-will-be-charged-with-manslaughter.html
The #Browns are signing free agent pass-rusher Jadeveon Clowney to a 1-year deal after he passed his physical, sources say, landing a player who has been a target of Cleveland's for years. Fresh off a lost season in 2020, Clowney has high hopes with his new team.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1382369973142761473
Senator Menendez has pushed the State Department privately on the refugee cap delay and plans to raise it at Nuland confirmation hearing. "I cannot explain why there has been a delay in the actual order."
https://washingtonpost.com/politics/bidens-delay-on-refugees-baffles-and-frustrates-allies/2021/04/14/85b768a6-9c66-11eb-9d05-ae06f4529ece_story.html
Jayson Tatum revealed he now has to take an inhaler to open up his lungs since he was sick with covid19, something he has never had to do before
http://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1382206729631404036
Gov. Lujan Grisham has paid at least $62,500 in a settlement after a spokesman accused her of pouring a bottle of water on his crotch and then grabbing his crotch through his clothes as she laughed.
she denied the claims
https://www.abqjournal.com/2379452/gov-s-campaign-settles-with-ex-spokesman.html
From Jan 15th: The DHS Has Signed Unusual Agreements With States That Could Hamper Biden's Future Immigration Policies
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/dhs-states-agreements-biden
No charges for Capitol Police officer who killed pro-Trump terrorist carrying weapons and riot gear and a confederate flag who smashed through windows and doors to find people to murder
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/no-charges-capitol-police-officer-who-shot-jan-6-rioter-n1264082
Mississippi Governor Declares April as Confederate "Heritage" Month to "honour" soldiers who died defending slavery
https://www.wapt.com/article/mississippi-governor-declares-april-as-confederate-heritage-month/36122178
When I came to office, I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That's what we inherited — that commitment. It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something. So, in keeping with that agreement and with our national interests, the United States will begin our final withdrawal — begin it on May 1 of this year.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/14/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-way-forward-in-afghanistan/
Noise pollution creates an environment where trees cannot flourish
https://scitechdaily.com/noise-can-be-detrimental-to-plant-life-affects-persist-even-years-after-the-noise-has-been-removed/
Embiid makes a one-handed circus shot while falling to the floor
https://streamable.com/ag3tq1
Embiid is too strong for Jeff Green, almost pushes him completely out of the frame
https://streamable.com/zvxyca
Kyrie uses the impressive fake and handle to beat Simmons and Embiid for the floater
https://streamable.com/2qk8ze
Kyrie makes the tough left-handed floater despite the smothering defense from Thybulle
https://streamable.com/xcmllp
Kris Middleton Tonight: 27/8/7 on 9/15 shooting, 3/7 from three and 6/6 from the line
Steph Curry: 42 pts/8 asts/ 6 reb on 70/68.8/100 splits and a true shooting percentage of 98.5%
Steve Kerr had to physically restrain Curry from going back in to the game.
https://streamable.com/fpjg66
Steph casually dribbles through the entire Thunder defense and chucks the 3
https://streamable.com/p0qrlo
Sixers fans chant 'KD sucks'.
https://streamable.com/gtqbep
Luka throws it in to win the game
https://streamable.com/yfg0kr
Grayson Allen, a 91% free throw shooter, misses the two potential game-sealing free throws with 2.2 seconds left, thereby keeping the Mavericks hopes alive
https://streamable.com/kn08x9
Kevin Durant has more tweets on Twitter than career points in the NBA
Curry jukes one defender, fakes out another and lays it in.
https://streamable.com/0vnzb4
After tonight, Steph Curry is now averaging 30.6 points on 66.1% TS. This is #2 in PPG but #1 in efficiency for high volume scorers (min 15+ FGA, 30+ games).
Steph Curry is the first player in NBA history to have multiple streaks of 10-three games in his career.
The Chicago Bulls lost to the tanking Orlando Magic and are now 3-8 since trading for All Star Nikola Vucevic
Draymond Green tonight: 12/10/16/3/2 on 5-10 shooting and a team high +33
Steph Curry made 29 threes in his last three games, breaking his own NBA record for the most ever in a 3-game span.
Russel Westbrook against the Kings: 25/15/11 and 4 steals and a +11 on 50% shooting
OG Anunoby comes out of nowhere for the putback dunk over DeRozan
https://streamable.com/2f4s53
Steph Curry is on pace to have a 30+PPG, >.600 TS% season for just the 17th time in NBA history.
Kyrie Irving Tonight: 37/3/9 on 13/22 from the field, 1/3 from beyond the arc & 10/10 from the line
Zion Williamson finishes a fastbreak bucket against the entire Knicks team.
https://streamable.com/vbi9wo
Lu Dort is averaging 34.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.5 SPG on 59.5% shooting (66.7% from three) against the Utah Jazz this season.
With tonight's win, led by Randle's 32/8/5, the Knicks move to 29-27 and accomplish a 4 game win streak for the first time this season
Kelly Olynyk with another good game. He ends the night with 25/10/2/3
Clear the runway for Air Morant
https://streamable.com/7q879e
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/fact-sheet-imposing-costs-for-harmful-foreign-activities-by-the-russian-government/
FACT SHEET: Imposing Costs for Harmful Foreign Activities by the Russian Government
April 15, 2021 • Statements and Releases
The Biden administration has been clear that the United States desires a relationship with Russia that is stable and predictable. We do not think that we need to continue on a negative trajectory. However, we have also been clear—publicly and privately—that we will defend our national interests and impose costs for Russian Government actions that seek to harm us.
Today the Biden administration is taking actions to impose costs on Russia for actions by its government and intelligence services against U.S. sovereignty and interests.
Executive Order Targeting the Harmful Foreign Activities of the Russian Government
Today, President Biden signed a new sanctions executive order that provides strengthened authorities to demonstrate the Administration's resolve in responding to and deterring the full scope of Russia's harmful foreign activities. This E.O. sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilizing international actions. This includes, in particular, efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; engage in and facilitate malicious cyber activities against the United States and its allies and partners; foster and use transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; pursue extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; undermine security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and violate well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) carried out the following actions pursuant to the new E.O.:
- Treasury issued a directive that prohibits U.S. financial institutions from participation in the primary market for ruble or non-ruble denominated bonds issued after June 14, 2021 by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, or the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation; and lending ruble or non-ruble denominated funds to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, or the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. This directive provides authority for the U.S. government to expand sovereign debt sanctions on Russia as appropriate.
- Treasury designated six Russian technology companies that provide support to the Russian Intelligence Services' cyber program, ranging from providing expertise to developing tools and infrastructure to facilitating malicious cyber activities. These companies are being designated for operating in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy. We will continue to hold Russia accountable for its malicious cyber activities, such as the SolarWinds incident, by using all available policy and authorities.
Imposing Additional Sanctions
Treasury sanctioned 32 entities and individuals carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference. This action seeks to disrupt the coordinated efforts of Russian officials, proxies, and intelligence agencies to delegitimize our electoral process. The U.S. government will continue to pursue those who engage in such activity.
Treasury, in partnership with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, sanctioned eight individuals and entities associated with Russia's ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea. The Transatlantic community stands united in supporting Ukraine against unilateral Russian provocations along the Line of Contact in eastern Ukraine, in occupied Crimea, and along Ukraine's borders, as well as agreeing on the need for Russia to immediately cease its military buildup and inflammatory rhetoric.
Reported Afghanistan Bounties
The Administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels. The safety and well-being of U.S. military personnel, and that of our allies and partners, is an absolute priority of the United States.
Expelling Diplomatic Personnel
The United States is expelling ten personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington, DC. The personnel include representatives of Russian intelligence services.
Further Responses to the SolarWinds Malicious Cyber Activity
Today the United States is formally naming the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), also known as APT 29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes, as the perpetrator of the broad-scope cyber espionage campaign that exploited the SolarWinds Orion platform and other information technology infrastructures. The U.S. Intelligence Community has high confidence in its assessment of attribution to the SVR.
The SVR's compromise of the SolarWinds software supply chain gave it the ability to spy on or potentially disrupt more than 16,000 computer systems worldwide. The scope of this compromise is a national security and public safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue burden on the mostly private sector victims who must bear the unusually high cost of mitigating this incident.
Today, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are jointly issuing a cybersecurity advisory, "Russian SVR Targets U.S. and Allied Networks," that provides specific details on software vulnerabilities that the SVR uses to gain access to victim devices and networks. The advisory also provides specific steps that network defenders can take to identify and defend against the SVR's malicious cyber activity.
Additionally, the SVR's compromise of SolarWinds and other companies highlights the risks posed by Russia's efforts to target companies worldwide through supply chain exploitation. Those efforts should serve as a warning about the risks of using information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supplied by companies that operate or store user data in Russia or rely on software development or remote technical support by personnel in Russia. The U.S. government is evaluating whether to take action under Executive Order 13873 to better protect our ICTS supply chain from further exploitation by Russia.
Supporting a Global Cybersecurity Approach
The United States continues to strongly affirm the importance of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet. Russia's actions run counter to that goal, which is shared by many of our allies and partners. To strengthen our collective approach to bolstering cybersecurity, we are announcing two additional steps:
- First, the United States is bolstering its efforts to promote a framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace and to cooperate with allies and partners to counter malign cyber activities. We are providing a first-of-its kind course for policymakers worldwide on the policy and technical aspects of publicly attributing cyber incidents, which will be inaugurated this year at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany. We are also bolstering our efforts through the Marshall Center to provide training to foreign ministry lawyers and policymakers on the applicability of international law to state behavior in cyberspace and the non-binding peacetime norms that were negotiated in the United Nations and endorsed by the UN General Assembly.
- Second, we are reinforcing our commitment to collective security in cyberspace. The Department of Defense is taking steps to incorporate additional allies, including the UK, France, Denmark, and Estonia, into the planning for CYBER FLAG 21-1, which is an exercise designed to improve our defensive capabilities and resiliency in cyberspace. CYBER FLAG 21-1 will build a community of defensive cyber operators and improve overall capability of the United States and allies to identify, synchronize, and respond in unison against simulated malicious cyberspace activities targeting our critical infrastructure and key resources.
The United States is committed to the security of our allies and partners; these efforts are intended to reinforce again our commitment to that bedrock principle.
###
__________________________________
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/15/executive-order-on-blocking-property-with-respect-to-specified-harmful-foreign-activities-of-the-government-of-the-russian-federation/
Executive Order on Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation
April 15, 2021 • Presidential Actions
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, find that specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation — in particular, efforts to undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections and democratic institutions in the United States and its allies and partners; to engage in and facilitate malicious cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies and partners; to foster and use transnational corruption to influence foreign governments; to pursue extraterritorial activities targeting dissidents or journalists; to undermine security in countries and regions important to United States national security; and to violate well-established principles of international law, including respect for the territorial integrity of states — constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
Accordingly, I hereby order:
Section 1. All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:
(a) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, and, with respect to subsection (a)(ii) of this section, in consultation with the Attorney General, or by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, and, with respect to subsection (a)(ii) of this section, in consultation with the Attorney General:
(i) to operate or have operated in the technology sector or the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy, or any other sector of the Russian Federation economy as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State;
(ii) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any of the following for or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation:
(A) malicious cyber-enabled activities;
(B) interference in a United States or other foreign government election;
(C) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the United States or abroad;
(D) transnational corruption;
(E) assassination, murder, or other unlawful killing of, or infliction of other bodily harm against, a United States person or a citizen or national of a United States ally or partner;
(F) activities that undermine the peace, security, political stability, or territorial integrity of the United States, its allies, or its partners; or
(G) deceptive or structured transactions or dealings to circumvent any United States sanctions, including through the use of digital currencies or assets or the use of physical assets;
(iii) to be or have been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of:
(A) the Government of the Russian Federation;
(B) an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in any activity described in subsection (a)(ii) of this section; or
(C) an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order;
(iv) to be a political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government of the Russian Federation;
(v) to be a spouse or adult child of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to subsection (a)(ii) or (iii) of this section;
(vi) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of:
(A) any activity described in subsection (a)(ii) of this section; or
(B) any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
(vii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.
(b) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, a government whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to chapter V of title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations or another Executive Order, and to be:
(i) a citizen or national of the Russian Federation;
(ii) an entity organized under the laws of the Russian Federation or any jurisdiction within the Russian Federation (including foreign branches); or
(iii) a person ordinarily resident in the Russian Federation.
(c) any person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in or attempted to engage in, cutting or disrupting gas or energy supplies to Europe, the Caucasus, or Asia, and to be:
(i) an individual who is a citizen or national of the Russian Federation; or
(ii) an entity organized under the laws of the Russian Federation or any jurisdiction within the Russian Federation (including foreign branches).
(d) The prohibitions in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order.
Sec. 2. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order include:
(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; and
(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
Sec. 3. (a) The unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of noncitizens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in section 1 of this order would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and the entry of such persons into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended, except when the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, determines that the person's entry would not be contrary to the interests of the United States, including when the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, so determines, based on a recommendation of the Attorney General, that the person's entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives.
(b) The Secretary of State shall implement this authority as it applies to visas pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish.
(c) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall implement this order as it applies to the entry of noncitizens pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may establish.
(d) Such persons shall be treated by this section in the same manner as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).
Sec. 4. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 5. I hereby determine that the making of donations of the types of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order would seriously impair my ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.
Sec. 6. For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term "entity" means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;
(b) the term "Government of the Russian Federation" means the Government of the Russian Federation, any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and any person owned, controlled, or directed by, or acting for or on behalf of, the Government of the Russian Federation;
(c) the term "noncitizen" means any person who is not a citizen or noncitizen national of the United States;
(d) the term "person" means an individual or entity; and
(e) the term "United States person" means any United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.
Sec. 7. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in this order, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1 of this order.
Sec. 8. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions within the Department of the Treasury. All departments and agencies of the United States shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order.
Sec. 9. Nothing in this order shall prohibit transactions for the conduct of the official business of the Federal Government or the United Nations (including its specialized agencies, programs, funds, and related organizations) by employees, grantees, and contractors thereof.
Sec. 10. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to submit recurring and final reports to the Congress on the national emergency declared in this order, consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).
Sec. 11. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 15, 2021.
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Carlos RodĆ³n is the first MLB pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter within 2 years after having Tommy John surgery.
https://twitter.com/StatsBySTATS/status/1382553958779064322
Nets' LaMarcus Aldridge announces he is retiring from the NBA. 15 Years, 7 All-Star Appearances, 5 All-NBA Teams. 49 points away from 20k. Irregular heartbeat.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1382707034026573826
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31262807/brooklyn-nets-forward-lamarcus-aldridge-abruptly-retires-due-health-scare
Aldridge says he played his last NBA game on April 10 while dealing with an irregular heartbeat: "Though I'm better now, what I felt with my heart that night was still one of the scariest things I've experienced."
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1382707646613045257
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1382708080262193155/photo/1
Never forget that Dame's 0.9 series winner was made possible because LaMarcus cooked the Rockets for an average of 37 points and 12 rebounds in the four wins. He dropped 40+ b2b to go 2-0 in Houston and take home court advantage. Insane series. He did not miss at all from mid-range those 2 games. He was legendary that series. He's consistently had one of the best mid-range skillsets in the league for years, LMA is a beast.
Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey. Created to study how the cells communicate to better our ability to implant and grow human organs in animals for transplanting. Not to bring the chimera to term or create a race of hyper strong, intelligent, and ultra vicious human/monkey hybrids enslaved with microchips in order to wage war on humanity with an invincible army of terror and destruction.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/15/987164563/scientists-create-early-embryos-that-are-part-human-part-monkey
Army concludes D.C. Guard misused helicopters in low-flying confrontation with George Floyd protesters,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/04/15/dc-guard-helicopter-george-floyd-protest/?
US re-expels Russian diplomats, imposes new round of sanctions (apnews.com)
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-us-news-elections-campaigns-vladimir-putin-6a8a54c7932ee8cbe51b0ce505121995
U.S. Senate panel to consider Biden Postal Board nominees April 22
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2C2087
Biden administration confirms Russian Intelligence Services agent Konstantin Kilimnik shared 2016 Trump polling data as part of election interference efforts. Kilimnik received those internal materials from then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, according to special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The report said Gates repeatedly transferred internal data to Kilimnik throughout 2016, at Manafort's direction.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/15/politics/biden-russia-election-interference/index.html
Arts Venue Closures Likely After Months-Long Delay in $16.5 Billion Federal Grant Program
https://prospect.org/first100/arts-venue-closures-likely-months-long-delay-svog-sba/
Oklahoma Senate Passes Bill Allowing Drivers To Murder Pedestrians
https://www.theroot.com/oklahoma-senate-passes-bill-allowing-drivers-to-hit-pro-1846690194
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-american-rescue-plan-funding-to-rescue-the-child-care-industry-so-the-economy-can-recover/
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces American Rescue Plan Funding to Rescue the Child Care Industry so the Economy Can Recover
April 15, 2021 • Statements and Releases
Today, the Biden Administration is announcing the release of $39 billion of American Rescue Plan funds to states, territories, and tribes to address the child care crisis caused by COVID-19. These funds will help early childhood educators and family child care providers keep their doors open. These providers have been on the frontlines caring for the children of essential workers and support parents, especially mothers, who want to get back to work. These funds are a critical step to pave the way for a strong economic recovery and a more equitable future.
Over the past 40 years, as more women entered the labor force and brought home larger paychecks, they have driven 91 percent of the income gains experienced by middle-class families. But, since the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency, roughly 2 million women have left the labor force, disproportionately due to caregiving needs and undoing decades of progress improving women's labor force participation rate. Even as many fathers have returned to work, mothers, especially those without a four-year college degree, have not done so at similar rates. As a result, the gender earnings gap is predicted to increase by 5 percentage points in this recession, hurting our families and economy. As women work to regain employment, families with young children, and especially families of color where mothers are more likely to be sole or primary breadwinners, may face financial burdens for years to come. Parents need access to safe, quality child care to get back to work.
https://www.brookings.edu/essay/womens-work-boosts-middle-class-incomes-but-creates-a-family-time-squeeze-that-needs-to-be-eased/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11000002
https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2021/pandemic-pushes-mothers-of-young-children-out-of-the-labor-force#_ftn1
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27660/w27660.pdf
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2021/03/29/497658/breadwinning-mothers-critical-familys-economic-security/
Source: Pandemic pushes mothers of young children out of the labor force | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (minneapolisfed.org)
https://mcusercontent.com/c97630621baff8c44fe607661/images/148f5e72-b99e-45d7-beb6-0ec89dbf367f.png
https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2021/pandemic-pushes-mothers-of-young-children-out-of-the-labor-force#_ftn1
At the same time, early childhood and child care providers – nearly all small businesses, overwhelmingly owned by women and disproportionately owned by people of color – have been hit hard by the pandemic and are struggling to continue to provide essential services. Providers have faced decreasing revenues due to lower enrollment while also shouldering higher expenses – 47 percent higher by one estimate – for personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitation, additional staff, and other needs to operate safely. They were already operating on extremely thin margins before the pandemic. According to one survey, as of December, about one in four child care providers open at the start of the pandemic were closed, hindering access to care, especially for families of color. These closures exacerbated access challenges that existed before the pandemic when half of all Americans lived in a child care desert. Child care providers who have stayed open have gone to enormous lengths to do so: two in five providers report taking on debt for their programs using personal credit cards to pay for increased costs and three in five work in programs that have reduced expenses through layoffs, furloughs, or pay cuts. One in six child care jobs, generally held by women of color, still haven't come back – much more than the one in twenty jobs that have been lost throughout the economy.
https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=624410&tid=CBP2018.CB1800CBP&hidePreview=true
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2020/09/03/489900/true-cost-providing-safe-child-care-coronavirus-pandemic/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/30/many-child-care-centers-nationwide-still-remain-closed.html
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/news/2020/06/29/486977/child-care-disruptions-hurt-parents-color/
https://www.childcaredeserts.org/
https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/our-work/public-policy-advocacy/naeyc_policy_crisis_coronavirus_december_survey_data.pdf
https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/our-work/public-policy-advocacy/naeyc_policy_crisis_coronavirus_december_survey_data.pdf
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES6562440001
That is why President Biden prioritized addressing the child care crisis caused by COVID-19 as part of the American Rescue Plan. Today's $39 billion funding release will provide a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of childcare providers and early childhood educators, provide a safe and healthy learning environment for more than 5 million children, and help parents, especially mothers, get back to work. States, tribes, and territories can use these funds to:
- Help hundreds of thousands child care centers and family child care providers, which are mostly very small businesses, stay open or reopen including by making rent or mortgage payments, helping with utility or insurance bills, maintaining or improving facilities, and paying off debt incurred during the pandemic.
- Support providers with funds to enable safe and healthy learning environments for more than 5 million of children, including by purchasing masks, implementing physical distancing, improving ventilation, and cleaning consistently, so both centers and family providers can comply with CDC's Guidance for Operating Child Care Programs during COVID-19. This funding complements the President's efforts to prioritize early childhood educators for vaccination – child care workers remain eligible for vaccinations and nearly 80 percent of the educators who work with children from birth to 12th grade received at least their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine during the month of March. Providers can also use these funds to support the mental health of both children and early educators so that they can meet any social and emotional needs exacerbated by the pandemic as centers reopen and parents go back to work.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/specific-groups/teachers-childcare.html
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0406-teachers-staff-vaccine.html
- Keep child care workers, disproportionately women of color and immigrants, on the payroll and rehire those who have been laid off. Child care workers are essential to meeting the child care needs of families and providing quality are to children, but providers have been forced to lay off, furlough, or reduce pay of workers to survive – exacerbating issues faced by a workforce that has long faced low pay and high turnover. Providers can use these funds to keep workers on payroll, rehire laid off workers and recruit new workers, and increase the pay and benefits of child care workers and family child care providers.
- Provide families with the greatest need access to affordable care. States, tribes, and territories can provide direct subsidies to more than 800,000 hard-pressed families earning below 85% state median income and families performing essential work, to help cover the cost of care.
- Start to lay the foundation for a stronger child care system, so families can access the high-quality care they need. As states, tribes, and territories address the immediate crisis, they can also make a down payment on President Biden's commitment to a stronger, more equitable early childhood education system. For example, states, tribes, and territories can set reimbursement rates at a level that will help children receive high-quality care and can increase access to care, including on the evenings and weekends when many essential workers need care.
The American Rescue Plan also included an historic increase in support for child care through the tax code, helping millions of working families afford needed care. Last year, a family claiming a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) got less than $700 on average towards the cost of care, and many low-income working families often got nothing. Thanks to the historic expansion of the CDCTC in the American Recovery Plan, a median income family with two kids under age 13 will receive up to $8,000 towards their child care expenses when they file taxes for 2021, compared with a maximum of $1,200 previously.
- In 2020, the CDCTC provides a tax credit typically capped at $600 for one child, for families with at least $3,000 in eligible expenses, and capped at $1,200 for two children or more for families with at least $6,000 in child care expenses.
- Under the American Rescue Plan's expansion of the CDCTC, all families with incomes below $125,000 will save up to half the cost of their eligible child care expenses, getting back up to $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children, when they file taxes for 2021. And, families making between $125,000 and $438,000 can receive a partial credit.
And for the first time, the CDCTC will be fully refundable, making the credit fairer by allowing low-income working families to receive the full value of the credit towards their eligible child care expenses regardless of how much they owe on their 2021 taxes.
In the coming weeks, the administration will release:
- Guidance to states, tribes, and territories, while also providing technical assistance like webinars and peer-to-peer learning opportunities, to support states, tribes, and territories as they make historic investments in saving and rebuilding their child care systems, provide high-quality care to children, and get families back to work.
- Frequently Asked Questions on the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to equip parents with the information they need to claim the credit next year.
Help from the American Rescue Plan is coming to states, territories, and tribes. The $39 billion will be provided through two funds: (1) $24 billion in child care stabilization funding for child care providers to reopen or stay open, provide safe and healthy learning environments, keep workers on payroll, and provide mental health supports for educators and children, and (2) $15 billion in more flexible funding for states to make child care more affordable for more families, increase access to high-quality care for families receiving subsidies, increase compensation for early childhood workers, and meet other care needs in their states. A breakdown by state, tribe and territory is below. (see link)
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INJURY UPDATE LaMelo Ball (R Wrist Fracture) out Darling (R Ankle Sprain) out Graham (L Quad Contusion) out Hayward (R Foot Sprain) out Monk (R Ankle Sprain) out Washington (R Ankle Sprain) doubtful Wanamaker (R Ankle Sprain) questionable
https://twitter.com/hornets/status/1382774475427520514
LaMarcus Aldridge cooks the Rockets for 46 points and 18 rebounds in Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Playoffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtsf8S154Cw
Finally, let me offer an update on reports of bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The United States intelligence community assesses, with low to moderate confidence, that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier, including through financial incentives and compensation. U.S. intelligence community agencies have low to moderate confidence in this judgment, in part because it relies on detainee reporting and due to the challenging operating environment in Afghanistan. Our conclusion is based on information and evidence of connections between criminal agents in Afghanistan and elements of the Russian government. This information puts a burden on the Russian government to explain its actions and take steps to address this disturbing pattern of behavior.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/15/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-russia/
Pfizer CEO says third Covid19 vaccine dose likely needed within 12 months
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/pfizer-ceo-says-third-covid-vaccine-dose-likely-needed-within-12-months.html
Yemeni model abducted from the street by Islamic terrorist Houthi whom Democrats support after doing photoshoot without hijab
https://news.yahoo.com/yemeni-model-abducted-street-houthi-082756008.html
Denmark charges three members of an Iranian Arab opposition group for financing and supporting terrorist activity in Iran in collaboration with Saudi Arabian intelligence services. The three members of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) were arrested in February last year and have been in custody since.
https://www.reuters.com/article/denmark-security-iran-int-idUSKBN2C214U
A court in Abidjan handed a life sentence to former warl-rd Amade Oueremi for his part in March 2011 massacres in western Ivory Coast in which hundreds were killed. Oueremi had faced charges of mass murder, rape, and inhumane and degrading treatment over the violence in Duekoue
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20210415-ivory-coast-ex-warlord-gets-life-sentence-over-2011-duekoue-massacre
Mitch McConnell blocked the Ruth Bader Ginsburg memorial from the Capitol Rotunda
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-rejected-rbg-lying-in-state-in-capitol-rotunda-pelosi-book-2021-4
Unused Vaccines Are Piling Up Across U.S. As Americans Refuse Vaccination
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-15/unused-vaccines-are-piling-up-across-u-s-as-some-regions-resist
CDC identifies only 5,800 Covid-19 infections after the final vaccine, out of more than 66 million. And those who got it had mild cases.
https://wsj.com/articles/cdc-identifies-small-group-of-covid-19-infections-among-fully-vaccinated-patients-11618490232
Key takeaway from Biden's statement is the desire for de-escalation with Russia. Perhaps out of concern that Putin is seriously on the precipice of moving into Ukraine. However, this statement will be welcomed in the Kremlin. It gives Putin much of what he desires:
1. Recognition as a US co-equal.
2. Validation in the form of another big summit this summer (just weeks before Russia's Duma elections, where his party is in trouble).
3. No mention of Navalny
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis recently released documents illustrating the Trump administration's political interference in the pandemic response. In the communications, members of the Trump administration often illegally and treasonously used personal email accounts for government work. The documents included communications in which officials bragged about influencing the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, attacked CDC guidance for schools and universities, and promoted a "herd immunity" strategy for combating the virus.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/09/cdc-covid-political-interference/
"I don't understand why this president is unwilling to take on Putin when he's actually paying bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan," Biden said of Trump last fall. Today? Bounties never happened:
https://nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/remember-those-russian-bounties-dead-u-s-troops-biden-admin-n1264215
D.C. Police requested backup at least 17 times in 78 minutes during Capitol riot. A reconstruction shows how failures of planning and preparation left police at the Capitol severely disadvantaged on Jan. 6.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/dc-police-records-capitol-riot/
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/president-biden-announces-his-intent-to-nominate-nine-career-members-of-the-senior-foreign-service-as-ambassadors/
President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Nine Career Members of the Senior Foreign Service as Ambassadors
April 15, 2021 • Statements and Releases
WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate nine career members of the Senior Foreign Service as ambassadors to represent the United States on the world stage:
Larry Edward AndrĆ©, Jr. – Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia
Elizabeth Moore Aubin – Ambassador to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Steven C. Bondy – Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain
Maria E. Brewer – Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho
Marc Evans Knapper – Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Christopher John Lamora – Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon
Tulinabo S. Mushingi – Ambassador to the Republic of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome & Principe
Michael Raynor – Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Eugene S. Young – Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo
Larry Edward AndrƩ, Jr., Nominee for Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia
Larry AndrƩ, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is the United States ChargƩ d'Affaires ad interim at U.S. Embassy Juba, South Sudan. He is a former Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. He has served as Director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, and as Deputy Executive Director in the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, and was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. AndrƩ earned an MBA from Arizona State University/American Graduate School of International Management and a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College. He is the recipient of numerous State Department Awards, including the Director General Award for Reporting, and was recently recognized by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the Joint Distinguished Civilian Award. He speaks French fluently.
Elizabeth Moore Aubin, Nominee for Ambassador to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Elizabeth Moore Aubin, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, in the Department of State. Other senior leadership roles held by Aubin during her three decades of service are Executive Director of the Joint Executive Office of the Bureaus of Near Eastern Affairs and South and Central Asian Affairs, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada; Executive Director of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. Aubin earned her B.A. degree from Barnard College of Columbia University and did graduate work at Syracuse University's Maxwell School. She speaks French and Italian.
Steven C. Bondy, Nominee for Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain
Steven C. Bondy, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is a Senior Advisor in the Department of State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. In 2017-2020 he was Charge d'Affaires a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He previously served as the Assistant Chief of Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan and as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Mr. Bondy earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Delaware. The recipient of numerous U.S. government awards, including a Presidential Rank Award, he speaks Arabic, French, Farsi, Turkish and Spanish.
Maria E. Brewer, Nominee for Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho
Maria E. Brewer, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone. Prior to that, Brewer served as the Deputy Director in the Office of Career Development and Assignments for the State Department; as the Deputy Chief of Mission and ChargƩ of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria; and as the leader of the management team at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Earlier in her career, Brewer's assignments include service as the Management Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India. She also was Deputy Executive Director and Supervisory Post Management Officer in the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs; Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Management; and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration. She earned a B.A. from Valparaiso University and an M.S. from the National Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She speaks Spanish, Krio and Hindi.
Marc Evans Knapper, Nominee for Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Marc Evans Knapper, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan and Korea in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State. Before assuming that position, Knapper was the ChargƩ d'Affaires a.i. of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Korea and, prior to that, was the Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission. Earlier, Knapper was Director of the State Department's Office of India Affairs and Director of the State Department's Office of Japanese Affairs. His other assignments include leadership positions in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. Knapper earned his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.A. from the Army War College. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award, the State Department's Linguist of the Year Award, and a Presidential Rank Award. He speaks Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Christopher John Lamora, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon
Christopher Lamora, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, is the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana. He was previously the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Africa and African Security Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department and he also served as Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, Deputy Director of the Bureau's Office of Economic and Regional Affairs, and desk officer for the Democratic Republic of Congo. He served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Greece and the Central African Republic, and the U.S. Consulate General in Douala, Cameroon. Lamora earned a B.S. at Georgetown University and speaks French, Spanish, and Modern Greek.
Tulinabo S. Mushingi, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome & Principe
Tulinabo Mushingi, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, is currently U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. Mushingi also served previously as the U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso and as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mushingi was the Deputy Executive Secretary and Executive Director in Executive Office of the Secretary in the Department of State. Earlier in his career, Mushingi served at the U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco; and the U.S. Embassies in Mozambique and Malaysia as well as in various assignments at the State Department in Washington, D.C. Mushingi earned a Ph.D. from Georgetown University, an M.A. from Howard University, and both "Graduat and Licence" degrees from the Higher Institute of Education in Bukavu, Congo. He is a recipient of the Palmer Award for the Advancement of Democracy. He speaks Portuguese, French, and Swahili.
Michael Raynor, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Michael Raynor is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who most recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia. Earlier, he held positions as the Assistant Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan and the U.S. Ambassador to Benin. Raynor also was the Director of the Office of Career Development and Assignments in the Bureau of Global Talent Management and the Executive Director in the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department. Raynor's earlier experience includes service at the U.S. Embassies in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Guinea and Djibouti. He earned his B.A. from Lafayette College and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University. He is the recipient of the State Department's Leamon R. Hunt Award for Management Excellence. He speaks fluent French.
Eugene S. Young, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo
Eugene Young is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who currently serves as the Economic Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. Previously, Young was the ChargƩ d'Affaires, a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria; the Consul and Senior Civilian Representative of the U.S. Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan; and the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Among his other assignments, Young served as the Economic Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, the Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Durban, South Africa, and as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Deputy Secretary of State. Young earned his B.A. degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and an M.A. degree from The George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. His foreign languages are German, French, Slovene, Slovak, and Serbo-Croatian.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/president-biden-announces-his-intent-to-nominate-key-administration-leaders-in-the-state-department/
President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Key Administration Leaders in the State Department
April 15, 2021 • Statements and Releases
WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate seven individuals to fill key roles in the State Department:
Director General of the Foreign Service and the Chair of the Board of the Foreign Service
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and Member of the Board of Directors of the African Development Foundation
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security
Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization
Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, Nominee for Director General of the Foreign Service and the Chair of the Board of the Foreign Service
Marcia Bernicat, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Senior Official for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment and as Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs of the Department of State. Previously, she was the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea Bissau, and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Human Resources at the State Department. She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Barbados and Malawi and as Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca, Morocco. Bernicat earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service Degree at Georgetown University and a Bachelor's Degree at Lafayette College. Her foreign languages are French, Hindi and Russian and she is a recipient of the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award.
Karen Erika Donfried, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Dr. Karen Donfried currently serves as President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Before assuming this position in April 2014, Donfried was the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior to that, she served as the National Intelligence Officer for Europe on the National Intelligence Council. She first joined GMF in 2001 after having served for ten years as a European specialist at the Congressional Research Service. When she was at GMF from 2005 to 2010, she first served as senior director of policy programs and then as executive vice president. From 2003-2005, she worked in the Policy Planning office at the U.S. Department of State, handling the Europe portfolio. Donfried has written and spoken extensively on German foreign policy, European integration, and transatlantic relations. She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. The King of the Belgians awarded the Commander of the Order of the Crown to her in 2020 and she became an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2018. Additionally, she received the Cross of the Order of Merit from the German Government in 2011 and a Superior Service Medal from the National Intelligence Community in 2014. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Council on Germany. Donfried has a Ph.D. and MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a Magister from the University of Munich, Germany and holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She is fluent in German.
Barbara A. Leaf, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
Barbara A. Leaf is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Middle East and North Africa Affairs on the National Security Council. Prior to this, she was the Ruth and Sid Lapidus Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Director of the Beth and David Geduld Program on Arab Politics. She previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq at the State Department. She directed the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Basrah, Iraq and was the Department's first Director of the Office of Iranian Affairs. Leaf also has served in Rome, Sarajevo, Paris, Cairo, Tunis, Jerusalem and Port-au-Prince. She speaks Arabic, French, Italian and Serbo-Croatian. Leaf has a Bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary and a Master's degree from the University of Virginia.
Mary Catherine Phee, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the African Development Foundation
Mary Catherine Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, currently serves as Principal Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the State Department. She was U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan from 2015 to 2017. Previously, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan. She also was the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs and Deputy Security Council Coordinator at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, handling UN engagement in Africa for both portfolios. Earlier in her career, Phee served as Director for Iraq at the National Security Council and as Senior Civilian Representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority to Maysan Province, Iraq. She began her career in Amman, Jordan and also worked at U.S. Embassies in Cairo, Egypt and Kuwait City, Kuwait. She received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for conflict resolution and peacemaking, the James A. Baker, III-C. Howard Wilkins, Jr. Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Order of the British Empire Award, and a Presidential Rank Award. She speaks Arabic. A native of Chicago, she is a graduate of Indiana University and holds a Master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Michele Jeanne Sison, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
Michele Jeanne Sison, a five-time Ambassador, has extensive experience in advancing U.S. interests through multilateral diplomacy. Sison has served as U.S. Ambassador to Haiti since 2018. She also served as Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations (with the rank of Ambassador) from 2014 to 2018, where she helped build global coalitions to counter transnational threats to peace and security and advocated for a more effective, efficient, and accountable UN and multilateral system. She also has long experience with UN peacekeeping and the UN entities responsible for development, humanitarian relief, and human rights in the field. Previously, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Assistant Chief of Mission in Iraq, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Pakistan. Her earlier tours include India, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Haiti, and Washington. Sison received a B.A. from Wellesley College and is the recipient of numerous State Department awards, including the Distinguished Service Award and the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Service. She holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Gentry O. Smith, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security
Gentry O. Smith leads The Gentry Group, LLC, a security consulting firm. A former career member of the Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, he served as the Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Countermeasures in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and the Director of Physical Security Programs in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the State Department. Other State Department postings include assignments as Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, Deputy Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, Burma. Smith also served as a Special Agent in the Criminal Investigative Liaison Division, Special Agent on the Secretary of State Protection Detail, and Assistant Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. He earned a B.A. in political science from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Anne A. Witkowsky, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization
Anne A. Witkowsky most recently served as the Co-Director of the Task Force on U.S. Strategy to Support Democracy and Counter Authoritarianism, a partnership of Freedom House, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the McCain Institute. She has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon and as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Coordinator, and Deputy Assistant Coordinator, in the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism. Witkowsky was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC and earlier served as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council Staff at the White House. She earned a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree from Yale. She has been recognized with a number of awards including the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan-supports-veterans/
FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan Supports Veterans
April 15, 2021 • Statements and Releases
President Biden believes that as Americans, we have a sacred obligation to care for our nations' veterans and their families – both while they are deployed and after they return home. The American Jobs Plan will help meet this obligation by creating millions of good jobs for veterans and their spouses, growing opportunities for small veteran-owned businesses, and helping ensure the delivery of world-class, state-of-the-art health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The American Jobs Plan addresses the consequences of disinvestment in American infrastructure, while also addressing long-standing racial injustice and confronting the climate crisis and the ambitions of an autocratic China. Like all Americans, veterans and their families will benefit from the historic investments in our transportation infrastructure, electric grid, drinking water systems, broadband access, and our care economy. The plan will make our cities and towns stronger, but also target investments in rural communities where roughly one quarter of our nation's veterans and their families live.
Specifically, President Biden's American Jobs Plan will:
Modernize Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities to deliver 21st century care
More than 9 million veterans are enrolled in VA's health care system, and as a result of their military service, many face significant health care needs. To meet these needs, VA operates the largest integrated health care system in the nation, with more than 1,700 hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities. The median age of U.S. private sector hospitals is 11 years; however, the median age of VA's portfolio is 58 years, with 69% of VA hospitals over the age of 50. The age and condition of VA facilities demand that we do better by our nation's veterans. That is why the American Jobs Plan includes $18 billion to modernize VA health care facilities. These investments will pay long-term dividends by offsetting growing costs of older facilities while meeting the health care needs of the veterans of yesterday's wars, the veterans of today's wars, and the veterans of the future. Specifically, President Biden's American Jobs Plan will:
President Biden has called for $3 billion to address immediate infrastructure needs within VA health care facilities, such as upgrades to support the growing number of women veterans, improvements to utility and building systems for more energy efficient operations, and enhancements to facility access to accommodate aging veterans. This funding will also accelerate ongoing major construction projects to provide access to high quality health care more quickly.
President Biden has requested $15 billion to replace outdated medical centers with state-of-the-art facilities to provide our veterans the care they deserve. These funds will help replace aging facilities, incorporate a person-centered approach, and adopt best practices from across the U.S. healthcare system. This funding will support replacement of approximately 10-15 of the highest priority facilities.
Create Quality Jobs for Veterans and their Spouses
Roughly 200,000 service members transition from military service each year, the majority of whom will enter the civilian labor force. Many veterans have experienced unemployment and other economic challenges due to the pandemic. President Biden believes all veterans and their spouses deserve civilian lives of opportunity with education and jobs worthy of their skills and talents. As the veteran population grows increasingly diverse to include more women and veterans of color, addressing systemic racism and gender inequality will be particularly important. President Biden's American Jobs Plan will:
Protect the health, safety, and rights of workers. President Biden is calling on Congress to provide the federal government with the tools it needs to ensure employers are providing workers with good jobs – including jobs with fair and equal pay, safe and healthy workplaces, and workplaces free from racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination and harassment. In addition to a $10 billion investment in enforcement as part of the plan's workforce proposals, the President is calling for increased penalties when employers violate workplace safety and health rules.
Target workforce development opportunities in underserved communities. All of the investments in workforce training in President Biden's plan will prioritize underserved communities and communities that have struggled in a transforming economy. Specifically, the American Jobs Plan will ensure that new jobs created in clean energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure are readily accessible to women and people of color. This includes training programs like registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, which will strengthen the pipeline for underserved groups to access these opportunities.
Expand Opportunities for SMALL Veteran-Owned Businesses
Veterans are 45% more likely to be self-employed than non-veterans. The American Jobs Plan includes historic investments to empower all small businesses, including the more than 2.5 million veteran-owned small businesses. President Biden's American Jobs Plan will:
Expand small businesses in underserved communities. The American Jobs Plan will create a national network of federally-funded small business incubators and innovation hubs to ensure that all Americans, regardless of race or wealth, have a fair shot at starting and growing their own business.
Increase engagement in the innovation economy. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $5 billion in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and research and development that has the potential for commercialization.
Create a new financing facility for small manufacturers. President Biden is calling on Congress to seed a new financing program to co-invest with private capital in the industrial sector.
To view this fact sheet in your browser, click here.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AJP-Veterans-Fact-Sheet-1.pdf
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FBI director Conservative Republican Trumper Christopher Wray, whom Biden supports and refuses to replace, said again today that QAnon is something they are not investigating even though the FBI designed QAnon domestic terrorists. They are DESIGNATED DOMESTIC TERRORISTS WHO MURDERED PEOPLE ON 6TH JANUARY 2021 AND SOUGHT TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION RESULTS BY VIOLENCE and Wray is just like "well, we don't really think they're that big a deal, they're on the internet, not out on the streets hurting anybody"
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/15/politics/fbi-director-wray-qanon-threat/index.html
Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby will all rest tomorrow against the Magic. DeAndre' Bembry, Jalen Harris, and Gary Trent Jr. are all doubtful.
https://twitter.com/BlakeMurphyODC/status/1382806268881084431
Warriors say rookie center James Wiseman will officially miss remainder of season and return for 2021-22 season after undergoing surgery on torn meniscus in right knee.
https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1382835566409089028
Anthony Davis has been cleared for full on-court activity and can practice.
https://twitter.com/kylegoon/status/1382851422622867459
Steph Curry checks out with 33/4/5 in a win over the Cavs for his 9th game of 30+ in a row
Curry hits the stepback 3 to give him his 9th straight 30 point game
https://streamable.com/02uz2k
Jaylen Brown tonight: 40pts on 17/20 FG shooting (85%), 9 rebs vs the LA Lakers
DeAndre Ayton tonight: 26 points 11 rebounds 10/11 FG 6/6 FT and a huge 4th quarter performance in win against Kings
Fox gets smacked in the face by Crowder, no foul gets called
https://streamable.com/h6e38g
Lakers say Marc Gasol suffered a volar plate fracture in his left pinkie finger and is questionable Saturday against Utah. Marc's assessment tonight: "But it's my left hand, I don't use it much anyways, so we'll see."
https://twitter.com/kylegoon/status/1382926579362271232
Batches of 50 to 100 Uighur workers are slave trafficked on the Chinese internet
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/new-evidence-of-the-strict-controls-uighurs-face-in-factories-thousands-of-miles-from-home-12276248
Gunman Kills 8 At FedEx Warehouse In Indianapolis. A man opened fire at a FedEx warehouse facility in Indianapolis late Thursday night, killing eight people and injuring others. The suspect shot himself and is among the nine dead.
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/16/987929888/9-killed-others-injured-in-shooting-at-fedex-warehouse-in-indianapolis
Greek Orthodox Church stole tens of millions in rent from aged care home at centre of deadliest Covid19 outbreak
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-16/st-basils-greek-church-taxpayer-funding/100068128
New Zealand to ban cigarette sales to anyone born after 2004 as part of plan to make nation smoke free by
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/16/new-zealand-aims-to-create-smoke-free-generation-cigarettes
Three members of the advisory council for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Poland resigned after the government appointed an antisemitic Holocaust-denying member of the country's right-wing ruling party to serve on the body
https://thehill.com/policy/international/548608-3-resign-from-auschwitz-museum-board-over-appointment-of-right-wing
China Backs Away As Philippines And U.S. Send Impressive Fleet To West Philippine Sea. The Philippines sent its strongest response yet against China's expansion into the West Philippine Sea. Not since 2012 has the Philippines moved its naval forces to the West Philippine Sea to challenge China's militarization of the area. The move is a highly coordinated response with the United States. In March, the Philippines reported the presence of 220 Chinese vessels at Julian Felipe Reef. That number has been reduced to fewer than 10 as of April 13. "The Chinese have blinked," retired U.S. Navy officer Jerry Hendrix told Forbes. The Philippines sent four of its most advanced warships to the West Philippine Sea to challenge China's increasing activities at Julian Felipe Reef. Among the units it deployed are its two brand-new missile-guided frigates, the BRP Jose Rizal and the BRP Antonio Luna. It also deployed warplanes to monitor the area. Meanwhile, the U.S. also sent its aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to the area. But an American aircraft carrier never travels alone. With every sighting of a U.S. carrier, you can expect it brings along a large escort of submarines, destroyers, and cruisers protecting it from other vessels. This is on top of the dozens of aircraft it carries (it can carry up to 90 aircraft and can accommodate 4,500 personnel). The U.S. also deployed the USS Makin Island, a formidable assault ship that can carry up to 20 attack aircraft or stealth strike-fighters. It also has its own escorts of submarines, destroyers, and cruisers.
https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/news/china-backs-down-a00293-20210416-lfrm
The authorities were searching for a motive on Friday after a gunman stormed a FedEx facility in Indianapolis late Thursday, fatally shooting eight people and injuring at least seven others in a fast-moving, chaotic scene that emerged as the latest mass shooting to rock the nation in a matter of weeks. Officials said at a news conference Friday morning that they had not yet identified victims, in part because the coroner's office had not yet been able to go onto the scene. The authorities said they were also working to confirm the gunman's identity based on leads, but had not yet done so. The gunman, who was believed to have been armed with a rifle, killed himself almost immediately after the shooting, which erupted abruptly and without an immediate confrontation, the authorities said. "He just appeared to randomly start shooting," Deputy Chief Craig McCartt said.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/16/us/indianapolis-fedex-shooting
Helen McCrory has died at the age of 52 following a private battle with cancer. Her husband and fellow actor Damian Lewis released a statement confirming the news saying the Skyfall and Harry Potter star had died peacefully at home. The statement, shared on Twitter, said: "I'm heartbroken to announce that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family."
https://news.yahoo.com/actor-helen-mccrory-dies-suddenly-aged-52-155418842.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_McCrory
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0567031/
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert Vote Against National Marrow Donor Programme
https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-lauren-boebert-national-marrow-program-1584116
The bodycam footage shows teenager Adam Toledo and an adult man both guns, Toledo throws the gun over a fence behind him,
Russia to expel 10 U.S diplomats in response to sanctions
https://www.axios.com/russia-expel-diplomats-bcfa9185-e3d8-4b16-8e67-57a1bd650e0e.html
A hundred days after the Capitol insurrection, Jon Schaffer plans to enter a guilty plea and admit to invading the U.S. Capitol while armed with bear spray.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-prosecutors-secure-first-guilty-plea-cases-stemming-jan-6-n1264300
Michigan Democrat lawmaker Jewell Jones arrested, facing arraignment in Livingston County
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/04/michigan-lawmaker-jewell-jones-arrested-facing-arraignment-in-livingston-county.html
Idaho state Republican Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger (R-Lewiston), is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for "unconsented sexual contact" with an adult volunteer, according to the Lewiston Tribune.
https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/idaho-state-representative-under-ethics-investigation-alleged-sexual-misconduct#stream/0
President Joe Biden on Friday signed an emergency determination that officials said would speed refugee admissions to the U.S., but he did not immediately lift his predecessor's historically low cap of 15,000 refugees for this year. Biden, instead, is adjusting the allocation limits set by Republicans under Trump, which officials said have been the driving factor in limiting refugee admissions. The new allocations provide more slots for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central America and lift Trump's restrictions on resettlements from Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, just over 2,000 refugees have been resettled in the U.S. A senior administration official said Biden's new allocations, formalized in an emergency presidential determination, could result in speedier admissions of already screened and vetted refugees in a manner of days. Refugee resettlement agencies applauded the move to speed admissions and provide more slots but were disheartened that Biden is for now keeping the cap set by Trump. "It sends an important message to make it higher and now Biden will still be presiding over and has essentially put his stamp of approval on the lowest refugee admissions cap in history at time of global crisis," said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, a Maryland-based Jewish nonprofit that is one of nine agencies that resettles refugees in the U.S. Biden presented a plan to Congress two months ago to raise the ceiling on admissions to 62,500 and to eliminate restrictions imposed by Trump that have disqualified a significant number of refugees, including those fleeing war. But Biden has not issued a presidential determination since his administration notified Congress, as required by law. The action does not require congressional approval and past presidents have issued such presidential determinations that set the cap on refugee admissions shortly after the notification to Congress. The Biden administration has given no explanation as to why the president has kept the refugee admissions cap. Biden has pledged to raise the refugee cap for the next fiscal year to 125,000 and signaled he would try to make a "down payment" on that this year, but acknowledged it wouldn't be easy. "It's going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that's precisely what we're going to do," Biden said in February at the State Department.
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-middle-east-africa-central-america-e692d180232fdd3cc2125bdb9cc1278f
Eight days ago: Q: Is the White House still committed to raising the cap to 62,500 this fiscal year?
PSAKI: Yes.
Collins: And so we should expect that before October? And it's not going to change from 62,500?
PSAKI: I don't anticipate that...The President remains committed to raising the cap.
Failing to issue a new Determination undermines your declared purpose to reverse your predecessor's refugee policies and to rebuild the Refugee Admissions Program
https://foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/04-16-21%20RM%20letter%20to%20POTUS%20re%20refugee%20admissions.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff
Anyone who takes off running away with a GUN down a dark alley at 2:30am in the morning after shooting (or being with person who shot) a gun 7 times on city streets is going to be neutralized by a cop. Put that in the 95% likelihood category. And it's justified. And Adam Toledo was a gang member teenager, not a child or baby.
We need to pass, implement, and enforce common sense gun laws that make it illegal for a 13 year old to possess a loaded weapon and be out running from police with that gun at 3 a.m.
The 139 House Republicans who objected to the 2020 election results raised nearly $37M during the first quarter of 2021, while the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him brought in a combined $6.4M
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/individual-donors-power-fundraising-for-house-republicans-who-objected-to-election-results/
Tonight's Mets game in Denver has been postponed. It's the Mets' seventh postponement in 16 days this season. First coronavirus19, then rain, then cold/snow. The Mets and Rockies will play a straight doubleheader beginning at 5:10 p.m. ET/3:10 p.m. MT tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/AnthonyDiComo/status/1383113025536864257
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/16/fact-sheet-biden-administration-invests-4-billion-in-american-rescue-plan-funding-to-combat-covid-19-in-indian-country/
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Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Invests $4 Billion in American Rescue Plan Funding to Combat COVID-19 in Indian Country
April 16, 2021 • Statements and Releases
As part of President Biden's continued efforts to ensure the pandemic response reaches all people and all communities, the Biden Administration is announcing it will invest more than $4 billion to combat COVID-19 in Indian Country.
The funding, from the American Rescue Plan, will expand COVID-19 vaccinations, testing, and treatment; increase preventive health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives at higher risk for COVID-19; expand hospitals' and health clinics' ability to serve their communities during the pandemic and beyond; and provide the Indian Health Service (IHS), tribal health programs, and urban Indian health programs with needed funding to make up for lost reimbursements experienced during the pandemic.
The Indian health system has already administered more than 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine thanks to efforts, and today's announcement will help IHS, tribal, and urban Indian health programs accelerate this progress.
Today's announcements include:
$600 Million to increase COVID-19 vaccinations in Indian Country: Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, IHS will invest $600 million to support increased vaccinations in Indian Country. These funds can support mobile vaccination efforts in rural or hard to reach areas, large scale vaccination events, and other activities to help connect American Indians and Alaska Natives to vaccines on their reservations and in their communities. Additionally, IHS, tribal, and urban Indian health programs can use this funding to provide support for trusted local voices and medical professionals to conduct outreach into communities and build vaccine confidence – projects that are already seeing success. A recent survey from the Urban Indian Health Institute, an IHS-funded tribal epidemiology center, found that 75% of American Indians and Alaska Natives would be willing to get vaccinated and 74% believe that getting vaccinated is their responsibility to their community.
https://www.uihi.org/projects/strengthening-vaccine-efforts-in-indian-country/
$1 billion to detect, diagnose, trace, monitor, and mitigate COVID-19 infections: IHS will invest $1 billion to increase contact tracing, drive through testing sites, pop up testing sites, and other public health efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, this funding will support the purchase of PPE, medical supplies, tests, and therapeutics.
$2 billion for tribal health systems due to lost reimbursements for care during the pandemic: IHS will provide $2 billion to replace lost revenues attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and private insurance. These funds will help make up for the financial loss across the entire Indian health care system due to reduced patient visits. And this funding will strengthen long-term health care in Indian Country by helping IHS, tribal, and urban Indian health programs invest in high quality provider salaries, services particularly impacted by the pandemic like dental health care, and critical accreditation requirements.
The $4 billion investment also supports more than $84 million in assistance for urban Indian organizations, $140 million for health IT and necessary equipment to provide telehealth services, and $500 million to support overall health care services in Indian Country.
This announcement follows tribal consultation and urban confer in early March by the Biden Administration to engage tribal stakeholders in identifying how to urgently and most effectively allocate the resources provided by the American Rescue Plan.
https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/2021_Letters/DTLL_03082021.pdf
https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/2021_Letters/DUIOLL_03082021.pdf
American Indian and Alaska Native people are at higher risk for COVID disease and complications. According to a recent CDC report, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 3.5 times more likely to get COVID-19 than the non-Hispanic white population, and they have had the highest hospitalization rate of any racial or ethnic group. Native people are also more than 4 times as likely to be hospitalized as a result of COVID-19. American Indians and Alaska Natives also have high rates of certain co-morbidities that have been linked to poor outcomes with COVID-19, including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html
________________________________________
(d) The admission of up to 15,000 refugees remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest. Should 15,000 admissions under the revised allocations for FY 2021 be reached prior to the end of the fiscal year and the emergency refugee situation persists, a subsequent Presidential Determination may be issued to increase admissions, as appropriate.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/16/memorandum-for-the-secretary-of-state-on-the-emergency-presidential-determination-on-refugee-admissions-for-fiscal-year-2021/
Authorities have named the 19-year-old Indianapolis shooter. FedEx says he was a former employee at the facility. 19-year-old Brandon Hole. The suspect was known to federal and local authorities, and a relative reached out to authorities warning about that person's potential for violence. He was known to police as he had been reported for violence before and they had taken a gun away from him previously. He was taken to the hospital by the police a year ago for a mental evaluation after voicing suicidal ideation and had a shotgun seized. Which means he was not legally allowed to own guns.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/16/us/indianapolis-shooting-fedex-facility/index.html
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO: Utah All-Star G Donovan Mitchell is getting helped to the locker room with a lower leg injury in Salt Lake City.News
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1383156084341403657
X-Rays negative and MRI coming tonight on Donovan Mitchell's sprained right ankle
http://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1383161185793667078
After blowback from allies, White House says President Biden will move to lift Trump-era refugee caps next month: The White House said Friday President Joe Biden will set a new, increased refugee cap next month after facing a barrage of criticism when officials confirmed to CNN and other outlets that it would remain at the historically low level set by Trump/Republicans: Statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on the Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021 | The President's directive today has been the subject of some confusion. Last week, he sent to Congress his budget for the fiscal year starting in October 2021, which honors his commitment. For the past few weeks, he has been consulting with his advisors to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely. While finalizing that determination, the President was urged to take immediate action to reverse the Trump policy that banned refugees from many key regions, to enable flights from those regions to begin within days; today's order did that. With that done, we expect the President to set a final, increased refugee cap for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/16/statement-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-on-the-emergency-presidential-determination-on-refugee-admissions-for-fiscal-year-2021/
Fewer people developed blood clots from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine than were murdered at a FedEx facility last night. Perhaps we need a pause on firearms.
I can't help but feel like this is a huge mistake, have the surgery and return next season: The #Padres have activated SS Fernando Tatis Jr. from the 10-day IL and optioned INF/OF Tucupita Marcano to the alternate training site.
https://twitter.com/Padres/status/1383181607830315008
With all the ligament/tendon/cartilage injuries professional athletes get, it sure would be a great idea for them to collectively start a company dedicated to being able to repair those types of injuries with stem cells.
Devonte' Graham, LaMelo Ball, PJ Washington, Nate Darling, Gordon Hayward, and Malik Monk are out vs Brooklyn
https://twitter.com/hornetspr/status/1383180153027760129
U.S. Interior Dept revoked a suite of policies that boosted drilling and mining and ordered that climate change be put at the forefront in future agency decisions. In addition, the agency withdrew a legal opinion issued in the final week of Trump's presidency that said federal law requires the Interior Department to implement an offshore oil and gas leasing program that includes at least two sales every five years. The agency is reviewing its onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing programs in what is widely seen as a step toward delivering on Biden's campaign pledge to ban new federal leasing. In the same order, the department outlined how science should guide decision-making and instructed officials to maintain robust environmental reviews that analyze climate change and engage tribes and underserved communities. "I know that signing Secretarial Orders alone won't address the urgency of the climate crisis," Haaland said in a statement. "But I'm hopeful that these steps will help make clear that we, as a Department, have a mandate to act."
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-interior/update-1-u-s-interior-dept-revokes-trump-policies-puts-climate-at-center-of-decisions-idUSL1N2M91UL
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard (hamstring) will sit out tonight's game against the San Antonio Spurs.
https://twitter.com/chrisbhaynes/status/1383191367250104323
Free agent Jabari Parker has agreed to a deal with the Boston Celtics
https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1383200693339701248
Jokic flips the ridiculous overhead pass to PJ for the dunk
https://streamable.com/a9w0j1
Roger Stone sued by Dept of Justice for nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes and interest
https://www.businessinsider.com/roger-stone-sued-nearly-2-million-in-unpaid-taxes-interest-2021-4
Secretary Haaland Establishes Climate Task Force, Strengthens Scientific Integrity - New Orders Prioritize Department-Wide Climate Action, Revokes Orders That Are Out Of Alignment With Biden Administration Priorities
https://www.doi.gov/news/secretary-haaland-establishes-climate-task-force-strengthens-scientific-integrity
Julius Randle tonight: 44 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists on 16/29 shooting 7 assists
Zach LaVine expected to forgo Bulls contract extension, become unrestricted free agent in 2022
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/04/16/report-zach-lavine-expected-to-forgo-bulls-contract-extension-become-unrestricted-free-agent-in-2022/
Russel Westbrook Tonight: 36/15/9 on 13/24 from the field, 3/6 from three and 7/11 from the lin
Nerlens Noel puts Dorian Finney-Smith in his block list
https://streamable.com/k2ue4t
Thybulle blocks the living hell out of a Luke Kennard corner three
https://streamable.com/61mmpb
The Philadelphia 76ers (39-17) defeat the Los Angeles Clippers (39-19), 106 - 103
Nikola Jokic in 3 quarters: 29 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals on 10/12 shooting
Yikes: The Minnesota Timberwolves (15-42) defeat the Miami Heat (28-28), 119 - 111
Tyler Herro tonight: 4pts on 1/7 FG, team worst -25. To be fair he's playing injured and has had injuries all season
Robert Covington with the huge steal and Norman finishes the tough layup through contact
https://streamable.com/pxcdbh
Julius Randle puts the clamps on Luka who tries to go 1v1
https://streamable.com/qvtqpk
In a tied game, Westbrook draws the foul on Zion with 1 second left in OT
https://streamable.com/exqudv
Yuta Watanabe career high 21 points vs Orlando Magic
Westbrook's last 6 games: 24 pts, 13 asts, 14 rebs on 52% FG, 33% 3pt. Wizards have gone 5-1
Daniel Gafford swats Zion in overtime for his fourth block of the game
https://streamable.com/l9nmkc
Joel Embiid Tonight: 36/14/1 on 10/20 shooting, and 0/3 from three and 16/18 from the line
Blake Griffin Throws Down the Lob From Former Detroit Teammate Bruce Brown
https://streamable.com/4z7hg6
Miles Bridges against the Nets tonight: 33 points 9 rebounds and 6 3s on 13/18 shooting
Jimmy Butler Tonight: 30/10/8 on 9/19 from the field, 0/2 from three & 12/15 from the line
In Short, Go Vegan: An estimated 334,000 Covid-19 cases are attributable to meatpacking plants, resulting in $11.2 billion in economic damage. Large pork and chicken facilities increased transmission rates by 160% and 20%. Furthermore, presence of a large beef-packing facility increased per capita infection rates 110%.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/meatpacking-plants-increased-covid-19-cases-us-counties
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/16/u-s-japan-joint-leaders-statement-u-s-japan-global-partnership-for-a-new-era/
U.S.- Japan Joint Leaders' Statement: "U.S. – JAPAN GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR A NEW ERA"
April 16, 2021 • Statements and Releases
President Joseph R. Biden is honored to welcome Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide for the first foreign-leader visit of his presidency. Today, the United States and Japan renew an Alliance that has become a cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world. An ocean separates our countries, but commitments to universal values and common principles, including freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, international law, multilateralism, and a free and fair economic order, unite us. Together we pledge to demonstrate that free and democratic nations, working together, are able to address the global threats from COVID-19 and climate change while resisting challenges to the free and open rules-based international order. Through this new era of friendship between the United States and Japan, each of our democracies will grow stronger still.
Our historic partnership is essential to the safety and prosperity of both our peoples. Forged in the wake of strife, the Alliance has become a bedrock to each of our nations. The world has changed many times over; our ties have pulled tighter. Our democracies have flourished, our economies have thrived, and we have become leaders in innovation. Our cultural and people-to-people ties have grown ever-deeper, and together we have led in multilateral institutions, in expanding global commerce and investment, and in advancing peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. In celebration of our long-standing and close bonds, President Biden and Prime Minister Suga recommit themselves to an indelible Alliance, to a rules-based approach to regional and global order founded on universal values and common principles, and to cooperation with all those who share in these objectives. The United States and Japan will remake these commitments for a new era.
THE ALLIANCE: FORGING A FREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFIC
The U.S.-Japan Alliance is unwavering, and we are more prepared than ever to address regional challenges. Our Alliance advances a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific based on our commitment to universal values and common principles, and the promotion of inclusive economic prosperity. We respect sovereignty and territorial integrity and are committed to peacefully resolving disputes and to opposing coercion. We promote shared norms in the maritime domain, including freedom of navigation and overflight, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
President Biden and Prime Minister Suga committed to further strengthening the U.S.-Japan Alliance to expand on this vision, and fully endorsed the March 2021 Joint Statement of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee. Japan resolved to bolster its own national defense capabilities to further strengthen the Alliance and regional security. The United States restated its unwavering support for Japan's defense under the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear. It also reaffirmed the fact that Article V of the Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands. Together, we oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan's administration of the Senkaku Islands. The United States and Japan committed to enhance deterrence and response capabilities in line with the increasingly challenging security environment, to deepen defense cooperation across all domains, including cyber and space, and to bolster extended deterrence. We also highlighted the importance of strengthening bilateral cybersecurity and information security, a foundational component of closer defense cooperation, and of safeguarding our technological advantages. We remain committed to the implementation of the current arrangements on the U.S. forces realignment, including the construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility at Henoko as the only solution that avoids the continued use of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, the Field Carrier Landing Practice Facility at Mageshima, and the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps units from Okinawa to Guam. We resolved to conclude in a timely manner a meaningful multi-year Host Nation Support agreement to ensure the stable and sustainable stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan.
President Biden and Prime Minister Suga exchanged views on the impact of China's actions on peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and the world, and shared their concerns over Chinese activities that are inconsistent with the international rules-based order, including the use of economic and other forms of coercion. We will continue to work with each other based on universal values and common principles. We also recognize the importance of deterrence to maintain peace and stability in the region. We oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea. We reiterated our objections to China's unlawful maritime claims and activities in the South China Sea and reaffirmed our strong shared interest in a free and open South China Sea governed by international law, in which freedom of navigation and overflight are guaranteed, consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. We share serious concerns regarding the human rights situations in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The United States and Japan recognized the importance of candid conversations with China, reiterated their intention to share concerns directly, and acknowledged the need to work with China on areas of common interest.
The United States and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea, urging North Korea to abide by its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions, and called for full implementation by the international community. We intend to strengthen deterrence to maintain peace and stability in the region and will work together and with others to address the dangers associated with North Korea's nuclear and missile program, including the risk of proliferation. President Biden reaffirmed the United States' commitment to the immediate resolution of the abductions issue.
Together, we will continue to work with allies and partners, including with Australia and India through the Quad, which has never been stronger, to build the free, open, accessible, diverse, and thriving Indo-Pacific we all seek. We support ASEAN's unity and centrality in the Indo-Pacific, as well as the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. We also concurred that trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea is essential to our shared security and prosperity. We firmly condemn violence committed by the Myanmar military and police against civilians, and commit to continue taking action to press for the immediate cessation of violence, the release of those who are detained, and a swift return to democracy.
AN ALLIANCE FOR A NEW ERA
Recognizing that our shared security and prosperity requires new forms of 21st century cooperation, President Biden and Prime Minister Suga have launched a new Competitiveness and Resilience (CoRe) Partnership. Our partnership will ensure that we lead a sustainable, inclusive, healthy, green global economic recovery. It will also generate economic growth guided by open and democratic principles, supported by transparent trade rules and regulations and high labor and environmental standards, and aligned with a low-carbon future. To achieve these goals, the partnership will focus on i) competitiveness and innovation, ii) COVID-19 response, global health, and health security, and iii) climate change, clean energy, and green growth and recovery.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FACT-SHEET-U.S.-Japan-Competitiveness-and-Resilience-CoRe-Partnership.pdf
The United States and Japan recognize that digital economy and emerging technologies have the potential to transform societies and bring about tremendous economic opportunities. We will collaborate to enhance our countries' competitiveness, individually and together, by deepening cooperation in research and technology development in life sciences and biotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, and civil space. President Biden and Prime Minister Suga affirmed their commitment to the security and openness of 5th generation (5G) wireless networks and concurred that it is important to rely on trustworthy vendors. The United States and Japan will engage with others through our enhanced Global Digital Connectivity Partnership to catalyze investments and to provide training and capacity building to promote vibrant digital economies. We will also partner on sensitive supply chains, including on semi-conductors, promoting and protecting the critical technologies that are essential to our security and prosperity.
The United States and Japan are committed to maintaining and further strengthening our robust bilateral trade relationship while advancing shared interests, including digital trade cooperation, the development of trade policies that support climate change objectives, World Trade Organization (WTO) reform, and promoting inclusive growth in the Indo-Pacific. We will continue to work together bilaterally, as well as within the G7 and the WTO, to address the use of non-market and other unfair trade practices, including violations of intellectual property rights, forced technology transfer, excess capacity issues, and the use of trade distorting industrial subsidies. We reaffirm our commitment to achieving prosperity and maintaining economic order in the Indo-Pacific region while engaging with other like-minded partners.
Acknowledging that the climate crisis is an existential threat to the world, we realize that our countries must play a critical role in leading the global effort to combat this crisis. The United States and Japan are committed to taking decisive climate action by 2030, both aligned with efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2050 greenhouse-gas emissions net-zero goals. In recognition of this responsibility, President Biden and Prime Minister Suga have launched the U.S.-Japan Climate Partnership. This partnership has three pillars: first, Paris Agreement implementation and achievement of the 2030 targets/ nationally determined contributions (NDCs); second, clean energy technology development, deployment, and innovation; and third, efforts to support decarbonization in other countries, especially in the Indo-Pacific.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/U.S.-Japan-Climate-Partnership.pdf
COVID-19 has shown our countries and the world that we are not prepared for a biological catastrophe. To that end, the United States and Japan will also strengthen cooperation to advance health security, respond to future public health crises, and build global health. At the first-ever leaders' summit of the Quad on March 12, 2021, we established the Quad Vaccine Experts Group designed to expand safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing, procurement, and delivery for the Indo-Pacific region to supplement multilateral efforts. As we respond to COVID-19, we must also prepare for the next pandemic and strengthen global health security and bilateral public and private cooperation on global health. We will work together to reform the World Health Organization by strengthening its ability to prevent pandemics through early and effective prevention, detection, and response to potential health emergencies, and by increasing its transparency and ensuring it is free from undue influence. We will also support a transparent and independent evaluation and analysis, free from interference and undue influence, of the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak and for investigating outbreaks of unknown origin in the future. We resolved to take decisive action to help the Indo-Pacific build better regional pandemic preparedness, and will work together and multilaterally to build the capacity of all countries to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks, including through existing initiatives like the Global Health Security Agenda, and a new partnership coordinating on a health security financing mechanism, regional surge capacity, and triggers for rapid response. Furthermore, as we look toward a healthier and more resilient future, we will bolster our support for COVAX. We will also cooperate on global COVID-19 vaccine supply and manufacturing needs toward ending the pandemic.
These new partnerships will harness our leadership in science, innovation, technology, and health at a time of extraordinary geopolitical change. They will allow us to build back better in the Indo-Pacific, leading the region to a more resilient and vibrant future.
LOOKING FORWARD
The charges we take up today are considerable, but we face them with resolve and unity. Together, we will ensure that our security relationship is steadfast, despite challenges to our regional vision; that our partnership fuels a sustainable global economic recovery, after a year of global grief and hardship; and that we cooperate with like-minded partners around the world to lead a rules-based international order, despite challenges to its freedom and openness. People-to-people ties form the bedrock of our friendship and it is through initiatives such as the Mansfield Fellowship Program that we will continue to build bridges between our two societies that will sustain our Alliance into the future. President Biden supports Prime Minister Suga's efforts to hold a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. Both leaders expressed their pride in the U.S. and Japanese athletes who have trained for these Games and will be competing in the best traditions of the Olympic spirit. Our governments will continue to meet at all levels, including to coordinate and implement our policies toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific. Above all, we renew our investment in the very idea of steadfast alliances – knowing that our partnership will make security and prosperity possible for both our peoples for decades to come.
###
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/16/national-crime-victims-rights-week-2021/
A Proclamation on National Crime Victims' Rights Week, 2021
April 16, 2021 • Statements and Releases
Millions of people in the United States are victims of crime every year. Some endure horrific acts of violence, some have personal possessions damaged or stolen, and others are defrauded or exploited financially. Whatever the crime, many victims lose something that can never be fully recovered: a sense of trust and safety. Yet we find inspiration and hope in their stories of triumph over adversity and resilience in the wake of tragedy. During this 40th National Crime Victims' Rights Week, we support crime victims throughout the United States and the many dedicated people who serve them.
The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that true justice requires that victims get the support and assistance they need. Today, victims have access to quality services in their communities through the more than 7,000 local programs funded by the Federal Crime Victims Fund, as well as from other sources of Federal funding, including supplemental funding for victim services in the American Rescue Plan. In spite of this network of support, persistent barriers still prevent many victims from obtaining the support and services they need and the justice they deserve. Fewer than half of violent victimizations are reported to police, and research shows that even fewer reports of rapes or sexual assaults are brought to the attention of law enforcement. There are a variety of reasons why many victims of crime are less likely to report a crime, including fear of negative interactions with law enforcement or the criminal justice system, which disproportionately impacts victims from communities of color. Together, we must commit to the accountability and reform necessary to build trust, increase access to services, and improve public safety.
We must also listen to the voices of those who have experienced gun violence. Gun violence not only impacts its victims, but also their families, friends, colleagues, first responders, and local communities. These brave voices — along with the majority of gun-owners who support commonsense measures to keep our communities safe — are speaking up and speaking out for public policy that will put a stop to the violence. My Administration is committed to doing everything we can to end the epidemic of gun violence.
Supporting crime victims is part of a larger effort to advance equity and fairness in our society. The Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice is investing in efforts to improve access to services and safety for victims and communities that have been historically marginalized and underserved, as well as support community initiatives to prevent violence. My Administration is taking action to address the surge in anti-Asian violence and harassment, including efforts to prevent hate crimes and build trust with law enforcement. My Administration is also working closely with Tribal governments to help victims in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and supporting community-driven efforts to reach victims of hate crimes.
Every crime victim deserves justice and the assurance that their safety, wellbeing, and welfare will be protected. We must work together to prevent crimes and ensure that all victims have a place to turn, and the support they need to recover.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 18 through April 24, 2021, as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by participating in events that raise awareness of victims' rights and services and by volunteering to serve victims in need.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of April, in the year of our L/rd two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/16/a-proclamation-on-national-volunteer-week-2021/
A Proclamation on National Volunteer Week, 2021
April 16, 2021 • Presidential Actions
We are living in a moment that calls for hope and light and love. Hope for our futures, light to see our way forward, and love for one another. Volunteers provide all three. Service — the act of looking out for one another — is part of who we are as a Nation. Our commitment to service reflects our understanding that we can best meet our challenges when we join together. This week, we recognize the enduring contributions of our Nation's volunteers and encourage more Americans to join their ranks.
The tremendous power of volunteers and volunteerism has been on dramatic display in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All across the country, retired doctors and nurses, students and veterans, personnel from across the Federal Government, and countless others have given their time and talent to administer vaccines, staff vaccination centers, boost testing, tracing, and other life-saving public health measures, and provide food, water, and other necessities to those at heightened risk so they can remain safely at home.
Volunteers of all ages and walks of life have stepped forward in other ways to meet this moment. When a severe winter storm left millions without power in Texas and wildfires ravaged our Western States, neighbors from near and far provided food, shelter, and support. Throughout this unprecedented year, people across America have given help and hope by checking on isolated seniors, helping the jobless, and tutoring students to help them stay on track in school. Their compassion reminds us that even in our darkest hours, Americans look out for one another.
To meet the unprecedented challenges of today and build back better for tomorrow, we must unite around a renewed commitment to service and to civic duty. As we work to defeat the pandemic, strengthen our economy, address racial inequity, and tackle the climate crisis, we need more Americans to get involved. Government cannot do the job alone, but government — working together with nonprofits and community organizations, the private sector, and the American people — can make our country stronger, more prosperous, and ready for the future.
When more Americans step forward to serve, it renews our sense of community and strengthens our democracy. Acts of service unite people from different backgrounds and allow us to truly see and hear one another.
By helping others, volunteers also help themselves. They learn new skills, expand their professional networks, connect with neighbors, and experience the satisfaction that comes from serving a larger cause. Service can provide a pathway to employment, education, and other career-building opportunities. As we reopen our economy and build back better, volunteerism can help the unemployed find work and make our communities more resilient and prepared.
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to expanding service opportunities for Americans, including opportunities that enable us to confront the toughest challenges faced by our Nation. The American Rescue Plan includes a historic investment in AmeriCorps to make national service more accessible. We seek to enable more service members and volunteers to support vaccination efforts, tackle the growing hunger crisis, address learning loss, and meet other critical community needs.
During National Volunteer Week, we celebrate the millions of Americans who volunteer and encourage more to follow their path. Every American has something to give. No matter your age, background, or where you come from, you can have an impact through service. Vice President Harris and I salute every American who takes time to help their neighbors, and we applaud the extraordinary faith-based, nonprofit, national service, military service, and community organizations that make this service possible.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 18 through April 24, 2021, as National Volunteer Week. I call upon all Americans to observe this week by volunteering in service projects across the country and pledging to make service a part of their daily lives.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of April, in the year of our L/rd two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
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MRI on right ankle sprain of Utah Jazz All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell revealed no structural damage. He's expected to miss several games before he's cleared to return.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1383415701394710529
Marjorie Taylor Greene scraps planned launch of controversial "Europe First" caucus amid blowback from Republicans
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-america-first-caucus/index.html
Police identified the gunman as Brandon Scott Hole, a 19-year-old Indianapolis resident who had been employed at the FedEx facility for two months in 2020.[20][21] After the shooting, authorities conducted a search of his home and seized evidence, including electronics.[5][6][22] In March 2020, Hole's mother contacted the FBI and local authorities and warned them about her son's intent to commit suicide by cop, prompting a preliminary investigation to be opened. Hole was placed in an "immediate detention mental health temporary hold"[23] by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. They seized a shotgun from him, and in April 2020, the FBI questioned Hole about unspecified items found in his bedroom. Eventually, the investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence of any criminal violation, and the shotgun was not returned to Hole. Previously, in 2013, local police contacted Hole for unclear reasons.[4][7][13][24][25]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_FedEx_shooting#Perpetrator
Four of the victims were members of the Sikh community; about 90% of the workers at the facility have Indian heritage.[15][16][17][18][19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_FedEx_shooting#Victims
The J&J blood clots issue feels like the trolley problem. We are more comfortable with a big risk (Covid) if we do nothing than a small risk (clots) if we do something (continue to use the vaccine).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem
Good, get out of there already, 99% of the people there are pro-Taliban and pro-al-Qaeda and hardcore Islamist fundamentalists, the 1% are the refugees the US must accept: Top American generals favored holding the line in Afghanistan at 2,500 troops while peace deal is negotiated. But with orders now handed down, military aiming to (unofficially) be out as soon as July 4.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-rebuffed-commanders-advice-in-decision-to-leave-afghanistan-11618696597
Covid19 cases nearly double in Pennsylvania over the last month and are on the rise in other states as well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/world/b117-covid-variant-pennsylvania.html
Marjorie Taylor Greene labels REPUBLICANS who condemned her "Europe First" idiocy and ordered her to drop it as "liars & psychotic left wing communists"
https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1383466840320479244
Bill O'Brien talking about how Alabama has more competition at each position than he had at the Texans. He's the one that built that Texans roster...
https://twitter.com/devywarehouse/status/1383493919019716614
Ilyasova with a huge rejection of Kuzma at the rim
https://streamable.com/x9xwtn
Jordan Clarkson hits the tough 3 in front of the Lakers bench, taps LeBron
https://streamable.com/kfv4lk
The NBA has fined the Toronto Raptors $25,000 for league policies on player rest and injury reporting
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1383538489036136457
The Raptors catching a fine for rest/injury reporting only makes this more ridiculous and hilarious. The Eastern Conference: Where an already battered team, resting stars to the point they're catching fines, going 6-12 over the last month-plus ... have moved UP the standings
https://twitter.com/josephcasciaro/status/1383539450697842691
_____________________________________
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/04/17/a-proclamation-on-national-park-week-2021/
A Proclamation on National Park Week, 2021
April 17, 2021 • Presidential Actions
The renowned environmentalist and author, Rachel Carson, wrote in her seminal book Silent Spring that, "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." Nowhere is the truth of her observation more evident than in America's national parks, which are irreplaceable treasures that amaze us, inspire us, fill us with pride, and belong to all of us in equal measure.
Even while maintaining social distancing and wearing masks to protect themselves and one another, 237 million people visited our national parks last year to enjoy these singular wonders of our Nation. Every visit leaves an indelible impression — due not only to the natural splendor of each park, but to the dedicated stewardship of the Department of the Interior and National Park Service.
I will never forget one of my own such visits, which has long shaped my personal reverence for our national parks. In 1972, after my wife and daughter were killed in a car accident, my two young sons, Beau and Hunter, were hospitalized for an extended period. As they recovered, they became enamored of the idea of visiting Yellowstone — thanks in large part to a favorite TV show, Yogi Bear, which was set in a fictionalized version of America's first national park. In the summer of 1974, my boys and I flew into Salt Lake City, rented a camper, drove up through Dinosaur National Park and arrived for a week at Yellowstone. Our time there nourished us, filled us with awe, and restored in all of us a sense of the future that had been quieted by our loss. As I saw my sons reengage with the world after enduring so much pain, and felt our family begin to heal, I came to understand the truth of Rachel Carson's words — the power and promise of these extraordinary places to replenish something within us.
That power touches every American lucky enough to visit our national parks in some way, and it is our responsibility to ensure that our national parks reflect, honor, and serve all of our people and every community. Recent additions to the National Park System, such as the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, the Stonewall National Monument, and the CĆ©sar ChĆ”vez National Monument at the ChĆ”vez Residence in Delano, California — along with programs such as the African American Civil Rights Network, Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, and Tribal Heritage grants — reflect our commitment for our parks to serve as sources of support, validation, healing, and connection for people of color, Indigenous people, and others who have been historically marginalized and neglected. Our work to bring true equity to our parks is not yet done. The National Park System must continue to evolve to better reflect all of the people of our Nation, and to work in partnership with Tribal Nations whose historic and sacred lands often fall within the boundaries of National Parks and Monuments that have been dedicated through the years.
During National Park Week, let us dedicate ourselves to greater improvement, enjoyment, and preservation of our natural treasures, and to continue to find inspiration, strength, and all else we seek within them.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 17 through April 25, 2021, as National Park Week. I encourage all Americans to find their park, recreate responsibly, and enjoy the benefits that come from spending time in the natural world. I also ask all park visitors to do their part to stop the spread of the coronavirus by wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of April, in the year of our L/rd two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
_____________________________________
Joe Ingles against the Lakers: 20 points, 14 assists, 6 threes, 3 steals.
"Our patient could die at any moment." A doctor for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the third week of a hunger strike, says his health is deteriorating rapidly.
https://apnews.com/article/vladimir-putin-russia-hunger-strikes-0d7665af30e5ef1c146108809bbcc6c8
President Biden, after finishing golf, says refugee cap was linked to the "crisis that ended up on the border with young people." "We couldn't do two things at once. And now we are going to increase the number"
https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1383556343336898560
Don't say the names of the people joining the "America First Caucus". Don't amplify their hate and ignorance. Don't share their propaganda and enhance their fundraising. They are as relevant or irrelevant as WE make them. Ignorance isn't bliss, but it's better than amplification.
Toscano-Anderson makes an insane hussle save - gashing his head and suffering a concussion - and Curry splashes the 3
https://streamable.com/htkwkj
Steph drills his 10th 3 of the game, giving him 44 points
https://streamable.com/m2ckfe
Stephen Curry Tonight: 47/7/3 on 15/27 shooting, 11/19 from three and 6/8 from the line
Stephen Curry averages in his last 10 games: 39.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists on 55/49/90 shooting. He has made a total of 68 threes and has a TS% of 73.87
Jayson Tatum tonight: 44/10/3/2 on 16/25 shooting, 5/9 from 3, 7/8 from the line.
Curry drills a tough triple to cut the lead to 2 with 17 seconds left
https://streamable.com/a337lp
This Warriors-Celtics was game the best game of the season. This game just radiated playoff basketball with two of the best going at it. Steph is not human. Tatum is the real deal. They played the cleanest and flawless and most physically/technically complex and highly disciplined game this year. The physical maneuvers were at the highest most creative expert technical level ever in basketball. Players at their highest level of professional disciple and Olympian technical prowess. Like watching figure skating - choreogaphy and technical skill 10/10 for all players the entire game.
Jabari Parker in his first game as a Celtic: 11 points and 4 rebounds on 5/6 shooting in 15 minutes.
Zack Greinke Final Line 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
UK warships to sail for Black Sea in May as Ukraine-Russia tensions rise
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uk-warships-sail-black-sea-may-ukraine-russia-tensions-rise-sunday-times-2021-04-18/
Czechs expel 18 Russians over huge depot explosion in 2014
https://apnews.com/article/czech-republic-russia-andrej-babis-c593f724a16622eb6d0a19bae3d710be
'Forever chemicals,' other pollutants found around the summit of Everest
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/mt-everest-pollution/2021/04/16/7b341ff0-909f-11eb-bb49-5cb2a95f4cec_story.html
Curry gets fouled on the three point review with 3:30 to go in the game but the Celtics get the call challenged successfully
https://streamable.com/w3zgbw
"We will not have a military presence in Afghanistan other than to protect the embassy," Jake Sullivan says, adding the US will "seek to keep a diplomatic presence that does have a security component to ensure our diplomats, development experts can continue to do their work."
https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1383772578989236225
In the case of the FedEx shooter, his family did a painful and courageous thing thing by flagging him to authorities as a danger. Yet even after a gun was confiscated and after he was institutionalized, he purchased two assault weapons, one of which he used in the massacre.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/us/indianapolis-shooting-victims.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-fedex-shooter-legally-bought-guns-shooting-77148598
The Warriors plan to sign Gary Payton II to a second 10-day contract, per source. He was a helpful defensive injection into the rotation last night in Boston.
https://twitter.com/anthonyvslater/status/1383813748310175760
The NBA has fined the San Antonio Spurs $25,000 for violating league's player resting policy.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1383819133192605717
The NBA still has not fined the Lakers (Antony Davis and LeBron can play), Oklahoma (Al Horford), Brooklyn (Kyrie and Harden), Clippers (Kawhi and PG), etc
They're fining teams that are winning games while testing their stars
Substack is an extremist blog of garbage filled with extremist former journalists who were fired because of their racism and antisemitism and misogyny
Hundreds of workers were exposed to extreme levels of lead and other toxins at Gopher Resource. Here's a behind the scenes peek at the daily dangers faced at Florida's only lead smelter.
https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2021/investigations/lead-factory/inside-gopher-smelter-video-photos/
The NBA has instructed teams to be vigilant about the impact of a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial for the death of George Floyd, including the possibility of game postponements, sources told ESPN.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31283169/sources-nba-tells-teams-ready-impact-verdict-derek-chauvin-trial
The "original sin" is NOT slavery, it's Black people refusing to acknowledge the existence of Native Americans and refusing to acknowledge AFRICA is their country and refusing to acknowledge AFRICA started the slave trade enslaved Africans for hundreds of years before the West did. The "original sin" is Black people pretending America belongs to them. NATIVE AMERICANS LIVED IN AMERICA FOR 30,000 YEARS. THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO THEM.
Kevin Durant's injury (left game, reported as thigh contusion)
https://streamable.com/tn0kbs
https://streamable.com/tp5sbo
Randle somehow beats the shot clock with a 3, giving the Knicks an 8-point lead in the final minute of OT
https://streamable.com/mx4384
A Minnesota National Guard and police team were shot at in a drive-by shooting
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/18/us/minnesota-national-guard-police-shooting/index.html
There were 434 mass shootings in 2019 that fit the inclusion criteria of this article, resulting in 517 deaths and 1,643 injuries, for a total of 2,160 victims. Compared to the previous year, there were 111 more incidents.
There were 614 mass shootings in 2020 that fit the inclusion criteria of this article, resulting in 446 deaths and 2,515 injuries, for a total of 3,061 victims. Compared to the previous year, there were 180 more incidents.
As of March 31, 126 mass shootings fit the Mass Shooting Tracker project criterion, leaving 148 people dead and 481 injured, for a total of 629 total victims, some including the shooter(s).
Shane Bieber: 8 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 R (3 ER), 13 K on 104 pitches. Ties Nolan Ryan for most strikeouts in first four starts of a season with 48.
Harden takes up coaching
https://streamable.com/jmo9zc
Meanwhile, Marjorie Taylor Greene raised more money than any non-leadership House member of either party in Q1. Some companies may have cut off the Republicans, but Republicans are learning they can do just fine making up the shortfall with grassroots fundraising thanks to racist antisemitic terrorist Republican voters
https://www.axios.com/grassroots-fundraising-business-republicans-1a90038a-ce98-4524-8d00-6ae3c7046958.html
In 2010, KPN commissioned a risk assessment on Huawei. The findings were so damning that KPN never made them public for fear that the company wouldn't survive.
https://volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/huawei-kon-alle-gesprekken-van-mobiele-kpn-klanten-afluisteren-inclusief-die-van-de-premier~bd1aece1/
You're hideous and entirely unacceptable. The media is supposed to be neutral and report, not hyperpartison and actively "protesting". These people aren't journalists, they're criminals trying to burn America down. They need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. You and your ilk are relentlessly defending CRIMINAL TERRORISTS and pushing endless lies.
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1383862629446262784
Iguodala turns back the clock with thunderous slam
https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=31285006
Marcus Stroman final line- 8.0IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 5K
New York Yankees off to worst start since 1997
Kyle Gibson in his first start of 2021: 1/3 IP, 4H, 3BB, 1K, 5 ER. Kyle Gibson in his three starts since: 21 IP, 14H, 3BB, 17K, 1 ER
Madison Bumgarner against that Nats: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 R (1 ER), 80 pitches, and his first win of the season
Jay Bruce to retire after Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. He is hitting .118 with one homer and three RBIs in 39 plate appearances, and he remained active for Sunday's game. He started the first eight games at first base but just two of the next seven. Bruce has a .244 average with 319 homers and 951 RBIs in 14 major league seasons with Cincinnati (2008-16), the New York Mets (2016-18), Cleveland (2017), Seattle (2019), Philadelphia (2019-20) and the Yankees. "I was so lucky to have set a standard for myself throughout my career that was frankly very good most of the time," he said. "And I don't feel that I'm able to do that, and I think that was the determining factor and in the decision. And I feel good about that decision and I feel thankful honestly to myself that I could be honest enough with myself to understand that it's time for this chapter to close."
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31282887/new-york-yankees-jay-bruce-retire-sunday-game-tampa-bay-rays
About 31 percent of adults in the United States have now been fully vaccinated. Scientists have estimated that 70 to 90 percent of the total population must acquire resistance to the virus to reach herd immunity. But in hundreds of counties around the country, vaccination rates are low, with some even languishing in the teens. The disparity in vaccination rates has so far mainly broken down along political lines. The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020. The phenomenon has left some places with a shortage of supply and others with a glut.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/17/us/vaccine-hesitancy-politics.html
The Miami Heat (29-28) with Jimmy Butler defeat the Brooklyn Nets (38-19), 109 - 107
Tony Snell, with 16 games left in the season, is on pace to record the second ever 50/50/90 season, and maybe even 50/50/100.
In which Jim Acosta describes the fake award that Rick Scott handed to Trump last weekend at Mar-a-Lago as "a bowl for his tears after the election"
https://twitter.com/i/status/1383885601229795334
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1383885601229795334
November 2001
https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1383902876905263112/photo/1
Two blocks from the Federal Reserve, a growing encampment of the homeless grips the economy's most powerful person
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/17/homeless-tent-city-federal-reserve-jerome-powell/
Former President George W. Bush said Sunday he wants Congress to tone down its "harsh rhetoric about immigration" and to pass comprehensive reforms to the system, which he bemoaned he could not get through while president.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/bush-tells-congress-cool-it-harsh-immigration-rhetoric-hopes-set-n1264435
Rays sweep Yankees in the Bronx
John Means vs Rangers: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO
The Pirates have won a game in extra innings for the first time since June 23rd 2019, ending the longest active losing streak in extras
Kyrie Irving was 0/8 when guarded by Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo drops 21 points, 15 boards, and 5 assists against the the Nets, including a game winning jumper at the buzzer
Bam wins it for the Heat at the buzzer
https://streamable.com/m4clv6
The Sacramento Kings (23-34) defeat the Dallas Mavericks (30-26), 121 - 107
#MarsHelicopter
http://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity
https://twitter.com/i/status/1384104815567855626
https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1384104815567855626
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