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Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative May 2021 news and viewsMay 13
Top Headlines
New York Times, ‘A Perpetual Motion Machine’: How Disinformation Drives Voting Laws- Washington Post, Pentagon chief under Trump attributes Capitol breach to ‘organized conspiracy’
- Washington Post, Analysis: McCarthy pushes out Liz Cheney, then pushes bipartisanship at the White House, Paul Kane
- HuffPost, Israel Steps Up Gaza Offensive, Kills Senior Hamas Figures
- New York Times, Live Updates: Jews and Arabs Clash in Israel’s Streets as Civil Unrest Spreads
New York Times, News Analysis: Amid the Shooting, Netanyahu’s Foes See an Opening, and Risks, Isabel Kershner
Virus Victims, Responses
- New York Times, Live Updates: Drive to Vaccinate Children Gathers Speed in U.S.
New York Times, President of Key Teachers’ Union Shares Plea: ‘Schools Must Be Open’ in Fall- Washington Post, 154 million vaccinated
- Worldometer, World & U.S. Coronavirus Case Totals, U.S. Deaths: 597,785
Jan. 6 Capitol Riot, Insurrection
- Washington Post, Alleged Capitol rioter told FBI he was allowed to breach building because he pays his taxes, feds say
Washington Post, For GOP, the situation with Rep. Liz Cheney was, in a word, unspeakable, Ben Terris- Washington Post, ‘Normal tourist visit’: Republicans recast deadly Jan. 6 attack on Capitol by pro-Trump mob
- Washington Post, Rep. Greene accosts Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, prompting N.Y. lawmaker to raise security concerns
U.S. Politics, Governance
Washington Post, Biden meets with congressional leaders on a day of turmoil- Washington Post, Analysis: Trump’s defense secretary suddenly backs off blaming him for Capitol riot, Aaron Blake
- Washington Post, Biden signs executive order designed to strengthen federal digital defenses
U.S. Economy, Security Threats
- Washington Post, Panic buying hits Southeast as pipeline resumes operations
- Washington Post, Economic tremors hit White House at crucial moment for Biden policy agenda
- Washington Post, Urban heat waves, loss of Alaskan permafrost signal intensifying climate change, EPA finds in report delayed by Trump officials
- Washington Post, Opinion: The GOP’s past election lies led to Trump’s big one, E.J. Dionne Jr.
U.S. Crime, Courts
- Washington Post, Derek Chauvin qualifies for a longer sentence in George Floyd’s murder, judge rules
- Washington Post, Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn expected to answer House committee questions ‘as soon as possible,’
Washington Post, You’re the monster that no one sees coming’
World News
- Washington Post, In Iraq, powerful militias assassinate protesters with impunity,
- Washington Post, Israel-Hamas fighting tests Biden, exposes Democratic rifts
- Washington Post, Mysterious, devastating brain disorder hits dozens in Canadian province
Washington Post, Their parents were dying of covid in India. For 12 frantic days, two sisters tried to save them
Top Stories
New York Times, ‘A Perpetual Motion Machine’: How Disinformation Drives Voting Laws, Maggie Astor, May 13, 2021. Former President Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud laid the foundation for numerous Republican-led bills pushing more restrictive voter rules.Former President Donald J. Trump’s monthslong campaign to delegitimize the 2020 election didn’t overturn the results. But his unfounded claims gutted his supporters’ trust in the electoral system, laying the foundation for numerous Republican-led bills pushing more restrictive voter rules.
The bills demonstrate how disinformation can take on a life of its own, forming a feedback loop that shapes policy for years to come. When promoted with sufficient intensity, falsehoods — whether about election security or the coronavirus or other topics — can shape voters’ attitudes toward policies, and lawmakers can cite those attitudes as the basis for major changes.
The embrace of the falsehoods also showcases the continuing power of Mr. Trump inside the Republican Party, which has widely adopted and weaponized his election claims. Many Republicans, eager to gain his support, have raced to champion the new voting laws. Those who have stood up to his falsehoods have paid the price. Representative Liz Cheney was ousted from her House leadership post on Wednesday after repudiating what she called the “big lie.”
Washington Post, Pentagon chief under Trump attributes Capitol breach to ‘organized conspiracy,’ Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett, May 13, 2021 (print ed.). The assessment was a stark departure from Christopher Miller’s previous public statements about what led to the Jan. 6 assault on Congress.Christopher C. Miller, right, the former senior Trump administration official who presided over the Pentagon’s Capitol-riot response, told lawmakers Wednesday that he believed “an organized conspiracy
with assault elements in place” orchestrated the Jan. 6 insurrection.The assessment — a departure from Miller’s previous public statements about what led to the assault on Congress — set off a political mudfight, as Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee accused the former acting defense secretary of “incompetence,” and being “AWOL” and “disloyal to the country,” while Republicans accused their counterparts of harassing the hearing’s witnesses to further what they characterized as a partisan investigation.
Wednesday’s hearing marked the first time Miller has testified publicly before a congressional committee investigating the insurrection, which he described as “an act of terrorism.” His
highly anticipated testimony was viewed as an opportunity for congressional investigators to fill in key gaps in their understanding of the security lapses that occurred Jan. 6, and to seek accountability for an hours-long delay before armed National Guard personnel responded to lawmakers’ frantic pleas for help. But instead, Miller offered defiance in the face of Democrats’ questions, refusing to share fault for the failures that transpired — and blaming officials on Capitol Hill for never sending the Pentagon a “valid request.”“If you were the effing cavalry, you never showed up. You never got there on time, and we were exposed because of this,” Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) told Miller after nearly five hours of questioning Wednesday. “You lost, and you don’t have the intestinal fortitude to own up to your responsibility.”
Miller’s sparring with the committee overshadowed the testimony of the hearing’s two other witnesses, D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III and Jeffrey Rosen, Trump’s acting attorney general at the time of the attack.
But Rosen, also making his first public appearance before a congressional committee investigating the riot, did not escape scrutiny, as Democrats scoffed at his claims the Justice Department engaged in “very robust intelligence-sharing” with federal and local partners ahead of the violence.
Washington Post, Analysis: McCarthy pushes out Liz Cheney, then pushes bipartisanship at the White House, Paul Kane, May 13, 2021 (print ed.). House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday took a head-spinning tour through Washington.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday took a head-spinning tour through Washington.
First, he oversaw the roughly 20-minute meeting of House Republicans in which, by a simple voice vote after virtually no debate, they ejected Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) from her position as GOP conference chair, the No. 3 post in McCarthy’s team.
Her crime? Continually speaking the truth that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election and that the former president’s claims of a stolen election were unfounded.On Jan. 6, almost two-thirds of House Republicans voted against certifying Biden’s victory, including McCarthy, effectively embracing Trump’s violent rhetoric and making Cheney’s comments uncomfortable, at the least.
About 90 minutes after Cheney’s ouster was complete, McCarthy sat down in the Oval Office with President Biden and three other congressional leaders. It was McCarthy’s first meeting with Biden after months of publicly complaining that he hadn’t been invited to an in-person huddle — even though he declined to vote to certify the new president’s election.
HuffPost, Israel Steps Up Gaza Offensive, Kills Senior Hamas Figures, Fares Akram and Josef Federman, May 13, 2021 Israel carried out an intense barrage of airstrikes just after sunrise, striking dozens of targets in several minutes that set off bone-rattling explosions across Gaza.New York Times, Live Updates: Jews and Arabs Clash in Israel’s Streets as Civil Unrest Spreads, Staff Reports, Hundreds of people have been arrested on rioting charges and the city of Lod was placed on lockdown amid fighting between mobs of Jews and Arabs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed for calm as Palestinians blamed the unrest on police brutality. Here’s the latest on the crisis.New York Times, News Analysis: Amid the Shooting, Netanyahu’s Foes See an Opening, and Risks, Isabel Kershner, Updated May 13, 2021. Israeli politicians often close ranks in a crisis, but this time the prime minister’s enemies, trying to form a government and oust him, are blaming the violence on himVirus Victims, Responses
New York Times, Live Updates: Drive to Vaccinate Children Gathers Speed in U.S., Staff Reports, May 13, 2021. The C.D.C.’s authorization for 12- to 15-year-olds cleared the way for the world’s first mass inoculation effort in youngsters. Desperate for ...
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