“Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients – earning some skepticism from Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto. Cavuto asked Carson about the coronavirus vaccine, noting warnings surrounding the Johnson & Johnson shot and questioning how that will impact the rollout plan, especially considering people are already hesitant to get vaccinated. ‘We’ve made enormous progress on the vaccine front,’ said the former neurosurgeon. ‘However, because we’ve allowed politics to be injected into it, I think a lot of people are skeptical about what they hear from the NIH, from the CDC, from various – quote – authorities'” reports Mediaite.

“‘It’s hurting us as a nation,’ he continued. ‘We as a nation, for instance, wanted to be focused only on one thing: vaccinations. There were people telling us, you know, there are other kinds of things that work. Hydroxychloroquine. You know, you look at the Western African countries along the coast. When you go there, you know, you have to take hydroxychloroquine or other antimalarials. Interestingly enough, their instance of Covid-19 is tremendously less than ours. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so.’ Yes, Carson is still pushing hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, even as legitimate vaccines are clearly working to fight the virus. Cavuto quickly refuted Carson’s claim on the drug – citing studies into its effectiveness. ‘Medical experts have looked at that, doctor, as you know, and poo-pooed that connection,’ Cavuto pushed back before trying to shift the focus back to the coronavirus vaccine.”

Kansas City Star: “In a near-unanimous vote and for only the second time in its history, the Missouri House of Representatives on Wednesday expelled one of its own. Rep. Rick Roeber, the Lee’s Summit Republican who a House committee found was credibly accused of sexually and physically abusing his children, was removed from office by a vote of 153 in favor to one present. House GOP leaders signaled the extraordinary move last week when members rejected Roeber’s attempts to resign as the House Ethics committee investigation into the abuse accusations neared its end.”

National Zero’s twitter feed – the one we use to find stupid shit posted by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Ted Cruz, and Matt Gaetz, etc – has seen a curious spike in soccer related news these last few days. Apparently the gist is that the really good teams like Manchester, Madrid, Milan, the other Manchester, the other Madrid, and the other Milan, among others, want to have their own separate league so they don’t have to play shitty teams.

This raises a lot of questions, like what the name of the current league is supposed to be, why they don’t have playoffs or a Super Bowl, what the fuck a “Juventus” is, why the crowd still cheers when the score is 0-0 after a half hour of playing, and why the teams don’t have any names.

That last one bothers me. Why the hell is Chelsea just “Chelsea” and not the “Chelsea Cobras” or something? You’d think a sports franchise worth billions would want to create even more merchandising opportunities than just the track jackets that their fans wear when stabbing the other teams’ fans with broken bottles. Why not a cuddly stuffed blue and yellow snake to draw younger fans into watching the game? These teams need names and they need them now.

In conclusion, European soccer is weird and too hard to follow. They should put the games on at 8pm EDT on Sunday nights if they want an American audience to watch and get into it.

https://youtu.be/mjZ47Wb17sw

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the United States has achieved his goal of administering 200 million coronavirus vaccines within his first 100 days in office.  The goal was originally set at 100 million doses administered, which was reached on March 18th, so Biden pushed for the larger target.  Biden’s 100th day in office will be April 30th.

Biden also noted in his remarks that he wants business to provide paid time off to employees so they can go get their vaccinations, a step that would allow people to be in safer workplaces.

Just know, I will ALWAYS #BackTheBlue.

Democrats want to disarm the populace and defund the police.

That’s an anarchist’s dream!

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 21, 2021

Police in Hong Kong arrested a Chinese man who bilked a 90-year-old woman out of more than US$32 million ($247 million in local Hong Kong currency) by claiming that she was the victim of an identity theft ring in mainland China, CNN reports.

The woman contacted Hong Kong police on March 2nd and told them that she had made ten separate payments to the scammers.  One of the conmen, a 19-year-old man, claimed to be with the mainland Chinese police and had visited the woman, giving her a cell phone which he told her was only to be used to contact them.

The conmen told the woman that she needed to make the transfers to two separate bank accounts in order for the fake police track the purported scammers.  She made the transactions as instructed.

The actual police arrested the 19-year-old man March 20th.  They have not been able to recover the woman’s money.

Axios: “With his mandate to form a government due to expire in two weeks, and his rivals’ efforts to form an alternative coalition gaining momentum, Netanyahu has a new strategy: changing the election rules. If Netanyahu can’t form a coalition by May 4, he will face the real danger of losing the prime minister’s post for the first time in 12 years. The mandate would likely pass to opposition leader Yair Lapid, who would have 28 days to try to form a unity government with Naftali Bennett, the right-wing kingmaker whom both sides have been courting. Netanyahu’s only path to a majority would require him to bring in the Islamist Ra’am party, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“But he has been unable to convince the radical right-wing Religious Zionism party, which includes Jewish supremacists, to join a government supported by Ra’am. Right now, he appears stuck. Worse, Netanyahu lost a crucial vote on Monday in the Knesset on the formation of the parliamentary committee that will control the Knesset agenda. While Bennett voted with Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, Lapid and another right-wing Netanyahu rival, Gideon Sa’ar, convinced Ra’am to vote with the anti-Netanyahu bloc, giving them a majority. The loss was a major blow for Netanyahu and his Likud party. ‘We are aware we are probably going to be in the opposition soon. Netanyahu will be the head of the opposition,’ Likud whip Miki Zohar said after the vote.”

A 30-year-old California woman has been charged with the murders of her three children, aged three or younger, after being arrested for carjacking a motorist in an escape attempt, NBC News reports.

Liliana Carrillo of Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles had been in custody since April 10th, when she was detained after pulling a driver from a car in Bakersfield.  The children’s grandmother found the bodies of the children–daughters Joanna, 3 years old, and Sierra, 6 months; and her son, Terry, 2 years old, when she went to the family’s apartment to check on the family.

Carrillo is charged with using a knife as a deadly weapon in relation to her youngest child, but she claimed in a jailhouse interview that she drowned her children to avoid further abuse.  “I wasn’t about to hand my children off to be further abused,” she said, telling the outlet that she killed them “softly.”

“Our hearts go out to the family of these children who are coping with this tremendous loss,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “My office has reached out to the survivors to offer trauma-informed services during these incredibly difficult times.”

“In a memo on DC statehood, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise argues against it based on DC’s crime rate, claiming the district ‘can’t perform basic governmental duties like protecting its residents from criminals’… Scalise also argues the district is ‘not ready for statehood’ because it ‘relies heavily on Congress to ensure its financial solvency, and local leaders are not ready for Congress to rescind funding for local projects and initiatives'” reports Forbes’ Andrew Solender.

The Indonesian government reports that one of its submarines is missing and it’s undertaking a search-and-rescue mission north of the island of Bali, the Associated Press reports.

One of five diesel-powered submarines in the Indonesian Navy, the KRI Nanggala 402, with 53 submariners on board, disappeared approximately 60 miles north of Bali.  The Indonesians have asked for assistance in the search from Australia and Singapore, whose ships typically operate in the region.

The German-built Cakra-class submarine was reportedly participating in a torpedo test at the time of its disappearance.  It has been in operation since 1981.

“As Rep. Matt Gaetz combats allegations that he was involved in a sex ring, the Florida Republican’s latest campaign finance report reflects a public relations scramble that began even before he acknowledged being the focus of a federal investigation. The filing, which covers the three months between January and March, shows that Gaetz has incurred unprecedented fundraising expenses during a typically quiet period. In that time, Gaetz dropped six figures on a direct mail blitz, shelling out more for fundraising services than he did in all of 2020. Gaetz also paid $5,000 in “strategic consulting” fees to notorious political operative Roger Stone, and he gave money to a number of GOP Florida state lawmakers that he’s never supported before. The report also indicates that Gaetz – who cites his lack of friends in Washington as a point of pride – may be increasingly isolated; he’s received no contributions from his GOP colleagues.”

“More than anything, the filing reflects a concerted effort to bolster support ahead of the creeping shadow of the investigation. Gaetz has spent roughly $170,000 on direct mail outreach this year, $116,543 of it on one day – March 31. The previous day, The New York Times broke the news that the Justice Department was looking into whether the third-term congressman had sex with a 17-year-old and paid for her travel, a possible violation of federal sex-trafficking laws. Gaetz has also invested heavily in fundraising, paying Nevada-based Red Rock Strategies nearly $160,000 for fundraising consulting. That’s roughly $10,000 more than the campaign spent on fundraising services in 2019 and 2020 combined, according to The Daily Beast’s analysis of filings in the FEC database” – Daily Beast.

A federal judge cited an Easter statement by Donald Trump as one basis to deny bail to one of the domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol January 6th, saying that it demonstrates a continued risk to the nation posed by the insurrectionists.

NBC reporter Scott MacFarlane tweeted an order by US District Court judge Emmet Sullivan in which Sullivan quoted a statement by Trump, saying that it shows that the people supporting Trump’s debunked view of election fraud are still a threat.

“Happy Easter to ALL, including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election and want to destroy our Country!” Trump’s April 4th statement read.

AP: “Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce that the Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after the guilty verdict in George Floyd’s death, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death last May, setting off a wave of relief but also sadness across the country. The Black man’s death prompted months of mass protests against policing in the U.S.”

“The Justice Department is already investigating whether the officers involved in Floyd’s death violated Floyd’s civil rights. The investigation announced Wednesday is known as a ‘pattern or practice’ and will be a more sweeping probe of the entire department and may result in major changes to policing there, the official said. The official had direct knowledge of the matter but was not authorized to speak publicly about the upcoming announcement, planned for Wednesday morning. The investigation will examine practices used by police and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. It will also look into the department’s handling of misconduct allegations among other things, the person said. It’s unclear whether the years under investigation will begin when Floyd died or before. The Justice Department had no comment. The decision comes as President Joe Biden has promised his administration would not rest following the jury’s verdict in the case. In a Tuesday evening speech, he said much more needed to be done.”

“Brazil’s government, widely criticized by environmental groups as a negligent steward of the Amazon rainforest, has made an audacious offer to the Biden administration: Provide $1 billion and President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will reduce deforestation by 40%. The proposal was made as the Brazilian president prepares for a virtual environmental summit with roughly 40 heads of state hosted Thursday and Friday by President Biden, who has made battling climate change a centerpiece of his administration. European governments and activists have publicly expressed misgivings with Mr. Bolsonaro’s proposals on the environment because he has trimmed funds for environmental protection agencies amid an increase in deforestation.”

“But supported by some influential scholars and Amazon dwellers, Mr. Bolsonaro argues that the only way to save the jungle is through carbon credits and by financing sustainable economic activities so people can make a living from fish farming, cacao production and other activities that don’t require the razing of trees. The theme has been central to talks Brazil’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, said he has had in recent weeks with Biden administration climate officials. The request is likely just among the first of many similar to follow as developing nations start to negotiate with industrialized countries about who pays for costly programs to address climate change. This fall, the nations of the world are to set new, more ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and developing countries want their richer peers to make good on pledges from the original Paris climate negotiations to mobilize $100 billion a year in public and private financing for them” – Wall Street Journal.

Axios: “Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is seriously considering running for president in 2024, three people familiar with his thinking tell Axios. While Christie isn’t saying anything publicly about his thinking – besides telling radio host Hugh Hewitt he’s not ruling it out – people close to him have an early sense of the rationale and outlines of a potential candidacy. Absent another run by former President Trump, the field would be wide open.”

“Christie, whose 2016 bid for the nomination was short-lived, has told friends that he’d be the only person in the 2024 field with executive experience who has run a presidential race before. That’s a clear shot at one potential rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s enjoying a surge of popularity from Republican voters for his handling of COVID-19 and his sparring with the media but hasn’t yet endured the scrutiny of a presidential bid. Christie could run on a reputation for toughness that appeals to Trump’s base minus the former president’s recklessness, said one source. Another said he has a mix of combativeness and charisma that Republicans are looking for to take on President Biden and Democrats. He has potential crossover appeal to blue-collar and suburban right-of-center voters. And his experience as a former federal prosecutor could help distinguish him in debates and prepare for a primary contest in which there may be less of a premium on ad-libbing than in 2016.”

The Chauvin guilty verdicts are the first step, but they are not the end.

That’s the overarching message you’re hearing from media, from rational political figures and from cultural leaders.  (Fox News is calling this “mob justice” that maybe might’ve come to the right verdict but for very, very bad reasons, they say.  More on that in a different piece.)  George Floyd will not be brought back, and neither will the countless people, particularly people of color, killed by police over decades.  These people and their families saw officers held to a lower standard of justice:  the level of proof to convict a police officer has incredibly high.

According to a 2019 study by Bowling Green State University, approximately 15,000 people were killed in shootings by on-duty police officers between 2005-2019.  Of those cases, only 104 case led to one or more officer being charged with murder or manslaughter.  That’s a rate of 0.72% of cases that led to charges.  Only 35 of those cases ended with convictions; 45 were acquitted; and 24 cases were still pending at the time the paper was published.

More shockingly, of the 104 cases brought against officers, only 33 involved victims who were armed. Of the 35 convictions, 25 were for shootings when the victims were unarmed.

A 35-year-old White woman from Greenville, North Carolina has been charged with three counts of assault after she drove her car onto a yard where three Black teens were playing basketball, hitting at least one of them, the Associated Press reports.

Daina Renee Forrest had been circling the neighborhood and threatening the boys with a knife as she drove by.  After one of the circuits, she veered her car up onto the lawn and drove straight into the boys.  One boy was injured severely enough to be taken to the hospital, and he has subsequently been released.

Police called to the scene found damage to Forrest’s car consistent with hitting a person.  They also found crack cocaine, marijuana and a knife inside the car.  Local officials say they do not believe the incident was prompted by race.