Political Wire

Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 187

Bad Instincts

A new episode of Trial Balloon just dropped for Political Wire members. Log in or become a member

Trial Balloon · Ep. 187: Bad Instincts

The U.S. Needs a Covid-19 Commission

May 5, 2022 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Bernstein: “Depending on who is doing the counting, the U.S. either just has or is about to hit a milestone: 1 million Covid-19 deaths.”

“This seems like as good a time as any for Congress to put together a serious commission focused on what went right, what went wrong and what needs to change about the way the country handles pandemics. It’s going to be hard to do, because the current presidential administration isn’t going to want a thorough examination of its mistakes and the previous administration is hostile to the whole concept of oversight, accountability, transparency, and, for that matter, professionalism in government.”

“So it’s probably up to a bipartisan group in Congress to take the initiative.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

May 5, 2022 at 10:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If men could get pregnant, this wouldn’t even be a conversation. This decision isn’t about strengthening families — it’s about extremism. It’s about control.”

— California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), on Twitter, defending abortion rights.

Democrats Hope Abortion Rights Will Jolt State Races

May 5, 2022 at 10:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade has jolted the battle for control of state legislatures, where the next stage of the struggle over abortion rights is likely to play out,” the New York Times reports.

China Bolts Residents Into Their Homes

May 5, 2022 at 10:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“China’s fight against Covid reached new extremes after officials in the northern Hebei province were shown sealing residents’ doors with wires and bolts to prevent them from going outside,” the Telegraph reports.

“Covid workers used wires to barricade doors and installed iron bolts on the floors in order to prevent residents from leaving their homes… The measures applied to those who refused to voluntarily hand over their apartment keys so they could be locked in from the outside.”

The South China Morning Post has video of iron bolts being installed on the outside of apartment doors.

Nearly 15 Million Have Died During Pandemic

May 5, 2022 at 10:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The WHO estimates that there have been 14.9 million “excess deaths” associated directly or indirectly with the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide.

CNN: “There were 5.4 million Covid-19 deaths reported to WHO during that timeframe, resulting in an excess mortality estimate of 9.5 million more deaths than what was reported.”

Democratic Leader Defends Antiabortion Lawmaker

May 5, 2022 at 10:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) “charged into a raging national firestorm over abortion rights Wednesday as he visited Texas to campaign with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), a rare Democrat who opposes the practice, in his hotly contested primary runoff,” the Texas Tribune reports.

Said Clyburn: “We have a big-tent party, and if we’re gonna be a big-tent party, we got to be a big-tent party. I don’t believe we ought to have a litmus test in the Democratic Party. I think we have to bring as many people into the party as we possibly can.”

GOP Candidate Abruptly Ends Interview Over Capitol Riot

May 5, 2022 at 10:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano (R) abruptly ended an interview with Delaware Valley Journal, “angry over questions about his participation in a rally linked to QAnon conspiracy advocates.”

He also “objected to questions about his participation in the infamous January 6 protest that preceded the riot at the U.S. Capitol. More than 750 people have been arrested for their role in the assault on the Capitol building.”

Said Mastriano: “I resent the fact that you want to castigate anyone who went down to Washington D.C. on January 6th as some kind of enemy of the public. That is dangerous. You’re talking like an East German there.”

Satanic Temple Asks Boston to Fly Its Flag

May 5, 2022 at 9:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Satanic Temple in Massachusetts is requesting that Boston fly its flag, after the Supreme Court ruled this week that the city had violated the First Amendment rights of a Christian group when it denied them flying their flag outside of City Hall,” CNN reports.

Biden Plans to Refill Emergency Oil Reserve

May 5, 2022 at 9:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Biden administration plans to seek bids this fall to buy 60 million barrels of crude oil as the first step in a years-long process aimed at replenishing America’s emergency oil reserve,” CNN reports.

“This would mark the first time since the early 2000s that the Energy Department has acquired large quantities of oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency supply of oil on the planet.”

China Competitiveness Bill Goes to Conference

May 5, 2022 at 9:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “It took more than seven hours of votes on-binding motions, but the Senate appointed 26 members to resolve differences between the House and Senate U.S.-China competitiveness bills shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday. It’s a significant step forward on a bill that’s more than a year in the making.”

“We’ll see how long the next steps take. There are 26 senators and more than 80 House members involved in these formal talks, so that’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen.“

Toomey ‘Skeptical’ He Can Support Manchin Climate Plan

May 5, 2022 at 9:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said he’s “deeply skeptical” that Sen. Joe Manchin’s bipartisan energy and climate talks will result in anything he can support, Politico reports.

Number Collecting Jobless Aid Fell to 50-Year Low

May 5, 2022 at 8:53 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week but the total number of people collecting jobless aid is at its lowest level in more than 50 years,” the AP reports.

Justin Trudeau Accused of Using a Bad Word

May 5, 2022 at 8:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was accused by Conservatives of dropping the “F-bomb” during the question period in the House of Commons, the CBC reports.

CIA Instructs Russians on How to Share Secrets

May 5, 2022 at 8:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “On Monday, the CIA published instructions for how Russians can covertly volunteer information using an encrypted conduit to the agency’s website. The hope is to attract intelligence — and potentially gain more access to official Russian secrets — from disaffected people who have been trying to contact the CIA since the war began.”

“To ensure the would-be informants are not caught by Russian state security, the CIA spelled out detailed Russian-language instructions in three social media posts on how to use the Tor Internet browser, which lets users move online anonymously, as well as virtual private networks, or VPNs. The steps will open a dedicated channel to the CIA that is more secure than navigating to the agency using an ordinary Web browser or Internet connection.”

Remote Learning Was a Catastrophic Failure

May 5, 2022 at 8:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Leonhardt: “When Covid-19 began to sweep across the country in March 2020, schools in every state closed their doors. Remote instruction effectively became a national policy for the rest of that spring.”

“A few months later, however, school districts began to make different decisions about whether to reopen. Across much of the South and the Great Plains as well as some pockets of the Northeast, schools resumed in-person classes in the fall of 2020. Across much of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast, school buildings stayed closed and classes remained online for months.”

“These differences created a huge experiment, testing how well remote learning worked during the pandemic. Academic researchers have since been studying the subject, and they have come to a consistent conclusion: Remote learning was a failure.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

May 5, 2022 at 8:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans are going to be in a very tough place right now. They have to defend something that Republicans said would never happen. I think this is a very bad issue for them.”

— Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), quoted by Politico, on the likely forthcoming Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Wall Street Bonuses Expected to Fall

May 5, 2022 at 7:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bonuses on Wall Street will be lower this year, according to a closely watched early projection released this morning, Axios reports.

Howard Dean Hopes Trump Is the GOP Nominee

May 5, 2022 at 7:54 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former DNC chairman Howard Dean told MSNBC that he hopes Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

Said Dean: “He is incredibly divisive, he exhausts people, he’s in deep criminal trouble and it’s going to take a long time apparently before that gets sorted out.”

He added: “I also think his brand is wrecked.”