Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Vaccinations and insurrection

[Brexiter]

NBC News:

McCarthy opposes bipartisan commission to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol attack

The House is set to vote on the measure to create the panel Wednesday. McCarthy argued that multiple investigations into the riot already exist.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the vote will move forward.

"I am very pleased that we have a bipartisan bill to come to the floor," the California Democrat told NBC News, calling it "disappointing but not surprising that the cowardice on the part of some on the Republican side — not to want to find the truth."

Nancy Pelosi called McCarthy’s bluff (he assumed she would not compromise) and now he’s stuck.

So, to review: McCarthy bolts from Katko-negotiated Jan. 6 bill. House GOP expects upwards of 20 defections when bill gets to the floor. McConnell now says he’s undecided and signals he wants to look at it more.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 18, 2021

TPM:

‘I’m Pissed, To Be Honest’: Dem Reacts To McCarthy Bombshell Dropped On Jan. 6 Commission Deal

McGovern ticked through the concerns the bipartisan team of House Homeland Security committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and ranking member John Katko (R-NY) had addressed: equal composition of commissioners chosen by both parties, a cooperative approach to subpoenas.

“What’s frustrating to me is that this does not seem to be a disagreement over substance or policy,” he said. “I do think this is an issue of character and fitness to lead.”

McGovern got angrier as he recalled being the last person to leave the House floor on January 6, watching rioters smash the windows on the chamber doors “with hate in their eyes.” He relayed conversations with Capitol employees still “traumatized” from the violent attack on their workplace.

“I assume what happened is that Trump got wind of what we were doing and called up the minority leader and said ‘I don’t like it,’” McGovern said with disgust.

It’s quite possible that the 1/6 Commission will be the least of Trump’s problems this year. https://t.co/o9QZofLGxM

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) May 19, 2021

Amanda Carpenter/Bulwark:

Why America Needs a January 6 Commission

Our last best hope for a baseline of truth.

Everyone knows what happened on January 6, 2021: The United States Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who hoped to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Explaining why it happened is much harder, which is why America needs a January 6 Commission.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy announced his opposition to such an investigation on Tuesday. He is concerned that a 1/6 commission would be “duplicative” of current law enforcement efforts and “potentially counterproductive.” This is nonsense. To date, at least 440 individuals have been arrested on charges related to the insurrection. Earlier this year Donald Trump was impeached by the House for his role in inciting the riot. Several congressional committees have looked at (or are currently looking at) various security and enforcement issues related to the attack.

None of these efforts, however, has universal jurisdiction to comprehensively evaluate the attack from a 360-degree perspective. And this full and complete picture is exactly the information that must be collected and made publicly available if future attacks on our elections—both in terms of disinformation and physical force—are to be prevented.

Don't forget. NY DA has Trump's tax returns. He lost his fight to keep them secret in the Supreme Court 9-0.

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) May 19, 2021

NY Times:

‘It’s the vaccinations’: Virus cases drop significantly in the Northeast.

States in the U.S. Northeast, after experiencing spikes in coronavirus infections earlier this year, are reporting significant drops in cases and hospitalizations.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have all reported many fewer cases in recent weeks as more people receive vaccinations. New York and New Jersey have also seen steady declines in cases after struggling to contain the virus earlier this spring.

Every Clinton '16 state has vaccinated at least half of its population, except Nevada; every Trump '16 state has vaccinated less than half, except Pennsylvaniahttps://t.co/iZAJepdUhs pic.twitter.com/wKSBebzahC

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) May 17, 2021

Sema Sgaier/NY Times:

Meet the Four Kinds of People Holding Us Back From Full Vaccination

The conventional approach to understanding whether someone will get vaccinated is asking people how likely they are to get the vaccine and then building a demographic profile based on their answers: Black, white, Latinx, Republican, Democrat. But this process isn’t enough: Just knowing that Republicans are less likely to get vaccinated doesn’t tell us how to get them vaccinated. It’s more important to understand why people are still holding out, where those people live and how to reach them.

Why are people where you live still not getting vaccinated? Select your state below.

Things are so bad we’ve reached the point where Republicans won’t agree to investigate the Jan. 6th insurrection—America’s first real attempted coup. The GOP fears (and knows) what a commission would find—more traitors to the Nation in their own Capitol Hill ranks. #January6th

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) May 18, 2021

NY Times:

When Might a Majority of People Be Vaccinated?

Some experts have estimated that 70 to 90 percent of the total population — adults and children — needs to acquire resistance to the coronavirus to reach herd immunity, when transmission of the virus substantially slows because enough people have been protected through infection or vaccination.

A number of factors will determine how quickly this threshold is met, especially the pace at which newly vaccinated people join those who are immune after past infections. But the presence of more transmissible virus variants could complicate that progress. And children, who aren’t yet eligible, may be key to reaching herd immunity, experts say.

The projection below only shows the share of the total population with at least one shot based on the current rate of newly vaccinated people, but it provides a rough indication of when the virus’s spread could begin to stall.

62 House Republicans vote against bill to combat hate crimes against Asian-Americans. It passed 364-62. The bill passed the Senate weeks ago with just Josh Hawley voting against it

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 18, 2021

Geoffrey Skelley/FiveThirtyEight:

How The Republican Push To Restrict Voting Could Affect Our Elections

Understanding how new voting restrictions will influence our elections is difficult. Political science hasn’t found that these types of laws have that big of an effect, at least as individual measures. But, while laws that make it more taxing to vote are not new, the current onslaught of voting restrictions and changes to how elections will be administered is not something we’ve grappled with on this scale. Additionally, there is their nakedly partisan origins — nearly 90 percent of the voting laws proposed or enacted in 2021 were sponsored primarily or entirely by Republican legislators — and the fact that these laws are likely to have a greater impact on Black and brown voters, who are less likely to vote Republican.

Republican efforts to pass new voter restrictions have been so aggressive and widespread that their effects are hard to predict. Elections, moreover, don’t run themselves; they’re run by people. And these new laws point to an even more troubling problem that threatens to undermine our democracy: the GOP’s eroding commitment to democratic values, like free and fair elections. In many ways, the most concerning change our elections face may not be any one law, but rather the GOP’s increased willingness to take such anti-democratic actions.

Public Religion Research Institute poll clearly identifies ground zero for Donald Trump's election lie was the 2020 election stolen from Trump? white evangelicals: 61% yes everyone else: 24% yes

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 17, 2021

Susanna Rustin/Guardian:

How we talk about the climate crisis is increasingly crucial to tackling it

People need to know what is happening to glaciers, forests and endangered species, and what is being done about this. But information requires interpretation. And while editorial judgments influence the way that all subjects are covered, storytelling about the climate emergency is particularly fraught.

These tensions are nothing new. For several decades, a disinformation campaign led by fossil fuel companies and their allies meant that the overwhelming scientific consensus about the risks of global heating was obscured. The BBC, among other organisations, mistakenly attempted to “balance” the warnings about humanity’s worsening predicament with lies. Greens of all shades were rightly enraged.

This phase of climate communication led to enormously harmful delays. But the disagreements did not end when the global warming deniers were forced to retreat. Instead, new divisions have either appeared or become more obvious: while those on the left back strong action by governments, those on the right put more emphasis on markets and individuals.

But there is another dimension to the controversy over climate communication. This is an argument as much about mood as about content. At its heart is the question: how “depressing” or “hopeful” should we be?

In case you missed it: New survey data shows America's news media divide extends to faith groups as well —> https://t.co/uJ0znSns3u pic.twitter.com/G5tHHCkGq6

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) May 15, 2021

Summer Concepcion/TPM:

5 Takeaways From Cheney’s Media Blitz Days After Ouster From GOP Leadership

Cheney takes aim at McCarthy and Stefanik for peddling Trump’s election fraud falsehoods​

Asked whether both McCarthy and Stefanik are complicit in pushing the big lie that Trump continues to espouse, Cheney unequivocally agreed that they are.

“And I’m not willing to do that,” Cheney said. “You know, I think that there are some things that have to be bigger than party, that have to be bigger than partisanship. Our oath to the Constitution is one of those.”

After saying that she has worked in countries where a peaceful transition of power does not occur, Cheney argued that Trump’s continued attacks on the Constitution and the rule of law is “dangerous” and that lawmakers are obligated to stand up against that.

Dems hold Scranton area seat that had been trending R, Black progressive unseats mayor of Pittsburgh, Krasner looking solid in Philadelphia. Not much sign of voter backlash after lots of speculation that it was coming. https://t.co/iXzB66vxIC

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) May 19, 2021