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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The pace of vaccinations is stepping up in the United States. But one group of holdouts – Republican men – now threatens the collective goal of reaching widespread immunity.

Meanwhile, with his business empire on the ropes and his social media accounts suspended, Donald Trump has more urgent and costly problems to worry about. Since losing the White House, he’s become a magnet for legal actions both civil and criminal.

And lastly, Seattle got sued by big business after passing a measure mandating pandemic hazard pay increases for workers at large grocery chains. Now a federal court has ruled in favor of the city – and those essential workers.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

With the US closing in on President Joe Biden’s goal of injecting one hundred million coronavirus vaccinations, officials announced yesterday the nation is now in position to help supply neighbors Canada and Mexico, the Associated Press reports. The Biden administration announced the outlines of a plan to loan vaccines to Canada and Mexico even as the president announced that the US is on the cusp of meeting his one hundred-day injection goal today. The US is injecting an average of about two point two million doses each day – and the pace of vaccination is likely to dramatically rise later this month in conjunction with an expected surge in supply.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Mississippi on Tuesday joined Alaska in making the vaccines available to all residents age sixteen and older. A number of individual counties, from Arizona to North Carolina, have also beckoned everyone to make appointments. These places offer the rest of the country a glimpse of the future. Some residents are thrilled to have the chance to be inoculated. But many other people are holding back, spotlighting challenges related to equity, access and trust that could complicate the quest to reach the high levels of immunity needed to stop the virus’s spread.

Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Post he has been hearing from colleagues across the country that they are starting to see

appointments go unfilled. Polling suggests rural residents and Republicans are among the least likely to get in line for a coronavirus vaccine. A recent NPR-PBS survey found white Republicans were more hesitant than any other subset of the population. Republican men were especially disinclined, with forty nine percent saying they don’t plan to get vaccinated. What can you say, except stupid is as stupid does?

Trump Drowning In Lawsuits

This update on the legal woes of a certain former Twitter user comes from the Washington Post. The district attorney is sifting through millions of pages of his tax records. The state attorney general has subpoenaed his lawyers, his bankers, his chief financial officer – even one of his sons. And that’s just in New York. Donald Trump is also facing criminal investigations in Georgia and the District of Columbia related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And Trump must defend himself against a growing raft of lawsuits: twenty nine are pending at last count. No charges have been filed against Trump in any of these investigations. The outcome of these lawsuits is uncertain. But the sheer volume of these legal problems indicates that – after a moment of maximum invincibility in the White House – Trump has fallen to a point of historic vulnerability before the law.

The Post identified six ongoing investigations that could involve Trump. Of the investigations, the broadest appear to be two in New York: a criminal probe begun by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Junior in 2018, and a separate civil inquiry begun by state Attorney General Letitia James in 2019. In addition, Trump faces three probes related to his efforts to overturn his loss to President Biden. Two are in Georgia, where Trump, in a phone call, pressured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to let him win. In Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine has also opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s actions on January 6th, when his supporters sacked the Capitol. Among the twenty nine lawsuits Trump is facing, about eighteen result from disputes with his properties. The rest seem to have been brought on by his presidency. This may sound bad, but he’s getting off very, very easy.

Seattle Hazard Pay Upheld

Here’s some news about a legal victory for workers on the left coast. A federal judge has dismissed a grocery industry lawsuit that sought to block Seattle’s new law granting $4- an-hour raises to grocery store workers for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, the Seattle Times reports. The law applies to large grocers, those with more than five hundred employees worldwide and stores larger than ten thousand square feet, in Seattle. It mandates a $4-an-hour pay boost for all workers in retail locations. And that pay boost must remain in effect for as long as Seattle remains in a declared civil emergency.

The City Council passed the wage hike law unanimously in late January, the Times says, after advocacy from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, whose office defended the law, said QUOTE This is a big win for grocery store employees who have been critical and vulnerable frontline workers since the start of the pandemic ENDQUOTE. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Seattle, alleged the city’s law interferes with the collective-bargaining process between grocery stores and unions and also picks winners and losers by singling out large grocery companies. Holmes countered that the law is well within the city’s purview of protecting workers and regulating business.

Other cities, mostly along the West Coast, including Los Angeles, Berkeley and Long Beach, California, have also recently forwarded or approved similar hazard pay boosts for grocery workers, according to the Times. Seattle has made several efforts to boost the pay of lower- wage essential workers who are often far more exposed to the virus than higher-wage office workers, many of whom have shifted to remote work. These are good ideas that more cities should copy, especially now that there’s court precedent behind them.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The Senate approved William Burns yesterday as director of the CIA, the New York Times reports. Burns was approved by unanimous consent in the Senate. A former ambassador in Russia and Jordan and a senior State Department official, Burns, sixty four, is the only career diplomat chosen to lead the CIA. And now he’s just another old white spy.

Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas said he had no apologies after he made what appeared to be a pro-lynching remark during a congressional hearing on combatting anti-Asian American violence, NBC News reports. In a tirade about free speech, Roy said Congress should QUOTE find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree ENDQUOTE. In response, New York Democratic Representative Grace Meng said such rhetoric put a QUOTE a bull's-eye on the back of Asian Americans across this country ENDQUOTE. Indeed.

ProPublica reports that nine months after racial justice protests swept across New York City and videos showed police punching, kicking and trapping demonstrators, the city agency responsible for investigating abuses has revealed the number of officers who have so far faced serious disciplinary charges. Two. One involved an officer who flashed a white power sign, and the other concerned an officer who hit a protester with a baton. Oink, I mean oy.

Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent Covid-19 deniers, has died after a two-week absence from public life that prompted speculation that he had contracted the disease, the Guardian reports. He was sixty one. Magufuli denied the spread of Covid-19 in Tanzania and claimed vaccines were dangerous, suggesting instead that people pray and inhale herb-infused steam. What, no bleach injections? Trust the science!

MAR 19, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn