Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Democrats are once again pushing for stricter gun control after yet another mass shooting. President Joe Biden lowered the White House flags to half-staff in honor of the ten people killed in Boulder, Colorado.

Meanwhile, an oversight panel is accusing AstraZenica of cherry-picking data to make its coronavirus vaccine seem more effective. Experts worry the news will decrease public confidence in the vaccination effort – in which case the company must bear the blame.

And lastly, the Biden administration wants to fund its plans for infrastructure and social programs with new taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans. Trust us, they can afford it.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

President Biden yesterday called for tightening gun control laws in the wake of a mass shooting Monday at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, less than a week after eight people were killed during a shooting spree in Atlanta, NBC News reports. Speaking at the White House, Biden suggested that he may take executive action on gun violence. He called for a ban of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. And he called on the Senate to immediately pass two bills the House recently approved that change background check laws.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to hold votes on the House-passed measures, but does not appear to have the support of at least ten Republicans to avoid the filibuster, according to NBC. Without sixty votes in the Senate, gun control measures are likely to fuel calls by some Democrats to nix the filibuster. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy noted the popularity of extending background checks, and said, "Democracy dies when things that have the majority of support in Congress, the support of the president and ninety percent public support can't become a law."

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that police identified Monday’s twenty one-year-old rifle-wielding suspect as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. He was shot in the leg during the attack and remained in the hospital yesterday morning. He was charged with ten counts of murder in the first degree, though officials offered no details on a suspected motive. What’s worse, according to the New York Times: the city of Boulder enacted bans on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines in 2018, but a state district court judge ruled this month that Boulder could not enforce the bans. Police said the killer used an AR-15-type rifle, a kind of weapon that the city ordinances were intended to restrict.

AstraZenica Fudged Vaccine Data

Well this isn’t good. Federal health officials and an independent oversight board accused AstraZeneca of presenting the world with potentially misleading information about the effectiveness of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, the New York Times reports. It is an extraordinary blow to the credibility of a company whose product has been seen as critical to the global fight against the pandemic. In a two-page letter to AstraZeneca and federal authorities on Monday, an independent panel of medical experts that was helping oversee the vaccine’s clinical trial in the United States said the company had essentially cherry-picked data that was, "most favorable for the study as opposed to the most recent and most complete."

Only hours earlier, the Times reports, AstraZeneca had issued a news release trumpeting the effectiveness and safety of its vaccine, whose low price has made it the leading vehicle to inoculate people worldwide. The company said that based on its US trial, the vaccine appeared to be seventy nine percent effective at preventing Covid-19. But the independent oversight board said in its letter that the vaccine’s efficacy may have been between sixty nine percent and seventy four percent. The letter reprimanded AstraZeneca for an overly rosy description of the trial data. The board wrote, "Decisions like this are what erode public trust in the scientific process."

The public airing of a conflict between a pharmaceutical company and a board overseeing a clinical trial is highly unusual, as the Times put it. It is almost certain to trigger extra scrutiny of the vaccine by regulators. Doctor Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said the news could, "unfortunately contribute to a lack of confidence in the process." At least there’s more than one brand of vaccine.

Biden Plans to Tax the Rich

It’s about time. White House officials are exploring tax increases on businesses, investors and rich Americans to fund the president’s multitrillion-dollar infrastructure and jobs package, according to the Washington Post. The centerpiece of the tax increases would probably be a higher corporate tax rate – reversing part of President Donald Trump’s steep corporate tax cut in 2017 – as well as higher levies on investment income and a higher top marginal tax rate. President Biden’s tax increases may prove among the most controversial elements of the administration’s coming Build Back Better agenda, setting up a major confrontation with business groups and congressional Republicans.

The president has said that his tax increases will not affect people earning less than $400,000 per year, according to the Post. He and his advisers have called for funding the next major domestic priority with higher levies on wealthy Americans, citing the relative success enjoyed by the affluent during a pandemic that has pummeled the economic fortunes of the working class. The White House’s legislative effort is expected to be broken up into two main components – one focused primarily on infrastructure and clean energy investments, and a second focused on domestic priorities including child care and prekindergarten that the administration has labeled part of the, "caring economy."

The tax increases in the plan are similarly divided between those two parts. The infrastructure section of the legislation is expected to be funded primarily by taxes on businesses. The part of the legislation focused on other domestic priorities, by contrast, is expected to be funded by taxes on rich people and investors. Both sets of tax increases mirror what Biden proposed in 2020 as a presidential candidate. It’s not the radical redistribution progressives want, but it’s not a bad place to start.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Rescuers recovered at least fifteen charred bodies from a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh after a devastating fire, officials told the Associated Press yesterday. At least four hundred people were still missing and around five hundred and sixty were injured by the fire, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. Around forty five thousand people were displaced. As if they weren’t suffering enough!

National Guardsmen transporting Covid-19 vaccines through Texas on Monday were held at gunpoint, NBC News reports. Larry Harris, sixty six, of Willcox, Arizona, turned his truck into oncoming traffic, stopping three National Guard vans. He then pointed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanded to search their vans, according to police. Luckily nobody got hurt, and the vaccines reached their destination.

The New York Times reports that the jury for the murder trial of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has been seated, clearing the way for the opening arguments in the trial, set to begin on Monday. The twelve-member jury includes two white men, four white women, three Black men, one Black women and two women who identify as mixed race. Two white women and a white man are the alternates. We’ll be watching.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy yesterday announced plans to slow mail delivery standards and cut hours at some post offices, the AP reports. Details of the plan come at a time of intense scrutiny on DeJoy, a major GOP donor who took over the agency last summer. The plan also includes a proposal to consolidate underused post offices, and hinted at a potential postage rate increase. Paying more for less – sounds like DeJoy is really running the place like a business.

MAR 24, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn