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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Another week, another tragic mass shooting in America. This time, a gunman used two newly-purchased semi-automatic rifles to murder eight people at a Fed Ex facility in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci says the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will most likely be back in action on Friday, which is good news for the half of American adults who haven’t gotten a shot yet.

And lastly, some of the worst Republican ghouls in the House tried to form a so-called Anglo Saxon Caucus, but scrapped their plans after being deluged in the valid criticism that they were acting like massive racists.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

This weekend, it was Indianapolis’s turn to grieve. A 19-year-old gunman murdered eight people at a Fed Ex facility in the city late on Thursday night, the latest mass shooting in an already-bloody spring.

The shooter, whose name we don’t have to use, was a former employee of the facility. Records show that he was able to legally purchase the two guns used in the shooting even after police removed a shotgun from his possession last year.

Let’s break that down for a minute. In May 2020, the shooter’s mother contacted the police over concerns for her son’s mental health, and police took a shotgun from him. They did not, however, appear to seek a court order under Indiana’s red flag law, which would have barred him from purchasing subsequent weapons.

Before the deadly shooting last week, he did just that. Just months after cops took his shotgun, the shooter bought two semi-automatic rifles, both of which were used in the attack. He killed eight people and shot seven others, then took his own life.

Four of the shooter’s victims were members of the local Sikh community, which has weathered frequent persecution and racism in this country for decades. Community leaders said they did not know whether the attack was targeted or was a coincidence.

J&J Vax Coming Back

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is likely to be back in action on Friday, when the CDC and FDA are expected to have finished their research on its potential to increase the risk of blood clots.

The J&J vaccine was paused nationwide after it was tentatively linked to blood clots in six women who had received it, a tiny number compared to the 7 million other Americans who got it without serious side effects. Fauci said the government agencies were unlikely to ban the vaccine outright, and would instead issue additional warnings or restrictions on it.

But once again, we have to stress how small the risk appears to be. Fauci told NBC’s Meet the Press, “I think it’ll likely say, ‘Okay, we’re going to use it, but be careful under these certain circumstances.’”

That seems pretty reasonable. A resumption in the J&J vaccine would also help boost the U.S.’s overall numbers, which are starting to look pretty good. The CDC reported on Sunday that half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Still, that doesn’t mean that the risk is gone. Cases rose by about five percent over the past two weeks, and 750 people are still dying of the disease every day. We’re not out of the woods, but we’re pretty damn close.

GOP Tries, Fails to Create Anglo Saxon Caucus

Have you ever looked at the United States Congress and thought: boy, I wish that white people had a little bit more representation here? If so, congratulations -- there’s a good chance you’re a racist. And even better, a group of the worst possible people in Congress would agree with you.

We’re kidding of course -- AM Quickie knows its audience better than that. And apparently so do Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and Louie Gohmertz.

All four of those names were linked to the formation of a new America First Caucus, enthusiastically promoting the idea on Twitter on Friday. The draft proposal for the new caucus, obtained early by Punchbowl News, included this quote:

“America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”

This one in particular led to most people just referring to the America First caucus as the Anglo Saxon caucus. And if that quote didn’t make things clear enough, the document also included

references to, “European architecture,” and other dogwhistles. You can see where this one is going!

However, it appears that the Anglo caucus overplayed its hand a little. The backlash to the overtly racist announcement was so strong, including from other members of the Republican party, that Taylor-Greene scrapped the plan. She blamed the media for focusing on race, of course, so it’s clear that her actual views haven’t changed, but at least the white nationalist caucus in Congress won’t get official recognition for the time being.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial are expected on Monday, as ongoing protests for the killing of Daunte Wright can surely be expected to boil over if the jury does not return a guilty verdict. We’ll have more on that story tomorrow once we see those arguments and get a timeline on the jury’s deliberations.

One COVID wrinkle that in hindsight we should have seen coming: the Washington Post reports that scammers are listing blank Coronavirus vaccination cards on Ebay, opening an avenue for vaccine skeptics to endanger others with bogus records. Land of the free, home of the scams, baby!

Capitalism has struck a brutal blow in the already ravaged world of international sports, as 12 of Europe’s largest soccer teams agreed on Sunday to form an exclusive so-called Super League designed to make them even richer. What they’re leaving out is that such a move would destroy the sport for smaller teams in their home countries and throw players’ lives into chaos. But hey: money!

Andrew Yang remains the frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race, leading a poll among Democrats aged 50 or older, a key voting demographic. Make of that what you will! If he wins, he’ll be confronted by an extremely low bar set by Bill De Blasio.

APRIL 19, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn