Who Ordered a Smear Campaign Against Andrew Cuomo’s First Accuser? - When Lindsey Boylan first publicly accused New York’s governor of sexual harassment, in December, damaging government documents about her were leaked to the press. - link
L.A.’s Disorganized Vaccination Rollout and the Dream of Universal Health Care - The failures to reach the hardest hit populations are another reminder of how the system neglects so many. - link
Biden Has Few Good Options for the Unaccompanied Children at the Border - The new Administration is coming under fire for a policy it says protects young migrants. - link
Why Learning Pods Might Outlast the Pandemic - It’s possible to imagine home schools becoming like sidewalk dining—an experiment that sticks. - link
The Story of the Comfort Women, in Korean and Japanese - Why The New Yorker translated its recent report on a battle over history, accountability, and the legacy of the Second World War. - link
From Vox
Activists mark the anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s killing with demands for justice -
Supporters gather in Louisville, Kentucky to honor Breonna Taylor — and to demand police reform. | Jeffrey Dean/AFP/Getty Images
Activists gathered in Louisville, and called for police reform.
The one-year anniversary of the police killing of Breonna Taylor was on Saturday, and activists, lawmakers, and Taylor’s family spent it by renewing calls for criminal justice reform.
In Louisville, Kentucky, members of Taylor’s family and community activists convened a rally to mark the anniversary of Taylor’s death and to call for accountability for the officers involved in her shooting. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted Taylor’s name, reportedly shouting, “You can’t stop the revolution.”
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was killed in her home in Louisville on March 13, 2020, after three white police officers forced entry into her home using a “no-knock” warrant as part of a narcotics raid, looking for a suspect who no longer resided at Taylor’s address.
Officers opened fire after Taylor’s boyfriend — a legal gun owner who said he did not know the people forcing their way into the apartment were police — fired one shot in self-defense. Taylor was shot six times and killed.
Taylor — along with George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis about two months later — became an emblem of the racialized and excessively violent nature of law enforcement in the US. Her name, and the chant “Say her name,” were rallying cries at protests that swept across the United States in the summer of 2020 and triggered a broader cultural reckoning with racism in American life.
Taylor’s family — and Democratic lawmakers — are calling for reforms
On Friday Walker filed a lawsuit against the Louisville city government and the police officers in the raid, arguing that his constitutional rights were violated — and that the warrant to enter the house was based on false claims.
And Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, has filed an internal affairs complaint against six officers in the Louisville Metro Police Department.
“We believe a thorough investigation of these allegations will expose the rotten underbelly of a rogue police division and the lengths that investigators went to protect the officers,” Palmer’s attorney, Sam Aguiar, told CNN. “And when it does, LMPD needs to show that it will clean house, get Tamika Palmer the answers she’s been owed for a year and honor the oaths sworn to protect our citizens.”
Palmer recently spoke with WLKY, Louisville’s CBS station, and expressed frustration with where matters stand one year later.
“Not to say all officers are bad, but there’s no accountability,” Palmer said. “So, [police] don’t feel like they have to change their actions or their behaviors.”
Many Democratic lawmakers echoed Palmer’s sentiment Saturday, marking the occasion by calling for police reform.
Freshman lawmaker Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who was a Black Lives Matter organizer in and around Ferguson, Missouri, before entering Congress, tweeted, “Today marks 365 days of injustice. Breonna Taylor’s murder was an injustice. The ensuing cover-up was an injustice.”
A Black woman was murdered by the police in her home, in the middle of the night, and nothing has fundamentally changed.
That’s why we won’t stop saying her name. That’s why we have to legislate in defense of Black lives in Congress.
And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “Today marks one year since Breonna Taylor was killed in her home by police executing a no-knock warrant. Breonna Taylor and her family deserve justice. It is past time for comprehensive policing reform. We are working to pass the Justice In Policing Act in the Senate.”
President Joe Biden also advocated for the passage of that bill, writing, “As we continue to mourn [Taylor], we must press ahead to pass meaningful police reform in Congress.”
Breonna Taylor’s death was a tragedy, a blow to her family, her community, and America. As we continue to mourn her, we must press ahead to pass meaningful police reform in Congress. I remain committed to signing a landmark reform bill into law.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the Justice in Policing Act for the second time in early March, and it contains a number of provisions aimed at reforming policing at the federal level, ranging from ending qualified immunity (a practice that protects police officers from lawsuits) to banning the sorts of no-knock drug warrants that led to Taylor’s death.
When the House passed the bill in 2020, the Republican-controlled Senate refused to take it up, advocating instead for a GOP-crafted plan that proposed more limited reforms. Democrats now control the Senate, and leaders including Schumer have signaled optimism about passing the bill. However, the Democratic caucus would need 10 Republican senators to vote for the Justice in Policing Act in order for it to reach Biden’s desk. Thus far, there has been no indication that many Republicans might be willing to do so.
Myanmar has killed at least 7 during its latest lethal crackdown on protesters -
Demonstrators honor those killed in Myanmar’s pro-democracy protests. | Theint Mon Soe/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Security forces are firing live ammunition on sit-ins.
The casualties from the protests — which likely are underreported, experts say — indicate that the country’s military government is not backing down from using lethal force against pro-democracy protesters, despite intensifying condemnations from the international community.
Activists have been demanding the military step aside in favor of a civilian government for weeks, and on Saturday were commemorating the killing of a student in 1988 whose death sparked a rebellion against an earlier incarnation of the military government. That uprising resulted in the deaths of around 3,000 protesters.
That number includes the four deaths reported in the major city of Mandalay, where police opened fire on a sit-in protest Saturday, as well as two protesters who were killed in Pyay, where a witness told Reuters that security forces deliberately slowed the arrival of an ambulance. Another protester was killed in the suburbs outside Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Beyond these deaths, several injuries were also reported.
According to the Associated Press, the death toll is likely higher because police were seen seizing bodies and security forces occupying hospitals are often “boycotted by medical personnel and shunned by protesters.” Despite police violence, rallies and vigils carried on after dark in Yangon, Mandalay, and elsewhere.
While protester deaths contributed to the decline of the protests in 1988, some activists have said the present killings have only strengthened their resolve; following a recent spate of violence, a protester who asked to be identified as Yan told the Washington Post the shootings were making protesters “angrier.”
And protesters have also had encouragement from the acting leader of the deposed civilian government, Mahn Win Khaing Than, who on Saturday told supporters from hiding: “This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close.”
Mahn Win Khaing Than continued, “In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers, who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades, really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together.”
It’s unclear what direction the protests will take in the future.But at the moment, the demonstrations have brought more international attention to the country’s excessive use of force and subversion of even nominal democratic norms.
Why Myanmar is in crisis
On February 1, Myanmar’s military ended the country’s “decade-long dalliance with democracy,” as Vox’s Alex Ward put it, by claiming that the country’s recent election had been marred by fraud. Military leaders then used that claim as a pretext for launching a coup against the nation’s most popular political party and its leader, ending a system of government in which the military shared power with civilian leaders.
While neither the country’s Union Election Commission nor international observers found evidence of irregularities which would’ve changed the outcome of the elections — in which Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, won by an overwhelming margin — the military declared it would hold power for a year before allowing elections in a year.
As Ward has explained for Vox, the military appears to be attempting the reversal or slowdown of modest pro-democracy reforms in order to ensure they don’t lose too much power to civilian government:
The military ruled the country for decades until 2011 when it made very modest pro-democracy reforms. And it only ceded some control after years of political and economic pressure from the United States and other nations.
But that quasi-democratic system no longer worked for the generals, who feared their ultimate authority would be curtailed. So instead of letting Myanmar’s budding democracy continue to grow, the armed forces chose to quash it.
Myanmar’s military has since been condemned by international human rights watchdogs and countries across the world.
The US has applied pressure to the country’s military — which has ties to China — as part of a bid to project power and bolster allies in the region.
India, Japan, Australia, and the US released a joint statement on Friday calling for the country to end the coup. “As longstanding supporters of Myanmar and its people, we emphasize the urgent need to restore democracy and the priority of strengthening democratic resilience,” the statement read. And the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, recently “called on all parties to refrain from instigating further violence, and for all sides to exercise utmost restraint as well as flexibility.”
Violence against protesters seems to have motivated some punitive steps by other countries in the region. South Korea, for example, has said it will ban arms exports and reconsider development aid to Myanmar due to the country’s use of force against protesters.
Andrew Cuomo is facing an extraordinary rebuke from his own party -
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to speak at a press conference, as he faces questions about allegations of sexual harassment. | Seth Wenig/Getty Images
The New York governor says the growing calls for his resignation reflect “cancel culture.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand joined a swiftly growing group of Democratic New York lawmakers calling on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign on Friday over allegations of sexual misconduct and distortion of Covid-19 mortality data.
The rapidly escalating pressure on Cuomo by politicians from his own party has raised questions over whether he’ll be able to govern effectively at a time when he has been tasked with overseeing the state’s management of a complex public health crisis, including the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and safely reopening businesses.
It has also shown that Democrats are willing to unite in opposition against a prominent member of their own party facing accusations of sexual harassment, holding their own members to account in a manner akin to how they have treated Republicans accused of misconduct.
“We commend the brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct,” Schumer and Gillibrand said in a joint statement. “Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign.”
Those representatives who didn’t explicitly demand his resignation offered Cuomo little consolation. Reps. Tom Suozzi and Gregory Meeks said that if Cuomo couldn’t govern effectively, he should step down. Meanwhile, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries called the allegations “deeply disturbing” and backed investigations into his conduct — but ultimately called for Cuomo himself to reflect on “whether he can continue to effectively lead the state.”
On the very same day, New York magazine and the New York Times published investigations which indicated that Cuomo has fostered a poorly managed and abusive work environment at the governor’s mansion. “In interviews over the past week, more than 35 people who have worked in Mr. Cuomo’s executive chamber described the office as deeply chaotic, unprofessional and toxic, especially for young women,” the Times reported.
Currently, New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing an independent investigation into the sexual harassment claims against Cuomo, which kicked off when former aide Lindsey Boylan claimed in February that he kissed her on the lips against her will in 2018. Her statement was then followed by a number of other allegations of misconduct from women, including a former aide who has accused him of groping her at his private residence and another aide who said he effectively propositioned her in the manner in which he inquired about her sex life.
This week the New York State Assembly also opened an impeachment inquiry into Cuomo’s behavior over the sexual misconduct claims and evidence that he appeared to hide the true death toll of nursing home residents in the state caused by Covid-19. On Thursday over 50 Democrats of the New York state Senate and Assembly said that Cuomo has “lost the confidence of the public” and called for him to step down.
But Cuomo resisted the growing calls for his resignation on Friday, and described efforts to force him from office as “cancel culture.” He denied harassment and abuse and remained resolute about his intention to stay in office. “I did not do what has been alleged, period,” he said during a press conference.
“I am confident that when New Yorkers know the facts from the review, I am confident in the decision based on the facts,” he said. “But wait for the facts. An opinion without facts is irresponsible.”
Cuomo’s political fortunes have changed dramatically since the earlier stages of the pandemic, when he projected calm confidence to the public in press conferences that won him praise among Democrats and even an Emmy. Now buzz about a 2024 presidential run has been replaced by questions of whether he’ll survive his current term in office.
The Cuomo allegations have tested Democrats’ commitment to addressing sexual harassment
As Vox’s Anna North has noted, Democrats have, at times, appeared more hesitant to act on allegations of misconduct against members of their own party than they were against Republicans accused of sexual abuse like former President Donald Trump or Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh:
When multiple women came forward in 2017 to report unwanted touching or kissing by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), several Democratic senators, including Gillibrand and then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), called on him to resign. But Gillibrand, in particular, later faced political blowback for the decision, with donors pulling back from her.
In 2020, when Tara Reade came forward to report that Joe Biden had sexually assaulted her in 1993, Democrats — including Gillibrand — largely defended him (a task made easier, perhaps, by the fact that Reade faced questions about her changing accounts of Biden’s actions as well as her previous writings on Russia).
Now Biden is president, Democrats control Congress, and Trump is no longer in the White House or on Twitter to remind Americans of the allegations against him. And what Democrats do about Cuomo will be, to some degree, a test of how seriously they take sexual harassment allegations in an era when they’re in power.
Increasingly, New York Democrats are signaling that they will not tolerate the kinds of allegations Cuomo faces.
There are also other factors contributing to Democrats’ decision to push for Cuomo’s resignation. Before multiple claims of sexual misconduct surfaced, the scandal over Cuomo’s suppression of Covid-19 death data seriously undermined his reputation as an effective and trustworthy policymaker on his signature issue of the last year.
And crucially, Cuomo’s slide has been accelerated by his acrimonious relationships with New York Democrats well before any scandal emerged. For example, New York Assembly member Ron Kim said that after he criticized Cuomo’s handling of the nursing home fatality data, he received a phone call from Cuomo during which the governor spent “ten minutes threatening my career and ordering me to issue a statement that would be used to cover for the state secretary.”
While the State Assembly has largely remained more loyal than the Senate, which is more or less in open rebellion, Cuomo has spent a decade in office bullying, cajoling, and humiliating politicians sitting in these bodies. Part of what we’re seeing now is payback. Thanks in part to Cuomo’s decision to single-handedly prevent a Democratic majority from taking hold in the Senate for several years, there is an extraordinary amount of bad blood.
Whether Cuomo will resign is an open question. But it’s clear that his reputation and political capital were more fragile than commonly believed, and they’ve taken an enormous and irreversible hit.
From The Hindu: Sports
Rashid Khan’s 11 wickets help Afghanistan level series against Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams, who remained unbeaten on 151, and Donald Tiripano (95) showed fight to add 187 for the eighth wicket and help Zimbabwe avoid an innings defeat
Vijay Hazare final | Aditya Tare and Prithvi lead Mumbai to fourth title - Earlier, UP rode on opener Madhav Kaushik’s unbeaten 158 to post 312 for four.
Motera pitch for two-day Test given ‘average’ rating, ‘very good’ for 1st T20: ICC - The pitch at the SCG for the third Test between India and Australia was also rated ‘average’
Mithali becomes first woman cricketer to complete 7,000 ODI runs - Veteran batter Mithali Raj on Sunday added another feather to her cap by becoming the first player to complete 7,000 runs in women’s ODI cricket. Th
Women’s cricket | India suffers 7-wicket loss in 4th ODI, loses series to South Africa - The visitors chased down 267 runs in 48.4 overs to attain an unassailable 3-1 lead.
From The Hindu: National News
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections | Stalin to launch campaign in Tiruvarur - He will campaign for Tiruvaruar DMK candidate Poondi S. Kalaivanan
West Bengal Assembly polls | Four MPs, actors and dissident TMC leaders in BJP list - The BJP announced candidates for 63 of the 75 seats for the third and fourth phase of polls in the State that will go to polls on April 6 and April 10 respectively
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections | Palaniswami to file nominations in Edappadi on March 15 - He would file his papers at 1 p.m. tomorrow
YSRCP sweeps Vizianagaram civic body elections - Except in Bobbili town, TDP could not ensure even a little fight in the civic polls
DMK promises resolution in Assembly against CAA - Party has collected one crore signatures in support of CAA withdrawal, says supremo M.K. Stalin.
From BBC: Europe
Covid-19: Ireland suspends use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - The minister for health says it is precautionary after reports of serious blood clotting events in Norway.
Russia opposition: Moscow police raid election forum - Officers raided the opposition conference only minutes after it began at a hotel on Saturday.
Covid-19 pandemic: Italy to shut shops and schools amid infection spike - Most shops, restaurants and schools will be closed on Monday as Coronavirus infections rise.
UK exports to European Union drop 40% in January - Official figures show a sharp drop in trade in goods with the EU as the Brexit transition period ended.
Corinne Masiero: Actress protests naked at ‘French Oscars’ ceremony - Corinne Masiero sheds a donkey skin and bloodstained dress at a coronavirus-dominated César Awards.
From Ars Technica
How to find a COVID-19 vaccine appointment in your area - Vaccination rollout has been a challenge across the US. These tips should help. - link
Researchers think a planet lost its original atmosphere, built a new one - Imaging the atmosphere finds a combination of chemicals that shouldn’t be there. - link
Federal investigators blast Tesla, call for stricter safety standards - NTSB blames NHTSA and Tesla for a deadly 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida. - link
The Code Breaker is the CRISPR chronicle you need to read - Q&A: Walter Isaacson’s account is a thrilling tale of scientific discovery. - link
Exchange servers first compromised by Chinese hackers hit with ransomware - As if Exchange users didn’t already have enough to worry about, they have this. - link
From Jokes Subreddit
I got arrested for illegally downloading the whole of Wikipedia -
A man is driving home one night while very aroused -
As he is passing a pumpkin patch, he thinks to himself, “Pumpkins are soft and squishy and there’s no one around for miles.
He pulls over and pulls out a juicy pumpkin, cuts the appropriate hole in it and begins to slake his erotic desires. Soon he’s really into it and doesn’t notice the police car pulling up.
The cop pulls up and says, “Excuse me sir, do you realize you’re screwing a pumpkin?”
The man looks at the cop in complete horror and says, “A pumpkin?! Damn is it midnight already?”
