Daily-Dose

Contents

• From New Yorker
• From Vox
• From The Hindu: Sports
• From The Hindu: National News
• From BBC: Europe
• From Ars Technica
• From Jokes Subreddit

From New Yorker

• The Biden White House Is Tossing Obama’s Economics Playbook - Joe Biden and Janet Yellen are proving to be far bolder than past Democratic Administrations. - link

• Can Biden Reverse Trump’s Damage to Latin America? - The new President has vowed to end his predecessor’s “incompetence and neglect” in the region, but first he must convince allies to trust Washington again. - link

• Trump’s Impeachment-Trial Lawyers Refuse to Seriously Engage with the Constitutional Issues - What looks like incompetence by Bruce Castor and David Schoen may be better understood as contempt for the process. - link

• History Will Find Trump Guilty - The former President avoided conviction in the Senate, but his era will be recalled for its authoritarian politics and lawless compulsions. - link

• How the Question of Trump’s Behavior During the Capitol Assault Shook Up the Impeachment Trial - The former President’s tweets and reports of his calls to Republican congressmen during the riot became a key part of the case against him. - link

From Vox

• Mitch McConnell’s speech shows he’s willing to condemn Trump — but not when it matters -

  

  Sen. McConnell relied on a technicality to excuse his vote to acquit Trump.

  On Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made a strong case for convicting former President Donald Trump of inciting insurrection — less than half an hour after voting to acquit Trump of inciting insurrection.

  Before taking the floor to speak, McConnell joined 42 other Republicans in voting to find Trump not guilty on the single article of impeachment approved by the House, thus heading off the former president’s conviction and possible disqualification from holding future elected office.

  Then, he warned in no uncertain terms that Trump’s conduct on January 6 — when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory — was a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

  “There’s no question,” McConnell said, “that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” which left five people dead, US Capitol Police officers injured, and parts of the building damaged. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”

  Sen. McConnell: “There’s no question—none—that Pres. Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events” of January 6.
  
  “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.” https://t.co/PbteRBQbpP pic.twitter.com/JZXcSeEICn

  — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 13, 2021

McConnell also criticized Trump’s “intemperate language” and embrace of wild conspiracy theories in the aftermath of his election defeat.

The mob’s belief that they were acting on Trump’s wishes “was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on Planet Earth,” McConnell said.

Those two points were, in shortest form, House impeachment managers’ arguments for convicting the president, prompting a number of jokes on Twitter about the seeming discrepancy between McConnell’s words and actions.

Despite his harsh condemnation of Trump, however, McConnell also said Saturday after Trump’s acquittal that the question of his conduct was “moot” because former presidents are “constitutionally not eligible for conviction.”

Earlier this week, McConnell, along with 43 Republican senators, also voted that a trial was unconstitutional — but there’s reason to believe that argument is more an excuse than a deeply held belief.

For one, legal scholars from across the ideological spectrum — including from the conservative Federalist Society — disagree, and said as much in a letter published last month.

“We differ from one another in our politics, and we also differ from one another on issues of constitutional interpretation,” the group wrote in January. “But despite our differences, our carefully considered views of the law lead all of us to agree that the Constitution permits the impeachment, conviction, and disqualification of former officers, including presidents.”

And, as journalist Yamiche Alcindor pointed out on Twitter Saturday, McConnell, who until January 20 was Senate Majority Leader, was responsible for delaying the start of Trump’s impeachment trial until after he had left office.

McConnell concluded his remarks Saturday by arguing that “the Senate’s decision today does not condone anything that happened on or before that terrible day.”

But in a statement released after the Senate verdict Saturday, Trump sounded emboldened by his acquittal and attacked the impeachment as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country.”

“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun,” Trump said. “There has never been anything like it!”

• Rep. Jamie Raskin’s closing arguments got at the heart of the impeachment case -

  

  “The times have found us,” Raskin said. “Is this America? What kind of America will this be?”

  Ahead of the conclusion of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial Saturday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the lead House impeachment manager, made a powerful appeal to the Senate to convict the former president.

  Throughout the trial, Raskin interspersed his case with personal testimony about how the insurrection affected him and his family — particularly given that it occurred shortly after the December death of his son, Thomas Raskin. And on Saturday, Raskin again invoked his family in a final, emotional plea to senators.

  The manager spoke of the concern his daughter, Hannah Raskin, has had for the children of the insurrectionists — and argued that it was for those children that senators should vote to convict.

  “Hannah saw through the legality of the situation, she saw through the politics of the situation, all the way to the humanity of the situation, the morality of the situation,” Raskin said. “As Tommy Raskin used to say, ‘It’s hard to be human.’”

  Rep. Jamie Raskin invokes man who reportedly said goodbye to his children before traveling to D.C. for Trump protest at the Capitol: “That shook me…The children of the insurrectionists—even the violent and dangerous ones—they’re our children, too.”https://t.co/9KBlqDPsGF pic.twitter.com/iDjI848rUh

  — ABC News (@ABC) February 13, 2021

He went on to say, “The children of the insurrectionists, even the violent and dangerous ones, they’re our children, too. They are Americans and we must take care of them and their future.”

The argument underscored the manager’s overarching point: That conviction was needed not just to ensure Trump could be blocked from running for office again, but to send a message to future presidents that attempts — like Trump’s — to overturn an election cannot and will not be tolerated.

And Raskin explicitly offered senators an opportunity to make such a statement — the manager also drew on a quote by Thomas Paine, who he said his son was named for, before ending his remarks:

None of us can escape the demands of history and destiny right now. Our reputations and our legacy will be inextricably intertwined with what we do here, and with how you exercise your oath to do impartial justice. Impartial justice. I know and trust you will do impartial justice, driven by meticulous attention to the overwhelming facts of the case and your love for our Constitution, which I know dwells in your heart. ‘The times have found us,’ said Tom Paine, the namesake of my son. The times have found us. Is this America? What kind of America will this be? It’s now literally in your hands. Godspeed to the Senate of the United States.

Ultimately, Raskin’s appeal didn’t sway enough votes for the Senate to convict Trump — just seven Republican senators joined every Democrat in voting to convict him, falling short of the necessary 67 votes needed for conviction. But the raw emotion of Raskin’s appeal to “impartial justice” and to his son’s memory was a heartbreaking moment in a trial where the verdict was widely, and accurately, believed to be predetermined from the beginning.

“This trial is personal indeed for every senator, and for every member of the House,” Raskin said Tuesday. “I hope this trial reminds America how personal democracy is, and how personal is the loss of democracy too.”

• 1 winner and 5 losers from Trump’s second impeachment trial -

  

  The United States constitutional system was not a winner.

  Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial had something to disappoint practically everyone.

  Democrats and Trump’s Republican critics were of course disappointed by the outcome — the former president was acquitted on the charge of “incitement of insurrection,” with 57 senators voting to convict and 43 voting to acquit. (Sixty-seven votes, a two-thirds majority, were required for conviction.)

  Seven of 50 Republican senators voted to convict, which was more than expected. But the outcome is still a blow for anyone who hoped the US constitutional system would ensure consequences for a president who tried to disregard election results and maintain his hold on power.

  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell probably isn’t thrilled with how things went. He at least feinted toward trying to “purge” Trump from the party due to his actions on and before the storming of the Capitol on January 6. But the GOP senators he leads quickly made clear they were far more loyal to Trump than McConnell, and McConnell eventually announced that he, too, would acquit.

  An added disappointment for Democrats was a confusing late turnabout Saturday, in which the House impeachment managers decided to ask for witness testimony but then swiftly dropped that request. The move fed doubts among the party’s base over just how serious their leaders were about pressing the case against Trump.

  But overall, the closest thing to a winner is Trump himself. He proved yet again that the Republican Party remains unshakably loyal to him — even inciting a mob to attack the US Capitol can’t make them quit him. And by avoiding conviction, Trump retained his opportunity to try and pull off something similar again in 2024. That bodes ill for the stability of the US political system, but it’s good for Donald Trump personally.

  Loser: The US constitutional system

  For the first time in the history of the United States, a defeated president attempted to overturn the election’s outcome to keep himself in office.

  Trump’s effort to try to steal the election was multifaceted. He spent months lying that there was massive voter fraud. He pressured state officials and state legislators not to certify President Joe Biden’s win. He filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits. He urged members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to throw out valid electoral votes on January 6. And, that same day, he encouraged supporters to gather in Washington and egged them on. The violence at the Capitol ensued.

  Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

  It was stunning conduct that flew in the face of the US tradition of peaceful transition of power. And Congress did have an opportunity by which they could make Trump face a very real consequence for this: impeachment and prohibition from holding federal office again in the future (preventing him from running again in 2024). An impeachment of a US president has never ended with conviction, but surely, if one ever would, one would think that Trump’s conduct would merit it.

  But instead, partisanship triumphed, Republicans mostly closed ranks around Trump, and the vote fell well short of the two-thirds threshold needed for conviction. The result is that Trump will face no consequences — from Congress, at least — for his effort to defy the will of the voters and stay in power. That has ominous implications for the political system’s future stability, and seems to invite Trump or someone similar to try something like it again.

  Loser: Mitch McConnell

  In recent years, allies of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell have hyped the legend of “Cocaine Mitch.” Using a joking moniker bestowed by his critics (long story), this was an attempt to reshape the public’s perception of the bloodless, big-money-loving politician into something of a badass — a fighter who would take on his critics (mostly the libs) and win, again and again, heedless of what people say about him.

  And for a brief moment, it appeared Cocaine Mitch might be moving to take out Trump.

  “Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, has told associates that he believes President Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is pleased that Democrats are moving to impeach him, believing that it will make it easier to purge him from the party, according to people familiar with his thinking,” the New York Times reported on January 12.

  Drew Angerer/Getty Images

  By all accounts, McConnell was appalled by Trump’s conduct and the chaos in his beloved Senate days earlier. (His wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, resigned from the Trump administration early in protest.) McConnell also may have blamed Trump’s post-election conduct for costing him his Senate majority, with Republicans’ twin defeats in Georgia. So, fresh off his reelection to a new six-year stint, McConnell had a chance to make a stand, to fight for the future of the GOP on his terms.

  But he failed. Within weeks, it became clear that the vast majority of Republican senators would not vote to convict Trump. What’s more, some of them anonymously told CNN that if McConnell did break with Trump so openly, he would no longer be able to lead them.

  McConnell backed down. He announced his decision to vote to acquit Trump Saturday morning, saying that though it was a “close call,” he concluded the Senate had no jurisdiction to try a former president. He did not address the fact that, while he was still majority leader in mid-January, he had an opportunity to start the trial while Trump was still in office — but said he wouldn’t reconvene the Senate to do so. So though McConnell allies talked a big game to political reporters beforehand, his own role in this saga ended in a humiliating surrender.

  Losers: The House impeachment managers

  For the most part, the House impeachment managers did a fantastic job making their case against Trump. In many hours of effective and often moving presentations, they expertly described the disturbing events that took place at the Capitol on January 6, tying them to Trump’s actions beforehand and his lack of action as the violence unfolded.

  Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Joe Neguse (D-CO) stood out as particularly eloquent — and, since both are relatively new members of Congress, their prominence pointed toward how the House could function if talent rather than seniority mattered more often. Raskin had the added pressure of acting just after an immense personal tragedy. They are clearly rising stars in the Democratic Party, with much more ahead for them. And their arguments seem to have been persuasive to seven Republican senators — more than expected.

  But they, too, ended the trial with a surrender.

  Drew Angerer/Getty Images

  Throughout the week, senators had expected that Trump’s trial would be ending quickly, without any witnesses being called. But all along, the trial rules provided an opportunity for the House impeachment managers to seek witness testimony.

  And on Saturday morning, Raskin shocked Washington by announcing he’d do just that. Responding to a Friday night report from CNN, Raskin said he would like to subpoena Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), one of 10 House GOP members who voted to impeach Trump. Herrera Beutler had said that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told her that Trump had spoken to him on the phone while the riot was taking place, and that when McCarthy urged him to tell his supporters to back down, Trump responded, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

  So in a last-minute move, Raskin proposed getting Herrera Beutler’s testimony. And the Senate swiftly voted on whether witnesses would be in order (though not yet which witnesses), and all Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted that they would be. Trump’s team was furious, and the Democratic base was overjoyed — it seemed the trial would continue, with witnesses making an even more damning case against the former president.

  Then, though, the action moved behind the scenes, and a deal materialized. Raskin agreed to drop the witness demand. In exchange, Trump’s team acknowledged that if Herrera Beutler did testify, her testimony would match what she had said publicly, and allowed that public statement to be entered into the record.

  Yet this deal achieved nothing of consequence. Unlike in a regular trial, it makes no difference whether a certain fact is in the record — senators can make up their minds based on whatever they want.

  Now, the stakes of this dustup shouldn’t be exaggerated — Republican senators weren’t going to convict Trump no matter what. Still, it’s unclear why Raskin pushed forward if he was just going to quickly back down. All it ended up doing was raising the hopes of the Democratic base, and then dashing them, politically botching the end of what had been an overall strong performance.

  Loser: The United States Senate

  The Senate was charged with the weighty responsibility of judging whether the former president had in fact committed high crimes and misdemeanors while in office.

  But it became clear on Saturday that senators’ top priority was, instead, getting out of town.

  When Raskin introduced his proposal to call Herrera Beutler as a witness Saturday morning, senators were put on the spot. And in public, all 50 Democrats voted in favor of moving to consider witnesses. In private, though, they were evidently not so keen on the idea, as the swift deal reached by senators to avoid witnesses and end the trial Saturday shows. (CNN’s John King reports that Senate Democratic leaders pressured Raskin to back down.)

  Win McNamee/Getty Images

  Democratic leaders have long been skeptical about holding a lengthy impeachment trial. They’ve said it’s important to return to confirming President Biden’s nominees or passing legislation. Indeed, those things are important. But in theory, it’s totally possible to do both. And senators did not, in fact, wrap up the trial and return to those matters. They wrapped up the trial and began a preplanned vacation that will last until the week after next.

  Again, in fairness to these Democratic senators, they are entirely right that the outcome was set in stone. Their Republican colleagues had made their preferences clear, and spending more time and calling more witnesses would not have changed that. But considering the seriousness of what happened on January 6, the Senate’s desire to dispense with the trial ASAP showed a galling lack of gravity on their part.

  Loser: Donald Trump’s attorneys

  Yes, Trump’s defense team got the outcome they wanted — they won a rigged game. But overall their blustering, dodging, and rambling performance wasn’t remotely impressive.

  Attorney Bruce Castor kicked off the proceedings on Tuesday. Charged with addressing the constitutionality of an impeachment trial for a former president, Castor more or less riffed about whatever seemed to be on his mind, a performance so unimpressive it lost him the vote of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on the topic.

  Further lowlights over the next few days included an overreliance on extremely long montage videos with absurdly dramatic music, lawyer David Schoen’s insistence that a Twitter user Trump retweeted who mentioned “bringing the Calvary” wasn’t a typo of “cavalry” but rather a biblical reference, and Michael van der Veen’s utter failure to answer basic factual questions about Trump’s conduct posed by wavering Republican senators. The former president did not send his best.

  And yet …

  Winner: Donald Trump

  He got acquitted. The trial ended exactly when he hoped it would, rather than stretching on into next week or beyond. He cemented the loyalty of the vast majority of Republican politicians to him yet again. And he has the opportunity to try to win back the presidency in 2024.

  Some have argued, of course, that the impeachment trial has sunk Trump politically even though he was acquitted. “I don’t see how, after the American public sees the whole story laid out here … I just don’t see how Donald Trump will be reelected to the presidency again,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who voted to convict him, said earlier this week.

  Trump’s popularity has indeed declined a bit. But memories are short, and Trump remains quite popular among the Republican base — that is, after all, why he was acquitted. And if GOP voters disillusioned with Trump’s actions continue to leave the party, that will leave Trump superfans making up more of the party’s primary electorate.

  Despite the pandemic and innumerable scandals, Trump came remarkably close to winning in 2020. We don’t know what the political situation will look like in 2024 — maybe Biden will be coasting to reelection in a reopened country with a strong economy. But it’s certainly not out of the question that not-yet-known crises and controversies could sink his popularity and make his reelection difficult.

  For those worried about the threat Trump poses to the American democratic system, there was one clear way to protect against that threat — conviction in the Senate trial and a ban on his holding federal office in the future. But that didn’t happen, and now Trump will have time to lick his political wounds, and a chance to try it all over again if he so desires. What’s the worst that could happen?

  Pete Marovich/Getty Images

From The Hindu: Sports

• Ashwin surpasses Harbhajan for Test wickets in India, now only behind Kumble - Overall, Ashwin has so far taken 391 wickets from 76 Tests at an impressive average of 25.26.

• India vs England | India in commanding position, leads England by 249 runs - Ashwin (5/43) and company bundled out England for 134 on a pitch that is getting more vicious by each passing session

• 25 chosen players to attend Hockey national camp in preparation for Tokyo Olympics - After a two-week break following their Argentina tour, the core group assembled at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru campus.

• Osaka, Williams survive scares to reach Australian Open last eight - Williams, 39, was also meeting Sabalenka for the first time and she had to weather an onslaught from the Belarusian to reach the last eight 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

• Barcelona rout Alaves to fire warning shot to PSG - This week the glamour of a tie between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain heralds the dawn of the Champions League knockout phase

From The Hindu: National News

• PM Modi dedicates to nation oil major BPCL’s ₹6,000 crore petrochemical complex in Kochi - The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of Cochin Port Trust’s South Coal Berth

• Vehicle owners should immediately adopt FASTag, deadline won’t be extended, says Nitin Gadkari - The central government extended the FASTag deadline for the vehicles from January 1, 2021, to February 15, 2021.

• India’s 27.37% prison inmates ‘illiterate’, over 5,600 techies, says Govt data - Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous State, houses the maximum number of prisoners at 1,01,297.

• IMA announces petition movement against govt’s move allowing ayurveda doctors to perform surgery - The IMA had held a pan-India relay hunger strike from February 1-14 on the issue

• Modi in Kochi: MPs lash out for being kept away from dais - The Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden and Chalakudy MP Benny Behanan lashed out at the Central and State Governments for being omitted from the dias where Prime

From BBC: Europe

• Mario Draghi sworn in as Italy’s new prime minister - The former head of the European Central Bank must guide his country out of the Covid pandemic.

• The video of a protester’s arrest Russian police ‘leaked to scare people’ - A leaked video shows Russian police interrogating protester Gennady Shulga while pushing him onto his dog’s food bowl after a rally in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

• Covid: France says just one jab needed for previously infected - They already have some immunity and a single dose will “act as a booster”, the health agency says.

• In pictures: Joy for Dutch as canals freeze over - People in the Netherlands are making the most of wintry weather that has frozen local waterways.

• Russia warns EU it could cut ties over sanctions - The EU is considering more sanctions on Russia over the case of Putin critic Alexei Navalny.

From Ars Technica

• The digital divide is giving American churches hell - Covid-19 has upended churchgoing in the US, and, the impacts are not felt equally. - link

• Review: The Stand starts out strong and then whiffs the landing - A stellar cast can’t save the narrative from slowly unraveling into a pointless finale - link

• China refused to hand over key data to WHO team probing pandemic’s origin - The WHO and investigators offer conflicting accounts of the closely watched probe. - link

• The best Presidents’ Day tech deals we can find this weekend - Dealmaster has discounts on AirPods Pro, Lenovo and HP laptops, and more. - link

• New details emerge about Google’s payments to link to French news sites - The deal could become a template across Europe and perhaps around the world. - link

From Jokes Subreddit

• My wife came up to me the other day and said “Do these jeans make me look fat?” -

  I said “Do you promise not to get mad at me no matter what I say?”

  “Yes”

  “Okay, I fucked your sister.”

  submitted by /u/PenguinAreCake
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• Sex After Death -

  A couple made a deal that whoever died first would come back and inform the other if there was sex after death. Their biggest fear was that there was no after-life at all.

  After a long life together, the husband was the first to die. True to his word, he made the first contact. “Judy, Judy.”

  “Is that you, George?”

  “Yes, I’ve come back like we agreed.”

  “That’s wonderful!? What’s it like?”

  “Well, I get up in the morning, I have sex. I have breakfast and then it’s off to the golf course. I have sex again, bathe in the warm sun and then have sex a couple of more times. Then I have lunch, you’d be proud, lots of greens. Another romp around the golf course, then pretty much have sex the rest of the afternoon. After supper, it’s back to golf course again. Then it’s more sex until late at night. I catch some much-needed sleep and then the next day it starts all over again.”

  “Oh, George, are you in Heaven?”

  “No, I’m a rabbit in Kansas.”

  submitted by /u/betona
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• "Your honor, it is said that people are what they eat… -

  And therefore my client is an innocent man!"

  submitted by /u/Randomd0g
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• Joe wanted to buy a motorbike -

  but he doesn’t have much luck until one day, he comes across a Honda road bike with a ‘for sale’ sign on it.

  The bike seems even better than a new one, although it is 10 years old. It is shiny and in absolute mint condition.

  He immediately buys it, and asks the seller how he kept it in such great condition for 10 years.

  ‘Well, it’s quite simple, really,’ says the seller, ‘whenever the bike is outside and it’s gonna rain, rub Vaseline on the chrome. It protects it from the rain.’

  And he hands Joe a jar of Vaseline.

  That night, his girlfriend, Sandra, invites him over to meet her parents. Naturally, they take the bike there.

  But just before they enter the house, Sandra stops him and says, ‘I have to tell you something about my family before we go in.’

  ‘When we eat dinner, we don’t talk. In fact, the first person who says anything during dinner has to do the dishes.’

  ‘No problem,’ he says. And in they go.

  Joe is shocked. Right in the middle of the living room is a huge stack of dirty dishes.

  In the kitchen is another huge stack of dishes. Piled up on the stairs, in the corridor, everywhere he looks, dirty dishes.

  They sit down to dinner and, sure enough, no one says a word.

  As dinner progresses, Joe decides to take advantage of the situation.

  So he leans over and kisses Sandra.

  No one says a word.

  So he reaches over and fondles her breasts.

  Still, nobody says a word. So he stands up, grabs her, rips her clothes off, throws her on the table, and shags her right there, in front of her parents.

  His girlfriend is a little flustered, her dad is obviously livid, and her mother horrified when he sits back down, but no one says a word.

  He looks at her mother..

  ‘She’s got a great body,’ he thinks.

  So he grabs the mother, bends her over the dinner table, pulls down her knickers, and screws her every way possible right there on the dinner table. After she has a big orgasm, he sits down again.

  Now his girlfriend is furious and her dad is boiling, the Mother is pleasantly beaming. But still, Total silence.

  All of a sudden there is a loud clap of thunder, and it starts to rain.

  Joe remembers his bike, so he pulls the jar of Vaseline from his pocket…

  Suddenly the father shouted….

  ’OK I’ll do the fucking dishes!

  submitted by /u/thedevil343
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• Lion: You’re late. We said meet at sunset. -

  Giraffe: I can still see the sun you fucking midget..

  submitted by /u/jflipside
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