Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Some non- cornonavirus news you may have missed regarding two lawsuits enforcing congressional oversight and subpoena power, the latter involving former Trump mouthpiece Don McGahn: 

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will reconsider the dismissal of two lawsuits brought by House Democrats to enforce a congressional subpoena for President Trump’s former White House counsel Donald McGahn and to challenge funding for the president’s border wall.

The court’s decision marks at least a temporary victory for House Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over the weighty question of whether the judiciary has authority to resolve the separation-of-powers disputes between the White House and Congress. Any outcome, to be decided after an April 28 hearing, will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Both cases concern the common question of whether the House has legal standing to sue the president. In one case, the House wants to check the president for allegedly overstepping his power by diverting billions intended for other purposes to pay for the border wall. In the other case, the House seeks to enforce oversight through investigation and impeachment by demanding testimony or information from the executive branch.

In rehearing the McGahn case, the circuit court also overturned a three-judge panel’s ruling Feb. 28 that Congress cannot sue to compel testimony by White House aides.

Two Republican judges had ruled in both cases in favor of the Trump regime, while the third judge who dissented was a Democratic appointee.  No surprises there.  Eventually, we'll see this ultimately end up in the Republican Supreme Court.

We knew that it was only a matter of time before Trump pulled this:

President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he is considering a "Full Pardon" for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about contacts with a Russia diplomat.

Claiming the FBI and Justice Department "lost" some of Flynn's records after "destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family," Trump tweeted: "How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!"

Attorney General William Barr has appointed an outside prosecutor to review the case against Flynn, who is still awaiting sentencing in federal court after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

"Considering" my ass.  It's a done deal.  Consigliere William "Low" Barr will give him cover on Flynn (lying about the case just as he lied about Mueller's conclusions).  Eventually, Trump will end up pardoning all of his henchmen, of course.

Will Bunch discusses how the anti- science voices at Fox "News"/ Business and in the right- wing media wurlitzer are seriously endangering their elderly audiences with coronavirus misinformation:

[C]oronavirus may also be another case where Trumpism is a symptom of a deeper disease — one that festers in a media petri dish where the average Republican spends his or her waking hours immersed in talk radio and outlets like the Fox News Channel or Fox Business. Downplaying the health warnings from white-coated eggheads with all their university degrees — in a way that amplified Trump and ridicules the liberal media — was right in their wheelhouse.

In the most publicized incident, Fox Business prime-time host Trish Regan went even too far for her conservative bosses in a monologue that accused Democrats of using the coronavirus crisis “to destroy and demonize this president,” against a logo that read, “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam.” (She was later put on hiatus.)

Regan may have been an extreme case, but she was also emblematic of a feedback loop between Trump and conservative media in seeking to downplay the public health threat. On March 6, the president visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and cited what he was seeing on Fox News as evidence coronavirus in America was under control, just an hour after that network’s medical correspondent told viewers there was no evidence coronavirus was more serious than the flu (most experts strongly disagree).

We have to fight the strong schadenfreude, but there are consequences when you live your life in a bubble of lies and mis- direction.

We noted this yesterday, but it bears repeating as an illustration of what a sociopathic, ignorant jackass we have in the Oval Office:

President Trump reportedly tried to recruit German scientists working on a cure for the coronavirus and offered large sums of money to secure exclusive rights to their work for the US, according to a report which was confirmed by the German government.

Prominent German newspaper WELT am Sonntag reported that Trump had offered large sums of money to lure the Germany-based company CureVac to the United States and to secure exclusive rights to a vaccine. [snip]

A German government source said Trump was trying hard to find a coronavirus vaccine for the United States, "but only for the USA."

We close by urging you to make a stop over at Infidel 753's link round- up for a far more complete array of topics for you.  We've been saying for awhile that it's the best round- up anywhere and are waiting to be contradicted!