#Jane Mayer, "Trump Gets Dumped," The New Yorker, February 1, 2021. - "Indeed, the most remarkable aspect of McConnell's rupture with Trump may not be that it happened, but rather, that it took so long -- and the leader of the Party in Congress countenanced so much damage along the way." Adam Jentleson, a former top Democratic aide, and the author of 'Kill Switch,' a new book about the Senate, said of McConnell: 'He should be deservingly held accountable for spending more than a month giving credence to Trump's claims of election fraud -- on the Senate floor.' Jentleson added that McConnell, by failing to speak out earlier, had 'offered legitimacy to Trump's war on the truth.' 'Other Republicans took the signals from McConnell and continued to fan the flames. You can blame the rioters, but the entire Republican Party was telling them their claims were legitimate.' "
According to some polls, "as many as eighty-two per cent of Republican voters believed Trump's false claims of fraud." "It's pretty obvious that for McConnell, one of the reasons he was so indulgent of Trump was Georgia."
"In a combative Senate speech six days after the election, McConnell declared that Trump was 'a hundred per cent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.' "
' "I think McConnell is trying to have it both ways, [Stuart] Stevens [a Republican strategist] told me. 'He absolutely doesn't want to impeach and convict Trump. It would split his base and cause members of his caucus to face primary challengers.' Al Cross, a veteran political reporter, said that: 'I think he sees a chance to make Trump this generation's version of Nixon, leaving in doubt who is at the top of the Republican heap. Barring Trump would also guarantee that a different Republican will secure the Party's nomination for President in 2024.' "
#Margaret Talbot, "Man With a Plan," The New Yorker, February 1, 2021. "They [the GOP] helped create a climate in which scorn for the purpose and efficacy of government dashed away many Americans' expectations that it would do much for them." Guy Molyneux, a pollster conducting surveys for the 'Center for American Progress,' "has found that non-college whites believe government has let them down, but most have no principled or ideological objections to government playing a strong role in the economy. Although just 20 percent trust the federal government, 50 percent also say that it should take a more active role in solving the nation's economic and social problems."
"But with congressional Republicans still stoking fears of socialism and the 'deep state,' it will take persistent eloquence and empathy from the explainer-in-chief to make the case for government's role. Biden is sometimes compared with Franklin Roosevelt. Both inherited a profound and confounding national crisis and promoted a belief that government can assuage it. Both men's fundamental optimism seems compassionate rather than naive."
Talbot also cites a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that shows "about fifty per cent of Americans hold a favorable view of the A.C.A., and seventy-nine per cent want to retain the preexisting-conditions provision." Other polls show a higher favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, once very unpopular with the U.S public.
#Bryce Covert, "A Wrench in the Works," The Nation, 2.8 - 15.2021. - "The EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] filed just 93 lawsuits in fiscal year 2020, compared with 144 the year before, and 199 in fiscal year 2018." " 'Under [Janet] Ghillon [EEOC chair], the EEOC is really trying to implement the Chamber of Commerce agenda' says David Lopez, who served as the commission's general counsel from 2010 to 2016..."
"The EEOC recently completed an internal analysis of hundreds of failed conciliations, and found that the two primary reasons they didn't work were because employers declined to participate, and the parties couldn't agree on a monetary figure. And Dhillon pushed forward with the permanent rule before her pilot program [for change] could be analyzed."
"Even with the new demands placed on the EEOC staff, their ranks have thinned. There were 1,937 full-time employees in fiscal year 2020, a decrease from 2,060 in 2019, and the lowest since 2014..." "Dhillon made it clear she didn't want to spend money on hiring staff, according to a current EEOC official."
Congress gave the EEOC litigation authority in 1972, "recognizing that it wasn't effective without it. Without a serious threat that the EEOC will sue, the deterrent effect disappears."
#John Seabrook, "Office Space," The New Yorker, February 1, 2021. - "Managers -- and workers -- are trying to figure out what their post-pandemic offices will look like, and how to balance what appears to be a lasting shift toward no more work with the advantages of the physical workplace." "Thirty per cent of supervisors said that they were more productive at home; only seven per cent said people were getting less done." According to a Danish study, "people working in open offices use sixty-two more sick leave."
"The white-collar workplace has never been regulated like manufacturing, construction, and health care sectors, where the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets health and safety rules." "Fifty-seven per cent of [poll] respondents thought that the stigma of working remotely would linger after the pandemic." "Facebook has said that it expects half its workforce to be remote by 2030. Twitter told its employees that they never have to return to the office."
ADDENDUMS:
*President Biden has removed the terrorist designation from the Houthi rebels in Yemen. He worried that it is bringing more pain to millions of starving people than to the rebels.
*61 House Republicans voted to strip Rep. Liz Chaney (Rep.-Wyo.) of her leadership role.
#Democrats have unveiled a proposal that would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, and $3,000 per child aged 6 to 17. It would diminish for Americans earning $75,000 per year, as well as couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly.
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