Audrey Strauss, a Democrat, will be only the second woman to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
— Read on time.com/5857692/us-attorney-berman-replacement/
Category Archives: Viva!
Chennai goes into ‘intensified lockdown’
Chennai (formerly Madras) police worked overtime at the weekend after the Indian city imposed an “intensified lockdown” from last Friday to the end of this month to deal with the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Chennai police worked overtime at the weekend after the Indian city imposed an “intensified lockdown” from last Friday to the end of this month to deal with the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
Only pharmacies and hospitals can operate, while offices, shops, markets, restaurants and even petrol stations have been closed. Residents are banned from driving but may walk to nearby stores that open briefly in the morning.
Tamil Nadu state, of which Chennai is the capital, has seen the third-highest number of Covid-19 positive cases in India, following Maharashtra state and Delhi. The 59,377 infections recorded in the southern state as of yesterday means it has almost as many cases as Delhi. Over 750 people have died in the state, with Chennai accounting for almost 70 per cent of its infection cases.
So even as the rest of India started easing curbs, Tamil Nadu announced a second, stricter lockdown for Chennai and the neighbouring Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts.
The announcement of the new lockdown on June 15 prompted thousands of Chennai residents to drive to other districts. The rush saw long lines at highway check-posts and toll plazas until the wee hours of last Friday morning.
“We don’t want to risk catching the coronavirus in Chennai. And we are sick of lockdown after lockdown. It doesn’t seem to have shown any benefits,” said Mr Naveen J. Antony, an accountant who drove out of Chennai last Wednesday with his family. They plan to stay in Coimbatore until the lockdown ends.
Chennai Police Commissioner A.K. Vishwanathan told a local paper: “We only allowed those with electronic travel passes to go through. We seized other vehicles or fined drivers. Most are staying home now.”
Other regions are now wary of travellers from Chennai.
Dr J. Nirmalson, deputy director for health services in neighbouring Salem district, said that of its 47 cases recorded on Sunday, six were Chennai returnees and four were from other states.
Chennai had 369 containment zones a week ago but now has 64, while cases have exploded in suburbs like Tambaram and Pallavaram, which are entry points to the city. The two suburbs are technically in the adjacent Chengalpet district, now also under lockdown.
Sunday saw a total lockdown in Chennai and people stayed indoors, but Tamil Nadu state still recorded the highest single-day spike with 2,532 new cases.
Health experts said Tamil Nadu, known for its impressive health indicators, is struggling with the pandemic because it has adopted a law-and-order approach using bans and fines rather than a more people-friendly public health policy.
Resident welfare associations have complained that the door-to-door disease surveillance was inadequate and testing was erratic. “I see more policemen out there than health workers,” said Ms Kavitha P., a resident of the Adyar neighbourhood.
A Health Department report this month which found that hospitals failed to report 236 deaths has also eroded public trust. With these deaths, Tamil Nadu’s fatality rate was 1.5 per cent, compared with the 0.7 per cent reported by officials.
Tamil Nadu is testing 11,158 people per million, among the top 10 highest testing states. It has 83 testing centres, the most in India.
However, virologist Jacob John said the state was conducting more tests in areas with fewer cases. “If more people with symptoms and in hot spots are tested, more Covid-19 cases will be diagnosed,” he said.
But a frustrated police official has blamed people for flouting social distancing rules, saying: “No one wears masks properly! Fifty of the 53 who died on Sunday had comorbidities. At least the elderly should be careful.”
State Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday launched a 300-bed institutional quarantine facility at a private college in Chennai. Calling the lockdown “a speed breaker”, he said: “God only knows when the pandemic will end.”
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The Gang That Couldn’t Ratfuck Straight
Bill Barr’s announcement of Geoffrey Berman’s resignation before he had actually secured it ended up with Berman’s trusted protege rather than the Trump lackey Barr wanted being ensconced in the SDNY:
And Mr. Trump distanced himself almost immediately from his and Mr. Barr’s decision last week to fire Geoffrey S. Berman as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, even though he had discussed the move with Mr. Barr and a possible successor to Mr. Berman, according to two people briefed on the deliberations.
Mr. Barr asked Mr. Berman to leave on Friday afternoon, and he announced the prosecutor’s resignation on Friday night after Mr. Berman refused to go, essentially firing him in public. Mr. Berman then publicly declared that he was not going anywhere. Facing a public relations debacle and legal constraints that made it difficult for Mr. Barr to get rid of Mr. Berman, the attorney general was forced to ask the president to step in and officially fire him.
But soon after Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested he would not merely rubber-stamp an administration nominee to replace Mr. Berman, Mr. Trump backed away from the whole affair.
“We spent very little time, we spent very little time talking about it,” he told Fox News on Saturday. “But the president has to sign a document or I guess give the OK.”
The result was that Mr. Barr looked as though he had acted without the full backing of the president. He also ended up agreeing to install Mr. Berman’s deputy, Audrey Strauss, as the acting U.S. attorney instead of his preferred pick, Craig Carpenito, now the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey.
“As attempted power plays go, this was an abject failure and served only to further undermine the credibility of both the attorney general and the president,” said Greg Brower, a former federal prosecutor who once headed the F.B.I.’s congressional affairs office.
It’s pretty impressive to screw up badly enough that Lindsey Graham is willing to take time off from his busy schedule of cleaning Trump’s toilets to solemnly announce that he will be respecting Democratic blue slips in this matter.
Forcing Berman out also ended up stepping on coverage of Trump’s superspreader hate rally:
By the time President Donald Trump was gliding in his helicopter toward Joint Base Andrews on Saturday, destined for what he’d once hoped would be a triumphant packed-to-the-rafters return to the campaign trail, things were already looking bad.Scanning cable news coverage earlier in the day,
Trump was disappointed to see pictures not of massive lines forming outside the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa but of Geoffrey Berman, the federal prosecutor Trump’s attorney general had attempted unsuccessfully to dismiss the night before, a person familiar with his response said.
Of course, since nobody ended showing up the less hype it received the better CHECKMATE LIBS!
Trump’s got bigger problems than empty seats – The Boston Globe
The rally exposed a far larger set of problems for Trump and his reelection effort.
— Read on www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/22/opinion/trumps-got-bigger-problems-than-empty-seats/
Japan′s coronavirus supercomputer named fastest in world | News | DW | 22.06.2020
Trump says 2020 election will be rigged
Time for Supremes and Senate GOP to stand up for democracy.
Samoa’s Pulemelei Mound to no longer be sold

The owners behind a controversial land sale in Samoa have announced they will not sell the site where the ancient Pulemelei Mound is situated.
Bill Barr, Not Geoffrey Berman, Should Have Lost His Job This Weekend

The attorney general, Bill Barr, undermined the rule of law by forcing out Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
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