May 25, 2021: New COVID Variant Spreading; Supreme Court Turns Down Firing Squad Request; One Year Since George Floyd

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by
justcoffee.coop


TODAY'S HEADLINES:


A new coronavirus variant that has been ravaging India is now
spreading throughout the UK and other European countries, and
could pose problems in communities that haven’t yet received a
vaccine.


Meanwhile, the Supreme Court turns down a request by a
Mississippi inmate on death row who asked to be executed by a
firing squad.


And lastly, George Floyd died one year ago today, and while
activists have won some victories in the struggle since, police
department funding is rising again as the status quo re asserts
itself.


THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:


The new coronavirus variant that has been fueling India’s out of
control epidemic has made its way to Europe, where researchers
are starting to get a picture of what it represents for the
future of the pandemic.


First, some good news: existing vaccines still offer pretty high
levels of protection against this variant. But like others before
it, there is evidence that it is more infectious, according to a
report by the New York Times.


So far, the U.S. has only detected 800 cases of this specific
variant, which is called B dot 1 dot 617 dot 2. You’d be forgiven
for not keeping track of all these numbered variants -- there’s a
simpler way to interpret this news. The newer variants of the
virus are more infectious, which means they eventually slowly
replace the older strains in places they make it to.


What this means is that they’ll be particularly dangerous to
unvaccinated communities, and as both America and the general
global vaccination efforts slow down, this is what we’re going to
be dealing with.


The Times reports that people who have only gotten one shot of
the vaccine should still be careful, as the more infectious
strains are more resistant to the vaccine. In other words, like
most of the scary news of new variants, the advice here is the
same: keep track of your own risks and stay safe until you’re
fully vaxxed.


Supreme Court Turns Down Firing Squad Request


The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request from
Mississippi death row inmate Ernest Johnson, who asked to be
executed by firing squad.


The Court’s conservative majority voted to not hear the case,
despite strong dissent from the bench’s liberals. Johnson suffers
from epilepsy, and was requesting a firing squad as he fears that
lethal injection will cause incredibly painful seizures.


The Court’s liberals fiercely argued for Johnson’s right to
choose his death. While a firing squad may be unusual and
barbaric, evidence suggests that it’s also a much quicker and
less painful death than lethal injection or the electric chair.


Stephen Breyer wrote in his dissent that Johnson’s petition was
simple. Quote:


“In other words, he asks that the courts decide between an
execution that is ‘cruel’ and one that is ‘unusual.”


Johnson had previously petitioned to be executed with nitrogen
gas rather than lethal injection, and was turned down by a lower
federal court. He then tried to amend this petition to request
the firing squad, which was the decision the Supreme Court
decided not to hear.


One Year Since George Floyd


George Floyd died one year ago today. After months of protests,
activists won some key reforms, but now the status quo is
creeping back in.


The New York Times reports that major cities like Los Angeles are
starting to funnel money back to their police departments after
getting spooked by a rise in violent crime statistics. LA is
hiring 250 more cops less than a year after city leaders promised
to take $150 million away from the LAPD.


The right wing has leaned into the narrative of crime surges, and
placed the blame squarely on movements like defunding the police.
Research shows, of course, that surges in crime are often linked
to gaps in social services and economic hardship, which have
swept the country during the pandemic.


And some of the biggest changes activists seek do little to
defund police, instead seeking to hold them accountable. New York
City moved earlier this year to become the first city to end
qualified immunity for its police forces, a major change that
would let people file civil suits against cops who abuse their
power.


But on a national level, even those small changes have stalled.
On Monday, for instance, the Supreme Court declined to take up a
case that would have challenged qualified immunity on a broader
scale.


What this means is that this fight is far from over -- and we can
only hope that elected officials feel just as much pressure from
the people this summer as they did last.


AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:


After Belarus’s shocking abduction of a journalist on a civilian
airliner this weekend, European officials agreed to level
sanctions against the dictator Aleksadr Lukashenko’s regime, also
moving to stop E.U. airlines from flying into Belarus’s airspace,
which would be a significant blow to the country’s economy.


The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration is
moving to let more government employees than ever to work from
home even after the pandemic ends, continue the experiment in
remote work that the federal government has been slow to adopt.


Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and other democrats reintroduced
legislation on Monday to slash spending to the U.S.’s massive
nuclear arsenal, dubbing it the Smarter Approach to Nuclear
Expenditures Act, or SANE. They promise that it will save $73
billion over the next decade, if it passes.


And finally, New York City, once the epicenter of the U.S.’s
coronavirus outbreak, has announced that it will not have any
form of remote learning starting next school year, heralding that
the city expects to be fully back open by that time.


AM QUICKIE - MAY 25, 2021


HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner


WRITER - Jack Crosbie


PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw


EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn