16 NEWS Talking points
APQFBI officials say they
are looking for a single
unidentified suspect in the
killing of Capitol Police
Officer Brian Sicknick on
Jan. 6. The suspect is seen
on video spraying Sicknick
with bear spray in the
face; an hour after fight-
ing with rioters, Sicknick
collapsed and died—not
as the result of being hit
with a fire extinguisher, as
police originally said, but
in an apparent reaction to
the toxic spray.
The New York Times
QAs gun sales boomed
during the pandemic, the
number of mass shoot-
ings in America—or
incidents in which four or
more people were injured
or killed—soared 47 per-
cent during 2020 to 611. In
all, 513 people were killed
in these shootings and
2,543 were injured.
USAToday.comQAt least 160 public
Confederate statues and
other symbols were taken
down or moved out of
public spaces last year,
according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center. About
700 Confederate monu-
ments remain across
the U.S.
Associated Press
QNew Covid-19 cases
among nursing home
residents plunged from
late December to early
February by more than
80 percent, and deaths by
65 percent, as residents
began receiving vaccine
shots. “I’m almost at a
loss for words at how
amazing it is and how ex-
citing,” said David Gifford,
the chief medical officer
for the American Health
Care Association.
The New York TimesCuomo: A serial sexual harasser?
Is it “curtains for Cuomo?”
asked Becket Adams in
WashingtonExaminer.com.
Three women have come for-
ward over the past week to
accuse the Democratic New
York governor of sexual harass-
ment, and their allegations may
mark “the end of Cuomo’s polit-
ical career.” Former aide Lindsey
Boylan, 36 and married, said
Cuomo repeatedly went “out
of his way to touch me on my
lower back, arms, and legs”; sug-
gested they “play strip poker”;
and kissed her on the lips.
Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old
executive assistant, said Cuomo told her that he
was lonely, asked if she slept with older men,
and added that “he’s fine with anyone above the
age of 22.” A third woman, Ann Ruch, 33, says
that at a 2019 wedding reception, Cuomo put his
hand on her lower bare back, grabbed her face,
and tried to kiss her. That moment was actually
captured in a photo. Cuomo released a statement
saying he likes to tease aides about their personal
lives, and apologized if his behavior was “misin-
terpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”An independent law firm appointed by state
Attorney General Letitia James will conduct an
investigation, said Jesse McKinley in The NewYork Times. The evidence will
include texts Bennett sent to
friends and her parents about
the incidents and a complaint
she made to his chief of staff.
Bennett was transferred to
a new job on “the opposite
side of the Capitol,” where
she wouldn’t have to interact
with Cuomo. Cuomo hopes
the investigation will last long
enough for the public to lose
interest, said Chris Cillizza in
CNN.com. But “the #MeToo
era has changed the way allega-
tions like these are treated,” and
Cuomo—famous for bullying
anyone who doesn’t bend to his will—“has lots
and lots of enemies” who “want to see him fall.”Cuomo was already badly wounded by his nurs-
ing home Covid scandal, said David Freedlander
in NYMag.com. Now both progressives and
Republicans are calling for his resignation or
impeachment. But those who know Cuomo well
doubt he’ll ever resign. One adviser said that at
63, Cuomo “realizes there is nothing else he can
really do other than be governor of New York.”
So Cuomo’s plan is to take a page from the
Bill Clinton guide to sex-scandal management:
“Never resign, never admit defeat, never admit
wrongdoing, keep moving forward.”Noted
A newly released intelligence report on the grisly
murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has Presi-
dent Biden “walking a tightrope on Saudi Ara-
bia,” said Peter Bergen in CNN.com. The 2018
report, which the Trump administration buried
but the Biden administration just declassified, con-
cludes what many have long believed: that Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed
the savage killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi expat
living in the U.S. Targeted for his criticism of the
prince, known as MBS, Khashoggi was lured to
the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suffocated, and
dismembered with a bone saw. On releasing the
report, the Biden administration barred 76 Saudis
from the U.S. and imposed sanctions on several
security officials. But the administration stopped
“far short of taking direct action against MBS”—
sparking complaints that Biden was following
Trump in sweeping the murder under the rug.This is a crucial test for Biden—and he’s failing,
said Fred Ryan in The Washington Post. Biden
vowed while campaigning to make MBS a
“pariah” and “re-establish the United States as a
champion of human rights.” Now it seems that
despots who happen to be of strategic value get a
“one free murder” pass. “There is no legal, moral,or logical reason” to sanction “ lower- level play-
ers” while letting MBS—who ordered the political
assassination—off the hook. Biden’s failure to
stand up for dissent and human rights will have
consequences, said Robin Wright in NewYorker
.com. “Putin, Kim, Assad, and the world’s other
autocrats” will conclude that on Biden’s watch,
“they can do as they please.”Actually, Biden is charting a prudent course, said
Tom Rogan in WashingtonExaminer.com. The
murder was a “moral disgrace,” but it would be a
“serious mistake to make Khashoggi’s tombstone
the centerpiece” of America’s Saudi policy. The
Saudis keep the global energy market stable and
are key to our Middle East “alliance structure,”
with their Sunni state serving as a crucial counter-
balance to Shiite Iran’s aggression. And MBS’s
advancement of social and economic reforms
holds promise for his country’s long-term stabil-
ity and evolution. Sanctioning the “absolute
monarch” of a critical “geopolitical partner”
would come with a huge cost, said Graeme Wood
in TheAtlantic.com. The hard reality is that we’re
“stuck in a miserable situation,” which will end
with “an American official shaking hands, once
again, with a murderer.”Khashoggi murder: Biden’s Saudi dilemma
Cuomo with his hands on Ruch