'Mr. Chauvin betrayed his badge'

The trial for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the May 2020 death of George Floyd, began today in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin faces charges of manslaughter, second-degree murder, and third-degree murder. Floyd, a Black man, was being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill when Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. While restrained, Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and expressed fear that he was about to die. After several minutes passed, he stopped speaking. Chauvin refused pleas to lift his knee until instructed to do so by medics. The trial is expected to last four weeks.

• — "He was defenseless." In his opening statement today, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said Chauvin failed the responsibilities that come with the badge he was given by the Minneapolis Police Department, as Floyd was unarmed, in handcuffs, and did not present a threat to anyone. "He was completely in the control of the police," Blackwell said.
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• — "For half of that time, Mr. Floyd was unconscious, breathless, and pulseless." Blackwell played a portion of the 9 minute and 29 second video taken by a witness on May 25, 2020. What took place was "so unusual and...so disturbing," Blackwell said, that another first responder on the scene, as well as a 911 dispatcher who could see the encounter through a police camera, "called the police on the police."
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• — "Maximal restraint technique." In his opening statement, Eric Nelson, Chauvin's defense attorney, argued that the evidence for the case is "far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds." He said Chauvin was forced to use a police technique to restrain Floyd due to the nature of the struggle to arrest him. "You will learn that Derek Chauvin did exactly what he was trained to do over the course of his 19-year career," Nelson said. —ABC News

Au: Don't be gaslighted about the Georgia voting law

"Near the end of the evening, before the Senate vote, one of my Republican colleagues had taken to the well to close the discussion. Unbelievably, Sen. John Albers called SB 202 a measure to enhance voting access, and painted my colleagues' framing of the bill as a distortion. 'The truth matters,' Albers repeated earnestly. It is unclear how much the Republicans actually believe this narrative, but one thing is resoundingly clear: their indifference to the basic principles of democracy." —Michelle Au in The Washington Post

Michelle Au represents the 48th District in the Georgia State Senate.

MORE: As Dems control Washington, GOP flexes power in states and courts —Axios

'Be aware'

That's the message of new internal training materials compiled by the Defense Department's Insider Threat Management and Analysis Center as part of a broader Pentagon effort to crack down on extremists who may be lurking inside the military. The materials focus on extremist behavior and symbolism of all different stripes—"far right, far left, Islamist, or single-issue ideologies"—and stress that members of the military and civilian personnel have "a duty and responsibility" to report extremist behavior or activity. Though the true numbers of extremists within the military are not known, as they often organize and communicate in secret, the Pentagon says one is too many. —Politico

MORE: Senate faces a new post-tragedy quagmire as anti-Asian hate crimes rise —Politico

Covid deaths could have been 'decreased substantially'

That's not exactly a shocking assessment of the U.S.'s experience with the coronavirus pandemic, but coming from Dr. Deborah Birx, it packs more of a punch. As the former White House coronavirus response coordinator under the Trump Administration, Birx was one of the doctors tasked with halting the pandemic. "The first time we have an excuse," Birx says of the initial surge of cases and deaths in spring 2020. "There were about a hundred thousand deaths that came from that original surge." The rest, she says, "could have been mitigated or decreased substantially" if cities and states across the country had aggressively applied the lessons of the first surge toward preventing those that followed. —CNN

MORE: Younger Brazilians are dying from Covid in an alarming new shift —Bloomberg

WaPo Ed Board: Stopping some shootings is better than stopping none

"[O]f course no one law will stop every shooting. And of course other factors, such as mental health, come into play. But laws can—and do—make a difference in stopping some shootings. Waiting periods for gun purchases result in decreased suicide and homicide rates. Countries that have had the good sense to ban assault weapons don't have the mass shootings that are epidemic to the United States. Robust background checks do stop guns from falling into the hands of people who shouldn't have them. And lives have been saved when a family member has had the means to prevent a suicidal loved one from getting a gun." —The Washington Post

MORE: Bipartisan pair of senators say Congress could pass expanded gun background check bill —Axios

Global roundup

The Biden Administration has suspended all trade with Myanmar today after the deadliest weekend of violence against pro-democracy protesters in the country since the military seized power in a Feb. 1 coup. The suspension "will remain in effect until the return of a democratically elected government," a statement from the office of U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai said. More than 100 civilians, including children, were killed in demonstrations against the military junta, sparking international condemnation. President Biden called the violence "terrible" and "absolutely outrageous." —CNN

• — Indonesia. Two attackers detonated explosive devices outside a packed Roman Catholic cathedral during a Palm Sunday Mass on Indonesia's Sulawesi island yesterday, wounding at least 20 people and killing themselves. The attackers are believed to have been members of the militant group Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and was responsible for deadly suicide bombings on Indonesian churches in 2018. —USA Today
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• — Venezuela. Facebook froze Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's page for 30 days for violating its policies against spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The social media company also took down a video in which Maduro promoted Carvativir, a Venezuelan-made remedy he claims, without evidence, can cure the disease. Venezuela's government has accused Facebook of "digital totalitarianism." —Reuters
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• — China & Iran. Iran and China signed a wide-ranging economic and security cooperation agreement on Saturday, advancing Tehran's longstanding efforts to deepen ties with countries outside the Western democratic bloc, and giving Beijing another authoritarian partner in its global quest for power. The deal, which was five years in the making, is being billed as a "strategic partnership" that will last for 25 years. —The Wall Street Journal

Schwartz: Our last chance to fix the system?

"[L]ook around and ask yourself if politics in America is truly working the way it's supposed to. Or even if it's working at all. How much longer can things keep going the way they are before the gears of government simply lock up? How much longer before the machine falls apart entirely? It's clear that something needs to change. Whether that's expanding the system to create a new calculus for power-sharing, or whether it's rejecting the need for a government beholden to party-affiliated politicians in the first place, there's never been a better time than now to do something about what will otherwise be an irrevocably ossified system. In fact, if we don't do something soon, it might just end up being too late." —Rafi Schwartz in Mic

Rafi Schwartz is a contributor to Mic, Rolling Stone, and other publications.

Bryant Holloway wrote: "Easy starting points for some could be to speak out when someone uses the phrase 'Chinese virus,' or calls undocumented immigrants 'illegals.'" I would like to add that we don't always need to use the words "Dems" or "Republicans" when addressing actions of a few even when it FEELS that all of this group behave a certain way. I am a "Dem" but also believe in gun rights, and I can't stand being looped into conversations about taking away people's guns. My best friend is "GOP" but does not condone Trump or many actions of other Republicans. Let's hold individuals accountable and responsible for their actions, not a group of people. —Eden S., Washington

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