Thursday
Aug062020
The Commentariat -- August 7, 2020
Afternoon Update:
** Deb Riechmann & Eric Tucker of the AP: "U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using a variety of measures to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the November election and that individuals linked to the Kremlin are boosting ... Donald Trump's reelection bid, the country's counterintelligence chief said Friday. U.S. officials also believe that China does not want Trump to win a second term and that Beijing has accelerated its criticism of the president and its efforts to shape American opinion and public policy. The statement from William Evanina comes amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats that the intelligence community has been withholding from the public specific intelligence information about the threat of foreign election interference in the upcoming election.... The latest intelligence assessment reflects concerns to varying degrees about China, Russia and Iran, warning that hostile foreign actors may seek to compromise election infrastructure and interfere with the voting process." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, it is not only Evanina who has been withholding evidence that Russia is interfering on Trump's behalf; Donald Trump is the withholder-in-chief.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.
** Pompeo Goes Behind Trump's Back to Undo the Treachery. Edward Wong & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia's foreign minister against Moscow paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants and other Afghan fighters for killing American service members, U.S. officials said. Mr. Pompeo's warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official to Russia over the bounties program, and it runs counter to President Trump's insistence that the intelligence from U.S. government agencies over the matter is a 'hoax.' The action indicates that Mr. Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump's C.I.A. director, believes the intelligence warranted a stern message. Mr. Pompeo delivered the warning in a call on July 13 with the minister, Sergey V. Lavrov.... The secretary of state did not explicitly point to the covert bounties scheme organized by a Russian military intelligence unit that was first reported in late June by The New York Times, most likely because the details of what American intelligence has learned and how it gathered the information remain classified, one of the officials said. In public, Mr. Pompeo has carefully avoided answering direct questions about American intelligence on the Russian bounties.... Mr. Pompeo's private move is the latest example of a common occurrence in the administration: American officials quietly carrying out actions that are at odds with Mr. Trump's statements and his stance on important issues."
Public Enemy No. 1. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: Two weeks ago at a signing ceremony aides set up to provide social distancing, Donald "Trump invited a dozen people to crowd behind him shoulder-to-shoulder as he signed several executive actions and handed out ceremonial pens. Four wore face masks, while the others did not, including the president and four doctors in white medical smocks. The juxtaposition of the safeguards set up to protect the president and model safe behavior for the public with Trump's seemingly arbitrary decision to override them in pursuit of a photo op illustrates his administration's ongoing inability or unwillingness to send a clear message to the public on how to protect themselves against a pandemic...."
Adolfo Flores & Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News: "The deaths of two men this week made it the most fatal year for immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2006. The men, a 51-year-old from Taiwan and a 72-year-old from Canada, died on Wednesday, according to ICE, which provided no additional information. The total number of ICE deaths so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, is now 17, making it the highest total since 2006, when 19 immigrants died, according to ICE records." --s
"Take the Oil." Kylie Atwood & Ryan Browne of CNN: "The Trump administration has approved the first-ever deal for an American firm to develop and modernize oil fields in northeast Syria under control of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The secretive contract ... was signed in Syria last month, is expected to produce billions of dollars for Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria, none of which will be shared with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.... News of the deal drew an immediate rebuke from the Assad government in Damascus.... The State Department and the Pentagon have officially sought to distance themselves from the project, but sources tell CNN that behind the scenes the State Department was active in making the deal happen. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the first time confirmed the deal in answering a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham during a hearing on Capitol Hill.... Russia ... was also competing to win the contract. --s
McGahn, DOJ Lose Appeal, But They're Running Out the Clock. Mark Sherman of the AP: "A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday revived House Democrats' lawsuit to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but left other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-2 in ruling that the House Judiciary Committee can make its claims in court, reversing the judgment of a three-judge panel that would have ended the court fight. The matter now returns to the panel for consideration of other legal issues. The current House of Representatives session ends on Jan. 3. That time crunch means 'the chances that the Committee hears McGahn's testimony anytime soon are vanishingly slim,' dissenting Judge Thomas Griffith wrote. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson also dissented. A separate case in which the House is suing to stop the Trump administration from spending billions of dollars that Congress didn't authorize for the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border also was returned to a lower court. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the administration would continue to seek dismissal of both cases." A Washington Post story is here.
Hajar Haammado of CREW: "The Environmental Protection Agency illegally destroyed records, deceived the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) about that destruction, and falsely blamed the coronavirus pandemic to escape accountability, according to internal documents uncovered by CREW." --s
Freedumb
Andy Fies of ABC News: "Despite concerns about large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 250,000 motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country are expected to roll into western South Dakota for the 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally beginning Friday and lasting 10 days. Such a crowd would make it the largest event in the country to take place during the pandemic. In a survey by the city in May, 60% of Sturgis residents said they preferred to cancel the event. But local business owners who rely on this once-a-year gathering for a huge percentage of their revenues, combined with a realization by city managers that the bikers were going to come to the area no matter what, prompted the city council to sanction the rally.... Brent Bertlson, who has a home in Sturgis and will be attending his 26th rally this year..., called Sturgis 'a freedom rally,' adding, 'Bikers are big believers in freedom. I've heard from people tired of being locked down and being told what they can and can't do. A lot of these people are saying, "I'm going to Sturgis."'"
Michigan. Not All the Rabid Racists Live in Dixie. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "A local road commission meeting in northern Michigan on Monday started with one commissioner asking another why he wasn't wearing a mask.... The unmasked official responded with a racist slur and an angry rant against the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Well, this whole thing is because of them n-----s in Detroit,' Tom Eckerle, who was elected to his position on the Leelanau County Road Commission..., said. The commission chairman, Bob Joyce, immediately rebuked his colleague, but Eckerle, who is White, continued his diatribe. 'I can say anything I want,' Eckerle said at the meeting, which the public could listen to via a dial-in number, the Leelanau Enterprise first reported. 'Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.' Eckerle's remarks came the same week Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) declared racism a public health crisis.... Michigan has reported at least 94,656 cases and 6,506 deaths since the start of the pandemic.... The racist remark spurred widespread condemnation of Eckerle, who is a Republican, and calls to resign from party officials.... 'I don't regret calling it a n----r,' Eckerle told Interlochen Public Radio. 'A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. That's not a person whatsoever.'"
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The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times' live updates for Thursday are here.
More Good-ish News. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Two months of record-setting payroll growth slowed in July but was still better than Wall Street estimates even as a rise in coronavirus cases put a damper on the struggling U.S. economy. The total nonfarm payroll increased of 1.763 million for the month. The unemployment rate fell to 10.2% from its previous 11.1%, also better than the estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. An alternative measure that includes discouraged workers and the undermployed holding parttime jobs for economic reasons fell from 18% to 16.5%."
Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials and Democratic leaders ended a three-hour negotiation Thursday evening without a coronavirus relief deal or even a clear path forward, with both sides remaining far part on critical issues.... President Trump called into the meeting several times but they were unable to resolve key issues.... [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin said after the meeting that if they decide Friday that further negotiations are futile, Trump would move ahead unilaterally with executive orders. [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer countered that they were 'very disappointed' in how the meeting went and that any White House executive orders could challenged in court."
Axios: "A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by House Republicans against Speaker Nancy Pelosi that sought to invalidate a resolution that allows members to vote via proxy during the coronavirus pandemic.... The lawsuit, led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, alleged that the system is unconstitutional because the Constitution requires a quorum, or a majority, of lawmakers to be physically present in order to conduct business. Pelosi, who has defended the resolution as vital to public health, argued that 'the Constitution empowers each chamber of Congress to set its own procedural rules.'"
She Persists. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Old allies and public health experts have expressed disgust at [Dr. Deborah Birx'] accommodations to Mr. Trump and, more so, at the performance of the federal response she is supposed to be leading against the most devastating public health crisis in a century. [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said she had lost confidence in Dr. Birx, while Mr. Trump called her 'pathetic' after she suggested the obvious: The coronavirus is in a 'new phase' and is spreading rampantly.... But beyond the cameras and outside the Washington media bubble, governors say she deserves praise for persistence and presence.... Some [public health professionals] say ... the dangerous misinformation [Trump] has spread has often gone uncorrected by Dr. Birx.... Some also fault her for offering unduly rosy assessments of the pandemic -- both in public and in private."
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Most of the evidence for asymptomatic spread has been based on observation (a person without symptoms nevertheless sickened others) or elimination (people became ill but could not be connected to anyone with symptoms). A new study in South Korea, published Thursday in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers more definitive proof that people without symptoms carry just as much virus in their nose, throat and lungs as those with symptoms, and for almost as long.... Discussions about asymptomatic spread have been dogged by confusion about people who are 'pre-symptomatic' -- meaning they eventually become visibly ill -- versus the truly asymptomatic, who appear healthy throughout the course of their infection."
Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates anywhere in the world, even though the nation has recorded more deaths from the coronavirus than any other country. The U.S. also has a mortality rate per 100,000 about twice that of Canada. While the U.S. rate is lower than Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy per 100,000 people, it is higher than such nations as Germany, France and the Netherlands.... Rather than the mortality rate, Trump has been fixated on the percentage of people who die after contracting COVID-19, a figure called the case fatality rate. In doing so, he has downplayed the scope of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. and the extremely high rate of deaths as a proportion of the population.... Amesh Adjala, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said case fatality is not a bad statistic by itself, but it can't be compared to the actual number of deaths per capita. 'Case fatality rate is important and the fact that it is lower in some countries is really reflective of the sophistication of the medical system, adeptness of critical care physicians, and what segment of the population is getting infected,' Adjala said." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You understand this, I understand this, but it was clear from the video of Jonathan Swan's interview of Trump that Trump doesn't understand this. At all. When Swan tries to explain to Trump the difference between per-capital mortality rates & case mortality rates, Trump is completely at sea. "Wha, wha?" he stammers. "You can't do that.... It's cases. And we have cases because of good testing...," he says, which makes no sense.
John Fauber & Daphne Chen of USA Today: "[A]s prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine boomed, reports of serious adverse events linked to the drug during the first half of the year more than doubled, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.... That's despite the fact that overall adverse event reports for all drugs remained flat.... Retail prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine in the U.S. jumped 81% from 460,000 in March 2019 to 833,000 in March 2020, according to IQVIA, a company that collects prescription data.... Experts said it soon became clear that solid evidence of the drugs' effectiveness was not materializing despite millions of doses being dispensed around the world." --s
Good-ish News. Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level of the pandemic area, totaling 1.186 million last week, well below Wall Street expectations. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.42 million. The level for the week ended Aug. 1 represented a drop of 249,000 from the previous period. Amid worries that the employment picture was faltering after two record-breaking months of job creation, the claims number indicates some momentum. Continuing claims, or those who have collected benefits for two straight weeks, dropped by 844,000 to 16.1 million." (Also linked yesterday.)
And the Winners Are .... Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "The nation's leading health insurers are experiencing an embarrassment of profits. Some of the largest companies, including Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, are reporting second-quarter earnings that are double what they were a year ago. And while insurance profits are capped under the Affordable Care Act, with the requirement that consumers should benefit from such excesses in the form of rebates, no one should expect an immediate windfall.... The Health and Human Services Department advised companies to consider speeding up rebates, and on Tuesday suggested that they reduce premiums...." Abelson goes on to describe some of the potential political consequences of the insurance companies' windfalls. (Also linked yesterday.)
Georgia. How to Re-open Schools: Punish Kids Who Publicize What a Piss-Poor Job You're Doing. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "At least two North Paulding High School students have been suspended after sharing images of a school hallway jammed with their mostly maskless peers, and the principal has warned other students against doing the same. North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., about an hour's drive from Atlanta, was thrust into the national spotlight this week when pictures and videos surfaced of its crowded interior on the first and second days of its first week back in session. The images, which showed a sea of teens clustered together with no face coverings, raised concerns over how the district is handling reopening schools during the novel coronavirus pandemic." A New York Times story is here. BuzzFeed News has the story here. ~~~
~~~ Laura Thompson of Mother Jones: "'Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them,' the [Paulding school district] superintendent wrote to the Times." However, the district mandates an elaborate dress code. Mrs. McC: Thompson does not report the consequences of violating the dress code. But I'll bet the district has found a "practical way to enforce" the code. It's evah so disturbing to young people when they find out the school board is made up of supercilious hypocrites.
** Mississippi. Sarah Fowler, et al., of the Washington Post: "Mississippi, now experiencing the country's highest rate of positive tests, is emblematic of the pandemic's new reality. The virus is no longer principally an urban problem: It is present throughout every state, and those infected often don't know it, leading to what top public health officials call 'inherent community spread.'... The situation in Mississippi is unfolding as well in other largely rural parts of the country, including in Alabama, South Carolina and California's Central Valley, places where so much viral material is circulating that when people get infected, many are unsure when or how it happened -- so the outbreaks cannot be easily traced and contained." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~
~~~ Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "Last week, schools in Corinth, Miss., welcomed back hundreds of students.... By early this week, the count [of positive Covid-19 tests] rose to six students and one staff member infected. Now, 116 students have been sent home to quarantine, a spokeswoman for the school district confirmed.... The district's superintendent said he has no plans to change course." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's how these mandatory back-to-school orders are going to work. (1) Kids go to school. (2) Kids get sick. (3) Kids get quarantined. So roughly the same number of kids will be at home under the mandatory system (because they're sick and/or quarantined) as under an opt-in-or-out hybrid system, where some kids go to school & others school-at-home. The difference is that under the mandatory plan, many more of the kids at home will be sick than will those in the hybrid system. But mandatory schooling a great plan!
Ohio. Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement came shortly before DeWine, a Republican, was scheduled to meet with ... Donald Trump in Cleveland. DeWine was tested as part of the 'standard protocol' to greet Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport, the governor's office said in a statement. He is returning to Columbus, where he and his wife Fran will both be tested. DeWine tweeted Thursday that he's not experiencing symptoms at this time." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ ** Update. Randy Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch: "A more sensitive coronavirus test has determined that Gov. Mike DeWine does not have COVID-19, his office announced Thursday night. A rapid-test before DeWine was scheduled to greet ... Donald Trump in Cleveland determined he was positive for the virus. A second test administered later in Columbus produced a different result. 'The PCR tests for the Governor, First Lady, and staff were run two times. They came back negative the first time and came back negative when they were run on a second diagnostic platform,' DeWine's office said.... DeWine and his wife plan to have another PCR -- polymerise chain reaction -- test on Saturday to confirm this evening's results."
** Trump & the Trumplodytes Continue Skewing the Census. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A Census Bureau memorandum on creating a state-by-state estimate of people illegally in the country is raising new fears of a politicized census — this time involving the population totals that will be used to reapportion the House of Representatives next year. The memo, issued Monday, orders an internal task force to explore statistical methods of compiling an accurate estimate of noncitizens. It says the aim is to carry out President Trump's July mandate to exclude undocumented residents from population totals used to determine how many House seats each state is entitled to. The directive, which is being challenged in court, is widely seen as an effort to shift some House seats to Republicans during reapportionment next spring.... Some career Census Bureau employees say it's hard to see an innocent reason for the request.... The experts are convinced that the memorandum was written [outside the Bureau], by political appointees recently added to the bureau or by the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency."
Matthew Daly of the AP: "Lawmakers from both parties are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that changes imposed by the new, Republican postmaster general 'threaten the timely delivery of mail -- including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters -- that is essential to millions of Americans.' In separate letters, two Montana Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte, also urged the Postal Service to reverse the July directive, which eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and mandates that mail be kept until the next day if distribution centers are running late. And 84 House members -- including four Republicans -- signed yet another letter blasting the changes and urging an immediate reversal.... The flurry of letters came as the top Democrat on a Senate panel that oversees the Postal Service launched an investigation into the operational changes.″
Nikki Carvajal & Caroline Kelly of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order that would ban the social media app TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US in 45 days if they are not sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies."
Trump's So Crazy That..., Ctd. Jim Sciutto of CNN: "Amid escalating tensions with both North Korea and Iran..., Donald Trump's advisers hesitated to give him military options fearing the President might accidentally take the US to war and deliberately informed their counterparts in both countries that they did not know what the President would do next, multiple former administration officials tell me.... Joseph Yun, who served as President Trump's special representative for North Korea policy until 2018..., recalled that during the worsening standoff with North Korea in 2017, the Pentagon hesitated to give the President a broad range of military options, concerned that he might indeed order a major military attack on the North. 'You had to be careful what options you gave him,' he said. 'We were being very cautious, because any options you put out there, he could use them.' That frustrated the White House. 'The White House viewed it as "Goddamnit! The President is looking for all options!'" Yun recalled. But the Pentagon, under Defense Secretary James Mattis at least, didn't budge."
Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "The Trump foreign policy team is racing the clock to establish facts on the ground on a range of issues. One key aim: to make it as difficult as possible for a potential Biden administration to undo the Trump team's actions. In the most glaring example, the Trump administration is trying to smash the Iran deal into so many bits that a Biden administration would never be able to piece it back together. Although they would never admit it publicly, several administration officials have privately acknowledged that the current flurry of foreign policy activity is partly attributable to the realization that President Trump might lose [the November election]."
Edward Moreno of the Hill: "A New York State Supreme Court justice on Thursday denied a motion by President Trump asserting absolute immunity in a defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll. The ruling allows the case to go forward without waiting for a decision from an appeals court on a separate similar suit.... The decision opens the door for Carroll's attorneys to collect DNA samples from the president, which they hope to compare to genetic material on the dress she said she wore during the incident."
All the Best People, Ctd. Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Brian Hook, the administration's special representative for Iran, is leaving and will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, convicted of misleading Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams, who has been serving as the special representative for Venezuela, will continue in that position in addition to his new role. He pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 1991 as a part of the Iran-Contra affair and was later pardoned by then-President George H.W. Bush. Abrams, who was assistant secretary of state at the time, admitted he had unlawfully withheld information from congressional committees in 1986 when he testified about the secret Contra supply network and his role in soliciting a $10 million contribution for anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua. Abrams also served in the George W. Bush administration and was a [Mrs. McC: rabid] advocate of the Iraq War. (Mrs. McC PS: Guess who lobbied Poppy Bush for Abrams' pardon? Why, young Billy Barr.)
Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "Michelle Obama said this week that she was experiencing 'low-grade depression' and seemed to suggest that it was because of a combination of quarantine, racial unrest and the Trump administration's response to the pandemic. In the second episode of her new podcast, which was released on Wednesday, Mrs. Obama ... told the Washington Post columnist Michele Norris that she has had low points recently. 'There have been periods throughout this quarantine where I just have felt too low,' Mrs. Obama said, adding that her sleep was off. 'You know, I've gone through those emotional highs and lows that I think everybody feels, where you just don't feel yourself. I know that I am dealing with some form of low-grade depression... Not just because of the quarantine, but because of the racial strife, and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it, day in and day out, is dispiriting.'" ~~~
~~~ CNN has a story here, but it doesn't mention how depressing Obama finds Trump's hypocrisy. Mrs. McC: For any thinking person who's been paying at least a little attention to Trump's so-called presidency*, it's only natural to feel stressed and/or depressed -- even before the pandemic altered our lives.
Black Lives Matter. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Department of Homeland Security acting secretary Chad Wolf on Thursday defended his handling of the protests in Portland, Ore., and bristled at criticism from his predecessors, telling a Senate panel that former DHS secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff were 'dead wrong' when they raised concerns that the Trump administration's response had gone too far. Appearin before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Wolf said DHS officers and agents were deployed to Portland to protect federal buildings from destructive attacks and claimed they did not interfere with peaceful protests. He faulted city and state officials as cutting off cooperation with the Trump administration.... Wolf avoided placing blame on any one side or party, even when GOP senators appeared eager to make Democrats responsible for the unrest and to tie the Portland protests to rising crime in other cities." Mrs. McC: Perhaps he's hoping for a job in the Biden administration.
Louisiana. Kay Jones & Leah Asmelash of CNN: "A Black Louisiana man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stealing hedge clippers, after the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his request to have his sentence overturned last week. Fair Wayne Bryant, 62, was convicted in 1997 on one count of attempted simple burglary. In his appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Louisiana in 2018, his attorney, Peggy Sullivan, wrote that Bryant 'contends that his life sentence is unconstitutionally harsh and excessive.' Last week, though, the state Supreme Court disagreed -- with five justices choosing to uphold the life sentence. The lone dissenter in the decision was Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson, who wrote that 'the sentence imposed is excessive and disproportionate to the offense the defendant committed.' Johnson is the only female and Black person on the court. The rest of the justices are White men."
Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The police have identified a suspect and prosecutors decided to charge him with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a man in June that took place during protests in Seattle seeking racial justice, the authorities said on Wednesday. The authorities said they were able to identify the gunman as Marcel Levon Long, 18, after collecting 'extremely high quality' surveillance video footage and statements from several eye witnesses. Mr. Long, whose last-known address was in Renton, Wash., about 20 minutes south of Seattle, remained at large as of Wednesday evening. The killing was among several shootings in and around a six-block area that protesters controlled for several weeks. The area was alternately called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). It was cleared out by the police on July 1." (Also linked yesterday.)
Elections 2020
** Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Rapper Kanye West filed an independent bid for U.S. president in Ohio on Wednesday, aided by GOP operatives in the state. To qualify as an independent candidate for president, West will need 5,000 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters. His campaign submitted 14,886 signatures and other paperwork on Wednesday afternoon. Election officials will now check for possible errors or missing information.... Prominent Republican consultants have helped West's campaign in several states, lending credence to the claim that West's candidacy is meant to draw Democratic voters away from Vice President Joe Biden. West and his wife, celebrity Kim Kardashian West, have been high-profile supporters of Trump for years." ~~~
~~~ Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Did West's team file his [Wisconsin] nomination papers by Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline? Or did he miss it by a couple of crucial minutes?... Lane Ruhland, an attorney for ... Donald Trump who was assisting West's campaign, and an assistant arrived outside the state Elections Commission's office in Madison right at 5 p.m. The two rushed past a reporter and cameraman and into the building. One record of the incident, reviewed by the Journal Sentinel, had Ruhland's assistant entering the building about 20 seconds after 5 p.m. The pair then had to go to the commission's third-floor offices, using the building's notoriously slow elevator, and get their petitions stamped by state officials. From all appearances, it looks likes West's team was a minute or two late. A WISN-TV (Channel 12) reporter at the scene tweeted that Ruhland entered the commission's building 'just after 5.'... Milwaukee's top three African-American officials held a news conference Thursday to denounce the efforts to get West on the ballot, something they said was a cynical ploy by Trump officials to dupe Black voters." ~~~
~~~ Randall Lane of Forbes: "Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November's presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was 'walking,' quickly adding that he was 'walking . . . to win.' When it was pointed out that he actually can't win in 2020 -- that he won't be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn't feasible -- and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: 'I'm not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.'" ~~~
~~~ Ben Collins & Kevin Collier of NBC News: "Facebook removed hundreds of accounts on Thursday from a foreign troll farm posing as African-Americans in support of Donald Trump and QAnon supporters. It also removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to conservative media outlet The Epoch Times that pushed pro-Trump conspiracy theories about coronavirus and protests in the U.S. Facebook took down the accounts as part of its enforcement against coordinated inauthentic behavior, which is the use of fake accounts to inflate the reach of content or products on social media. The foreign pro-Trump troll farm was based in Romania and pushed content on Instagram under names like 'BlackPeopleVoteForTrump' and on Facebook under 'We Love Our President.'"
Donald's Dumbest Diss of the Day. Lisa Lambert of Reuters: "... Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that ... Joe Biden, is 'against God,' even though Biden frequently discusses how his Catholic faith has guided his actions as a public official.... After addressing a small crowd at a Cleveland airport on Thursday, Trump went on to deliver a campaign-style speech at a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio. 'He's following the radical-left agenda: take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God,' Trump said about Biden in his Cleveland speech. 'He's against God.'" Mrs. McC: Yeah, Donnie, I've heard Joe really hates those Two Corinthians. Idiot. (BTW, that link to the two Corinthians story is interesting. I don't think I was aware Donnie had Two Excuses for Two Corinthians, one of which was to falsely blame his dear, departed mother.) I heard a clip of Trump's claim; he also said Biden was "against energy." What does that even mean? ~~~
~~~ Update. Sarah Mucha of CNN: "... Joe Biden on Thursday countered ... Donald Trump's baseless attack that he, a practicing Roman Catholic, would somehow 'hurt God.'... 'Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life: it's provided me comfort in moments of loss and tragedy, it's kept me grounded and humbled in times of triumph and joy. And in this moment of darkness for our country -- of pain, of division, and of sickness for so many Americans -- my faith has been a guiding light for me and a constant reminder of the fundamental dignity and humanity that God has bestowed upon all of us,' Biden said. 'For President Trump to attack my faith is shameful. It's beneath the office he holds and it's beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders,' he added.... Biden has long spoken publicly about the role his faith has played in his life, particularly during moments of tragedy." ~~~
~~~ Biden's full statement, published on Medium, is here. ~~~
~~~ ** S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Air Force cargo jets hauled in armored SUVs and White House advance teams spent weeks preparing a remote oil rig site for a presidential visit, at a total cost of millions, so that Donald Trump could get on stage and attack Democratic rival Joe Biden. And who picked up tab? If you pay U.S. taxes, you did. 'I don't think Biden is going to do too well in Texas. He's already written it off. It's gone,' Trump said, a stack of oil barrels arranged behind him for the camera shot. 'If these far-left politicians ever get into power, they will demolish not only your industry, but the entire U.S. economy.' Last week's foray into partisan politics at an 'official' event was, for Trump, hardly unusual. More than any president in modern times, he has openly conscripted American taxpayers into underwriting the costs of his reelection campaign, from travel aboard $273,000-an-hour Air Force 1 to the dozens of staff who arrange his trips to the salaries of his own White House employees who regularly ― and illegally ― engage in politics on his behalf. And on Wednesday, Trump told Fox News he was 'thinking about' holding his renomination speech later this month on the South Lawn of the White House ― which is government property." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is exactly what I was thinking yesterday when Trump made his attacks on Joe Biden at the Whirlpool plant in Ohio. Everything Trump does is corrupt.
Orion Rummler of Axios: "The Commission on Presidential Debates on Thursday denied the Trump campaign's request to add a fourth debate in the first week of September or move up one of the existing debates in order to get ahead of an expected surge in early voting.... Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are set to debate on Sept. 29 in Cleveland, Oct. 15 in Miami, and Oct. 22 in Nashville."
Colby Itkowitz & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "After a bruising and bitter campaign to replace retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander, Bill Hagerty ... fended off a challenge from the right questioning his loyalty to the president to win the Tennessee Senate GOP primary on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Hagerty, Trump's former ambassador to Japan..., was on Trump's transition team after serving as a high-dollar fundraiser for his campaign. He has received the president's endorsement, and many national Republicans quickly lined up behind him. But he faced a challenge from Nashville surgeon Manny Sethi, who gained traction by challenging Hagerty's conservative credentials, pointing to his early support for Jeb Bush in 2016 and his prominent role on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign." A Politico story is here.
Letitia Get Your GunNuts. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "New York's attorney general ... [brought a lawsuit against] the National Rifle Association on Thursday, arguing ... that years of runaway corruption and misspending demanded the dissolution of the nation's most powerful gun rights lobby. While the legal confrontation could take years to play out, it constitutes yet another deep blow to an organization whose legendary political clout has been diminished by infighting and financial distress. The suit was swiftly followed by two others: The N.R.A. struck back with a federal lawsuit against the office of the attorney general, Letitia James, claiming her action was politically motivated and violated the organization's First Amendment rights. And the attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed suit against the N.R.A. and its charitable foundation, alleging that the N.R.A. misused millions of dollars of the foundation's funds. Ms. James -- who has special jurisdiction over the N.R.A. because it was chartered as a nonprofit in New York 148 years ago -- also sued four current or former N.R.A. leaders, seeking tens of millions of dollars in restitution." An NPR story is here.
Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. addressed a now-deleted Instagram post depicting his pants unzipped and his arm around a woman, apologizing but saying the photo was 'just in good fun.' 'I've apologized to everybody,' Falwell said in an interview with WLNI 105.9FM, a Lynchburg, Va.-area radio station. 'And I've promised my kids I'm going to try to be a good boy from here on out.'" BUT WAIT! Jerry has an excuse! "He told the radio station the woman in the photo, seemingly taken on a yacht, was his 'wife's assistant' and that he regretted involving her. 'She's pregnant, so she couldn't get her pants up,' he told the radio station. 'And I had on pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in a long time so I couldn't get mine zipped either. And so I just put my belly out like hers.'" Mrs. McC: So Jerry was really showing empathy for the woman -- walking a mile in her pants, as Jesus might say. Nothing whatsoever untoward going on! I wonder how many ole Moral Majority heard from his namesake that the dog ate his homework. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Michael Stratford of Politico: "A top House Republican with ties to Liberty University is calling on Jerry Falwell Jr. to step down as president of the large Christian school in the wake of a viral photo that showed him vacationing on a yacht with his pants unzipped, holding a drink, and with his arm around a woman. 'Jerry Falwell Jr's ongoing behavior is appalling,' Rep. Mark Walker, the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, wrote in a tweet on Thursday that called for Falwell's resignation."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Saudi Arabia/Canada. Ben Hubbard & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "A former top Saudi intelligence official publicly accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday of sending a team of agents to Canada to kill him. The allegation came in a lawsuit filed in United States federal court on Thursday by the former official, Saad Aljabri, who has accused Prince Mohammed of seeking to silence or kill him to stop him from undermining the prince's relationship with the United States and the Trump administration. The suit marks the first time a former senior Saudi official has publicly accused Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, of carrying out a widespread and sometimes violent campaign to silence critical voices.... Mr. Aljabri's suit contained scant evidence to support its charges, including about the alleged Canada operation, nor could they be independently verified by The New York Times."
Moira Warburton of Reuters: "The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July, researchers said on Thursday. The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut.... The shelf's area shrank by about 80 square kilometers. By comparison, the island of Manhattan in New York covers roughly 60 square kilometers." --s
This Month in History
** A Man with a Plan. Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Seventy-five years ago [Thursday], on Aug. 6, 1945, the world erupted into a new era. A single B-29 Superfortress airplane, nicknamed Enola Gay, dropped a new kind of weapon -- an atomic bomb — on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.... Along with a second A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later, it forced the Japanese to surrender, ending the Second World War.... Declassified archival documents are pretty clear: There never was a decision to drop either bomb. Instead, there was a decision to build an atom bomb. Once it was ready, it was used; once the second bomb was ready, it too was used. From the outset, this was the plan -- an automatic sequence from building the bomb to testing it to dropping it on the enemy. The only decision [Harry] Truman made was not to alter the plan."
Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "In the fall of 1945..., New Yorker writer John Hersey ... [and] his editor ... William Shawn ... suspected that the U.S. government's wartime propaganda machine had covered up the human suffering of the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago this month. Pictures from Japan showed destroyed buildings and decimated neighborhoods, but little was known about the human toll, especially from radiation. The U.S. government controlled access to the bomb sites. The War Department quietly asked American news outlets to limit information about nuclear aspects of the attacks. When reports of widespread suffering from radiation began to emerge from international journalists and Japanese officials, the American government downplayed it all as propaganda. One general even told Congress that dying from radiation was, in fact, 'a very pleasant way to die.'... [Hersey] traveled to Hiroshima and spent two weeks reporting the misery from the point of view of six survivors. His 30,000-word account, told in a harrowing narrative using the tools of a novelist, took up an entire issue of the New Yorker in August 1946, stirring outrage throughout the world.... Hersey's story, later published as a book, has been celebrated as a journalistic and historical masterpiece. A panel of journalists and critics ranked it first on a list of the top 100 works of journalism in the 20th century.... Many historians and foreign policy experts say its impact was profound enough to help prevent future use of nuclear weapons." (Also linked yesterday.)
Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, Setsuko Thurlow, then just 13, reported for her first full day of duty in Japan's increasingly desperate war effort. Together with 30 other girls, she had been recruited to assist with code breaking at a military office in Hiroshima.... At 8:15 a.m., a blast detonated over the city.... She was then thrown into the air, losing consciousness. When she came to, it was dark and silent, and she was pinned under parts of the wooden building. 'I'm going to die here,' she thought to herself.... Ms. Thurlow survived, but the attack would shape the rest of a life spent fighting for the abolition of nuclear weapons -- work for which she jointly accepted a Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.... In advance of the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the two bombs, Ms. Thurlow wrote to 197 heads of state asking them to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was formally adopted at the United Nations three years ago. The world's nine nuclear-armed countries have refused to sign the treaty on the grounds the weapons are necessary for deterrence." (Also linked yesterday.)"
News Lede
New York Times: Breaking @ 1pm ET: "An Indian jetliner with more than 180 passengers skidded off a wet runway in southern India Friday night and split in half, and Indian media said three people were killed and dozens injured. The Air India Express flight was returning from Dubai to Kozhikode, a city in India's Kerala state. Indian media showed injured passengers lying in the hallways of a hospital. According to news reports, a pilot and two passengers died, and 30 to 40 passengers were hospitalized with injuries."
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Reader Comments (16)
A lot of American pundits seem confused or even dismissive about Drumpf's insistence that a vaccine could be ready this year, maybe even for Election Day.
Fauci seems to be claiming early 2021 is the best scenario.
I'm wondering if the source of this consternation is not the source of said vaccine. In a normal world, we'd all be waiting for an American president to be keeping an eye on American pharmaceutical companies, maybe European, maybe Japanese, to follow guidelines and produce a certified vaccine. We don't live in a normal world and our Presidunt* is beholden to a mafia state led by his BFF.
Over there in Russia, their vaccine delivery time is October (surprise!).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/russia-claims-to-be-ahead-of-rivals-in-race-to-produce-covid-vaccine
Who wouldn't believe that Drumpf makes a celebratory announcement just prior to the election lauding Russia's accomplishments and orders the USGOV to buy up millions and millions of uncertified, unreliable Russian-made vaccines to stock next to his unfinished and overpaid ventilator orders and his billions of doses of hydroxychloroquine? The two "leaders" have been apparently talking on the phone nearly monthly as of late, either discussing campaign interference strategy or maybe lining up deals for shady vaccines.
Either way, the world has once again flipped on its head and now I'm a vaccine skeptic of anything they want to inject into my body made at "Warp Speed".
My daughter recalls, with a great deal of eye-rolling, the dress code when she was in high school. A key element seemed to be the importance of keeping bra straps hidden from view. These days, it's fine to spread your germs by not wearing a mask, but don't you dare distract those boys who, had they not glimpsed a bra strap, would have kept their thoughts firmly on their history and literature and science.
THE VORTEX IN THE WHIRLPOOL
How queer it is to have a president that lies on a daily basis so that we never have to take his word for anything. We can just ignore his tweets and utterances and rely on others for our information. We are being reduced, because of this, to a Potemkin village life. I think, however, we are seeing a crack in the Hack:
There he was yesterday, giving what I suppose we could call a speech––Whirlpool signs in the background–-and pronouncing that Joe Biden was going to kill your puppy! Not only that but because Biden hates God. hates the Bible, will ruin the economy, sever the heads of certain states, and, by George, take all your money and invest it for himself, you better not vote for him!
A lone reporter had the temerity to ask if the president was describing himself?
Sadly it was "off with his head!"
Seriously––and it's difficult not to make fun of Fatty–-this performance was so bizarre, so cruel, so off the charts that the desperation he must feel (the feds are closing in) about losing his position that has protected and nourished him for four years will end and HE may end up in jail is taking its toll. He's becoming undone.
And speaking of jail: the story above re: Fair Wayne Bryant (ironic that his first name is "Fair") who will spend the rest of his life in jail because he stole a hedge clipper? The fury I feel about this makes me crazy! I just signed an ACLU petition to clear these kinds of prisoners from this kind of incarnation.
We mailed our ballots yesterday–-put them in one of the ballot boxes this town has put out and about. This effort by the aforementioned corrupt king and his minions to screw up the postal service is again, just another way of saying "up yours" ––desperation writ large.
I read yesterday that Michelle Obama has described her feelings as "a low grade depression"–––I'll go with that; I try hard not to succumb to the downside but....I recall what Neil Simon's therapist said if him:
"sad enough to be sad, but not happy enough to be happy."
Instead of working through the emotions, he sets up in some of his plays, he deflects it with laughs. In our case here––at least it seems that way to me–-we are not deflecting emotions but, unlike the playwright, facing them head on and then use a little humor to quell the ache––sort of like the sugar that helps make the medicine ( in this case toxic) go down.
and from yesterday: Jeanne: hang in there, girl–-you'll get through this.
NiskyGuy,
Unless those boys were studying the history, literature, and science of bra straps...
@Ak, wouldn't surprise me that there are PhDs in all three categories...
Good ol’ Doc Birx. Another in the long line up of those who have traded in their reputations and accomplishments to serve as a hapless, despised, flunky doormat for an ignorant traitor. Good work.
What possesses these people to lay down in the mud and the blood and the shit for a few months or even just weeks in service to a monster?
Perhaps she, like so many before her, we’re just itching to destroy their reputations, as confederate flunkies in waiting. Maybe once she gets the boot, she, like others, will wrote a book trying to save whatever tattered remnants of that reputation remain. Alas, it will be too late. She’ll be stained for life by her lies for a sick tyrant.
So bugger off, Deb. Another Trumpen toady.
Occam’s dull razor...
Talk about hapless...
Doncha just love these idiots who show their asses (literally) in public then invent the most convoluted, wild excuses for their slimy behavior?
So here we have infamous Bible thumper and self serving creep, Jerry Falwell, Jr., another jerk who everything handed to him, giving out with outlandish, Byzantine mumbling about his drunken picture of himself and a much younger woman with their pants undone and shirts pulled up,
“Um...well, she was pregnant and couldn’t zip up her very short shorts, and I had just eaten 150 hot dogs and my pants wouldn’t fit either, and um, mumble, mumble, mumble, blah, blah, something, something, something...”
Jesus, Jerry. Usually the simplest answer is the right one. You were drunk as a skunk and thought it would be great to pull your pants down while holding a drink in one hand and groping a babe—with her pants down—with the other.
Putz.
I guess only one Louisiana justice ever heard of Jean Valjean. Wow!
Ah, those bras that had a significant presence in my life: those moony middle and the junior high years and later, as high school principal cleavage cop.
Tho' the second iteration had its amusing moments, I prefer the fond memories of the former.
From the personal to the political:
The Republican flail is not limited to the Pretender’s campaign or to the Covid negotiations.
It is present across the board. What exactly is Republicanism in 2020? What will it become?
Brooks takes an overlong, disjointed look and comes up with—to my mind—the same incoherence the began with.
Maybe a preview of his next book?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/opinion/republican-party-trump-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
My comment:
Lotsa words that come to whadda mess.
Bottom line of Brooks' argument: Get rid of the arrant racism and see what the Republican Party has left.
Answer: Not much.
Other than racism, Republicanism is composed of the faux virtue of the right to fetal lifers, the gun nuts, and wealthy capitalists still pulling the strings. Without the racism of white privilege and grievance that's all that would remain of a party whose backbone was once upon a time the small town Babbit types who have long since disappeared from the American scene.
In short, nothing worth saving.
And Brooks proposes to replace all this with workers, the same people the Republican Party has been deliberately abusing and victimizing since the first Gilded Age?
What a fantasy!
I guess that a foursquare support of strong labor unions is just around' the next corner of Brooks' Republican wilderness in which he is still wandering, lost.
@citizen625: Just what I was thinking. And Jean Valjean got only 5 years for stealing that loaf of bread. He had another 14 years tacked on for various misdemeanors during his incarceration. Gov. Edwards, a Democrat, should commute Bryant's sentence. It's outrageous.
Just finished smiling at all the memories of what passed for dress code back in the late 50's and then Wandered over to The Hill and ran into this: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/511098-illinois-school-district-bans-pajamas-for-online-school
Forgot to include this gem into the Latin lexicon the other day. From the "Life of Brian":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdqXT9k-050&feature=youtu.be
@PD Pepe: Thanks. That's fabulous. And right on point.
What a weak, small, useless POS the current Oval Office Occupier is. He has been given four opportunities to lay out a vision for a second term. These weren't softballs. These were T-balls, just sitting there, adjusted to the optimum height, waiting to be whacked. The problem is, he hasn't figured out a palatable way to say: "Line my pockets, for the good of the country."
Of course he's withholding information on Russian skulduggery. Not only does he know he needs it to win, as far as I can tell, he thinks that's the _only_ way anyone can win, probably because that's the only way he has ever won, err, made it through an event and declared victory (and his minions mopped up all the lawsuits and messes).
How sad. He has never experienced a real victory. He has never had a real triumph. If it were someone else, I might pity him, but he has killed too many Americans and destroyed OUR country's standing in the world (yes, with the help and even encouragement of McConnell and many others). He doesn't deserve his own new ring of hell. He deserves eternal damnation in a black hole, and a VCR in his jail cell with only a tape of Carl Sagan describing black holes to watch for his remaining days, getting grainier and grainier every day.
The Evanina report (such as it was) called to mind a mental picture of the paperback cover of "The Man in the High Castle" that I read in high school: A former United States under two flags, Japan in the west, Germany in the east. (A version of that memory is on the Wikipedia page describing the novel.)
Chinese and Russian flags overlaid on a map of the ( former?) US would bring that old image into the present and its quasi-reality.
Must say it's a little disturbing to see alternative history happening outside of a story.
America's response to the virus is an indicator of our future. In the next century the planet will be populated by a few successful looters living in the mountains and cockroaches all over.