Saturday
Mar282020
The Commentariat -- March 29, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Falwell Brings Back Students -- AND Covid-19. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: Jerry Falwell, Jr. "reopened the [Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.,] last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. [Thomas] Eppes, [head of the university's health services,] said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggest Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.... Of the 1,900 students who initially returned last week to campus, Mr. Falwell said more than 800 had left. But he said he had 'no idea' how many students had returned to off-campus housing.... For critical weeks in January and February, the nation's far right dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic. Mr. Falwell derided it as an 'overreaction' driven by liberal desires to damage Mr. Trump. Though the current crisis would appear epidemiological in nature, Dr. Eppes said he saw it as a reflection of 'the political divide.'"
Andrew Tobias of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio "Gov. Mike DeWine [R] on Sunday sharply criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approving only limited use of a new mask-cleaning technology developed by an Ohio research firm, saying the decision would harm the nation's fight to protect front-line medical workers and first responders against the coronavirus.... DeWine issued a scathing statement on Sunday morning, calling the decision 'nothing short of reckless.'... DeWine's uncharacteristic rebuke of the federal COVID-19 response spurred a quick response, prompting ... Donald Trump and U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn to call him directly within hours, according to DeWine.... Later Sunday morning, DeWine tweeted that he had spoken with Trump about the issue. Trump said he will 'do everything he can to get this approved today,' DeWine said on Twitter."
Our Nero. As the president fiddles, people are dying. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on CNN Sunday morning ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday President Trump's delay and denial in responding to the coronavirus pandemic has had 'deadly' consequences for Americans. 'His denial at the beginning was deadly, his delaying of getting equipment ... to where it is needed is deadly, and now the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life, rather than open things up so that, because we just don't know,' Pelosi said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'"
Kamram Rahman of Politico: "Joe Biden urged ... Donald Trump on Sunday to 'stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply' about his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. 'Look, the coronavirus is not the president fault, but the slow response, the failure to get going right away, the inability to do the things that needed to be done quickly -- they are things that can't continue,' the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'"
Alan Smith of NBC News: "Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he anticipates the coronavirus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans while infecting 'millions.' Speaking with CNN's 'State of the Union,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said however he does not want to be 'held' to that prediction because the COVID-19 outbreak is 'such a moving target.'"
Kamran Rahman of Politico: "The White House Coronavirus Task Force unanimously shunned ... Donald Trump's suggestion of a quarantine in the New York City area, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday. The president 'did very seriously consider' the idea of locking down the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Mnuchin said on 'Fox News Sunday.' But Trump was dissuaded after a meeting with the task force led by Vice President Mike Pence." Mrs. McC: Say what? Are these guys initiating a united front against Trump's bluster? It's not like pence & Mnuchin to stand up to Trump, especially publicly -- and on Fox "News"! (See related WashPo item on pence linked below.)
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Steve Holland of Reuters: "Trump, who initially dismissed the pandemic as 'under control,' is having to adjust his messaging to fit grim times, and some of his allies are pushing him to show more heart.... Two sources familiar with the internal dynamics of the White House said advisers twice intervened during the last week to nudge Trump to drop the strident language that is a hallmark of his presidency and instead seek to unite Americans.... After his outburst [in which he slammed NBC News reporter Peter Alexander for asking him what he had to say to fearful Americans], advisers urged Trump to 'tell people something real, something emotional, something heartfelt,' one source said. The next day, the president tried a softer tone. 'This is a time of shared national sacrifice, but it's also a time to treasure our loved ones,' he said. In the second case, Trump dropped - at least for now - his description of the disease as 'the Chinese virus' at the urging of aides.... In response, Trump sought to tamp down anti-Asian sentiment among some Americans, saying in a post on Twitter that 'it is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Surely both "concessions" were scripted by others. Sorry, Donnie, you're incapable of faking empathy. Andrew Cuomo, who is a lot tougher than you are, is able to show empathy that brings tears to the eyes of TV viewers -- because he means it. Narcissism just doesn't cut it here.
Jonathan Chait: "Trump happens to be enjoying his highest approval ratings at the moment. It is possible he will somehow maintain, or even enhance, his current standing. But his handling of the coronavirus -- even from the narrow perspective of politics, which is how Trump himself views it -- is doing almost everything to ensure that his bump is short-lived, and will eventually be followed by a long, steep decline. Trump's recent polling bump is real. The important context, though, is that every leader is getting approval bumps, and almost all of them are getting much bigger ones than Trump.... Rallying around a leader in the initial stages of a crisis is a well-known public-opinion phenomenon.... He said on camera, 'I don't take responsibility at all,' a line that will appear in almost every Democratic ad, because it violates Americans' most fundamental requirements of their leaders.... If he winds up winning reelection, it will be in spite of everything he has done so far."
Jonathan Swan & Joann Muller of Axios: "A plane from Shanghai arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York Sunday morning carrying an extraordinary load: 12 million gloves, 130,000 N95 masks, 1.7 million surgical masks, 50,000 gowns, 130,000 hand sanitizer units, and 36,000 thermometers.... The flight is the start of what might end up being the largest government-led airlift of emergency medical supplies into the United States. That's according to Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who runs the coronavirus supply chain task force at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He spoke to Axios on Saturday night. The airlift is the most dramatic part of the Trump administration's frantic attempts to catch up with a nationwide medical equipment crisis. Polowczyk told Axios that he's already booked 22 similar flights over the next two weeks. Starting with this weekend's airlift, he said, 'We have essentially a flight a day, mostly from Asia' to expedite the transport of medical equipment that distributors already plan to sell into the U.S. This weekend's first load of medical supplies will go into the New York tri-state area, Polowczyk said, and subsequent flights will distribute supplies to other parts of the country." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If Trump had done this six weeks ago, he would have won re-election. Instead, he's our Nero.
Just a Timeline Reminder. Mike Pompeo Press Statement (Feb. 7): "This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.... Today, the United States government is announcing it is prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to assist China and other impacted countries, both directly and through multilateral organizations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This would have been a really good thing -- had we had or were developing adequate supplies in the U.S. But, as Sen. Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] tweeted on Feb. 5, two days before Mike's announcement, "Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now." (Story linked below.)
Billy Bambrough of Forbes: "The U.S. dollar has taken a beating ... dropping almost 4% against a basket of currencies this week -- its biggest weekly loss since the height of the global financial crisis over 10 years ago.... On top the of the massive economic aid package, the Fed has been working hard to prop up plunging markets -- with mixed results despite its shock-and-awe firepower. Potential risks of the combined cross-party rescue bill and Fed's biggest-ever bazooka include out-of-control inflation, the dollar's displacement as the world's funding currency, and the complete destabilization of the U.S. financial system.... [A]ll told the extraordinary measures are expected to grow the Fed's balance sheet by $4.5 trillion this year. Throughout and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis the Fed grew its balance sheet by a paltry $3.7 trillion." [Firewalled] --s
** Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wamponoag Tribe: "At 4:00 pm [Friday] -- on the very day that the United States has reached a record 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and our Tribe is desperately struggling with responding to this devastating pandemic -- the Bureau of Indian Affairs informed me that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that our reservation be disestablished and that our land be taken out of trust. Not since the termination era of the mid-twentieth century has a Secretary taken action to disestablish a reservation." --s
Marc Caputo of Politico: "Joe Biden has had limited success with his live-from-Wilmington coronavirus briefings. His longtime adviser, Ron Klain, is a different story. The nation's former Ebola czar recently cut a video for the Biden campaign making an animated case against Donald Trump's handling of the contagion -- a white board presentation that racked up 4.4 million views on Twitter alone. Now, the president's reelection campaign is drawing a bead on Klain. Over the past week, the president's allies have trained its fire on him, seeking to undermine his credibility and use Klain's high-profile role as the face of Biden's coronavirus response to bolster their own arguments about Biden's own competence.... While a new poll shows a majority approves of Trump's coronavirus response, it also reveals that Americans, by a 20-point margin, believe he initially reacted too slowly to the crisis -- a central component of Klain's public critique."
Annals of Drunk Journalism. Thom Geier of the Wrap: "Jeanine Pirro's Fox News show got a late start on Saturday night due to 'technical difficulties' -- but when the former New York state judge did appear nearly 15 minutes into her show, her usually perfectly coifed hair appeared disheveled and she seemed to many viewers to be tipsy in her verbal delivery. 'We apologize for the technical difficulties,' Pirro said when she finally appeared about a quarter into the one-hour broadcast after anchor Jackie Ibanez covered for her initial absence. Pirro's speaking was notably loose throughout the broadcast -- which a network spokesperson attributed to the lack of a teleprompter in the host's first broadcast from home." Mrs. McC: The story includes clips. I can't stand to watch Pirro sober, so I skipped clips of the drunk tank show. And, yeah, lack of a teleprompter is a common reason people slur their words.
Martyn McLaughlin of The Scotsman: "The Rockshiel Trust, listed by Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, among his global portfolio of property holdings, has applied to build a cluster of luxury townhouses and apartments in a conservation area of Edinburgh. Since the revised plans were lodged in January, the proposed development has attracted 41 public comments to date. Every single one has registered an objection.... Mnuchin's disclosures include several other properties in Edinburgh worth up to £8m. However, the US Treasury said he has no financial interest in the trust, and its inclusion in his OGE filings is because of his wife, Louise Linton, the Scots actress."
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. Access to both is free to nonsubscribers.
From the NYT: "President Trump said on Saturday night that he would not impose a quarantine on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but would instead issue a 'strong' travel advisory to be implemented by the governors of the three states.... Later Saturday night, the C.D.C. issued a formal advisory urging the residents of the three states to 'refrain from nonessential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.' The advisory, which was posted to the agency's website and its Twitter account, does not apply to 'employees of critical infrastructure industries,' the agency said. That includes trucking, public health professionals, financial services and food supply workers."
Getting Trump off the Hook. From the WashPo: "Vice President Pence said Saturday that in the coming week his coronavirus task force will bring its recommendations to President Trump on whether to ease social distancing requirements and reopen the U.S. economy. Pence told Fox News's Jesse Watters that the task force was 'following the data' on coronavirus infections in the country and would brief Trump accordingly. 'While the president has said he'd like to open the country up in weeks not months, we're going to be bringing that data forward to him,' Pence said in a Saturday interview. 'Ultimately, the president will make a decision that he believes is in the best interest of all of the American people.'"
Trump Has No Idea What He's Doing, Ctd. Toluse Olorunnipa & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Eager to demonstrate that he is in control of a viral outbreak that is spreading rapidly across the country, President Trump has ramped up efforts to show he is using some of his broadest powers as commander in chief. But the unprecedented push has been plagued by growing confusion about how far his authorities actually extend and how much he is willing to use them. He blindsided New York's governor Saturday by publicly announcing a potential quarantine order on the state's residents, only to retreat from the idea hours later. This came a day after he authorized his government to use the Defense Production Act, a move on which he'd been taking an on-again, off-again stance, but it remains unclear whether that power will be used. And he is due to issue new guidelines next week about whether the country should continue social distancing practices -- but he's vacillated between all but declaring victory against the coronavirus and acceding to experts who say the national slowdown may have to continue for several more weeks."
The New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments Saturday are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. Access to both is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday) ~~~
~~~ From the NYT updates: "President Trump said Saturday that he might order a quarantine of New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut, a dramatic exercise of federal power that would impose restrictions on travel by millions of Americans in order to prevent them from carrying the coronavirus to other parts of the country. Mr. Trump offered no details about how his administration would enforce a ban on the movements in or out of three northeastern states.... Mr. Trump -- who first broached the idea of the quarantines as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York was giving a news conference -- said he had talked with Mr. Cuomo just hours earlier. Asked about Mr. Trump's suggestion, Mr. Cuomo said they had not discussed the possibility of a quarantine." Emphasis added.~~~
~~~ A full NYT story by Michael Shear & Annie Karni is here. "Mr. Trump floated the idea of a quarantine even as he left the White House for the first time in more than a week to travel to a naval base in Norfolk so he could trumpet the departure of the 894-foot hospital ship, saying that its 1,000 beds would play a 'critical role' in freeing up capacity at area hospitals. In reality, however, the arrival of the Comfort will help the struggling state only on the margins.... The president's decision to turn the trip to the base into a high-profile photo opportunity raised questions about safety and his use of government resources at a time when the administration's own guidelines advise against most travel and gatherings of more than 10 people." A US News story, by Paul Shinkman, is here. Mrs. McC: Response to a pandemic necessarily must be flexible. It cannot be scattershot, just making up stuff on the fly, with no planning, discussion with principals, etc. This "maybe I'll quarantine millions of people; maybe I won't; whatever" crap is inexcusable. ~~~
~~~ Update. Kelly Mena of CNN: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday in an interview with CNN that he didn't believe a possible New York quarantine was legal and that it would be a 'federal declaration of war' after ... Donald Trump said he was considering such a tactic for the New York metro area as US coronavirus cases increase." Mrs. McC: Otherwise, everything is going very smoothly.
Amy Goldstein, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Feb. 5..., a shouting match broke out in the White House Situation Room between Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and an Office of Management and Budget official.... The dispute over funding [the federal supply of medical equipment] highlights tensions over a repository straining under demands from state officials. States desperate for materials from the stockpile are encountering a beleaguered system beset by years of underfunding, changing lines of authority, confusion over the allocatio of supplies and a lack of transparency from the administration, according to interviews with state and federal officials and public health experts. The stockpile holds masks, drugs, ventilators and other items in secret sites around the country. It has become a source of growing frustration for many state and hospital officials who are having trouble buying -- or even locating -- crucial equipment on their own to cope with the illness battering the nation.... It was never intended for an emergency that spans the entire nation." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "... as the deadly virus from China spread with ferocity across the United States between late January and early March, large-scale testing of people who might have been infected did not happen -- because of technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, business-as-usual bureaucracies and lack of leadership at multiple levels, according to interviews with more than 50 current and former public health officials, administration officials, senior scientists and company executives. The result was a lost month, when the world's richest country -- armed with some of the most highly trained scientists and infectious disease specialists -- squandered its best chance of containing the virus's spread.... Three agencies responsible for detecting and combating threats like the coronavirus [-- the CDC, FDA & DHHS --] failed to prepare quickly enough.... None of the agencies" directors conveyed the urgency required to spur a no-holds-barred defense." ~~~
~~~ Suzanne Smalley of Yahoo! News: "Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus. The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they 'didn't need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,' Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News' 'Skullduggery' podcast. 'What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,' Murphy said. On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: 'Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.'"
Matthew Chapman of RawStory: "On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a record $2 trillion stimulus bill to help those suffering from the coronavirus pandemic -- part of which involves one-time cash payments being sent out to tens of millions of American households. But according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants those checks to be sent out explicitly in his name. 'Mr. Trump has told people he wants his signature to appear on the direct payment checks that will go out to many Americans in the coming weeks, according to an administration official,' wrote Siobhan Hughes and Natalie Andrews. 'Normally, a civil servant -- the disbursing officer for the payment center -- would sign federal checks, said Don Hammond, a former senior Treasury Department official.'" --s
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "... Rudy Giuliani posted a tweet featuring misinformation about the coronavirus and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which was then deleted by Twitter because it violated the platform's rules.... The tweets link now gives users the message 'This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.'" In the tweet, Rudy quotes winger Charles Kirk, who claimed that "Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have 100% effective rate treating COVID-19. Yet Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it"
Fiona Harvey of the Guardian: "Economists and global health experts have called on G20 leaders to provide trillions of dollars to poorer countries to shore up ailing healthcare systems and economies, or face a disaster that will rebound on wealthier states through migration and health crises."--s
Amy Sullivan of ProPublica: "Several disability advocacy organizations filed complaints this week with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asking the federal government to clarify provisions of the disaster preparedness plans for the states of Washington and Alabama.... More than 7 million people in the U.S. have some form of cognitive disability. Some state plans make clear that people with cognitive issues are a lower priority for lifesaving treatment." --s
Kennedy Center Management Helps Out in a Time of Crisis. Peggy McGlone & Michael Brodeur of the Washington Post: "Hours after President Trump signed a stimulus bill that includes $25 million for the Kennedy Center, its president Deborah Rutter told the National Symphony Orchestra that their paychecks would end this week.... Ed Malaga, president of Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians, described the decision as outrageous and said the union has filed a grievance challenging what it believes is an illegal action.... Rutter told her staff earlier in the week that she was suspending her $1.2 million salary until the crisis ended, saying she needed to be the first to sacrifice and that more cuts were coming. Weekly payroll for the musicians is $400,00o, an arts center spokeswoman said." A Washington Free Beacon story is here.
The NRA Helps Out in a Time of Crisis. Rashaan Ayesh of Axios: "The National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials on Friday after gun stores were deemed non-essential and required to close for the state's stay-at-home order amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.... Both Second Amendment advocates and gun control backers argue that shutting federally licensed firearms dealers could push buyers to purchase guns online or through private sales without background checks, per AP. Yes, but: Gun control advocates are also concerned about a possible uptick in new owners who don't have access to training and don't understand how to store their weapons as multiple states issue stay-at-home orders." ~~~
~~~ Update. Oh, Wait. It Gets Worse. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "A federal agency has designated gun sellers as part of the country's 'critical' infrastructure during the coronavirus outbreak. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Saturday included 'workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges' as critical infrastructure on an advisory list.... The federal agency had not originally included the firearms industry on a list of critical infrastructure issued more than a week ago, The Associated Press" Really?? Really??? What? Shoot your neighbor if you think he has Covid-19?
Taryn Luna, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "The number of coronavirus patients in California's intensive care unit beds doubled overnight, rising from 200 on Friday to 410 on Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. The number of hospitalized patients testing positive for the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19 rose by 38.6% -- from 746 on Friday to 1,034 on Saturday, Newsom said.... California has reported more than 115 deaths and more than 5,500 cases of coronavirus around the state as of Saturday.... A Los Angeles Times data analysis found that California has 7,200 intensive-care beds across more than 365 hospitals. In total, the state has more than 70,000 beds. The Times data analysis shows roughly one intensive-care bed for every 5,500 people in California.... Newsom on Saturday said the federal government sent Los Angeles County 170 ventilators that arrived 'not working,' and now a Silicon Valley company [-- Bloom Energy --] is fixing the equipment.... Newsom said the Trump administration has not yet fulfilled the state's request for ventilators and separately sent the 170 ventilators to L.A. County."
David Smiley of the Miami Herald: "A reporter for the state capital bureau operated jointly by two of Florida's largest newspapers was denied access Saturday to a press conference by Gov. Ron DeSantis detailing the state's latest efforts to contain one of the largest outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in the country. Mary Ellen Klas, the Herald's bureau chief for the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau, said she was refused entry into the Capitol in Tallahassee to attend a press briefing by the governor ... [and other officials] regarding COVID-19... Klas said a reporter for the News Service of Florida was told that he would be shut out as well if he insisted that Klas be allowed to cover the press conference in person.... Klas said later in an interview that [state spokesman Meredith] Beatrice also told her the state was refusing her access into the Capitol because she had requested 'social distancing' at the governor's briefings.... The top editors of the Herald, Times, el Nuevo Herald, Bradenton Herald, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel made the same request of DeSantis' office in a March 20 letter."
Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "Millions of people across the world have lost their jobs, and trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of stock markets. But not everyone has lost out.... Regulatory filings show that [Jeff] Bezos sold $3.4bn worth of Amazon shares in the first week of February, just before the stock price peaked. There is no suggestion that Bezos acted improperly by selling the shares or that he was acting on non-public information about the impact of the pandemic. But his timing was near-perfect.... In total US executives sold about $9.2bn in shares of the companies they run in the five weeks before the start of the stock market rout. Selling before the 30% collapse in the market saved them from paper loses of $1.9bn." --s
Juan Cole: "Demonstrating that the technologies of settler colonialism never take a break, Israeli Occupation forces have demolished an emergency clinic set up by Palestinians in a small town inside the Palestinian West Bank, according to the Israeli peace organization, Btselem.... There have already been cases of Covid-19 in the Palestinian West Bank, which is very densely populated and where Israeli Occupation policies force people to line up in crowds at military checkpoints. The Palestinian Authority is doing what it can to encourage social isolation, but it is kept weak by Israeli policy." --s
Champe Burton of The Trace: "The Trump administration has implemented new export rules for American small arms, ammunition, and gun parts -- a major victory for the American gun industry, which has lobbied for the change for more than a decade.... The arrangement [which went into effect on March 9] dramatically reduces restrictions on who can sell weapons internationally and guts oversight of where guns end up. It also eliminates a requirement to notify Congress of gun deals totaling more than $1 million.... These changes were first considered by the Obama administration in 2010, as a way to streamline the export process, but after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the proposal lost steam." --s
Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician who became a powerful voice in Congress on government spending and waste, died early Saturday after a long fight with prostate cancer. He was 72. Coburn, a Republican from Muskogee, served in the Senate from 2005 to 2015 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001. After leaving the Senate, he pushed for a constitutional convention and advocated for a range of conservative fiscal causes." A Washington Post obituary is here.
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Reader Comments (21)
File it under Arts and Letters?
Not very well written (edited?) but certainly apropos.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a31827643/hemingway-quarantine-wife-mistress/
Sent to me by a son who thought his father might not have known this about Hemingway.
He didn't.
Would have no (or a different?) problem with the Pretender's signature on the bailout/stimulus/rescue/whatever checks as long as he writes them from one of his own business or personal accounts, all that's left since his charity was shut down.
Otherwise, he's just grifting with other people's money again.
He didn't get the payroll tax he wanted, but in his tiny brain he's probably thinking this giant bag of cash will do.
Could it be those checks will be held up until Fall? In the two months before the election?
Otherwise, folks might forget who paid them to vote.
The checks that go to people that were excluded from or underserved by mcconnell’s version of the bill should have Nancy Pelosi’s name on them.
It’s a riot to hear Dr. Fatty, who has been forced to get his publicity fix through the methadone of his daily TrumpVirus “updates”, rather than the uncut heroin of his race-baiting Bund rallies, call Kentucky douchebag congressmonster Thomas Massie, a third rate grandstander” hoping for some free PR on TV. Must have been looking into a mirror.
As for Massie, would you believe that this stunt loving, do nothing moron is a follower of the littlest narcissist, Senator What About Me? Both of them see the halls of Congress as little more than a platform from which to remind the nation who and what is really important. And it ain’t the business of ethical and competent governance.
“Senator, we’re in the middle of a fast-spreading pandemic that threatens to end civilization as we know it. We need to take every precaution.” “Fuck that. What about me? I’m here to fuck up the government to show my MAGA constituents that Fatty isn’t the only menace to humanity, competence, and a functioning government that serves all the people, not just the wealthy, the white, and the Evsngelicals.”
If it wasn’t for the fact that some of them may now die, the Party of Traitors would be building statues to this clown.
That crack about the end of civilization as we know it is only half in jest. As things get worse, the fact that the federal government has been hollowed out, with professionals replaced by seniors in college whose only qualification is that they can’t compete with the Dear Leader for screen time, will have much more of a visceral effect. I’ve heard anecdotes about police refusing to respond to calls in some places.
Couple that with the fact that the only things selling out quicker than toilet paper in some areas have been guns and ammunition, and add in the very real possibility that many people may run short on money, food, and even hope (let’s face it, $1500 sounds like a lot of money but it won’t last long, and this check is no substitute for the one thing the Orange Monster cannot provide, intelligent, professional, informed guidance in this crisis) and it might not be long before we’re closing in on social anarchy and martial law.
And you better believe that Fatty would love to declare martial law. Another way to demonstrate his kingly powers. Plus, he could cancel the election and make himself president* for life.
It’s not impossible.
Will Fox be allowed to do a flyover in one of Fatty’s black helicopters?
@Akhilleus: I think we can say, without hyperbole, that we have hit the pause button on "civilization as we know it." This is not saying that civilization as we know it is entirely a good thing. I suspect the majority of large public gatherings in the U.S. are a spectacular (in more than one sense of the word) waste of time, money & energy: football games, drag races, Trump rallies & so forth. So are many smaller public gatherings: mall crawls, rave parties, bar hops. In many parts of our culture, we have nearly lost the ability to have "fun" in positive ways: neighborhood gatherings (with amateur music!), barn-raisings, town halls, book clubs, etc. Because of technology and changes in attitude, it's not clear we'll get those back.
@Ken: From "The Hemingway Women"by Bernice Kert, a 507 page well written book ( a dig here, with which I agree, with your assessment of the Town and Country guy who by the way described Hadley as homily which she was not) everything you ever wanted to know about Hemingway and his wayward way with the women in his life. Here's the last paragraph re: the flu duo:"
"It was a shabby episode and no one came out of it untarnished––neither Pauline, with her disregard for Hadley's position, nor Ernest, nor even Hadley, who should not have allowed herself to be demeaned so. But Pauline had thrown down the gauntlet months ago. And Hadley believed, perhaps correctly, that if she told Pauline to leave, Ernest would have followed her. The one on the spot was Ernest himself. He wanted both women and was ready to give up neither."
So thanks for getting us off track a bit which I think we need to do if we are going to deal with this in a sane way.
Here's a most revealing and interesting piece by Susan Glasser of the New Yorker who gives us the inside scoop of those Republican "Never Trumpers" who organized and met as a group (sort of like AA meetings–-trying to deal with a poison worst than alcohol) and how they fared and failed and still have hope that perhaps this virus will be the catalyst that casts the die.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/30/the-trials-of-a-never-trump-republican
A sorta sermon:
I'd say two factors work to limit the blessings of civilization. The first is, as Bea implies, sufficient economic surplus to support the finer, more civilized pursuits, however we define them.
Rome had the means to support art, architecture and literature that we still admire, but it also brought the raw crowd-pleasing spectacles that packed the Coliseum, precursor to so many contemporary, now-shuttered. unlamented events Bea mentions.
If we want to call Rome, the British Empire, India, China in their economic heydays civilized, well enough, but we have to pick and choose.
It is, as Bea implies, a question of what we do with all that surplus. We may have had the surplus, but if civilization had been America's goal, it was a surplus squandered. Did we use it to please ourselves only, seeking fleeting distraction, or did we extend the largesse to others?
Civilization, it would seem to me, comes down to how far our noticing and caring reaches beyond ourselves. So far, if general human history is any guide, not very far, which is why the ideals of civilization mostly remain ideals only.
Let's assess where we were A.C. (ante corona):
We have a Pretender president who presents who demonstrably cares only about himself and maybe a few family members, who, other than the creepily desirable Ivanka, are I'd guess on a rotating list of who's in or out of favor this week, a president whose entire governing style reflects those same narrow interests.
He's selfish, vain, ignorant, and mean, in all respects a paragon of incivility.
Not surprisingly much of the Republican Party that happily accepts his boorishness displays the same behavior. Their various tribal affiliations may extend a little further by not far. Maybe to other party members, those in the same church, other white people maybe, as long as they don't live in cities or know too much, but that's about it.
I'm not saying that civilization's only hope lies in the current Democratic Party--I'm not sure I'm very hopeful at all-- but if looking for the large-mindedness, the generosity, the curiosity, the tolerance that underlies what I think civilization to be, we'd have to look there first.
Looked at that way, the mere 3 million margin HRC posted in 2016 was hardly a ringing endorsement of civilization.
This morning, in the grim grey mist, the birds are attacking the birdfeeder, even a pileated woodpecker is hard at it. It is so silent here that I can hear the symphony of chirps. I sit and watch the action of the birds and know one thing about the end of civilization as we know it:
the birds don't care.
In order to be truly civilized–– and by that do we mean caring for all humanity equally and fairly–-we need to evolve. Our ancient ancestors were forced to do just that or we would not have had any kind of progress. Since we humans have trouble just being humane and fail to learn from centuries of errors, I betcha my Buffalo nickel that the horrors climate change will continue to wrought on this planet, along with more pandemics, that civilization as we know it has seen its day–-has reached its zenith–-has spent its wad. Or––according to those who still cling on to the belief that a God will sweep us all in a cloud of deliverance and happy times, why worry about what the heck is happening down here –-death ain't so bad when there's so much to look forward to.
@Akhilleus Enjoyed your reference to The Twilight Zone and noticed this morning a WaPo article on 7 TZ programs that are eerily appropriate to this time. Naturally "Time enough at last" and "Where is everybody?" figured in there.
One of my favorite Christmas gifts ever is a complete set of the shows which I slip sessions into the DVD when I feel the need for a little weird.
If Congress doesn't get their shit together, and offer real sustained relief to average Americans, I don't think it's hyperbolic to expect riots and bread lines in our near future. There are already reports of Italians trying to just take food from supermarkets because they don't have money to pay. Surely troublemakers will join in to just break stuff. We're staring down a social time bomb.
https://www.thelocal.it/20200329/we-have-to-eat-sicilian-police-crackdown-on-locals-looting-supermarkets
Can't remember if this short film, Alternative Math, has been linked here. It's how I feel most of the time when I see republicans talking. One of my wife's colleagues pointed it out to us.
https://youtu.be/Zh3Yz3PiXZw
@safari
IMHO don't expect congress to do anything except prop up the finance/insurance/real estate establishment. Working people don't have that much unencumbered discretionary income to pay all the bills with what is being doled out in assistance. If the states have their priorities right with enforced bans on property evictions, bans on Repos, and expanded medicaid for COVID treatments, then worker aid from the feds can be used for sustenance, which may thwart lawless unrest for a while. I share your terror. Got to have faith that we'll sort this all out after the dust clears, but I don't think we'll ever return to the 1989 economy.
This piece in the NYT talks about a program that the government was involved with a private company to develop and build a supply of ventilators costing only $3000 each. In short, it failed because the small company was bought by a larger one and corporate greed took over. Another example of modern capitalism privatizing the gains and socializing the losses.
The Ventec unit that GM is helping to build seems similar in concept. It's small, portable, modular, even runs on lithium-ion batteries. Based on the exploded view shown, it also appears to be rather easy to assemble. If GM re-purposes an existing assembly it will still take some time to retool and reprogram the existing equipment, while saving a lot by having the infrastructure in place. The big question is how quickly the suppliers of all the component parts can ramp up their production to meet the suddenly increased demand.
A colleague at our north-of-Boston workshop will be producing clear plastic face shields for the nearby hospitals, after consulting with a nurse friend and his boss. Our company is purchasing the materials and donating the use of the (currently idle) machinery, and my colleague is donating his time.
He has materials on order for 120 shields now. He would like to expand, but as @unwashed notes above, the supply chain is the pinch point. After this run, suppliers of the raw materials are quoting 2+ week delivery times.
A letter to the editor in our local paper this AM mentioned a coming financial crisis my wife and I had talked about that the 2.2. trillion will do little or nothing for:
Looming property tax payments, payable to states, cities and counties, which per the Urban Institute report from a few years ago:
"State and local governments collected a combined $503 billion in revenue from property taxes, or 17 percent of general revenue in 2016. Property tax revenue as a percentage of general revenue were higher than general sales tax, individual income tax, and corporate income tax revenue.”
Ours are due at the end of April. Other states, like CA, are on a different schedule, I believe, but certainly the first half must be due in all states by the end of June.
@NiskyGuy: Thanks you for your service. Really.
PD,
Thanks for the NewYorker piece. Read the whole thing.
As you might guess, I have immense trouble getting inside any Republican's head these days, but there is a crack in the Never Trumpers' armor I can sometimes begin to see through.
In this case, I went along with the heroine until she said there was little difference between the Pretender and Sanders. She lost me then.
What is with these people?
@Bea, I will pass the thanks along to my colleagues. Several of them have hunkered down for two weeks and are planning to go in and help. I’m out of the picture, having returned to upstate NY to be with my wife.
In our regular work, we make musical beauty, and we (collectively) are expensive because it takes a lot of time to get things right. A former colleague once said: “The problem is that we _can_ do anything.” Today I’m proud that we can at least do our part.