The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Monday
May042020
The Commentariat -- May 4, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
** The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. "As President Trump presses for states to reopen their economies, his administration is privately projecting a steady rise in the number of cases and deaths from the coronavirus over the next several weeks, reaching about 3,000 daily deaths on June 1, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times, nearly double from the current level of about 1,750. The projections, based on government modeling pulled together in chart form by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, forecast about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of the month, up from about 25,000 cases now. The numbers underscore a sobering reality: While the United States has been hunkered down for the past seven weeks, not much has changed. And the reopening to the economy will make matters worse.... On Sunday, Mr. Trump said deaths in the United States could reach 100,000, twice as many as he had forecast just two weeks ago. But his new estimate still underestimates what his own administration is now predicting to be the total death toll by the end of May -- much less in the months that follow." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The lede there is conveying that Trump is encouraging policies which he knows will cause Americans to get sick & die. ~~~
~~~ Laurie McGinley, et al., of the Washington Post: "It was not immediately clear whether the projections, which carry logos of the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, are based on ramped up testing, the attempt to reopen some states, the time lag between a rise in cases and deaths or some combination of those factors. The forecast stops at June 1, but shows both daily cases and deaths on an upward trajectory at that point.... The White House issued a statement Monday that 'this is not a White House document, nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting. This data is not reflective of any of the modeling done by the task force, or data that the task force has analyzed....' A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency did not issue the projections, though the slides also carry CDC's logo. A senior White House official said the document would not change the White House planning on reopening." The story is free to nonsubscribers. Mrs. McC: IOW, Trump hasn't approved the government's dire projection, so it won't happen. Feel better now?
California. Ewan Palmer of Newsweek: "Officials have condemned a man in California who was pictured wearing a makeshift Ku Klux Klan hood while shopping at a supermarket. Pictures of the man wearing a white hood similar to one worn by the hate group at a Vons store in Santee, San Diego emerged on social media over the weekend. The incident occurred one day after San Diego imposed a new health order requiring everyone to cover their faces in public if they come within six feet of another person or whenever they enter a place of business...." A couple of tweets embedded in the report claim Santee is a white-supremacist center to the point others calls it "Klantee." Mrs. McC: Other than his headwear, photos suggest he's quite an attractive fellow & a spiffy dresser.
Colorado. Clayton Sandell of ABC News: "A Colorado man arrested after federal agents allegedly discovered pipe bombs in his home had also been helping organize an armed protest demanding the state lift its coronavirus restrictions, an official briefed on the case tells ABC News. FBI and ATF agents served search warrants Friday morning at the Loveland, Colorado, home of Bradley Bunn, 53. Agents discovered four pipe bombs and potential pipe bomb components inside the house, according to a press release from the office of U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn." Mrs. McC: Nevertheless, Bunn and "a San Diego man" appear to fit within Trump's definition of "good people."
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The Secretary of the Senate has informed Vice President Joe Biden that it has 'no discretion to disclose' the existence of former aide Tara Reade's complaint of sexual harassment against the senator in 1993.... On Friday [Biden] wrote to the Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams asking 'that you take or direct whatever steps are necessary to establish the location of the records of this Office, and once they have been located, to direct a search for the alleged complaint and to make public the results of this search.' The office in a statement provided to NPR said the Senate Legal Counsel has advised the 'Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden's letter of May 1.'... The office determined that any complaint filed against Biden could not be made public 'based on the law's strict confidentiality requirements (Section 313) and the Senate's own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorized if prohibited by law.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bolton structures his lede in such as way as to suggest the complaint does exist; I don't think that's clear from the excerpts of the letter contained in the story. NPR, as far as I can tell, doesn't have a print story on its site.
John Kruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Monday broke with tradition and held oral arguments by conference call, a first for the famously tech-averse tribunal as the justices adapt to the global pandemic.... As arguments opened, the justices allowed counsel two minutes of speaking time before posing questions, which began with Chief Justice John Roberts and proceeded to the other justices in order of seniority. In another rarity, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who typically remains mum during arguments, posed a series o questions, the first time he has spoken this term. When Thomas spoke during arguments last year, he snapped a three-year silence."
Jason Koebler of Vice: "Tim Bray, a well known senior engineer and Vice President at Amazon has 'quit in dismay' because Amazon has been 'firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.' In an open letter on his website, Bray, who has worked at the company for nearly six years, called the company 'chickenshit' for firing and disparaging employees who have organized protests. He also said the firings are 'designed to create a climate of fear.' Amazon's strategy throughout the coronavirus crisis has been to fire dissenters and disparage them both in the press and behind closed doors. There have been dozens of confirmed coronavirus cases at warehouses around the country, and workers have repeatedly said the company isn't doing enough to protect them."
Devin Nunes' Nuisance Suits Are Nuisance Suits. Kate Irby of the Fresno Bee: "The attorney representing Rep. Devin Nunes in six lawsuits has received two recent, rare warnings from judges that raise the prospect of courts sanctioning him. People and organizations that Nunes' attorney, Steven Biss, is suing have begun asking judges to punish him in several other instances. Three of the requests for sanctions -- from National Public Radio, Twitter and a government whistleblower advocate -- mark an escalation in their defense against defamation lawsuits Biss has filed. Nunes sued Fusion GPS last year and lost the case in February, when a federal judge dismissed it. The judge in tossing the case advised Biss that he'd need to file a more substantive complaint to avoid sanctions. Biss and Nunes resubmitted the case in early April with a complaint that largely resembles their original argument. Fusion GPS' lawyers last week called Nunes' new complaint 'absurd' and asked the judge to sanction Biss and Nunes.... In dismissing [a] case [Biss filed] for [a] Russian graduate student [-- Nunes is not a litigant here --] in February, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia warned Biss against filing 'further inappropriate pleadings.'... Both of those rebukes are 'quite unusual,' according to Kevin Martingayle, a former Virginia State Bar president who has worked on ethics or disciplinary committees for over a decade."
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
The Virologist Is In. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Sunday sought to reassure Americans that it is safe for states to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, offering support to protesters who have railed against the lockdowns across the country.... He noted that Americans have been wearing face masks and social distancing in recent weeks and said that 'you're going to have to do that for a while,' even as states reopen their economies..., during a Fox News Channel town hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.... He scaled up the estimate he has used for the number of expected dead -- projecting that the U.S. toll may be as high as 100,000...." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~
~~~ How's This for a Lede? Stephen Collinson of CNN: "After admitting US coronavirus deaths could hit 90,000..., Donald Trump is bemoaning his own plight -- complaining that he has been treated worse by the press than Abraham Lincoln." Collinson goes on: "'They always said nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.'... His statement was classic Trump, not just in his audacity of comparing himself to the man many historians rate as the greatest president, but in his tendency to make every issue -- even in the midst of a national tragedy in which tens of thousands of Americans have died -- about himself. It was also striking that the President who has consciously torn at the nation's political fault lines should make such a partisan argument under the marbled gaze of the man who warned 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.'"
It's not possible to convey what a petty, petulant peckerwood Trump is, but he's trying to let you know (Mrs. McC: I wrote this comment Sunday afternoon, but of course by Sunday evening -- see above -- Trump had topped his Sunday morning whine): ~~~
~~~ Justin Wise of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday took aim at George W. Bush after the former Republican president issued a call to push partisanship aside amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. In a three-minute video shared on Twitter on Saturday, Bush urged Americans to remember 'how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat.'... In an early morning tweet on Sunday, Trump called out Bush for his failure to support him as he faced an impeachment trial earlier this year over his alleged dealings with Ukraine. He cited apparent comments from Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth, who asked why Bush didn't push for 'putting partisanship aside' amid the trial. 'He was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history,' Trump said." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Had the impeachment proceedings "put partisanship aside," we'd be complaining about President pence today.
Joe Biden & Elizabeth Warren in a Miami Herald/McClatchy op-ed: "Even the most ideological conservatives have been forced to acknowledge that government is an essential part of the COVID-19 solution. Government delivers best when its actions are fair, transparent and accountable. But ... Donald Trump's approach to this crisis doesn't reflect these values. Without change, more lives will be lost and more families will go broke.... As the price of their support for [relief legislation], Trump and the Republicans insisted on a $500 billion slush fund for big businesses with minimal conditions -- a fund Trump could use to reward his political friends and punish his political enemies. They also jammed in a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits millionaires. This tax break will be particularly helpful to hedge funds and real estate investors like the president's friends and family -- on top of the $1 trillion in giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations Trump previously pushed through Congress.... The coronavirus rescue package imposed some oversight of these programs, but when he signed it, Trump saidhe'd ignore the law and prevent a new inspector general from communicating with Congress.... As we recover, we have the opportunity to create an economy that truly works for everyone. That begins with a government that is accountable to the people -- and that is what we will deliver." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sarah Cammarata of Politico: "Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on Sunday she found it' devastatingly worrisome' that anti-quarantine protesters in Michigan had flocked in tight quarters to the state Capitol, defying social-distancing guidelines. Appearing on 'Fox News Sunday,' the doctor said the protesters at the rally were especially concerning because, 'if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition, and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives.'" Mrs. McC: Gee, that's not what Donald said. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Birx was asked about Trump's projections in recent weeks that there would be between 50,000 and 60,000 deaths, which he later increased to 60,000 to 70,000. We are at over 66,000 deaths, with little sign in recent weeks of any significant downturn. Birx told host Chris Wallace that 'our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives lost, and that's with full mitigatio and us learning from each other of how to social distance.'... The president hasn't just offered a more optimistic tone on the death toll; on April 20, he suggested 50,000 to 60,000 deaths had actually replaced the previous 100,000-to-240,000 goal that he had said would constitute a successful response.... In cautioning ... protesters about putting their own loved ones' lives at risk, Birx offered almost a diametrically opposed message [from Trump's repeated encouragement of the protesters]."
One Way mike pence Is Not Like Donald Trump. Rishika Dugyala of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday said that he should have worn a mask when visiting the Mayo Clinic, a reversal that came after a harsh backlash for not adhering to the hospital's policy during the coronavirus pandemic. 'I didn't think it was necessary, but I should have worn a mask at the Mayo Clinic and I wore it when I visited the ventilator plant in Indiana' two days later, Pence said at a Fox News virtual town hall on Sunday, nodding sheepishly."
I Was Right within the Context of My Ignorance & Lack of Foresight. Jacob Knutson of Axios: "White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow defended his claim on Feb. 25 that the U.S. had "contained" the coronavirus 'pretty close to airtight,' arguing on CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday that his comments were 'based on the actual facts' at the time.... At the time of Kudlow's comments, the country had 15 known coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That same day, however, Nancy Messonnier, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters a coronavirus outbreak in the country was inevitable." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stephen Miller: Immigrants Have Cooties. Caitlin Dickerson & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "From the early days of the Trump administration, Stephen Miller, the president's chief adviser on immigration, has repeatedly tried to use an obscure law designed to protect the nation from diseases overseas as a way to tighten the borders.... Mr. Miller pushed for invoking the president's broad public health powers in 2019, when an outbreak of mumps spread through immigration detention facilities in six states. He tried again that year when Border Patrol stations were hit with the flu. When vast caravans of migrants surged toward the border in 2018, Mr. Miller looked for evidence that they carried illnesses.... Within days of the confirmation of the first [coronavirus] case in the United States, the White House shut American land borders to nonessential travel, closing the door to almost all migrants.... Other international travel restrictions were introduced, as well as a pause on green card processing at American consular offices, which Mr. Miller told conservative allies in a recent private phone call was only the first step in a broader plan to restrict legal immigration.... What has been billed by the White House as an urgent response to the coronavirus pandemic was in large part repurposed from old draft executive orders...."
Will Weissert of the AP: "U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak -- and how contagious the disease is -- to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show. Chinese leaders 'intentionally concealed the severity' of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Sunday that that country was responsible for the spread of disease and must be held accountable.... Not classified but marked 'for official use only,' the DHS analysis states that, while downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, China increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The DHS report could be true, but how will be know? It's coming from Trump lackies, and we can't believe anything they say. ~~~
~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times:"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday backed President Trump's assertion that the coronavirus originated in a research laboratory in Wuhan, China, though the nation's intelligence agencies say they have reached no conclusion on the issue. Speaking on the ABC program 'This Week,' Mr. Pompeo, the former C.I.A. chief and one of the senior administration officials who is most hawkish on dealing with China, said that 'there's enormous evidence' that the coronavirus came from the lab, though he agreed with the intelligence assessment that there was no indication that the virus was man-made or genetically modified."
Erica Werner & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Congressional leaders are girding for a huge fight over the reentry of millions of Americans to the workplace, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisting that employers be shielded from liability if their workers contract the coronavirus. He appears to have the backing of top White House officials. Democratic leaders have declared they will oppose such blanket protections, putting Washington's power brokers on opposite sides of a major issue that could have sweeping implications for health care and the economy in the coming months. The battle has unleashed a frenzy of lobbying, with major industry groups, technology firms, insurers, manufacturers, labor unions, and plaintiffs lawyers all squaring off. The clash is a sharp departure from the past six weeks, when lawmakers from both parties came together to swiftly approve nearly $3 trillion in emergency funds as Americans hunkered down during the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Northeast States. Jacob Knutson of Axios: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware are forming a regional consortium to reduce competition when purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE)." Mrs. McC: Wouldn't it be something if we had, say, a federal government that would eliminate competition among all the states?
Ohio. Sneeze on Me. Mike DeWine Falls in Line. Jack Arnholz of ABC News: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday that a statewide order mandating face masks be worn in stores went 'too far.' 'It became clear to me that that was just a bridge too far. People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'... 'Face masks are very important and our business group came back and said every employee, for example, should wear a face mask. So we're continuing that, whether it's retail or wholesale, whatever it is, manufacturing, every employee's going to have the face mask,' he said Sunday.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Virginia. Josh Gerstein of Politico: Gov. Ralph "Northam's [D] directives responding to the coronavirus pandemic have become a focus of a drive Attorney General William Barr announced last week to scrutinize the virus-related actions of state and local officials for unconstitutional intrusion on individual rights or federal prerogatives. On Sunday, Justice Department lawyers weighed in with a federal court in favor of a Chincoteague, Va., church that filed suit after its pastor received a criminal citation for holding a religious service last month with 16 people in attendance -- exceeding a 10-person limit set by Northam.... Justice's submission endorsed the arguments of the Lighthouse Fellowship Church that the impact on its congregation was unfair because other entities -- such as big-box retail stores, liquor stores and law offices -- are being permitted to operate with more than 10 people on their premises."
Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "... wearing a face mask -- or refusing to -- has become a flash point in a moment when civic rules are being rewritten, seemingly on the fly. The result has been dirty looks, angry words, raw emotions and, at times, confrontations that have escalated into violence. In Flint, Mich., a security guard at a Family Dollar store was fatally shot on Friday afternoon after an altercation that the guard's wife told The New York Times had occurred over a customer refusing to wear a face covering.... The decision not to wear a mask has, for some, become a rebellion against what they regard as an incursion on their personal liberties.... The choice can also be a reflection of vanity, or of not understanding when or where to wear one."
Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes: "One of the rules of journalism is 'Don't become part of the story.' But instead of covering the pandemic, I was one of the more-than-one million Americans who did become part of it.... After two weeks at home in bed, weak, fighting pneumonia, and really scared, I went to the hospital. I found an overworked, nearly overwhelmed staff. Every one of them kind, sympathetic, gentle and caring from the moment I arrived until the moment days later when I was wheeled out through a gauntlet of cheering medical workers. In the face of so much death, they celebrate their triumphs." Includes video.
Presidential Race
John Hanna of the AP: "Joe Biden has overwhelmingly won a Democratic presidential primary in Kansas that the state party conducted exclusively by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic.... Biden took 77% of the vote. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was still in the race when the Kansas party began mailing ballots at the end of March, but he suspended his campaign and endorsed Biden. Biden won 29 delegates and Sanders got 10, inching Biden closer to the number of delegates he needs to clinch the Democratic nomination. He has a total of 1,435 delegates and needs 1,991 to win the nomination on the first ballot at the party's national convention this summer, a threshold Biden is likely to reach in June...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Wisconsin. Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Early last month, voters in Wisconsin navigated a dizzying number of rule changes governing the state's spring elections as officials tussled over the risks of the novel coronavirus, prompting a backlog of absentee ballot requests and fears that many would not be able to participate. But in the end, tens of thousands of mail ballots that arrived after the April 7 presidential primaries and spring elections were counted by local officials, a review by The Washington Post has found -- the unexpected result of last-minute intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court.... The five conservative justices sided with the GOP, issuing an opinion ... that a blanket extension of the deadline would improperly allow voters to cast their ballots after April 7. Instead, they said ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day [rather than received] -- effectively imposing a new standard. In Milwaukee and Madison alone, the state's two largest cities, more than 10 percent of all votes counted, nearly 21,000 ballots, arrived by mail after April 7, according to data provided by local election officials.
If You'd Like to Listen to Supreme Court Arguments Today, You Can. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A few months ago, a coalition of news organizations asked the Supreme Court to allow live audio coverage of major arguments on gay rights and immigration. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rejected the request within hours, in keeping with longstanding practice at an institution that almost never departs from tradition. But on Monday, the court will break with history twice: hearing the first of 10 cases that will be argued in a telephone conference call, and letting the public listen in. It is a momentous step for a cautious and secretive institution and yet another way in which the coronavirus pandemic has forced American society to adjust to a new reality." C-SPAN will carry the oral arguments live here.
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Reader Comments (23)
We who aren’t about to die tell you to fuck off...
What? A northeast regional consortium to reduce competition among states vying for a chance to make outrageously exorbitant bids on “Jared’s” ventilators and PPE? They can’t do that! Not after all the “effort” put forth by the ☠️ Administration to make sure no one has it easy.
Besides, what will Emperor Zero do for entertainment? He loves to put on his laurel wreath and perfumed robes and sit in the Royal box eating Big Macs by the truckload as governors grovel before his mighty presence and battle each other to the death in the Trump Colosseum. He’s worked so hard at perfecting his Mussolini chin jut and giving the thumbs down sign to the thrilling applause of the heavily armed MAGA throng.
I mean, this just isn’t civilized. A pandemic is no time for reason, logic, and cooperation. It’s time for blood in the sand and the amusement of Emperor Zero and his slavish, drooling minions.
The idea.
safari -
Thank you for introducing Master Fatty* as “Tang”.
(Assuming for his Cheeto-ness, yes?)
Just can’t help my (shameless) self for envisioning “Poon” as forename.
I mean, the loathsome futhermucker likes to grab ‘em there, right?
Maybe clean it up a tad by adding Lord?
Whadya think?
Too ‘nasty’?
(Apologies if needed but ‘The *Devil Made Me Do It.’)
Here is a small minded man of the hour seated at the Lincoln Memorial whose thought processes are much like an alley rat whose main concern is consumption––he sniffs it out and gobbles it up. Sometimes we see the remnants of tiny bones and pools of blood.
Q: Should you change your tone at the WH briefings?
President Trump, sitting at the feet of the Lincoln Memorial: "I’m greeted with a “very hostile press. I believe I am treated worse than President Lincoln. No body has ever seen anything like this."
This man, having such a fragile ego, must continually exclaim that whatever he's touting or whatever is happening on his watch is bigger, better, and lo and behold nobody–-ever–-has seen, has experienced, has anticipated anything like it!
When he finally has to face the loss that is bound to come upon him one of these days or years will he then proudly say:
"Nobody has ever seen a loss such as mine in the history of the world."
And Lincoln wept.
@PD Pepe: I think what we're seeing is a country that is morally very much like the one that existed in November 1860. The South is dominated by white racists & the north by less racist whites with more liberal philosophical tendencies.
I know I stand alone in thinking Lincoln made a big mistake by not accepting the Southern states' secession, "in order to form a more perfect union" of Northern states. I don't know what would have happened to the South or to the West if the South hadn't had more than a century-and-a-half to reassert its horrors on the rest of us, but I think I'd like the North States country a lot more than I like the Disunited States in which I live now.
Seeing Trumps Lincoln memorial self promotion brings to mind the Bill Mauldin graphic editorial after the assassination of Kennedy.
Hattie,
Lord Poontang Purloiner?
The sobriquets they do proliferate. But Lord Poontang, Cheeto Man, Fuckface Von Clownstick, the
Orange Menace...an asshole by any other name is still the primary source of noxious dung in the world.
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Comment abridged to more-or-less conform to copyright laws.
@Marie: Your comments reminded me of something someone posted some years back that I kept in my files:
"Dear Red States:
We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics and we've
decided we're leaving: "Legitimate rape." is almost reason enough!
We in California intend to form our own country and we're taking the other
Blue States with us....
We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the
people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).
To sum up briefly:
... We get stem cell research and the best beaches....
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand....
We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay
their fair share....
With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the
country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of
the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve
French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high
tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias
and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale,
Stanford, Cal Tech, Long Beach State, CAL, San Jose State and MIT....
Sincerely,
Citizens of the Enlightened States of America"
This morning only six states at 1.0 or above on the Rt scale. Best yet.
Progress..... of sorts?
Speaking of the other "plague," the Pretender rather than the pandemic:
Is it possible that he is regressing toward the puling babyhood of early childhood, duplicating before our eyes right there on the TV those Shakespearean Ages of Man that end in senescence and death?
It's hard to say because the Pretender never displayed the qualities we would associate with maturity, but as the election nears and the pressure mounts, and as Senate Republicans and his silly, slavering fans have rewarded his irrationality, his lying, his bullying, his ignorance and his generally bad behavior, we seem to be getting even more of all of it.
What galls me most is that the Pretender himself doesn't care about much of anything but himself. Not the right wing judges McConnell is busily installing under his cover, certainly not about abortion or guns. Maybe a little about the admininistration's racist immigration policies--they do seem genuine, a reflection of the man--but other than how the presidency can benefit him personally, in the money and ego he can't tell apart, I don't think any of it means very much to the Pretender. It's all just part of the con.
Perhaps beginning in mutual distrust, since 2016 the Pretender and the Republican Party have come together in a Devil's bargain for their mutual, corrupt benefit.
Like in the story of Faust, they are both getting what they want, but unlike the legend's arrangement, theirs wholly lacks angst or drama, because long before this bargain was struck the Republican Party had lost any semblance of conscience, and the Pretender never had soul to sell. Their story has been one of dull inevitability.
Unfortunately, the absence of drama in their story does not extend to ours.
These dull little people who serve only themselves are writing a tragedy for the nation.
@Hattie
I'm happy to contribute to more colorful descriptions of the sleaze bag occupier of the White House. I can't recall exactly where I first heard the "Tang" reference, but I believe it came from a Spike Lee interview I saw a while back. He made a good point that, given the enormous black hole in his soul and his eternal narcissism, actually using his real name shows up in internet algorithms and Google searches, showing that he's popular and people are talking about him, thus giving him the life blood he craves. It's for that reason I almost always refer to him in other terms.
BTW, in a quick search to find the origins of my "Tang" reference, I came across this gem in the urban dictionary:
Trump Tang: A brand of poo-tang media hype surrounding a man like an effervescent cloud of orange haze and the sweet mist parasitic rectal infection of "It's amazing," and "It's gonna be great," bs to cover any terrible stench or gov't plot. Mix with water to dissolve.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trump%20Tang
Happy Monday
@PD Pepe: Do you have a link (or a source I might be able to find) to wherever you got that piece "Dear Red States"? I'm going to have to remove much of it because it looks as if you copied the whole piece. But it's damned good. Sure makes me wish I lived in the E.S.A.
Bea,
There's more than a single version of the letter PD posted filed on the internet under "Dear Red States."
I remember reading one years ago and had a thumbs up, "take that" reaction to it.
This one from The Daily Kos has a critical response from someone still warmed by the optimism many of us felt upon Obama's election.
Wonder how the responder feels now?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/11/7/1158705/-Re-This-letter-from-a-Californian-to-red-staters-making-the-rounds-on-social-media
As for the Red States of the former America, I’d love to see how king* for life Fatty will pay for his expensive tastes since the fall off in tax revenues will be enormous enough that Air Force One will be more like Air Force One Quarter. They might find an old prop plane he can fly around in to visit the droolers.
Prime Minister Mitch McConnell will have trouble spewing his toxic bile on fellow red staters. They won’t be able to pay for roads, schools (which won’t matter much), or national defense, which will devolve into militias run by masked gun knobbers and crazed, conspiracy minded survivalists like the treasonous Bundy clan.
The drown the government in the bathtub types will lord it over a broken domain of medieval fiefs. The no tax types will ensure that there are no police or fire services, except for overweight former mall cops who barely graduated eighth grade. Not much smarts but plenty of ammo. Tourism, such as it is, will dry up as the place descends into despair and despotism. Besides, visitors will be met at the border with demands to see birth certificates and forced pledges to love, honor, and obey Fatty and Jesus. In that order.
Hospitals will be run by Fox witch doctors, meaning mortality rates will skyrocket.
Black and Hispanic families will be best served by leaving post haste since slavery will be revived.
As the world’s newest and bestest (Trump, remember?) failed state, it will succumb to rampant ignorance, superstition, violence, and...did I say ignorance?
But they’ll have Florida and Gulf Coast beaches to visit, as long as swimmers don’t mind wading through dead birds and sea life and spreading towels on oil soaked beaches, regularly defiled by monthly oil spills once all drilling regulations are strangled.
The Stars and Bars will proudly wave over the burnt out, blasted landscape full of toothless idiots wearing oil soaked MAGA hats bingeing on old tapes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity (no electricity).
Long may it wave.
I remember that Dear Red States thing also, but not where I read it. But since I don't peruse that many sites, was it here, back when??
Little bits of comments like it appeared here and there in previous posts when mctortoise decided blue states should just go bankrupt and most people replied that no, that wasn't going to happen, since blue states finance the red states' transgressions and livelihoods... And I think many of us agree: we should have let the suckers sink in their own mud and mire so many years ago, since they appear to not have been all that productive since then. And the danger they pose has been so understated... Ugh. No, Geo. W. Bush-- I don't really anticipate any unity as we go further. That would be insulting to us. None of us WANT to be "them."
@Akhilleus Re: Lord Poontang Purloiner -
Excellent! And like way “loin” was slipped in (so to say).
@safari -
Tee-Hee. Thank you for raising my game and resurrecting fond memories of santorum’s ‘frothy byproduct’. Oh, these little touches do help to keep me sane. (Isolation and Fear of Infection have further infantilized me. What can I say?) And I so agree re: not using Fatty’s name.
@Procopius Re: Birx -
I couldn’t agree more. She’s proven herself as one who misses The Big Picture. From the earliest Press Campaigns she had my attention with her continual, silent head-nodding at Fearless Leader’s every word.
(Full Disclosure: Was also struck by some gorgeous Mandarin collared tunics she sported back then. Yet, more recently - reflecting the diminishing of her blind loyalty? - I’ve noticed (or only imagined?) both couture et coiffure given far less attention. More after the fashion of “Why Even Bother?”. But she did willingly accept the role.)
When not irking me, I pity her.
From the WAPO story above:
"This data is not reflective of any of the modeling done by the task force, or data that the task force has analyzed...."
Would it be too mean to suggest that the only White House corona task force modeling the Pretender has seen was that done by his new White House press secretary?
@Ken Winkes: Naw. Stephen Miller helped out, and his model shows that all coronavirus cases come into the U.S. from shithole countries.
@Bea Re:
“NPR’s Secretary of Senate Replies To Biden, Saying Records Cannot Be Released”
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/04/850038361/senate-office-tells-biden-it-cannot-seek-tara-reade-records
“Announcement of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners”
https://www.pulitzer.org/news/announcement-2020-pulitzer-prize-winners
@Marie & Ken: Don't remember where I got the piece–-but Ken has unearthed it along with the criticism by Daily Kos. And yes, the response was in the Obama era--am, too, not sure if my fury could quell a bit and agree with that hopeful and encouraging point of view.
If the Senate can't seek Tara Reade's records, what do you want to bet that a 'Comey surprise' on or about October 25 happens if Joe looks solid against Tang?
If as Bea wrote, "we're seeing is a country that is morally very much like the one that existed in November 1860", how best to change that? I always like to think education is a good first step. Two, especially with the internet, we now have in our means to support with our dollars folks who do the right things. Buy local. Little Hitlers like Moscow Mitch will always be with us; yet, as a third measure these people need to be shunned so the oxygen of attention and its companion power is denied them. Turn off the TV. Don't click on anything Murdoch owns. Then work with mindfulness: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/magazine/jack-kornfield-mindfulness.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage.
Hattie,
Thanks for linking the complete list of Pulitzer winners.
Had the Pulitzer people a category for acerbic commentary (short form), as they should, I'm sure Bea would have won, tho' there a few others here who would have vied for the prize.
@safari: Thank you for the explanation of not using the name of the one we are disrespecting, as it relates to internet searches. My practice has been to un-capitalize the names of people who no longer deserve even a shred of respect. I find their practice of belittling people with nicknames dehumanizing and abhorrent. I am now torn. On the one hand, it is wrong to dehumanize anyone. On the other hand...
I am reminded of the spot that starts at 4:06 in Jena Friedman's piece shortly after Charlottesville. The whole thing is brilliant.
https://youtu.be/xy2bh1L5_pI