The Commentariat -- October 25, 2020

Some of this is too true:

Presidential Race, Etc.

Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: "With coronavirus infections reaching their highest peak of the pandemic just as the election headed into the home stretch, Trump and Biden took starkly different approaches to the public health crisis in appealing for votes in battleground states. 'We don't want to become superspreaders,' Biden told supporters at a 'drive-in' rally Saturday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.... The former vice president pressed his case that Trump was showing dangerous indifference to the surging virus on a day he looked to boost his candidacy with the star power of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi, who performed before Biden took the stage at a second drive-in rally in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.... Biden hosted another rally later Saturday in Luzerne County, a blue-collar area that twice voted for Barack Obama but went overwhelmingly for Trump four years ago." Meanwhile, Trump held three superspreader rallies where he mocked Biden & measures to control coronavirus & claimed that testing was "in many ways foolish."

[When Joe Biden becomes president,] we won't have a president who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him.... That's not normal behavior, Florida.... You wouldn't tolerate it from a coworker, you wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal, you wouldn't tolerate it from a coach, you wouldn't tolerate it from a family member. Why are we accepting it from the president of the United States?... Florida Man wouldn't even do this stuff. -- President Barack Obama, at a drive-in rally in North Miami, Saturday ~~~

~~~ Alex Daugherty & David Smiley of the Tampa Bay Times: "Former President Barack Obama criticized nearly every facet of ... Donald Trump's record while campaigning for Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Saturday, making specific appeals to Florida's diverse electorate by mentioning issues like socialism, the Affordable Care Act and the federal government's Hurricane Maria response during his first Miami speech in two years. But the biggest chunk of his 45-minute speech was devoted to an issue that affects every voter: ... Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.... 'We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook to show them how to respond before a virus reached our shores,' Obama said at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay Campus in North Miami. 'It must be lost along with the Republican healthcare plan.'" Mrs. McC: Former Republican President George W. Bush did not campaign for Donald Trump.

A Woman Finds a Way to Get MAGA Men to Vote for Biden. Michael Ellsberg in the Daily Beast: "... up until recently, there's one group of potential Biden voters who have not been the subject of voter outreach: kinky, submissive male Trump supporters with humiliation fetishes. Now, thanks to a Las Vegas-based professional dominatrix named Empress Delfina, this once-overlooked voting bloc is covered -- and may be voting Biden. By force. She calls it 'Trump Conversion Therapy.' At $1.99 a minute, business is booming.” Ellsberg interviews Delfina. The interview is interesting, & in places creepy & funny. (I'm not sure if Ellsberg paid her $1.99/minute for the interview.)

Sarah Elbeshbishi of USA Today: "Most registered voters said that ... Joe Biden performed better than ... Donald Trump during the second presidential debate, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Friday. Fifty-four percent of voters who watched the Thursday debate said Biden performed the best, while 39% said that Trump did. Eight percent of voters who watched weren't sure or had no opinion on who did best. Both& candidates' performances improved with voters since the first presidential debate."

Lev Casts More Doubt on Rudy's Purloined Laptop Fable. Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "... Rudy Giuliani was offered salacious photos and other documents belonging to Joe Biden's son Hunter in the spring of 2019, earlier than previously known, according to one of Giuliani's closest former associates [Lev Parnas]. And the alleged offer came from ... a Ukrainian oligarch looking for help with a potential legal jam [with the U.S. Justice Department]. The claim ... raises new questions about the provenance of the materials Giuliani has said he obtained recently from a computer repair shop in Delaware -- and that he is now touting to accuse the Democratic nominee of corruption. Parnas, who collaborated with Giuliani on the former New York mayor's quest to find damaging information on the Bidens beginning in late 2018, now says that similar materials were being offered to Giuliani just weeks after Joe Biden launched his presidential run.... Time Magazine reported earlier this week that at least two people were approached with offers to buy salacious Biden material in the spring and fall of 2019, raising similar questions about the original source of the photos and emails Giuliani gave to the New York Post."

They Learned from the Master to Whine & Deflect Responsibility. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump's top advisers have plunged into a bitter round of finger-pointing and blame-shifting ahead of an increasingly likely defeat. Accusations are flying in all directions and about all manner of topics -- from allegedly questionable spending decisions by former campaign manager Brad Parscale, to how White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handled Trump's hospitalization for Covid-19, to skepticism that TV ads have broken through. Interviews with nearly a dozen Trump aides, campaign advisers and Republican officials also surfaced accusations that the president didn't take fundraising seriously enough and that the campaign undermined its effort to win over seniors by casting Democrat Joe Biden as senile. Finger-pointing is a common feature of campaigns that think they're losing, but it's happening at an uncommon level in this campaign. Shifting responsibility has been a staple of the Trump presidency -- and his lieutenants are now following suit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Congressional Races. Josh Dawsey & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "President Trump privately told donors this past week that it will be 'very tough' for Republicans to keep control of the Senate in the upcoming election because some of the party's senators are candidates he cannot support. 'I think the Senate is tough actually. The Senate is very tough,' Trump said at a fundraiser Thursday at the Nashville Marriott, according to an attendee. 'There are a couple senators I can't really get involved in. I just can't do it. You lose your soul if you do. I can't help some of them. I don't want to help some of them.'... The president -- in a sentiment not shared by many of his party's top officials and strategists -- said he instead thinks the Republicans 'are going to take back the House.' And many strategists involved in Senate races say the party's chances at keeping the chamber are undermined by the president's unscripted, divisive rhetoric and his low poll numbers in key states.: ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nobody thinks you have a soul to lose, President* Lucifer. Let's hope Trump is right on the former, because it's unlikely he's right on the latter. Most pollsters think House Democrats, if anything, will gain seats.

And You Thought Bush II Was Bad. Andrew Solender of Forbes: "President Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, both of whom have been deeply involved in their father's reelection campaign, broke with the 'Keep America Great' message on Saturday to hint at their own runs in 2024, as polls show their father heavily disfavored to win reelection. Donald Trump Jr. ... posted a photo of a 'Don Jr. 2024' flag to instagram.... Eric Trump ... liked a tweet on Saturday reading 'Eric Trump 2024,' a move some commentators recognized as roughly equivalent to his brother's instagram post."

Isaac Stanley-Becker & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: Especially in Republicans strongholds, voters are flooding county offices with fears their mail-in ballots will be ditched. Their "worries can be traced to baseless or alarmist statements by President Trump and posts on his Twitter feed. Others have been fed by headlines stripped of context and misleading reporting in the mainstream media according to election administrators, voting rights advocates and experts in online communication. The confusion and chaos follow a months-long campaign by Trump and his allies to sow doubt about voting by mail.... Many Democrats appear to have dealt with their fears by opting for early voting, powering overwhelming turnout, while Republicans insist they will make up ground on Election Day." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The story includes some ridiculous rumors like, "They're sending ballots to dogs." But the most ridiculous assertion, the biggest lie is this: "In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Thea McDonald said the president 'has been fighting for months' to stop what she described as 'last-minute election rule changes.'" The Trump campaign, the RNC & state GOP organizations have filed hundreds of lawsuits to effect "last-minute election rule changes." Ten days before the election, while Americans have been voting for weeks, some of those cases are still in court.

New York. Edgar Sandoval & Troy Closson of the New York Times: "New Yorkers flooded polling places on Saturday, the first day of early voting in the state.... Saturday was the first time New Yorkers were allowed to vote early in a presidential election, which is expected to produce record voter turnout.... Recent mishaps involving absentee ballots drove many voters to the polls on Saturday.... Late last month, the city's Board of Elections came under fire after as many as 100,000 voters in Brooklyn received absentee ballots with the wrong names and addresses.... Unlike in many other states and the rest of New York, where people can cast ballots at any early voting center in their county, voters in New York City are allowed to vote early only at assigned locations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Julia Harte of Reuters: "The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily reinstated the governor's ban on multiple drop-off sites for mail ballots, in a short-term victory for ... Donald Trump. The ban will remain in effect while the state supreme court fully reviews a Friday appeals court ruling that overturned the order by Governor Greg Abbott...."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "The latest coronavirus surge is raging across the American heartland, most acutely in the Midwest and Mountain West. This harrowing third surge, which led to a U.S. single-day record of more than 85,000 new cases Friday, is happening less than two weeks from Election Day, which will mark the end of a campaign dominated by the pandemic and President Trump's much-criticized response to it.... The virus will be front of mind for voters in several key states: in Ohio, where more people are hospitalized than at any other time during the pandemic, and especially Wisconsin, home to seven of the country's 10 metro areas with the highest numbers of recent cases. On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Gov. Tony Evers' emergency order restricting the size of indoor gatherings to 25 percent capacity on Friday.... President Trump and many supporters blame restrictions on business activity, often imposed by Democratic governors and mayors, for prolonging the economic crisis initially caused by the virus. But the experience of states like Iowa, which recently set a record for patients hospitalized with Covid-19, shows the economy is far from back to normal even in Republican-led states that have imposed few business restrictions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Several members of Vice President Mike Pence's inner circle, including at least four members of his staff, have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past few days, people briefed on the matter said, raising new questions about the safety protocols at the White House, where masks are not routinely worn. Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for Mr. Pence, said that the vice president's chief of staff, Marc Short, had tested positive.... 'While Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the vice president will maintain his schedule in accordance with the C.D.C. guidelines for essential personnel.' The statement did not come from the White House medical unit, but instead from a press aide. Two people briefed on the matter said that the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had sought to keep news of the outbreak from becoming public.... The decision by Mr. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, to continue campaigning is certain to raise new questions about how seriously the White House is taking the risks to their own staff members...." An ABC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe when Trump keeps saying, "We're rounding the corner," he means, "I work in an Oval Office." Otherwise, record-breaking cases-per-day and coming up on a quarter of a million American deaths makes no sense at all.

Superspreader-in-Chief, Ctd. Shawn Boburg of the Washington Post: "In the days leading up to the Sept. 30 [Trump rally] in Duluth, Minn., local officials had privately pressed the campaign to abide by state public health guidelines aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, documents show. In response, the campaign signed an agreement pledging to follow those rules, limiting attendance to 250 people. On the day of the rally, however, Trump supporters flooded onto the tarmac at Duluth International Airport. They stood shoulder to shoulder, many without masks.... Held two days before Trump was diagnosed with covid-19, the rally was attended by more than 2,500 people, airport officials estimated.... Emails and other documents obtained by The Washington Post through open-records requests show that Duluth officials insisted on adherence to the rules, and that the campaign responded by making commitments it ultimately did not keep. The documents also show that local officials suspected the campaign would violate the agreement, but shied away from enforcing public health orders for fear of provoking a backlash." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Officials always should have made the Trump campaign turn over at least a $1 million bond before any event. You can't trust those people as far as a mouse could throw President Fatso.

Barbie & Ken Very Upset Their Indifference to National Pandemic Makes Them Look Bad. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are threatening to sue the Lincoln Project over billboards the anti-Trump group put up in Times Square assailing them over the White House's coronavirus response. In a letter to the group posted on Twitter on Friday night, an attorney for the president's daughter and son-in-law demanded the 'false, malicious and defamatory' billboards be taken down. Marc Kasowitz warned that if the ads stay up, 'we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.' The Lincoln Project was defiant, saying in a scathing public statement that the billboards would stay up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katherine Wu, et al., of the New York Times (Oct. 23): "Late-stage coronavirus vaccine trials run by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have resumed in the United States after the companies said on Friday that serious illnesses in a few volunteers appeared not to be related to the vaccines. Federal health regulators gave AstraZeneca the green light after a six-week pause.... Johnson & Johnson said that its trial, which had been on pause for 11 days, would restart after learning that a 'serious medical event' in one study volunteer had 'no clear cause.'"

Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his spokesman announced on Saturday, the latest in a string of world leaders to be infected.... In addition to President Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko are among other world leaders to have contracted the virus." Mrs. McC: Not coincidentally, every one of them is a careless, authoritarian right-winger. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump's Bad Bet. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Trump fights to save his political career, another key part of his life -- his business -- is also under growing stress. In the next four years, Trump faces payment deadlines for more than $400 million in loans -- just as the pandemic robs his businesses of customers and income, according to a Washington Post analysis of Trump's finances. The bills coming due include loans on his Chicago hotel, his D.C. hotel and his Doral resort, all hit by a double whammy: Trump's political career slowed their business, then the pandemic ground it down much further. If Trump is reelected, these loan-saddled properties could present a significant conflict of interest: The president will owe enormous sums to banks that his government regulates. National security experts say Trump's debts to Deutsche Bank, a German company, and foreign deals may constitute security risks if they make him vulnerable to influence by foreign governments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

What Not to Say When Announcing a Fake Peace Agreement. Elias Meseret of the AP (Oct. 23): "Ethiopia on Saturday denounced 'belligerent threats' over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile River, a day after ... Donald Trump said downstream Egypt will 'blow up' the project it has called an existential threat.... Trump made the comment while announcing that Sudan would start to normalize ties with Israel. 'They (Egypt) will end up blowing up the dam,' Trump said. 'And I said it and I say it loud and clear ... they'll blow up that dam....' Ethiopia's foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to seek clarification, saying 'the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the longstanding partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate relations.'... 'The man doesn't have a clue on what he is talking about,' Former Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn tweeted, calling Trump's remark reckless and irresponsible.... Downstream Sudan is a party to the talks with Ethiopia and Egypt over the disputed dam. European Union representative Josep Borrell said in a statement that 'now is the time for action and not for increasing tensions,' adding that a deal on the dam [among affected countries] is within reach...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's brief self-congratulatory peace accord announcement was unique in diplomatic history. First, Sudan's legislature has not ratified the agreement, so it's not a done deal. Second, Trump managed to make two very undiplomatic gaffes: (1) inciting war between two other countries, and (2) attempting to induce a foreign leader to illegally interfere in U.S. elections. And Trump is upset that the media ignored his nomination -- by a couple of right-wing nuts -- for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Definition of Self-Dealing. Stephen Gandel of CBS News: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's former company landed a $5 million highway-shipping contract last month with the United States Postal Service. DeJoy continues to own a multimillion-dollar stake in XPO Logistics as of early October. The $5 million deal is the first regular contract for a postal route that XPO Logistics has signed with the USPS in more than a year. XPO's last highway contract with the USPS was in December and was temporary. The one before that was signed in July 2019.... The USPS database shows the contract has one of the highest annual rates out of more than 1,600 contracts the Postal Service initiated with outside firms in its most recent quarter, which is the first full quarter DeJoy has served as head of the agency." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Murkowski Caves. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the moderate Alaska Republican who had opposed voting on a new Supreme Court justice so close to the election, said Saturday she would vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett. In a Senate floor speech, Murkowski lamented that the Senate was spending the weekend debating a judicial nominee rather than a coronavirus relief bill days before the election. But she said she wouldn't hold her opposition to the process against Barrett, the 48-year-old conservative jurist, and would cast a vote based on the 'merits of her qualifications.' The Senate held a rare weekend session to debate the nomination...." Politico's story is here.

** Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "White supremacists and other like-minded groups have committed a majority of the terrorist attacks in the United States this year, according to a report by a security think tank that echoed warnings made by the Department of Homeland Security this month. The report, published Thursday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, found that white supremacist groups were responsible for 41 of 61 'terrorist plots and attacks' in the first eight months of this year, or 67 percent. The finding comes about two weeks after an annual assessment by the Department of Homeland Security warned that violent white supremacy was the 'most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland' and that white supremacists were the most deadly among domestic terrorists in recent years." Mrs. McC: Meanwhile, Trump & Barr continue to cite Black Lives Matter & antifa as the sources of lethal violence. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Richard Kreitner & Rick Perlstein, in a New York Review of Books essay, illuminate the time-honored technique of blaming "outside agitators" and "dangerous others" for violence perpetrated by the state and/or its own supporters. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See his commentary below.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Russia, Etc. Jack Stubbs & Christopher Bing of Reuters: "Russian hackers piggy-backed on an Iranian cyber-espionage operation to attack government and industry organizations in dozens of countries while masquerading as attackers from the Islamic Republic, British and U.S. officials said on Monday. The Russian group, known as 'Turla' and accused by Estonian and Czech authorities of operating on behalf of Russia's FSB security service, has used Iranian tools and computer infrastructure to successfully hack in to organizations in at least 20 different countries over the last 18 months, British security officials said. The hacking campaign, the extent of which has not been previously revealed, was most active in the Middle East but also targeted organizations in Britain, they said." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Junior and Little Dracula are running in 2024? For what? The bus? The last train to Clarksville? Oh, wait, you mean political office? How ‘bout office boy? Coffee getter? Deal nixers? Assistant to the Deputy Zoning Board Document Shredder? Both of them will have plenty of experience at that if Traitor Daddy fails to steal the election.

Love the part of this story where Junior opines, in his typically wise and thoughtful manner, that “liberal heads will explode” when they hear he, the great Don, Jr. is running in 2024. You mean explode with laughter?

I guess when you live in the Trump swamp, even snapping alligator jaws must be interpreted as wild applause.

[Akhilleus]

Marie points out that the Orange Menace and his water boy, the ever repulsive Bill (dis)Barr, continue to blame all the nation’s violence problems on BLM, antifa, and other unsavory progressive groups who dare to stand up to the “right way to be American”, and to completely ignore the biggest source of homegrown violence, some of their own supporters.

Richard Kreitner and Rick Perlstein, in a NYRB article, explain the Trump-Barr tactics as a long standing historical trope typically used by those in authority to paint “outside agitators” as the source of all problems, keep dissidents in their place, and evade all responsibility themselves.

“ Wielding the outside agitator trope has always, at bottom, been a way of putting dissidents in their place. The allegation is not even necessarily meant to be believed. It is simply a cover story, intended to shield from responsibility not only the authorities implicated in crimes or abuses of power, but also society as a whole. It is a strategy of shock-doctrine reaction.”

They go on to outline the history of the uses of this “outside agitator” trope, including as a way for authorities in the antebellum south (and the Civil Rights era south, as well) of explaining that it was all moonlight and magnolias for the local slaves/nee-groes, who were happy settin’ on the porch (or in chains), eatin’ watermelon ‘til outside agitators from the north, from Moscow, from Civil Rights interlopers started causing trouble.

Trump advisor and sometime Svengali, Steve Bannon, produced a film to “prove“ that the Occupy movement was full of dangerous radicals intent on destroying America. He even promised to show, later, that the reason few blacks were involved in Occupy was because the agitators were holding them off and arming for the coming race war.

It’s also a handy way to evade responsibility. As the authors point out, the sub rosa part of this trope is that, well, these protesters can’t possibly be actually protesting what they claim to be upset about because if their claims had any real merit, racial and economic inequality, police violence, vote suppression, government corruption, violence against women, why, naturally, we, as your dear leaders, would have already successfully addressed those issues, so “these people” are simply up to no good.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. And, while you’re at it, pay no attention to what they’re saying.

A very well done piece.

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/07/27/a-brief-history-of-dangerous-others/?lp_txn_id=979936

[Ken Winkes]

@Akhilleus

Re: The future of the Pretender's spawn.

A couple of thoughts.

Considering the apparent trajectory of the family bidness, I'd guess they will be really desperate to regain access to the nation's treasury by the time 2024 rolls around. They will need it.

More practically and most likely, dullards as they are, they know that candidacy alone is often a con, and after their father's likely defeat, it's one way to keep the Trump game going for a few more years, That's what I'd guess they're up to.

Should they be serious, though, I see some social utility in their threat/promise to seek office on their own.

Obvious chips off the old blockhead as they are, should they attempt to continue what has become a cringe-inducing con beyond its unnatural, Electoral College-birthed lifespan, they will serve as a healthy reminder--if their father's career were not reminder enough-- to the nation that politics, like religion and medicine, frequently invites charlatans in and gives them a home.

Lest the nation forget...

[PD Pepe]

BARR NONE

Back in 1974 there were two resonant resignations, Nixon's and Donald Barr's, Billy's Daddy who was the headmaster of Dalton, an elite private school in New York. Donald resigned because he felt his authority was being undermined by the board of trustees. Well, shucks, if that don't smack of something that smells familiar right here in swamp territory. Now some may say well, dang, that's jest a co-in-sa-dance that Donny's son became the kiss-ass upholder of another Donald's every kingship maneuver, but since I am peachy keen about family patterns and influences therein, I'd say we gots something to get our arms around–-so to speak.

So––Billy Barr, when beginning his legal career, clerked for Malcolm Wilkey, a judge on the federal Court of Appeals in D.C. who got into a hissy fit over Nixon's having to turn over those damn tapes: Wilkey wined that a president has an absolute privilege to refuse demands from the other two branches of government. Talk about influence on the young Barr whose Daddy had already infused this –-can we call it a notion? Although these were not the issues that led to Daddy Barr's resignation, many of Dalton parents accused him "of turning a humanistic , progressive school into one in which discipline and authoritarian rule were the hallmarks." Fintan O'Toole, once writing about Barr, said " William Barr is very much part of that nexus of American conservatives who date what he calls 'the steady erosion of our traditional Judeo-Christian moral system' to the loss of discipline in the 1960's under the pressure of all the challenges to authority that culminated so dramatically in Nixon's departure."

So could we–-and will we conclude that what Billy's Daddy had done to Dalton–-his need to rescue it from the decadence of progressivism and restoring authoritarian rule is what William Barr has always wanted to do to the United States. And golly, when you think hard on this, the picture of Christ in the Cross looms large, and authoritarian rule is one of those defining features if I recall–-all those matters of faith and morality–-doctrines that are infallible and therefore unquestionable.

That's my Sunday Sermon for today. I rest my case as I rest my head in my hands and sigh–-heavily.

[Bobby Lee]

Yeah, we've really turned the corner on the C-19 virus. Mike Luxkovich of the ACJ illustrates. https://www.gocomics.com/mikeluckovich/2020/10/25

[Ken Winkes]

As PD points out, Sunday is sermon time.

Since I don't believe any of you need my exhortations today, decided to deliver one to the self-styled NYTimes' Reverend himself, who does.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/opinion/sunday/pro-trump-2020-argument.html

Interesting window into Ross's psyche, maybe even revalatory to those who have not read him before and observed his deep confusion about good and evil, and about what it means to be liberal or conservative.

While there are things worth saving, the feeling that is the source of our natural conservative impulses, when those impulses fly in the face of reality, scientific or geopoliitical, they run counter to both sense and survival.

A political movement based on denial about the deleterious effects of an economic system that promotes dishonesty and greed and is itself structurally anti-democratic, and on denial of that system's harmful effects on both humans and the planet, is so obviously contradicted by real-world experience that donning the handy cloak of anti-abortion's faux virtue and holding frequent private conversations with God will do nothing to hide contemporary conservatism's intellectual and moral bankruptcy..

No wonder Douthat talks to himself.

[Akhilleus]

I see that the Princess and the Pea-brain are doing the Trump Tango. Do what we, the royal family sez, or We Will Seeeooo!

Or so sez some lawyer type. A word to the royals and their barky dog. If you feel you have been truly, unjustly maligned, AND have a leg to stand on, you would find a lawyer who knows how to actually draft and deliver notice of such a suit properly.

Making threats on Twitter—another favored Trump Crime Family dance, kind of like the Monster Mash—is the equivalent of standing outside someone’s house and shouting “Yer mother wears army boots”. as neighbors look out theit windows and wonder how such rude and ignorant little babies were let out of the house without their diapers.

Just sayin’.

[Bobby Lee]

Was Trumps ballot in Florida a legal vote? Remember when he "moved" his residence to Mar a Lago there was a big fuss over the property being a club, not a private home, and there were legal papers restricting its use. It was a very restrictive settlement, basically saying he couldn't live there.

[Jeanne]

Yeah, I remember that, Bobby Lee. My guess is that no one on THAT side will pursue it, and most of us have too much going on to bother with researching that particular crime. There are just so many outrages to hang on the Fatstuff Christmas tree, that one can't see the tree anymore. Is there nothing they won't do? Nope. And that is a Nope crowned with a yellow thatch of disgusting hair-like things.

Cannot imagine what life would be like with never again one of the Crime Family members in the public eye. I suppose the evil creatures still live in NY, so you there are simply stuck, but for the rest of us in the hinterlands, wow, that would be a miracle. They won't go quietly, of course. After all, the present squatter in the Oval, has been vocally present for many years, culminating in the birther nonsense, leading to this train wreck. It will take a very strong net to be thrown over said ugly thatch. I volunteer to carry one ugly leg...

[Akhilleus]

Sunday Tea Time
The tsunami of Trumpian malfeasance, mendacity, cupidity, including the dread appearance of the usual pig pile of Trump's calumnious clods and treasonous scoundrels (every week we see another jamoke in the orbit of the Orange Menace exhibiting the natural maliciousness and self-serving greed that all Trump connections are heir to) has driven me to seek some small semblance of civility and humanity.

A simple cup of tea works nicely. Coming from an Irish household, tea has always been a staple. My grandfather, from the Aran Isles, drank his tea, so I've been told, out of a bowl, an innovation I have yet to try.
One of the books on the nightstand is "History of the World in 6 Drinks", and tea, of course (along with beer, spirits, coffee, wine, and Coca-Cola, for those keeping score at home), makes the cut. In fact, one can say that tea, or the political wrangling surrounding it, made the United States possible.

In fact, it's an object lesson in the dangers of governments becoming too involved in unquestioning support of certain businesses, the way, say Donald Trump operates. The problem, for the Brits, back in the 18th century, involved war debts. They spent a bundle on what we call the French and Indian War (The Seven Years' War for them). In order to recoup some of this money, they relied on duty from the East India Company. The East India Company, in turn, relied on people buying their product. Eventually, the conflation of needs created problems in the New World. Colonials revolted (see Tea Party, Boston). The British government, in order to help out East India, went bonkers on the Americans. Next scene, revolution.

So, in order to pay off one war, they started another, and lost big time. In this country, today, we have a much more insidious version of this 18th C clusterfuck. NOW we have the person running the company also running the government. And he and his greedy ass family simply cut themselves a check when the bank account thins.

Ah, me. I suppose I should move from tea directly to spirts and call it a day, but before I do that, here's a little tea party you might enjoy.
All tea drinkers have their own special approach to preparing and producing the proper cup of tea. I'm not quite so religious as some, but I have developed my own preferences. For instance, I was never a fan of tea with lemon, which as a younger person, I found beastly. I don't anymore, but I still prefer tea with milk. No sugar, just enough to "color it" as my mother used to say. I discovered recently that the use of milk came about as a way of flavoring the tea, but also to reduce the temperature, boiling water often having a deleterious effect on fine porcelain china.

In any event, here's a little video of the late British actor Alan Rickman, making an Epic Cup of Tea. As one commenter puts it, it's like watching a god creating the universe. A very angry god.

Make yourself a cuppa, as they say in England, and enjoy. It has to be more entertaining than watching another clip of the Orange Menace. Enjoy some civility before Fatty outlaws it. Oh, wait. He's already done that in many parts of the country.

[NiskyGuy]

Early voting in upstate NY. The line outside the town hall was across the front and down one side, the shaded side on a chilly morning, but it only took thirty minutes. I rarely saw more than a few people at the polls in the Before times, so I was more than happy to wait with my fellow citizens.

[Rockygirl]

My sister speculates that Donny will split the scene sometime between Nov 3 and Jan 20 so as to avoid the ignominy of witnessing his vanquisher being sworn in - and the NY State Marshals lined up to escort him the moment he isn’t President Immunity anymore.

My theory is that he will abscond on the eve of Inauguration Day in order to upstage Sleepy Joe and make “Where’s Donald?” - rather than Joe’s inauguration and the start of the rebirth of the country - the subject of all of the headlines and news talk all day.

[Anonymous]

In addition to COS Meadow's announcement today to Tapper "we will not contain the virus", this additional shotgun blast to the face is another indication of the depths of Trump's desperation:

"The Department of Health and Human Services had planned to devote $250 million for an advertising campaign, part of which involved Santa Claus performers promoting COVID-19 vaccination, reports the Wall Street Journal. In exchange, they would get access to the vaccine before the general public. And not just Mr. Claus, performers playing Mrs. Claus and elves would also benefit from the scheme. Michael Caputo, an HHS assistant secretary who took a 60-day medical leave last month, was the one who thought up the plan."

https://bit.ly/2HACQ2y

Perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe it was actually an attempt to neutralize Melania's recorded "fuck Christmas" comment.

[Anonymous]

Masha Gessen piece in The New Yorker: "The Ultimate 'Bullshit Job' Gessen builds her piece on the anthropologist David Graeber's book "Bullshit Jobs"(2018).

"Republican senators, in other words, asked bullshit questions. Barrett laughed gamely, indulged their bullshit, and gave uniformly bullshit answers, both to bullshit questions and to substantive ones. She gave bullshit answers even when she appeared to be called upon merely to affirm the existence of a statute or a Constitutional norm.....Barrett does seem to believe that the nomination and confirmation process are bullshit—she shares the Trump Republican Party’s contempt for the norms and processes of the government in which she has risen so far, so fast."

https://bit.ly/3myGUQr