The Commentariat -- Sept. 21, 2020

Mid-morning Update:

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump plans to announce his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court on Friday or Saturday, he said in an interview on 'Fox & Friends' Monday morning. 'I think it'll be on Friday or Saturday,' Trump said when asked when he would announce his decision, adding that he wanted to 'pay respect' to Ginsburg ... by waiting until after her funeral services. Trump also said that he had narrowed his list down to five potential nominees. Trump has already committed to choosing a woman to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court." ~~~

     ~~~ Trump Suggests Ginburg's Granddaughter Is a Liar. Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Asked about Ginsburg's dying wish, in which she reportedly said she doesn't want to be replaced until a new presidential is installed, Trump said, 'I don't know that she said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff, and Schumer and Pelosi? I would be more inclined to the second, okay, you know. It came out of the wind, it sounds so beautiful. But that sounds like a Schumer deal, or maybe a Pelosi or shifty Schiff. So that that came out of the wind.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: According to Nina Totenberg of NPR, who is a long-time friend of Justice Ginsburg, "Just days before her death, as her strength waned, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera: 'My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.'" (Also linked here Saturday.) So either Totenberg made up that story out of whole cloth about her friend of decades, or Ginsburg's own granddaughter did -- according to Trump. Trump is withholding his nomination to "pay respect" to Ginsburg? Right. He's just teasing his next show.

Sam Levine & Alvin Chang of the Guardian: "The United States Postal Service (USPS) saw a severe decline in the rate of on-time delivery of first-class mail after Louis DeJoy took over as postmaster general, according to new data obtained by the Guardian that provides some of the most detailed insight yet into widespread mail delays this summer." --s

Yihyun Jeong & Holly Meyer of The Tennessean: "Former Nashville Council Member Tony Tenpenny has died due to complications from COVID-19, Vice Mayor Jim Shulman confirmed Sunday. Tenpenny was hospitalized for more than a month at one of the St. Thomas hospitals and was placed on a ventilator earlier in September. He died overnight, Shulman said on Sunday afternoon.... In the months before his death, Tony Tenpenny shared social media posts calling into question the veracity of the ongoing global pandemic and the government's response." --s

Fiona Harvey of the Guardian: "The wealthiest 1% of the world's population were responsible for the emission of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorer half of the world from 1990 to 2015, according to new research. Carbon dioxide emissions rose by 60% over the 25-year period, but the increase in emissions from the richest 1% was three times greater than the increase in emissions from the poorest half." --s

~~~~~~~~~~

Chuck Schumer & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speak at James Madison High School in Brooklyn Sunday evening. Both, along with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, are alumni of the school. AOC begins speaking at about 4:45 min. in. Chuck was smart to bring her along: ~~~

~~~ John Leland of the New York Times: "Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a child of Brooklyn long before she was Notorious -- daughter of Jewish immigrants, graduate of P.S. 238 and James Madison High School (class of 1950), cheerleader known as Kiki Bader, member of the East Midwood Jewish Center.... Over the weekend, as news spread of Justice Ginsburg's death on Friday, makeshift memorials of candles, signs, flowers and even an R.B.G. action figure went up outside James Madison High School and her childhood home. Hundreds gathered Saturday night outside the courthouse in Foley Square in Manhattan, holding candles and singing the civil rights anthem 'Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Freedom,' and a vigil was also held outside Kings County Supreme Court.... Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the state would erect a statue in her honor in Brooklyn." ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "For women, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg brings a particular grief." ~~~

~~~ Emily Davies, et al., of the Washington Post: "The grounds of the Supreme Court bloomed into a memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, drawing thousands who came to honor and remember the trailblazing icon. Mourners began arriving at the high court soon after news of her death came Friday evening, growing to a crowd of more than 1,000 who cried, sang and occasionally applauded. On Saturday, as the sun rose, dozens of people stood in silence as a flag flew at half-staff. And they kept coming by the hundreds. Bouquets, signs and chalk messages honoring Ginsburg multiplied by the minute. Joggers stopped mid-run, bikers paused and rested on their handlebars, and mothers from across the D.C. region brought their daughters to pay tribute to the pioneering liberal lawyer and advocate for equality. Even as lawmakers began to clash over when she would be replaced, the space outside the court was mostly one of quiet reflection. By nightfall, thousands packed the plaza, holding candles and listening to speakers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Glueck & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "In his first extensive remarks on the looming Supreme Court battle since he acknowledged the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Mr. Biden ... appealed directly to the few pivotal Senate Republicans 'who really will decide what happens,' urging them to oppose an effort to push through a new nominee before the election. 'Please, follow your conscience,' he pleaded in a speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. 'Don't vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnell have created. Don't go there. Uphold your constitutional duty. Your conscience. Let the people speak. Cool the flames that have been engulfing our country.'... He also said that he did not intend to release his own list of possible Supreme Court choices before the election, as Mr. Trump has done. But Mr. Biden reiterated his pledge to put a Black woman on the court, which he first made during the Democratic primary race. 'I made it clear that my first choice for the Supreme Court will make history as the first African-American woman justice,' he said.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Joe is awfully good at showing how small Donald Trump & Mitch McConnell are.

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said on Sunday that the Senate should not take up a Supreme Court nomination before the election, becoming the second GOP senator to voice opposition to a vote before Nov. 3. 'For weeks, I have stated that I would not support taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election. Sadly, what was then a hypothetical is now our reality, but my position has not changed,' Murkowski said in a statement. 'I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia. We are now even closer to the 2020 election - less than two months out - and I believe the same standard must apply,' she added.... [Mitch] McConnell has not weighed in on the timing. If he wants to hold a vote before the election, he will need to hold together at least 50 of his 53 members, which would let Vice President Pence break a tie. That means in addition to [Susan] Collins [Maine] and Murkowski, Democrats need to win over at least two additional GOP senators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sorry, Senator, You're Not Donald's Type. David Cohen of Politico: "... Donald Trump took a swipe Sunday morning at Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who subsequently announced she doesn't support moving forward immediately with his Supreme Court pick. Trump picked up a tweet from the Alaska Chamber promoting an upcoming event with Murkowski and retweeted it with an emphatic 'No thanks!"

Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "Despite the Biden team's confidence, the prospect of Mr. Trump's appointing a third justice to the Supreme Court in his first term injects a highly volatile element into the race just six weeks before the election. Court battles have long been seen as greater motivation for Republican voters than for Democrats, though the record sums of money flooding into Democratic campaigns in the hours after Justice Ginsburg's death offered progressives hope that they might be equally energized this time. Still, Biden campaign officials said on Saturday that they did not see even a Supreme Court vacancy and the passions it will inevitably inflame as reason to fundamentally reorient the campaign';s approach.... While confirmation fights have long centered on hot-button cultural divides such as guns and especially abortion, the Biden campaign, at least at the start, plans to chiefly focus on protecting the Affordable Care Act and its popular guarantee of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions." A Politico story, by Marc Caputo, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Parkinson of ABC News: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid tribute to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sunday, calling her a 'powerful, brilliant brain on the court' in an appearance on ABC's 'This Week,' while refusing to take another impeachment inquiry off the table in order to block ... Donald Trump's upcoming nominee to the Supreme Court. 'We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country. This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election,' Pelosi told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. 'Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday that President Trump is rushing to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because he 'wants to crush the Affordable Care Act....' Pelosi wants to steer the conversation around the potential Ginsburg replacement to health care, which polls show is a top issue for voters, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration has urged the courts to strike down the law, and with it, protections for millions with pre-existing conditions.... The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the ACA on Nov. 10, one week after the general election. In 2017, 20 Republican attorneys general sued to get rid of the ACA, with the Trump administration's support, charging that because Congress had repealed the individual mandate, the entire law was no longer valid. The law has worked its way back to the Supreme Court after a federal judge ruled the law was unconstitutional and an appeals court said the law's individual mandate was unconstitutional." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Milbank: "You don't have to be a Jew, or a believer, to see the symbolism -- the loss of this great woman at the very moment that, in the Jewish tradition, God begins the renewal of the world -- to know that there is powerful, spiritual meaning here that should call us all to reflection on the meaning of Ginsburg's life. Instead, some 80 minutes after her death was reported, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a man without a shred of decency and seemingly without a soul, announced his intent to replace her as fast as possible, before the next president is sworn in. (Even President Trump showed more humanity at first, citing the traditional Jewish expression for the dead, 'May her memory be a blessing,' with a Trumpian flourish: 'May her memory be a great and magnificent blessing to the world.')... Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) soon joined the Senate majority leader, announcing a 180-degree reversal from his position toward Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016, and somehow blaming the Democrats for his rank hypocrisy and dishonorable conduct.... It is difficult to find that courage amid hurricanes, fires, a melting planet, racial injustice and strife, a pandemic, financial suffering and bitterness among nations. Now we can't even pause for a day to reflect on a life well-lived, to mourn the loss of a righteous voice, and to listen for the shofar and the 'still, small voice' that might help us find the way out of all of our misery."

Chris Kahn of Reuters: "A majority of Americans, including many Republicans, want the winner of the November presidential election to name a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. The national opinion poll, conducted Sept. 19-20 after Ginsburg's death was announced, suggests that many Americans object to ... Donald Trump's plan, backed by many Senate Republic ans, to push through another lifetime appointee and cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court. The poll found that 62% of American adults agreed the vacancy should be filled by the winner of the Nov. 3 matchup between Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, while 23% disagreed and the rest said they were not sure."

Democratic Voters Wake Up. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "For decades, Republicans have galvanized voters around reshaping the Supreme Court, and they have benefited from it at the ballot box. But in a stark reversal, polls indicate that Democrats have the edge this year. National and battleground state surveys taken before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday showed that voters trust Joe Biden more than ... Donald Trump to pick a Supreme Court nominee and that Democrats rate the court as more important to their votes than Republicans do.... In a political environment in which Democrats are energized over the court, rejecting the dying wish of the leader of the court's liberal wing risks a voter backlash [against Republicans]."

Julie Pace of the AP: "In the coming days, the number of U.S. [Covid-19] deaths is set to clear ... 200,000, according to the official tally, though the real number is certainly higher.... Yet the grim milestone and the prospect of more American deaths to come have prompted no rethinking from the president about his handling of the pandemic and no outward expressions of regrets. Instead, Trump has sought to reshape the significance of the death tally, trying to turn the loss of 200,000 Americans into a success story by contending the numbers could have been even higher without the actions of his administration. 'If we didn't do our job, it would be three and a half, two and a half, maybe 3 million people,' Trump said Friday, leaning on extreme projections of what could have happened if nothing at all were done to fight the pandemic. 'We have done a phenomenal job with respect to COVID-19.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Pace doesn't say so, but the fact is that the toll would be even higher -- by a lot -- if governors & mayors had not implored the Trump administration to do its job to help supply PPP & testing kits & defied Trump when he ignored & discouraged ("LIBERATE MICHIGAN!") compliance with national standards. ~~~

Jordan Novet, et al., of CNBC: "... Donald Trump said Saturday he has approved a deal in principle in which Oracle and Walmart will partner with the viral video-sharing app TikTok in the U.S., allowing the popular app to avoid a shutdown. 'I have given the deal my blessing -- if they get it done that's great, if they don't that's okay too,' Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for North Carolina. 'I approved the deal in concept.' The U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would delay the prohibition of U.S. transactions with TikTok until next Sunday. Shortly after Trump's comments, Oracle announced it was chosen as TikTok's secure cloud provider and will become a minority investor with a 12.5% stake. TikTok confirmed Oracle's role and said it was working with Walmart on a commercial partnership." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Alexis Benveniste of CNN: "The back-and-forth of the TikTok deal has been rocky, but ... Donald Trump is certain that he wants to use the deal to create a $5 billion fund to 'educate people' about the 'real history of our country.' 'I think Walmart is going to buy it along with Oracle,' Trump said on Saturday at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He went on to say that as part of the deal, he requested '$5 billion into a fund for education so we can educate people as to real history of our country -- the real history, not the fake history.'" Mrs. McC: Real History, according to Prof. Trump: Donald Trump never told a lie. Donald Trump freed the slaves. Donald Trump led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill. Donald Trump saved the crew of PT-109. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

~~~ Jeanne Whalen of the Washington Post: "A federal court granted a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration's planned ban of Chinese app WeChat, in response to a plaintiff lawsuit saying the ban would harm their First Amendment rights. The United States District Court in San Francisco said the plaintiffs, a group of WeChat users, had shown there are 'serious questions' related to their First Amendment claim. The Trump administration had planned to effectively ban WeChat in the U.S. late tonight by preventing it from appearing in mobile-phone app stores, and by blocking the app's access to Internet hosting services in the U.S. The planned ban stemmed from Trump's Aug. 6 executive order that declared that WeChat posed a threat to national security because it collected 'vast swaths' of data on Americans and other users, and offered the Chinese Communist Party an avenue for censoring or distorting information." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha. Ben Smith of the New York Times: "... the story of [Donald] Trump and [Jeff] Zucker ... -- who put 'The Apprentice' on NBC in 2004 and made Mr. Trump a household name -- ... is a kind of Frankenstein tale for the late television age, about a brilliant TV executive who lost control of his creation. And it illustrates the extent to which this American moment is still shaped not by the hard logic of politics or the fragmented reality of new media, but by the ineluctable power of TV.... When Mr. Trump ran for president, Mr. Zucker briefly dismissed him as a 'sideshow' in an early 2015 email to his political team, according to one of its recipients. But as soon as he saw the ratings his old star could still deliver, he spent 2015 and 2016 turning CNN into a platform for his ambitions." Mrs. McC: A fine reminder -- with new material -- of how Jeff Zucker made & sucked up to Donald Trump.

AP: "A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin, which was addressed to White House, has been arrested at New York-Canada border, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Sunday. The letter had been intercepted earlier this week before it reached the White House. The woman was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo and is expected to face federal charges, the officials said. Her name was not immediately released."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. -- "The FinCEN Files"

Jason Leopold, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "A huge trove of secret government documents reveals for the first time how the giants of Western banking move trillions of dollars in suspicious transactions, enriching themselves and their shareholders while facilitating the work of terrorists, kleptocrats, and drug kingpins. And the US government ... fails to stop it. Today, the FinCEN Files -- thousands of 'suspicious activity reports' and other US government documents -- offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that watch as it flourishes. BuzzFeed News has shared these reports with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 news organizations in 88 countries.... Profits from deadly drug wars, fortunes embezzled from developing countries, and hard-earned savings stolen in a Ponzi scheme were all allowed to flow into and out of these financial institutions, despite warnings from the banks' own employees. Money laundering is a crime that makes other crimes possible. It can accelerate economic inequality, drain public funds, undermine democracy, and destabilize nations -- and the banks play a key role. 'Some of these people in those crisp white shirts in their sharp suits are feeding off the tragedy of people dying all over the world,' said Martin Woods, a former suspicious transactions investigator for Wachovia."

Tom Warren, et al., of BuzzFeed news focus on Deutsche Bank's massive money-laundering operation: "The FinCEN Files investigation reveals that Deutsche managers, including top executives, had direct knowledge for years of serious failings that left the bank vulnerable to money launderers.... In all, more than 100 internal alerts were raised on the companies at the heart of the Russian mirror trade scandal between 2012 and 2015. During these years, some of the world's worst criminals used the network to move dark money around the globe, with the help of shell companies and corrupt financiers.... In recent years, Deutsche's share price has plummeted under the weight of scandal after scandal. In the last decade, the bank has paid fines for everything from evading sanctions against Iran and Myanmar to rigging foreign exchange markets to doing business with Jeffrey Epstein. And it has come under scrutiny for lending Trump hundreds of millions of dollars despite his history of defaulting on loans."

Alicia Tatone for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: "The records show that five global banks — JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon -- kept profiting from powerful and dangerous players even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money. U.S. agencies responsible for enforcing money laundering laws rarely prosecute megabanks that break the law, and the actions authorities do take barely ripple the flood of plundered money that washes through the international financial system. In some cases the banks kept moving illicit funds even after U.S. officials warned them they'd face criminal prosecutions if they didn't stop doing business with mobsters, fraudsters or corrupt regimes."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Not surprisingly, all three stories linked above mention Donald Trump & his crooked associates, especially Paul Manafort.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Ted Armus of the Washington Post: "As a freshman Kentucky legislator, state Rep. Robert S. Goforth (R) joined his colleagues to pass a bill that would make it easier to prosecute strangulation. Last week, that same bill -- now a state law after it passed at the urging of domestic violence advocates -- came back to bite him: A grand jury in Laurel County, Ky., on Friday indicted Goforth, a former candidate for governor, on one count of first-degree strangulation and one count of assault in the fourth degree, according to the Corbin Times-Tribune. Earlier this year, a woman said Goforth, 44, strangled her with an Ethernet cable to the point where she had trouble breathing and threatened to 'hog tie' her, according to a police report reviewed by the newspaper. The charges have renewed calls from local Democrats for Goforth, a staunch supporter of President Trump who had previously been accused of sexual assault, to resign from his seat."

Nebraska. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Jake Gardner, a White bar owner who was indicted last week in the fatal shooting of Black protester James Scurlock during a late-night Omaha demonstration in May, died by suicide on Sunday, his attorneys said at a news conference. Attorney Stu Dornan said that Gardner, 38, had died 'at his own hand' in Oregon on the same day he was scheduled to return to Omaha to turn himself in. Gardner faced four felony charges, including manslaughter, that were handed down by a special prosecutor last week. The indictment came months after a county attorney initially agreed with Gardner that he'd shot Scurlock, 22, in self-defense and declined to prosecute the bar owner. A grand jury thought otherwise, pointing to Gardner's own words in text and Facebook messages as probable cause for an indictment."

Comments

[NiskyGuy]

Yes, Joe is good at showing how small trump and the turtle are. He also says the good words that he wants to be the president of all of the United States, but I am glad there is a bite and anger in his voice. We can't just move on if he can make it into the White House. The enablers need a reckoning on January 21.

[Jeanne]

I agree with Nisky Guy... (what IS a Nisky?) in that there needs to be a reckoning. No more "Mr. Nice Guy." There are people that should be in chains.
In the meantime, I just whiled away two evenings with total escapism: Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice-- sorta the same story. But so totally without a relationship to the 21st century that it has been a relief. I never saw either movie, and I never could get through P and P as a girl, although I tried on numerous occasions. I recommend diversions-- the news and commentary of September 2020 eat your soul, I swear. I tried to get trained this afternoon for phone banking and the leaders messed it up. Dems not organized... Of course, with everything virtual, no one is playing with a full deck-- I fear for November.

[Akhilleus]

Jeanne,

A few years ago I picked up an annotated copy of “P and P”. Very enlightening, but lengthens the reading time somewhat. This summer I worked my way through a new (for me) translation of “War and Peace”. The notes and appendices made the processing of that immense doorstop even longer, but it was worth it. Otherwise you find yourself blowing by mountains of obscure Russian history, customs, linguistic tics, and assorted cultural oddities that greatly add to the overall effect.

Speaking of “P and P”, I ran across a newly edited version with the text updated for the Age of Trump. The famous first line has undergone a bit of an overhaul:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, or two or three on whom he can practice serial adultery with strippers and prostitutes, when not prancing about assaulting decent women by groping their privates.”

I didn’t read through to the part where Elizabeth Bennet stabs him in the eye with a darning needle. Always liked that Elizabeth. Lots of spunk, that girl.

I think Austen would approve.

There’s much to be said for escapist fare with so much from which to escape, even for a few hours.

[Akhilleus]

Jake Gardner, the bar owner who killed a black protester, kills himself rather than face a trial. How long before the racist snake who slithers around in the White House decides to use this double tragedy to his own advantage by declaring Gardner a martyr for the cause of White Supremacy, persecuted to his death by deep state operatives who hate Real American History? Another reason the fat racist needs to edumacate us all about how he’s done more for those ungrateful nee-groes than anyone in history, and look at how they behave, like thugs and murderers, to their betters.

[Ken Winkes]

Ah, that "single man in possession of a good fortune...".

Used to have a mental collection of favorite opening lines (ala C. Fadiman's "They Have their Exits and their Entrances"), this one from P and P prominent among them. but I notice many have faded from memory (still retain "Originally, the robot was intended to be a can opener..." --a Henry Kuttner classic), a cirucumstancd maybe associated with my recent decision to put down "Adam Bede" in favor of an Agatha Christie my grandson handed off to me--and I had trouble enough following that.

Keep it simple, I say. Enough of complication, subtlety and ambiguity.

At some level we have to decide there a good guys and bad guys and we have to create a society and a government willing to distinguish between the two and act accordingly.

The FINcen File stories above caught my attention yesterday for precisely that reason. These are not the first similar reports. This from the BBC, which I posted late yesterday, documents earlier revelations of just how closely tied big banks are to international criminal enterprise and how our government, even before the Pretender who has dipped more than a toe in that slimy world for decades, has turned a blind eye to it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54226107

These are bad people doing bad things. That they are allowed ot do it and get away with it poisons every transaction from Manhattan to Main Street.

The swamp is not confined to Washington D. C.

Kinda like Covid really. It's everywhere we pretend it doesn't exist and elect to do nothing about it.

As I said. Keep it simple.

Go after the crooks before criminality is so common and accept4ed we can no longer distinguish crooks from anyone else.

Forty percent of the nation already has enough trouble telling sinners apart from saints.

[PD Pepe]

Yesterday I was reading ––no not Austen but a Time's piece on the innovative black artist, Tavares Strachan, who blends science and art in a most unique and exciting way. This passage stood out for me because it represents our struggle and our strength:

"Glass is a punishing material to master — the learning curve is steep. The story of glass is very similar to my story, in some ways,” Strachan said. “It’s a set of paradoxes: It’s fragile, but it’s as strong as concrete under pressure. It’s super precious, but it’s ubiquitous, like it’s everywhere. It has memory built into it. So if you are working on a piece of glass and you touch it, you scar it. You can heat it up again, but that scar never really goes away.”

[PD Pepe]

Trump's "'I don't know that she [Ginsburg's granddaughter] said that, or was that written out by Adam Schiff, and Schumer and Pelosi? I would be more inclined to the second, okay, you know. It came out of the wind, it sounds so beautiful. But that sounds like a Schumer deal, or maybe a Pelosi or shifty Schiff. So that that came out of the wind.'" ~~~

This is beyond petty–-this is a churlish calumny of the first order; put another way, fucking foul!!!! The man can't even try to be decent for one bloody day after the death of a woman of such high regard.

Some years ago a friend of mine, when he found out Trump was going to run for President, said: "It won't be long before he shows his true colors."

"and what, pray tell, are those?" I asked

"The man is crooked to the core–-he will destroy everything in his path, and that includes his own base."

"How do you know this?"

"I lived in New York City long enough to get to know how he operated. He'll use the presidency like his own fiefdom–- you just watch."

We watched––we are still watching with horror!

[Akhilleus]

Ken,

Your mention of Kuttner made me smile. I don't remember reading the story you mention, but I do recall other stories of this prolific sci-fi master, especially "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", his brilliant conception of kids translating the Lewis Carroll poem and opening the door to a hidden space-time dimension. In fact, my favorite part of that story involved having the little girl figure out how to use the unusual toys that arrive from that hidden dimension. What confounds the older brother is that he had already begun to understand the basis of a Euclidian universe. Because the little girl knew nothing of Euclid's concept of three dimensions, she was not hampered by preconceived ideas. Great stuff.

It wasn't until I was older that I realized that I had read a bunch of Kuttner even though much of his output was published under pseudonyms. I recall "Earth's Last Citadel" in which two people from the allies and two people from the Axis nations, during WWII, are swept away to a future world in which life had been mostly extinguished and are left to figure out what to do next. I'm wondering if a couple of MAGA morons and two liberals were placed in the same situation, what might happen. I'm guessing the MAGA idiots would try to kill the liberals for suggesting a course of action based on reality and science.

[Akhilleus]

PD,

"Churlish calumny"...aside from being blindingly accurate, it's an eminently swipeable bon mot. Fair warning. I'm swiping it.

[Akhilleus]

PD,

Your mention of Tavares Strachan caused me to look him up. His stuff is wonderful. And it blends art and science in multi-dimensional ways. Intriguing works.

The blending of science and art has been going on a long time, probably since before some innovative paleolithic artists ground up some minerals and mixed the dust with clay and other natural materials, placed it in their mouths, and blew majestic images of bison, deer, and the occasional hunters on cave walls.

This is the human urge to create.

As a two year old, I began my lifelong interest in and practice of drawing and painting. In grammar school, I had taken out a book on art techniques so often from our local public library branch, that my mum and dad finally made of it a Christmas gift. In college, in a class on medieval materials and techniques, I was introduced to Cennino Cennini's famous "Il Libro dell' Arte", commonly known as "The Craftsman's Handbook". Talk about art and science! Cennino learned his stuff from a family whose father had studied with Giotto, so he knew whereof he spoke.

The book is chock full of how to's. And back in Cennino's day (late 14th, early 15th centuries), you couldn't lope off to the local art supply store. You want to learn how to draw with charcoal? You make your own. According to Cennino, the best idea was to get some well shaped, straight willow branches, cut them to size, trim them down, then take them to the local baker. Roast them overnight in a tightly sealed container (he even tells you how to make the sealant), then in the morning, voila! Charcoal sticks.

There's loads of this. When I first started working in tempera, I studied Cennino to learn how to select the wood panel, make the gesso (whiting and rabbit skin glue, mix, boil, let stand), apply it, sand it smooth, then grind the pigments for use with egg whites. Luckily, I didn't have to make my own brushes (yikes!), but Cennino had a formula for that too. He even has a section on techniques for creating stained glass.

The larger point of Cennino's work is that inspiration must be carried on the wings of science. You need to understand the properties that will allow your art to flourish on the canvas, panel, and paper, and last. Good materials, good tools, proper techniques, and sound artistic inspiration. That's the stuff, m'boy.

Which brings us around to Donald Trump (I know, big let down, right?). Why? Because the melding of art and science is one of the great achievements of the human race. It's what some philosophers used to say separates us from the animals (some animals might disagree; my dog does some very interesting negative space conceptual installations, otherwise known as holes dug in the yard, but some pretty cool holes at that).

We are in a battle between reality (Biden) and deranged, nihilistic fantasy (you know who). But we are also in another kind of battle. The sort of thing Cennino was involved in, yes and Mr. Strachan and those paleolithic artists; the shining, wondrous accomplishment of the human race is civilization, of which art is just a branch. Other branches are science and the rule of law. All of these are not just anathema to Trump and his maggots, they are enemies, to be feared and destroyed.

Some humans live to give and create; some, like Trump, live to steal and destroy.

Artists use a maulstick. Trump prefers a mauling.

In place of Leonardo's silverpoint stylus, Trump chooses a shiv.

Rather than the sculptors tools, Trump goes for the wrecking ball.

Not a finely shaped brush, but a blunt truncheon. Not the magical spray of minerals on a cave wall that make us see, but the blast of pepper spray and tear gas that blind us.

We are in a battle for civilization against the forces of savagery. Art--civilization--is about creation. Trump and his sycophants are all about destruction.

His canvas is a filthy rest room wall on which he has smeared, in blood and feces, his creed:

BE PARANOID, BE HATEFUL, BE STUPID, VOTE FOR ME.

This isn't an election, this is an existential battle that would give Milton pause ("Haven't I already done this shit?").

Art, for Trump, is just a commodity, something he thinks makes him look good. But he's too stupid to know what makes good art. For many authoritarians, art is to be feared. Hitler decried what he called "degenerate art", in other words, art that questioned, that pointed out differences, that explored the human dimensions. For him, art was there to support the state, to promote his ideology. Trump is right there with him. For Trump, history's only use is to support his vision of a hateful world. This is the debauchery of art, of learning, of truth, of civilization.

As Mr. Strachan suggests, glass, for all its durability, can be scarred. So are we all by this assault on civilization and the rule of law, decency, and humanity, by the barbaric Trump. I'm not suggesting that Trump is strong enough, or smart enough, to destroy all civilization, but pulling down the institutions of civilization, of democracy, stone by stone, weakens the foundations in the most insidious ways. Just ask the Romans.

But like Mr. Strachan's glass, we can survive the fire and live to shine another day.

Vote. Vote for civilization over savagery.

[Bobby Lee]

In 2016 and again today we heard stories about the hidden Trump voters who wouldn't tell polls they were voting for him. Even with leads in the polls i suspect there are hidden Biden voters who won't put out yard signs or bumper stickers not to hide from the polls, but from Trump supporters.

We talk of the chaos of a second Trump term, but people in deeply red districts fear retribution as well.

[Jeanne]

Thanks for all the positive philosophy, AK and PD and Ken-- Every once in a while I wonder what planet we are living on.

Still reading Mary Trump's book. The picture of her uncle that she paints is one of greed, sociopathic need and cunning. From the beginning, from childhood on, the whole family being wretched bearers of all things bad, he was lazy and deadly stupid. But as Fred Senior's chosen heir, he was given everything possible. He had no idea about anyone else from the get-go-- always self-aggrandizing and lying about everything. But always only wanting to please Fred. He was given tons of money and bailed out of every fix he got himself into. He hated college, first Fordham and then Penn, and I suspect every person in his life has not lived up to his pretensions, and never will. Mary was treated quite badly by most of the Trumps-- I think she raised herself, although she had a thoughtful mom. Her dad died a miserable alcoholic, never having achieved even a visit at the hospital from any family member in his final day of life. Fred Sr. made Freddy quit everything he ever loved, like flying, and he was not able enough to work for the family real estate business.
Reading this book makes me sure that Prez Fckface deserves no better than his older brother got-- he pretty much raised himself too, and is the very epitome of an evil person. He truly is.

[Akhilleus]

Murkowski says she won’t go along with the Trump-McConnell putsch, Collins is still “concerned”. What about Mittens? Where is he on this? Haven’t heard anything from the font of one percent wisdom. Even if the three of them reject the latest disgusting GOP fascist move, that still leaves the half-pence to break the tie. And we all know that decency and humanity and the rule of law are to little mikey as a gallon of Round-Up is to a weed. Still, it would be interesting to see how the Rombot goes.

[Akhilleus]

Bobby Lee,

We’ve already got a look at one part of the Trump vote suppression game plan for stealing the election. His vicious, anti-democratic minions will be lining up around polling places screaming at anyone not waving a Trump flag of treason, violent intimidation, rather than trying to convince with rational arguments, is just their meat.

Look also for heavily armed Trump gun knobbers to patrol Democratic strongholds, demanding to see identification of any they suspect of voting for Biden.

Democracy does indeed die in the dark, even quicker when it’s the president* who’s turning out the lights.

[Marie Burns]

Speaking of famous first lines -- I need some help from youse readers of litruchur.

When I was a child, my family went to Cape Cod many summers where my grandparents & my grandmother's sisters had a house on a hill in Marstons Mills. Down the hill, the widow Mrs. Crocker built a cottage, and I used to go through the woods to her house to play with my second cousins Chuck & Bobby Easter, who were her grandchildren.

Sometime in the late 1990s, my husband and I were in Berlin visiting a friend who worked for Deutsche Welle, the state-run German international television network. The friend is English-speaking, but his large library, not surprisingly, consisted mostly of German-language books. We had just arrived in Europe, & I had not yet adjusted to the time difference, so I was up in the middle of the night looking for something to read.

After a short search, I did find an English-language book. Here's where I need some help. I thought the book I found was "Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut, a story about the bombing of Dresden. That would make sense, since the book's owner was, after all, German. But maybe not. Right near the beginning of the novel I began that night -- it might have been on the first page -- I read a sentence that started something like, "When I was a guest at Sheriff Crocker's jail on Cape Cod...."

I have since looked up on the Internets the first chapter of "Slaughterhouse-Five," & there's no sentence in it even remotely like the one of my memory. Does anyone know where that sentence came from, besides my head? I'm sure it was a Vonnegut novel. It was not Vonnegut's short story "Welcome to the Monkey House," which also begins with mention of a Sheriff Crocker.

When I read that story in the middle of the night in a Berlin apartment, I was overcome with what a small world it was. Here I was, thousands of miles and decades away, and I was reading a novel that right off mentioned Mrs. Crocker's husband. Mrs. Crocker herself had been the cook for the jail's inmates while her husband was sheriff. My mother's cousin Doris told me about growing up in a large house near the jail. On the main road on one side of our hill was a monument to Sherman Crocker, the Crockers' son & Doris's brother, who was shot down & killed over the Rhine in 1945. And here was Kurt Vonnegut, looking at Sheriff Crocker from quite a different point of view. I think. I just can't find it anymore. Does anybody have any idea?

[Akhilleus]

Marie,

As soon as I read your line, I thought “Welcome to the Monkey House”, but if you say that’s not it, I’m all at sea. One of my current books is “The Enduring Shore”, a history of Cape Cod and the islands. I’ll see if I can find any additional references to Sheriff Crocker. As for that line, which sounds like a great opening (could be from a William Trevor story, if he grew up on the Cape, and not Ireland, or even an Andre Dubus story— the dad), I’m not coming up with anything helpful in short order. I’ll put some feelers out to my “prodigious reader” friends and see if we can’t suss out your author. In the meantime, avoid sheriffs and anyone named Crocker, including Betty.

(Just imagine a Sheriff Betty Crocker! “Sorry, ma’am, but you’re gonna be doing a month for those hard-as-a-rock biscuits.” and I’ma pulling you in, Mr. Gadabout, that ‘grilled halibut’ is still alive!”

[PD Pepe]

@Marie: I, too, tried to find your source to no avail. Akhilleus mentions William Trevor whose short story, "Cape May" which I have saved in my many short story files and I checked that out but no mention of the Sheriff. I did a Google search as I'm sure you did but again–-nothing. You know, sometimes when we think we remember something and then check it out, it's not at all what we thought we remembered and it's always a surprise and a wonder why.

and wouldn't the good Sheriff be pleased as punch that he was resurrected here on a Monday in 2020.

[unwashed]

Ak's art lesson brought to mind another 10CC song - Art For Art's Sake. Here are the lyrics.