The Commentariat -- September 3, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Eric Bradner of CNN: "... Joe Biden said he had spoken by phone Thursday with Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot in the back by police, while meeting with Blake's family in Wisconsin. 'He talked about how nothing was going to defeat him. How whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up,' Biden said. His comments came at a meeting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the site of Blake's shooting, with local political, law enforcement, religious and nonprofit leaders. Earlier Thursday, Biden had met privately in Milwaukee with members of Blake's family, who he said put him on the phone with Blake, who is out of the intensive care unit. He said he had spoken about faith with Blake.... Biden met in Milwaukee with Blake's father, brother and two sisters, with Blake's mother and attorneys joining by phone. Blake attorney Ben Crump tweeted a statement saying that it had been a 'very engaging' 90-minute meeting.... While in Kenosha Tuesday, [Donald] Trump did not meet with the family of Blake. Trump claimed that he's not meeting with Blake's family during his Wisconsin visit because they wanted to involve lawyers."

~~~ A Biden-Harris campaign ad, released Thursday:

~~~ Another ad released Thursday:

Trump's Vote-Twice Advice Alarms North Carolina Officials. Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "Officials in North Carolina are scrambling to counteract ... Donald Trump’s call for residents of the state to attempt to vote twice in the upcoming contest for the White House, issuing a notice on Thursday warning voters that doing so intentionally is a felony. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in the memo to voters that the board also discouraged people from showing up at polling sites on Election Day to check whether their absentee ballot had been counted." ~~~

     ~~~ Bell's notice is here. It begins, "The following is a message to North Carolina voters from Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections: It is illegal to vote twice in an election. N.C.G.S. § 163-275(7) makes it a Class I felony for a voter, 'with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time ... in the same primary or election.' Attempting to vote twice in an election or soliciting someone to do so also is a violation of North Carolina law." ~~~

~~~ Richard Hasen in Slate: "... Donald Trump on Thursday repeated his encouragement to his supporters to vote twice, first by mail and then -- if election officials allow -- in person. Voting twice -- as the president requests -- is not only illegal, but a recipe for chaos in November. Perhaps that is exactly the point. Trump defended his call as a way to test the system against voter fraud, but it's like encouraging his supporters to try to rob the 7-Eleven to make sure that the police can respond adequately to robberies.... Many people may hear his comments and think he is serious. This is particularly true given that he repeated the comments the very next day and his attorney general, William Barr, refused to acknowledge that double voting is illegal.... What's worse, the comments are going to put a strain on an election system stretched to its limits by trying to conduct a presidential election in the midst of a pandemic and with one of the candidates constantly casting doubt on the election's legitimacy. Again, this is probably Trump's real intent."

White You Win, Black You Lose. Bill Barr Puts His Fat Thumb on the Scale of Justice. Aris Folley of the Hill: "Attorney General William Barr said that he doesn't think the cases of George Floyd and Jacob Blake are 'interchangeable' when asked about both in an interview on Wednesday.... Pressed by host Wolf Blitzer for an explanation, Barr said Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis earlier this year after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, was 'already subdued, incapacitated, in handcuffs and was not armed.... In the Jacob case, he was in the midst of committing a felony, and he was armed. So that's a big difference,' Barr claimed before adding moments later that he doesn't want to talk about either of the cases 'as if they're interchangeable.'... It's unclear if [Blake] was armed with a knife at the time of the shooting. The [Wisconsin Department of Justice] said the knife was recovered from the floorboard of Blake's car and that no other weapons were recovered during the search.... 'Attorney General Barr is misinformed. The police officers were the aggressors from start to finish, based on video and witness accounts,' [Blake's] legal team said in a joint statement. 'There was never any point in time when there was justification for deadly force. In fact, there were innocent bystanders in the line of fire when he shot seven times into Jacob's back.'"

Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A California police officer was charged on Wednesday with felony manslaughter for fatally shooting a Black man inside a Walmart in April in a swift confrontation that the district attorney said displayed an unreasonable use of deadly force. District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley of Alameda County said in a statement on Wednesday that charging Officer Jason Fletcher of the San Leandro Police Department 'is not a decision that is made lightly, nor rashly.' She faulted the officer for 'his failure to attempt other de-escalation options,' which 'rendered his use of deadly force unreasonable and a violation' of state law."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "New filings for jobless claims totaled 881,000 last week, better than estimates as the employment market continued its gradual progress during the coronavirus pandemic recovery. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a total of 950,000. The number reflects an improving labor market as well as a change in methodology from the Labor Department to address seasonal factors. Unique circumstances associated with the coronavirus likely caused jobless claims totals to be overstated during the pandemic." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Horsley of NPR: "Without the seasonal adjustment, state unemployment claims rose by more than 7,500. In addition to the state unemployment claims, 759,000 people applied for benefits under a special federal program for gig workers and the self-employed, who are ordinarily not eligible for unemployment. Those claims also increased from the previous week."

Former Michigan Republican Governor Endorses Joe Biden. Rick Snyder in a Detroit Free Press op-ed: "I will continue to support and stand up for Republican policies and values, and support Republican candidates, but I will not support Donald Trump for reelection.... He is a bully.... In addition, President Trump lacks a moral compass. He ignores the truth.... I had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Biden when he served as vice president. My interactions were always constructive and respectful. He has shown the desire to heal a deeply divided nation; has demonstrated strong moral character and empathy; and he seems willing to listen to people who have different perspectives from his own.... While I am endorsing Joe Biden for president, I am still a Republican who also will be publicly supporting Republican candidates at the local, state and federal level." ~~~

~~~ Tim Reid of Reuters: "Nearly 100 Republican and independent leaders will endorse Democrat Joe Biden for president on Thursday, including one-time 2020 Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld and the former Republican governors of Michigan and New Jersey, people involved in the effort told Reuters.... Called 'Republicans and Independents for Biden' the group is headed by Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who has become one of Trump's fiercest critics and who spoke at the recent Democratic National Convention in support of Biden."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... as Mr. Trump seeks to become the oldest individual ever elected to the office for a second term, recent questions about his mental and physical condition have sent him into paroxysms of pique. They have complicated his own efforts to question the health of his challenger and fellow septuagenarian, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The president elevated the issue this week by taking the bait of a critic's tweet and denying that he had 'mini-strokes' last year around the time of a mysterious trip to the hospital. But Mr. Trump only raised more questions when he could not keep his explanations for that hospital visit straight. He wrote that it 'was to complete my yearly physical' -- contrary to how he explained it at the time, when he said it was 'phase one of my yearly physical' to be completed later." The story has more detail about Trump's remarks & tweets concerning his and others' fitness. ~~~

~~~ "Donald Trump Would Like to Momentarily Pause This Campaign to Tell You How Good His Brain Is." Asawin Suebsaeng & Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "Following a carefully manicured, four-day convention in which Donald Trump's chief lieutenants branded him as an avatar of stability and Joe Biden as the pied-piper of race riots, the president did what he always does: He casually disposed of his team's messaging in the service of nursing personal grudges. This week, it was about how his brain isn't dying.... Shortly after Trump's [tweeted] tirade about 'mini-strokes,' his re-election campaign called for CNN to fire an analyst [-- former Bill Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart --] who asked his Twitter followers whether the president was hiding a past stroke from the American public.... When the Drudge Report ... led the site on Tuesday with Trump's furious denial [of having had 'mini-strokes,'] Trump blew up again.... Joe Biden's presidential campaign was practically thrilled to play along, arguing that Trump's focus on his own mental acuity was rooted in his failures on a more pressing health matter: the coronavirus pandemic...."

Elizabeth Dwoskin & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Facebook plans to block new advertising the week before the presidential election -- the first time the company has taken action to limit political advertising in the United States, the company said Thursday.... The company also said that it would label posts by any candidate or campaign that tries to declare victory before the final results are in, directing people to the official results from Reuters. It will do the same for any posts that try to delegitimize the outcome of the election -- for example, a claim that voting by mail could lead to fraud. It has also started to limit users' ability to forward articles on its Messenger platform to large groups of people.... The Trump campaign blasted the company for its new policies." A New York Times story is here. The Guardian's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The Trump campaign is pissed because there's been every indication that Trump does intend to declare victory prematurely, while Biden has not expressed any such inclination. The Guardian's story spells that out.

Pentagon Boosts Republican Senators. Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s decision to use Pentagon money to pay for his border wall created problems on the campaign trail for Republican senators seeking reelection in states that lost military construction projects to the president's effort. But the Defense Department's move in recent months to restart many of those domestic projects has provided political cover to several Republican incumbents facing tough reelections.... Some of the revived projects are in states with two Democrats representing them in the Senate. But others are hot-button projects in states such as North Carolina, Colorado and Arizona, where Republican senators in competitive races had been taking heat over their defunding."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Trump administration has quietly named a new acting State Department inspector general, the latest personnel shift to hit the troubled watchdog unit since Secretary of State Mike Pompeo engineered the firing of its longtime leader. Matthew Klimow, the U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan since mid-2019, has been handed the reins of the inspector general's office for at least 90 days, according to a Wednesday email seen by Politico.... Klimow is a career government employee with a lengthy resume that includes receiving a Silver Star for valor in combat when he was in the Army. It was not immediately clear if Klimow is giving up his position as the U.S. envoy in hermetic, energy-rich Turkmenistan, although in a note to the inspector general's staff, he said he would be with them for 'a relatively short time.'" Mrs. McC: I wonder how many coverups Klimow is supposed to finesse in that "relatively short time."

Danny Hakim & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The National Rifle Association's former second-in-command is breaking with the group's orthodoxy and calling for universal background checks and so-called red flag laws in a new book assailing the organization as more focused on money and internal intrigue than the Second Amendment, while thwarting constructive dialogue on gun violence. The former executive, Joshua L. Powell, who was fired by the N.R.A. in January, reinforces the kind of criticism made of the organization by gun control groups and state regulators, but it is the first critical look at its recent history by such a high-ranking insider. He describes the N.R.A.'s longtime chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, as a woefully inept manager, but also a skilled lobbyist with a deft touch at directing President Trump to support the group's objectives, and who repeatedly reeled in the president's flirtations with even modest gun control measures."

Update on the Horrifying Scandal of the Year. Ryan Saavedra of the Daily Wire: "Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), released a letter from a law firm on Wednesday afternoon that attacked the owner of the salon that Pelosi recently visited in apparent violation of coronavirus lockdown rules. The letter from attorney Matthew Soleimanpour was on behalf of Jonathan De Nardo, a California Certified Cosmetologist based out of San Francisco, California." Thanks to Anonymous for the link. Mrs. McC: The lawyer's letter, which Saavedra cites in full, completely exonerates Speaker Pelosi & implicates the salon owner Erica Kious in a sting. It's kinda worth reading, at least if you read any of the stories that preceded this one.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

Bill Barrow & Will Weissert of the AP: "Campaigning for more than a year as a calming, unifying figure, Joe Biden faces the most intense test yet of his core pitch when he travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city wrenched by police and protest violence that makes it a microcosm of the nation's election-year reckoning with systemic racism. The 77-year-old former vice president, traveling two days after ... Donald Trump visited the same city, plans to meet Thursday with family of Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized after being shot seven times in the back by a white police officer.... Biden also plans a community discussion that he indicated would draw business figures, civic leaders and law enforcement officials. 'This is about making sure that we move forward,' Biden told reporters Wednesday. He added that he's 'not going to tell Kenosha what they have to do' but instead encourage a community to 'talk about what has to be done.' Falling exactly two months before Election Day, the trip presents Biden both opportunity and risks as he tests his promise, made again and again for 16 months, that he can 'unify the country' and find consensus even where it's not readily apparent. The approach always has been an intentional contrast with Trump, a president who thrives on conflict."

Eric Bradner of CNN: "... Joe Biden blamed ... Donald Trump for schools' struggles to open amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying that if Trump had done his job, 'American schools would be open and they'd be open safely.... Instead, American families across this country are paying the price for his failure and his administration's failure,' Biden said in a speech Wednesday in Delaware. Biden's speech followed a briefing he and his wife, Jill Biden, a long-time high school teacher and community college professor, attended with education and health experts in Wilmington. Biden called opening schools 'a national emergency.'"

Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. clashed on Wednesday in dueling remarks and with new advertisements about public safety and the outbursts of violence in some American cities, as the presidential campaign entered an aggressive new phase with the parties tussling over both the issues and the electoral map they are being fought on. The collisions came as a wave of new polling gave the first significant snapshot of the race since the Democratic and Republican conventions last month. The polls showed that Mr. Biden still holds a steady if not overwhelming lead, tight enough to give Democrats cause for concern and Republicans room for hope, particularly in the key battleground of Pennsylvania.... While the president has a dwindling number of days to reset a race in which he has consistently trailed this year, Democrats are still wrestling with the asymmetrical nature of battling a candidate willing to make outlandish and false statements in pursuit of victory."

** Marc Caputo of Politico: "Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee reported raising a record $365 million in August, surprising even seasoned party fundraisers and putting to rest fears that President Trump would drown him in campaign spending. The staggering cash coincides with Biden naming Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate before the convention. It more than doubles Trump's $165 million record, set in July, and also eclipses the $193 million raised by Barack Obama in September 2008. Trump has not yet announced his August numbers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will visit Kenosha on Thursday as tensions simmer in the city following the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer and the deaths of two people protesting his shooting by an armed teenager.... It's the first visit to Wisconsin by Biden this year, and the first to the state by a Democratic presidential nominee since 2012.... 'Vice President Biden will hold a community meeting in Kenosha to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face,' his campaign said in a release. 'After, Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden will make a local stop.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump Urges N.C. Voters to Vote Twice. Lauren Egan & Pete Williams of NBC News: "... Donald Trump suggested that people in North Carolina should vote twice in the November election, once by mail and once in person, escalating his attempts to cast confusion and doubt on the validity of the results. 'So let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote. If it isn't tabulated, they'll be able to vote,' Trump said when asked whether he has confidence in the mail-in system in North Carolina, a battleground state. 'If it's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote. If it isn't tabulated, they'll be able to vote. So that's the way it is. And that's what they should do,' he said. It is illegal to vote more than once in an election." ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump's suggestion that people should vote twice is one he has discussed privately with aides in recent weeks amid concerns he is depressing turnout among his supporters by raising alarms about the security of mail-in voting.... He has continued to float wild theories about extensive voter fraud that are not backed up by evidence. He has repeatedly detailed far-fetched, seemingly manufactured stories about ballots being forged." ~~~

~~~ Wait, wait! You think Trump is bad? Here is the Attorney General of the United States repeatedly saying he doesn't know if it's illegal to vote twice because he doesn't know what the state law is. He says maybe a voter can go in and change his mind after he's voted once. Just astounding: ~~~

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Nearly four years later, Trump still can't accept the fact that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. Now, besides his usual fake claim that he really won except for all the voter fraud in California, blah blah, he's claiming that the vote that were to libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in 2016 were really votes for Trump. Mrs. McC: This is a fairly hilarious post, except for a couple of factors, like Bump's final note that Trump "creates these rationalizations that have the unhappy side effect of reducing confidence in the electoral system." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trumps Go All-in for the Crazy. Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "Lara Trump recently joined Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer at a campaign event in Florida, throwing the support of the Trump name behind the far-right activist and self-described Islamophobe. President Trump's daughter-in-law and campaign adviser was photographed with Loomer, the GOP nominee to challenge Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) in a reliably blue district, at a campaign event with some pictures showing a lack of face masks and social distancing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Both parties get stuck with radical candidates on their side. In the past, if the candidates were bad enough, the party denounced them & refused to give them campaign money and endorsements. Otherwise, party leaders held their noses & tentatively accepted the nutters, but maybe without financial support or endorsements. Party leaders sure as hell don't campaign with nonconforming candidates. So when a Trump family member campaigns with a crazy QAnon candidate -- and one who has almost no chance of winning -- it's obvious they're pushing hard for the batshit-crazy vote. And it also suggests, especially when considering Trump's recent insane endorsement of wacky ideas, that the Trumps themselves are batshit crazy.

Laura Vozzella & Peter Jamison of the Washington Post: "Two voters who say they were tricked into supporting Kanye West's campaign for president are suing to try to get him kicked off the ballot in Virginia, seeking immediate court intervention as deadlines for printing and mailing absentee ballots are fast approaching. In a suit filed Tuesday in Richmond Circuit Court, Matthan Wilson and Bryan Wright, both Suffolk residents, said signature-gatherers for West misled them into pledging to serve as electors for the rapper and entrepreneur. Wilson and Wright are represented by Marc E. Elias and other attorneys at the nationally prominent Democratic firm Perkins Coie. The suit names state elections officials as defendants, saying they should not have certified West for the ballot...."

Rachel Maddow featured these two ads by Vote Vets. The first one, released last week, is a true tearjerker. Mrs. McCrabbie: I made a small contribution to Vote Vets.

~~~ BUT Trump was more upset about this less consequential Lincoln Project ad:

     ~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday threw a tantrum about a new Lincoln Project ad that mocked him for scoring lower television ratings for the Republican National Convention than Democratic rival Joe Biden.... 'We had FAR more people (many millions) watching us at the RNC than did Sleepy Joe and the DNC, and yet an ad just ran saying the opposite. This is what we're up against. Lies. But we will WIN![' Trump tweeted." Mrs. McC: Less a tantrum than a lie, according to TV rating services.

Georgia. Annie Grayer & Pamela Kirkland of CNN: "The state of Georgia has likely removed nearly 200,000 Georgia citizens from the voter rolls for wrongfully concluding that those people had moved and not changed the address on their voter registration, when in fact they never moved, according to a new report released on Wednesday. The ACLU of Georgia released the report which was conducted by the Palast Investigative Fund, a nonpartisan group that focuses on data journalism, on Wednesday."

Montana. Iris Samuels of the AP: "... Donald Trump's reelection campaign and the Republican Party sued Montana on Wednesday after Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock gave counties the choice to conduct the November election entirely by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit alleges Bullock's directive would dilute the integrity of Montana's election system."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here.

Nothing Suspicious About This. At All. Kathryn Watson & Sara Cook of CBS News: "The Centers for Disease Control has urged governors to be prepared for the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, which is two days before Election Day." ~~~

~~~ Sheila Kaplan, et al., of the New York Times: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November. The new C.D.C. guidance is the latest sign of an accelerating race for a vaccine to ease [the] pandemic.... The documents were sent out on the same day that President Trump told the nation in his speech to the Republican National Convention that a vaccine might arrive before the end of the year.... The documents were dispatched the same day that Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the C.D.C., sent a letter to governors asking them to prepare vaccine distribution sites by Nov. 1, as McClatchy reported.... The possibility of a rollout in late October or early November has heightened concerns that the Trump administration is seeking to rush the distribution of a vaccine -- or simply to hype that one is possible -- before Election Day on Nov. 3."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The CDC, which once set the world standard for public health agencies, now has been reduced to an arm of the Trump re-election campaign. It might be Exhibit 1 in the argument that Trump has ruined the federal government.

Noah Weiland, et al., of the New York Times: "Dr. Scott W. Atlas has argued that the science of mask wearing is uncertain, that children cannot pass on the coronavirus and that the role of the government is not to stamp out the virus but to protect its most vulnerable citizens as Covid-19 takes its course. Ideas like these, both ideologically freighted and scientifically disputed, have propelled the radiologist and senior fellow at Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution into President Trump's White House, where he is pushing to reshape the administration's response to the pandemic. Mr. Trump has embraced Dr. Atlas, as has Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, even as he upsets the balance of power within the White House coronavirus task force with ideas that top government doctors and scientists like Anthony S. Fauci, Deborah L. Birx and Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, find misguided -- even dangerous -- according to people familiar with the task force's deliberations. That might be the point. 'I think Trump clearly does not like the advice he was receiving from the people who are the experts -- Fauci, Birx, etc. -- so he has slowly shifted from their advice to somebody who tells him what he wants to hear,' said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University...." (This is the article behind an NYT live update item linked yesterday.)

The Second-Most Incompetent, Obnoxious White House Prick. David Lynch, et al., of the Washington Post: "Amid the Trump administration's troubled response to the coronavirus pandemic, senior White House aide Peter Navarro has refashioned himself as a powerful government purchasing chief, operating far beyond his original role as an adviser on trade policy.... Navarro's harsh manner and disregard for protocol have alienated numerous colleagues, corporate executives and prominent Republicans. In a previously undisclosed incident, the White House Counsel's Office in 2018 investigated Navarro's behavior in response to repeated complaints and found he routinely had been verbally abusive toward others. Navarro narrowly avoided losing his job, but the abuse has continued.... On Monday, the administration terminated one contract that Navarro had directly negotiated -- for 42,900 Philips ventilators. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the cancellation was 'subject to internal HHS investigation and legal review.' The contract had been criticized by a House oversight subcommittee, which concluded that the government had overpaid for the ventilators by $500 million. The cancellation came after another transaction Navarro championed, a government loan to fund Eastman Kodak's transformation into a drugmaker, unraveled and became embroiled in a securities investigation. The watchdog panel says it is broadening its inquiry to examine all of Navarro's deals."

Scandal of the Year. Lock Her Up. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "For almost six months, hairdressers in San Francisco have been prohibited from cutting and styling their clients' hair inside a salon. But on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), one of the most outspoken Democratic lawmakers on following coronavirus restrictions, became an exception to the rule in her home district. Surveillance footage aired on Fox News on Tuesday showed Pelosi walking through a salon with a mask around her neck as a stylist wearing a mask followed behind. Republican critics pounced on Pelosi, accusing her of hypocrisy.... A spokesman for Pelosi insisted she was following the rules outlined by the salon before her visit. 'The speaker always wears a mask and complies with local covid requirements,' spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement to The Washington Post, adding Pelosi briefly took down her mask while getting her hair washed. 'This business offered for the speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business. The speaker complied with the rules as presented by this establishment.'... [But] San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) announced last week that salons could reopen for outdoor service only starting Tuesday." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: While I suppose Pelosi didn't anticipate a videographer would stalk her, this was still a stupid move. Pelosi is extremely wealthy and could easily have afforded to have a Covid-tested stylist come to her home. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded on Wednesday to criticism of her trip to a San Francisco hair salon -- which was not cleared to reopen for indoor service and where she appeared momentarily maskless. Her defense: 'It was a setup.' The California Democrat insisted that she had followed the salon's rules as they were presented to her.... Pelosi said she was told that the city would allow one customer in the shop at a time, and she complied with those guidelines. However, San Francisco ... allowed salons to open for outdoor service only starting Tuesday, the day after her visit. 'As it turns out, it was a setup,' Pelosi said of the appointment at a Wednesday news conference.... 'So I take responsibility for falling for a setup....' Fox News aired surveillance footage from eSalon showing Pelosi walking through the business.... Erica Kious, eSalon's owner, told Fox that she rents space to independent stylists and was incensed that Pelosi came in when the rest of Kious's business had to remain closed.... But Pelosi, responding to reporters' repeated questions about the visit, said there is 'more to this that I'm not going into as to the motivations of the salon.'... 'I think that this salon owes me an apology,' Pelosi said." From the WashPo's coronavirus updates for Wednesday, linked above. Here's a San Francisco Chronicle story. The Hill has a story here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: For all it's worth, I amend my comment above. I believe Pelosi. The fact that video of Pelosi immediately showed up on Fox "News," accompanied by Kiois' on-air criticism of her, makes the incident look suspiciously like a set-up, as Pelosi charges.

More cops have died from covid this year than have been killed on patrol. -- Joe Biden, in remarks Tuesday ~~~

~~~ The "Law & Order" President* Is Killing Police Officers. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "As of Sept. 2, on-the-job coronavirus infections were responsible for a least 100 officer deaths, more than gun violence, car accidents and all other causes combined, according to the Officer Down group. [National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund] reported a nearly identical number of covid-related law enforcement deaths.... It also noted that fatalities due to non-covid causes are actually down year-over-year, undermining President Trump's claims that 'law enforcement has become the target of a dangerous assault by the radical left.'"

Brittany Shamas & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "A Minnesota biker who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has died of covid-19 -- the first fatality from the virus traced to the 10-day event that drew more than 400,000 to South Dakota. The man was in his 60s, had underlying conditions and was hospitalized in intensive care after returning from the rally, said Kris Ehresmann, infectious-disease director at the Minnesota Department of Health. The case is among at least 260 cases in 11 states tied directly to the event, according to a survey of health departments by The Washington Post. Epidemiologists believe that figure is a significant undercount, due to the resistance of some rallygoers to testing and the limited contact tracing in some states. As a result, the true scope of infections stemming from the event that ran from Aug. 7 to Aug. 16 is unlikely to ever be known." Free to non-subscribers.

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "A viral photo of two California girls forced to use Taco Bell WiFi to do their homework spotlighted the disadvantages faced by low-income families as many school districts move online. California Senate President Kevin de León tweeted a photo of the two last week, noting that 40 percent of Latinos lack reliable Internet access. 'This is California, home to Silicon Valley ... but where the digital divide is as deep as ever,' León tweeted." Mrs. McC: My monthly Comcast bill, which includes Internet access, land-line phone service, & two TV modems (and a modest TV premium package) is about $235. Obviously, low-income families can't afford anywhere near this. Comcast advertises that it will provide some low-income families with Internet service, which they claim is only $10/month. I hope that's true, but I'm betting there are other charges attached to actually getting it installed & keeping it running. If you know more about it, let us know, too.

Black Lives Matter ~~~

But Not to King Donald. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday called for federal government agencies to begin reviewing potential funding cuts to cities having what the president deemed 'lawless' protests. Trump signed a five-page memo ordering federal agency heads to submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget detailing all federal funds provided to Seattle, Portland, New York City and Washington, D.C. within 14 days. 'My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,' Trump stated according to a copy of the memo shared by the White House.... Attorney General William Barr is also directed to publish on the Department of Justice website a list identifying 'anarchist jurisdictions,' defined as state and local jurisdictions 'that have permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities,' according to the memo.... [Trump] specifically calls out his frequent Democratic targets, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, by name in the memo. Trump calls for review to cut funding to cities with 'lawless' protests[.] Cuomo appeared to respond to Trump's memo by calling it 'an illegal stunt'" and criticizing the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.... Russell Vought said the review will help ensure federal resources 'flowing to lawless cities aren't being squandered.'" ~~~

~~~ AND Definitely Not to This GOP Congressman. Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he'd be more than willing to shoot any armed demonstrators in Louisiana in a Facebook post Tuesday that was accompanied by a picture of Black men with guns. 'One way ticket fellas,' he wrote on his campaign account. 'Have your affairs in order. Me?... I wouldn't even spill my beer. I'd drop any 10 of you where you stand.'... Higgins [is] a former police officer.... Facebook confirmed to The Acadiana Advocate that it took Higgins' post down for violating the company's 'violence and incitement' policies.... Higgins' initial post came in advance of a Black Lives Matter protest scheduled for Tuesday night. The event was peaceful, according to the Advocate, and was basically a barbecue. A small group with guns known as the Louisiana Cajun Militia did show up. They appeared to be all, or mostly, white.... It doesn't seem like a coincidence that Higgins chose a picture of armed Black vigilantes. It was taken from coverage of a Black militia that showed up in Louisville, Kentucky, to protest the police killing of ... Breonna Taylor. If Higgins was truly concerned about vigilantes of all colors at protests, as he said, it would have been far easier to find a picture of white militia members." ~~~

~~~ ** NOR to These Rochester, N.Y. Cops. Michael Hill of the AP: "A Black man who had run naked through the streets of a western New York city died of asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head, then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records released Wednesday by the man's family. Daniel Prude died March 30 after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester. His death received no public attention until Wednesday, when his family held a news conference and released police body camera video and written reports they obtained through a public records request. 'I placed a phone call for my brother to get help. Not for my brother to get lynched,' Prude's brother, Joe Prude, said at a news conference. 'How did you see him and not directly say, "The man is defenseless, buck naked on the ground. He's cuffed up already. Come on." How many more brothers gotta die for society to understand that this needs to stop?'... A medical examiner concluded that Prude's death was a homicide caused by 'complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.' The report lists excited delirium and acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or PCP, as contributing factors." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday rejected the notion that systemic racism exists in the criminal justice system, but acknowledged that 'there are some situations where statistics would suggest' people of color are treated differently than white people. 'I think there are stereotypes. I think people operate very frequently according to stereotypes, and I think it takes extra precaution on the part of law enforcement to make sure we don't reduce people to stereotypes, we treat them as individuals,' Barr told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. In the at times contentious interview, the attorney general defended law enforcement officers against accusations of excessive force, arguing that rather than being motivated by race, an officer may be 'scared for his life and is in a situation where a half a second can mean the difference between his life and his death, and he's wrestling with somebody.... They sometimes may do things that appear in hindsight to be excessive,' Barr asserted, but he cautioned that 'it doesn't necessarily mean that it's racism.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If, the Fates forbid, police found Billy Barr running around in the buff, do you think they would put a spit hood over his head & ram his face into the pavement till he stopped breathing? I doubt it. (Sorry for imposing this image on you, but, you know, sometimes hypothetical comparisons are awfully helpful!)

Republicans' Fake "Democrat Cities" Argument. Emily Badger of the New York Times: "Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland, Ore., and Kenosha, Wis., are first and foremost 'Democrat cities' in President Trump's telling.... Mr. Trump has sharpened his party's long-running antipathy toward urban America into a more specific argument for the final two months of the campaign: Cities have problems, and Democrats run them. Therefore, you don't want Democrats running the country, either. But that logic misconstrues the nature of challenges that cities face, and the power of mayors of any party to solve them, political scientists say. And it twists a key fact of political history: If cities have become synonymous with Democratic politics today, that is true in part because Republicans have largely given up on them.... Mr. Trump and his surrogates have pushed that history to its seeming conclusion: Rural and suburban problems in America today are national problems -- but urban problems are Democratic problems.... [Yet] politicians, of either party, do not blame Republican county executives for rural opioid problems.... The president ... has never mentioned ... Republican-led Tulsa, Okla., San Bernardino, Calif..., Miami, Jacksonville, Fla., or Fort Worth -- in his vows to deploy federal forces to help control urban crime. Numerous studies suggest that the partisanship of mayors has limited effect on much of anything: not just crime, but also tax policy, social policy and economic outcomes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Luke Broadwater & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The United States Postal Service has paid about $286 million over the past seven years to XPO Logistics, the former employer of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. He still holds at least a $30 million stake in the company, which has ramped up its business with the Postal Service since he took the helm at the agency. The figures, obtained by The New York Times from a public records request, shed new light on the extent to which the company where Mr. DeJoy was a top executive -- and in which he still has a substantial amount of money invested -- is intertwined with the agency he now runs, fueling questions about a potential conflict of interest.... The documents also show a surge in revenue for XPO from the Postal Service since Mr. DeJoy took over on June 15.... The findings emerged on the same day that the House Oversight Committee issued a promised subpoena for documents that the panel has said Mr. DeJoy is withholding from Congress, including information about his personal financial affairs." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here we go again: "... fueling questions about a potential conflict of interest." "Fueling questions"? "Potential conflict of interest"? This is the definition of "conflict of interest." It's a glaring conflict, a conflict so glaring as to disqualify DeJoy from holding the postmaster general job. More-or-less equivalent to contracting out the federal government's social media policy to Mark Zuckerberg. Be best, NYT. Tell it like it is.

AND Farcical Mystery Solved! Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump's latest outlandish conspiracy about a 'person' he refuses to name having 'firsthand' witnessed a commercial flight full of 'thugs' and 'looters' clad in 'black uniforms with gear' may seem ripped directly from an unhinged relative's Facebook page. But before this bizarre theory was being pushed by the president, another GOP lawmaker was spouting a nearly identical story. Speaking to pro-Trump outlet Breitbart News over the weekend, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) ... relay[ed] a story that matches closely the tale the president spun to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday. 'So, these people that descended on Washington, D.C., most of them were not local,' Nunes declared. 'In fact, I flew in with a bunch of them where I got on a plane in Salt Lake City where I had to commute through and I saw maybe two dozen BLM people.... The irony is they were all white people, they weren't even Black, but somebody was paying for those people to go there -- they were coordinated, paying for that, and then what they did was they were not protesting....'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Because people who "aren't even Black!" don't care that cops are killing Black people.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Philip Otterman of the Guardian: "The German government has said toxicological exams at Berlin's Charité hospital have yielded 'unequivocal proof' that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. Navalny, a strong critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on 20 August and was transferred to Berlin two days later. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said in a personal statement on Wednesday afternoon that testing by a special military laboratory had shown proof of a chemical nerve agent from the novichok group. 'It is now clear: Alexei Navalny is the victim of a crime,' Merkel said. 'He was meant to be silenced. This raises very difficult questions that only the Russian government can answer, and has to answer.' Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent, was used to poison the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

According to Devin Nunes, who A. Clearly has no fucking clue what’s going on outside the GOP/Trump crazy bubble, B. Is confused about the rationale behind Black Loves Matter, C. ...and doesn’t care, D. Is just another winger bigot, albeit stupider than most, which in itself is pretty fucking scary, or E. All of the above, BLM supporters who “aren’t even black” must be proof of some underhanded shenanigans, cuz why would white people care about black lives?

I’m going with E. All of the above.

The stoopid is strong with this one. Also the racism.

[NiskyGuy]

From the halfpence word string at the RNC: “ The American people know we do not have to choose between supporting law enforcement and standing with our African-American neighbors to improve the quality of their lives, education, jobs and safety.”

African-American neighbors are not American people, according to halfpence. It can’t get more clear than that.

“Their lives”, says the great white savior.

[NiskyGuy]

Ok, “their” might reference American people, but the neighbors still seem mighty “other” to me in that passage.

[Marie Burns]

@NiskyGuy: You're right. It's not clear who "their" are. But it is clear, as you write, that "the American people" are white people. pence reinforces this with another pronoun: "our African-American neighbors." For pence, this is progress; instead of us v. them, he says it's us and them.

But pence may not have run his speech past Donald. Suggesting that African-Americans could be "our ... neighbors" cuts into Trump's effort to scare the white suburban housewives into fearing that poor, slovenly Black criminals will move next door. I suppose pence meant "neighbors" in the Christian Biblical sense, where Jesus teaches that even strangers can be neighbors.

[PD Pepe]

LARA & LAURA LOOMS LARGE

The display yesterday of the first L. with the second L. who is a self described Islamophobe among other tastier nuggets brings one up short, then one tries to digest it, and finally realizes it's all part of the picture––all part of the plan. There is no more "all Americans" in this scenario, it's a fiefdom of like-minded that the king has deemed his own. He will do anything now to make sure he isn't thrown off his throne–––and all his friends in high places–-looking at you Billy Barr––will help that along even if it means fucking up the mail, the information re: the virus, curtailing federal money to the states that are governed by Democrats, –––the list goes on.

This buffoon replaces objective truth with subjective truth but insists that his lemmings recognize it nonetheless as objectively infallible. I hope he explodes and his bully bits and pieces fly into space and form a huge wall that all the stars hit with darts night after night: Twinkle. Twinkle!

"When a Stalin or a Hitler can predict the future because he has the power to make his predictions come true, the life of the average person becomes unpredictable. It is with prediction as it is with with wealth: there is so much of it in a society, and when one person has most of it there is little left for others." Eric Hoffer

[Jeanne]

I am in the Chicago area expanding my bubble and this entire column describes the dire situation in which we find ourselves in September 2020. My daughter just said that I should put this phone away if I want to enjoy my Thursday. (My family is on the same page—) I am just aghast at everything. Civilized people don’t act like this and don’t support those who do. These trumpie monsters are detestable and so destructive. I am not interested in working with them in any way. Or encouraging bipartisanship. We just have to ruin them. We have to.

[Anonymous]

The Pelosi stylist has hired a law firm. Christine Pelosi released the letter from the firm on twitter. Stylist had permission from owner, supposedly has proof. It won't matter. Pelosi did have other options. It seems really petty and grasping at thin threads in the face of 180K+ deaths from COVID and the mega ton of ludicrous babbling from Trump, Opus Dei Barr and associates. But then if you're a Democrat, especially a powerful woman, its like the old saying; "It’s one thing to dance like Fred Astaire, but Ginger Rogers did it backwards in high heels."

https://bit.ly/32STguq

[Schlub]

Weekly first-time unemployment claims fell to 881,000 last week.

Here's why I'm afraid Trump is going to win: The media are trumpeting this statistic as good news because weekly claims have fallen below one million. Republicans have seized upon the "good" news as evidence that the economy is improving and we therefore don't need to extend unemployment benefits or provide any more stimulus money to shore up consumer spending.

But let's put this in perspective: 861,000 first-time claims in one week are more than any single week in US history prior to this pandemic. In fact, it's nearly 24% more than the pre-pandemic record of 695,000 set in 1982. We have blown past the weekly record for first-time unemployment claims every week for over four months.

This was incredibly bad news. The fact that it was less bad than last week's bad news does not make it good. Nobody ever thinks to report that the number of first time claims is going down simply because we're running out of people to lay off. The media, however, are smearing lipstick all over this pig. They further dress the hog every month when they report that the economy "created" jobs when people are simply going back to work they had before the pandemic or, worse, end up taking a job at the McDonald's drive-through because their hotel and restaurant jobs have disappeared. More likely still, people have simply stopped looking for work and are no longer counted among the unemployed.**

Times are truly awful economically, especially in my hospitality industry. We need to lock down, test, and trace for another six or eight weeks. We need to support everyone's income while we do it. Then, and only then, can we expect to see economic news that is actually good and not cosmetically so.

** Thanks to Reagan, we no longer count those who are not actively seeking employment among the unemployed. Since there are 40 or 50 applicants for every job, many people have simply given up looking. And voila! They're no longer unemployed!

[Ken Winkes]

Kinda like no tests, no Covid, isn't it, Schlub?

[Marie Burns]

@Schlub & @Ken Winkes: It would be helpful to know how many able-bodied, willing workers are out of work. I haven't seen a recent figure; I found some from June & July who put the number at 50 million to 51 million. But that number included only those who had filed for unemployment insurance. It would not seem to include, for instance, people who are not looking for work because of some corona-related reason: their early-childcare centers are closed, the schools are closed, their elderly parents can't get home healthcare. Plus, it would not include those who are actually sick with Covid-19 & can't get to the unemployment office (or work).