The Commentariat -- Sept. 19, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** The Good. Nina Totenberg of NPR writes of her decades-long friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Bad & the Ugly. Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump pressed Senate Republicans on Saturday to confirm his choice to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 'without delay,' setting up a momentous battle sure to inflame the campaign even as party leaders weighed whether they could force a confirmation vote before the election on Nov. 3. Mr. Trump appears likely to nominate a successor to Justice Ginsburg this coming week after her death on Friday, a selection that if confirmed would shift the Supreme Court to the right for years. But with some Republican senators balking, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader from Kentucky, was canvassing to figure out whether he had enough votes to rush a confirmation in the next six weeks. We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices,' Mr. Trump wrote Saturday morning on Twitter. 'We have this obligation, without delay!'" ~~~

~~~ The Most Dishonest Senator. Matthew Schwartz of NPR: Lindsey "Graham [R-S.C.], who as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee would oversee confirmation hearings, said Saturday that he would support President Trump 'in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by the passing of Justice Ginsburg.' But this is a reversal from his earlier position; Graham has said multiple times that if a vacancy opened up in the run-up to a presidential election, he would hold off on confirmation. 'I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, "Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination,"' he said in 2016 shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. 'And you could use my words against me and you'd be absolutely right.' Graham repeated the sentiment in October 2018 in an interview with The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. 'If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait till the next election.'" Graham has recently put forward phony rationales for going back on his word.

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key centrist vote in the Senate, said Saturday that the Senate should not vote to confirm late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's successor before the election and the nominee should be chosen by whoever wins on Nov. 3. 'Given the proximity of the presidential election ... I do not believe that the Senate should vote on the nominee prior to the election,' Collins said in a statement. 'In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the president or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the president who is elected on Nov. 3.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Pardon my cynicism, but this probably means that Mitch has secured assurances from 50 or more senators that they will vote to proceed with confirmation. Collins is behind her Democratic opponent Sara Gideon in recent polls, so Mitch can afford for her to take a fake "principled stand."

Steve M. "I think voters who aren't politically engaged will learn about this, see Trump and McConnell defying her last wishes, and be repulsed by their defiance of her final request. This has been an election about decency vs. cruelty. This will be another reminder of Trump and McConnell's cold-blooded, unfeeling nature. It's not a good look a few weeks before an election." Mrs. McC: I sure hope Steve, who is a cynic nes plus ultra, is right about this.

Katelyn Burns of Vox: "According to the Democratic donor site ActBlue, $6.2 million flowed through the site in the 9 pm hour Friday, immediately following news of Ginsburg's death. It was more money raised in a single hour on the site since its launch 16 years ago -- and it was immediately eclipsed by the 10 pm hour, which saw $6.3 million raised." ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Just hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death was announced on Friday, the leaders of three of the left's most potent advocacy groups, Demand Justice, Naral Pro-Choice America and Indivisible, were on a call with 1,000 progressive activists and strategists to begin to unfurl a plan they hoped they would not have to use. Demand Justice, a relatively new group led by the longtime Democratic aide Brian Fallon to match the powerful conservative legal apparatus, quickly pledged to spend $10 million 'to fight to ensure no justice is confirmed before the January inauguration.' At the same time, a coalition of President Trump's conservative allies said Saturday that it was preparing for an intense confrontation over Justice Ginsburg's seat, and was gearing up for a lobbying and public relations blitz. The message: Move quickly to replace her."

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. Several news outlets, including NBC News (but not the Times or WashPo) are reporting that more than 200,000 Americans have died from Covid-19.

Evan Perez of CNN: "A package containing the poison ricin and addressed to ... Donald Trump was intercepted by law enforcement earlier this week, according to two law enforcement officials. Two tests were done to confirm the presence of ricin. All mail for the White House is sorted and screened at an offsite facility before reaching the White House. A US law enforcement official told CNN that investigators are looking into the possibility the ricin package sent to Trump came from Canada. The FBI and Secret Service are investigating the matter.

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John Kruzel of the Hill: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal leader of the Supreme Court and a trailblazing champion of women's rights, died on Friday. She was 87 years old." ~~~

~~~ ** Linda Greenhouse writes the New York Times obituary for Justice Ginsburg. ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes & Michael Fletcher write the Washington Post's obituary of Justice Ginsburg. "The death was announced in a statement by the U.S. Supreme Court. She had recently been treated for pancreatic cancer. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn, Justice Ginsburg excelled academically and went to the top of her law school class at a time when women were still called upon to justify taking a man's place. She earned a reputation as the legal embodiment of the women's liberation movement and as a widely admired role model for generations of female lawyers. Working in the 1970s with the American Civil Liberties Union, Justice Ginsburg successfully argued a series of cases before the high court that strategically chipped away at the legal wall of gender discrimination, eventually causing it to topple." ~~~

~~~ Joan Biskupic & Ariane de Vogue write Justice Ginsburg's obituary for CNN. ~~~

~~~ Nina Totenberg, a friend of Justice Ginsburg's, writes the Justice's obituary for NPR. "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.'" ~~~

President Barack Obama's statement on Justice Ginsberg's passing.

Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "'The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,' [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer tweeted, quoting [Majority Leader] McConnell, who made the same statement during Barack Obama's presidency after Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 [Mrs. McC: about 10 months before the election & nearly a year before the next president* was sworn in]."

John Santucci & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is expected to put forth a nominee to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the Supreme Court in the coming days, multiple sources close to the president and with direct knowledge of the situation told ABC News." ~~~

     ~~~ Anita Kumar, et al., of Politico: "Trump is expected to make a formal nomination as soon as the middle of next week, according to two people familiar with the plans."

~~~ Remember Merrick Garland. Ted Barrett of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying President Trump's nominee to fill her seat 'will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.'" Mrs. McC: McConnell put out this statement while Justice Ginsberg's body was still warm. Actually. ~~~

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "President Trump, who counts his two Supreme Court appointments as among his greatest successes, last week issued a new list of 20 potential nominees to the court. There was no vacancy at the time, and the exercise seemed aimed at focusing attention on an issue that had helped secure his election in 2016." Mrs. McC: Nina Totenberg appeared on MSNBC last night, and she said she had learned a few weeks ago that Ginsberg was dying. Therefore, I would be willing to bet that Donald Trump knew, too, and that is why he flaunted his list of horribles for her "replacement." Perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt it. Cruel, ghoulish bastard.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: A small crowd gathered outside the Supreme Court last night to mourn Ruth Bader Ginsburg. CNN reported that a few hecklers showed up. I saw a clip of a man pushing a woman in the group, which is more than "heckling." ~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: The documentary film "RBG" is available on Hulu & you can rent it on YouTube.

Presidential Race, Etc.

Trump's Racist Rally & Superspreader Spectacle. Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump said his Democratic rival Joe Biden would 'turn Minnesota into a refugee camp' and bragged about deporting Somali nationals, sharpening his play for the battleground state during a Friday rally."

Sydney Ember & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Early voting began in four states on Friday, 46 days before Election Day on Nov. 3. Among the states where voters can now vote in person is Minnesota, where both President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be making campaign stops on Friday. Voters also began casting ballots in South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. Elected Democrats, aiming to encourage their supporters to vote early, are eschewing the traditional Election Day photo-op for appearances at early voting sites. In Virginia, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner voted in Richmond and Alexandria, while Gov. Ralph Northam cast his ballot in Richmond, where he was the fifth person in line at 8 a.m.... In 2012, Barack Obama became the first president to vote early, casting a ballot for himself at an early-voting site near his home on the South Side of Chicago." This is an item in the Times' election updates. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. David Eggert & Ed White of the AP: "A federal judge has blocked Michigan's longstanding ban on transporting voters to the polls, ruling it conflicts with U.S. election law. District Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis in Detroit issued an injunction Thursday against enforcing the restriction in November's presidential election. A form of the prohibition has been on the books since 1895." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Eggert & White: "A judge on Friday cleared the way for more absentee ballots to be counted in Michigan, saying envelopes postmarked by the eve of the Nov. 3 election are eligible, even if they show up days later. The decision is significant in a state that is anticipating waves of absentee ballots this fall; about 2.3 million have already been requested. For absentee ballots to be counted, Michigan law requires them to be received by the time polls close on Election Day. But Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said there's a crucial need for flexibility in November, especially after more than 6,400 ballots were disqualified in the state's August primary election.... An absentee ballot can be counted if postmarked by Nov. 2 and received within 14 days after the election, said Stephens, who noted that it can take two weeks to certify Michigan election results anyway."

Arizona Senate Race. Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: "If Mark Kelly [D] defeats incumbent Sen. Martha McSally [R] in Arizona's high-stakes [special] U.S. Senate race..., two Republican and Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed." McSally is an appointee. The November race is to take over McCain's Senate seat, not fill McSally's. Mrs. McC: How surprised would we be if Mitch McConnell refused to seat Kelly in December? For a normal leader, the fact that Kelly is an astronaut-hero married to former Congresswoman hero Gabby Giffords would make stiffing Kelly far more difficult. But Mitch is Mitch.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Lim of Politico: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that close contacts of people with Covid-19 should be tested, regardless of whether they have symptoms -- reversing controversial recommendations it made last month, reportedly over the advice of agency scientists. CDC's testing guidelines now bluntly counsel people who have been within six feet of a person 'with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection' for at least 15 minutes to get screened. 'You need a test,' reads the latest version of the document, released Friday.... In addition to recommending testing for close contacts of sick people, the CDC now says that contacts should self-quarantine at home for 14 days, even if they test negative -- and stay away from other household members in a separate bedroom if possible."

White House Put Kibosh on Mass Mask Distribution. Benjamin Siegel & Lucien Bruggeman of ABC News: "The United States Postal Service drafted plans to distribute 650 million reusable cotton face masks to Americans last spring -- five to every household -- as the country grappled with the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, according to USPS internal documents obtained by a watchdog group.... 'There was concern from some in the White House Domestic Policy Council and the office of the vice president that households receiving masks might create concern or panic,' one administration official told The Washington Post about the proposal. Instead, the initiative, announced by the Trump administration under the 'Project: America Strong,' was a more targeted program to send face masks to critical infrastructure sectors, companies and health care, community and religious organizations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "... emails obtained by The New York Times ... illustrate how [Michael] Caputo and Dr. [Paul] Alexander [of Health & Human Services] tried to browbeat career officials at the C.D.C. at the height of the pandemic, challenging the science behind their public statements and trying to silence agency staff. On Friday, two days after Mr. Caputo went on medical leave and Dr. Alexander was dismissed from the Department of Health and Human Services, the C.D.C. reversed a heavily criticized recommendation suggesting that people who have had close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus do not need to get tested if they have no symptoms. The emails shed light on the monthslong fight that led to their departures.... Current and former C.D.C. officials called it a five-month campaign of bullying and intimidation."

How Jared Kushner Knowingly & Viciously Sickened & Killed Americans. Katherine Eban of Vanity Fair: On March 20, some of the U.S.'s top business leaders asked for a White House meeting to offer their help to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which had already hit New York hard. They "came armed with specific commitments of support, a memo on the merits of the Defense Production Act, a document outlining impediments to the private-sector response, and two key questions: How could they best help? And how could they best support the government's strategy?... [Jared] Kushner, seated at the head of the conference table, in a chair taller than all the others, was quick to strike a confrontational tone. 'The federal government is not going to lead this response,' he announced. 'It's up to the states to figure out what they want to do.'... 'Free markets will solve this,' Kushner said dismissively. 'That is not the role of government.'... [An] attendee [said] ... he feared that the system was breaking. As evidence, he pointed to a CNN report about New York governor Andrew Cuomo and his desperate call for supplies. That's the CNN bullshit,' Kushner snapped. 'They lie.' According to another attendee, Kushner then began to rail against the governor: 'Cuomo didn't pound the phones hard enough to get PPE for his state.... His people are going to suffer and that's their problem.'... Kushner was accompanied by Navy Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, who had just been posted to FEMA to lead supply-chain efforts. He heaped flattery on Kushner, calling his ideas 'brilliant,' and expressed skepticism concerning the motives of those in the room and on the phone."

Other Craziness, Corruption, Laziness & Lies

Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "After months of heated accusations and painstaking negotiations, the White House and the pharmaceutical industry neared agreement late last month on a plan to make good on President Trump's longstanding promise to lower drug prices. The drug companies would spend $150 billion to address out-of-pocket consumer costs and would even pick up the bulk of the co-payments that older Americans shoulder in Medicare's prescription drug program. Then the agreement collapsed. The breaking point, according to four people familiar with the discussions: Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump's chief of staff, insisted the drug makers pay for $100 cash cards that would be mailed to seniors before November -- 'Trump Cards,' some in the industry called them. Some of the drugmakers bridled at being party to what they feared would be seen as an 11th-hour political boost for Mr. Trump, the people familiar with the matter said."

Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "Lawyers representing the United States at Julian Assange's extradition trial in Britain have accepted the claim that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a presidential pardon by a Congressman on the condition that he would help cover up Russia's involvement in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee.Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer, told the court that she had attended a meeting between Assange, then Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and pro-Trump troll Charles Johnson at Assange's hide-out, the Ecuadorian embassy in London, on August 15, 2017. Robinson said the two Americans claimed to be emissaries from Washington and 'wanted us to believe they were acting on behalf of the president.' The pair allegedly told Assange that they could help grant him a pardon in exchange for him revealing information about the source of the WikiLeaks information that proved it was not the Russians who hacked Democratic emails." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Alexander of Vanity Fair: Donald Trump has a 30% interest in a building in the San Francisco financial district that "is worth an estimated $442 million after debt -- making it the most valuable holding in his entire portfolio. It's worth more than twice as much as [his remaining interest in] Trump Tower, more than seven times as much as Trump's property in Vegas, 16 times as much as his Doral golf resort in Miami.... [On the] 43rd [floor is] a ... sign that read[s], 'Qatar Investment Authority Advisory (USA) Inc.' and, in smaller type, 'A subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority.' Nothing inside the place looked as if it had been touched.... [T]he office is just 5,557 square feet. If the Qataris are paying the average rate in the building, that would amount to $450,000 a year, and Trump's 30% would total $135,000.... Strip away the layers and it boils down to just the sort of arrangement the founding fathers feared. A foreign government, it seems, has been paying the president of the United States for more than a year. With so many other scandals brewing, this one has managed to go entirely undetected -- until now." --s ...

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I hope someone sometime figures out who got paid what to effect the supposed Trumpish Qatar-Israeli peace deal.

Aubrey Beldford & Adam Klasfeld of the OCCRP: "It was the day before Donald Trump's inauguration and, over lunch at Washington's Watergate Hotel, a foreign government was trying to break into the new U.S. administration.... The meeting on January 19, 2017, which has never before been disclosed, was key to building a close relationship between the administrations of Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It has perhaps been the most successful foreign lobbying effort of the Trump presidency -- no mean feat for an administration mired from the beginning in foreign influence scandals.... The warm relationship that followed would see Trump administration officials, and the president himself, make decisions that baffled advisers who believed they put Erdoğan's interests over America's. In a recent memoir, Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, described a 'bromance' between the two leaders. But behind that bromance is a deeper story -- one that involves Russia-linked oligarchs, alleged crooks, and key players in Trump's Ukraine impeachment scandal, an investigation by OCCRP, Courthouse News Service and NBC News has found." --s

Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "A pattern of campaign contributions by employees and relatives of Loui DeJoy before he became postmaster general indicates a possible effort to reimburse his associates for donations as recently as 2018, according to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed Thursday by a government watchdog group. The filing by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center is the third complaint seeking a state or federal investigation since The Washington Post this month reported allegations that DeJoy and his aides urged employees at New Breed Logistics, his former North Carolina-based company, to write checks and attend fundraisers on behalf of Republican candidates. DeJoy then defrayed the cost of those political contributions from 2003 to 2014 by boosting employee bonuses, two employees told The Post.... 'There is reason to believe that Louis DeJoy violated [the Federal Election Campaign Act] by reimbursing his employees for federal political contributions, using his own funds and/or corporate funds from the company he led, XPO Logistics, and its predecessor, New Breed Logistics,' the complaint states." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said Friday it would bar the Chinese-owned mobile apps WeChat and TikTok from U.S. app stores as of Sunday, striking a harsh blow against two popular services used by more than 100 million people in the United States.... TikTok is currently in talks to be acquired by the American software maker Oracle, and could announce a deal that assuages the administration's national security concerns. In its announcement, the Commerce Department said that the president had given until Nov. 12 for TikTok's national security concerns to be resolved, and if they were, the prohibitions in the order could be lifted.... [TikTok] has also been utilized as a political tool -- hundreds of teenage TikTok users claimed credit for low turnout at a rally for Mr. Trump in Tulsa, Okla., earlier this year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Tom Batchelor of Newsweek: "Hundreds of pro-gun activists have demonstrated at Michigan's State Capitol in support of the right to open-carry firearms inside the government building. Heavily-armed protestors, some waving Confederate flags and Trump campaign banners, stood on the lawn outside the capitol building in Lansing brandishing AR-15 firearms and wearing body armour. Among those in attendance were members of the Proud Boys -- a far-right, all-male organization with a history of violence against political opponents -- and the Michigan Liberty Militia, a paramilitary group. After two hours of speeches a group gathered on the steps of the Hall of Justice chanting 'U-S-A' and 'four more years' for Donald Trump."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 18, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here.

Sydney Ember & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Early voting began in four states on Friday, 46 days before Election Day on Nov. 3. Among the states where voters can now vote in person is Minnesota, where both President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be making campaign stops on Friday. Voters also began casting ballots in South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. Elected Democrats, aiming to encourage their supporters to vote early, are eschewing the traditional Election Day photo-op for appearances at early voting sites. In Virginia, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner voted in Richmond and Alexandria, while Gov. Ralph Northam cast his ballot in Richmond, where he was the fifth person in line at 8 a.m.... In 2012, Barack Obama became the first president to vote early, casting a ballot for himself at an early-voting site near his home on the South Side of Chicago." This is an item in the Times' election updates.

Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said Friday it would bar the Chinese-owned mobile apps WeChat and TikTok from U.S. app stores as of Sunday, striking a harsh blow against two popular services used by more than 100 million people in the United States.... TikTok is currently in talks to be acquired by the American software maker Oracle, and could announce a deal that assuages the administration's national security concerns. In its announcement, the Commerce Department said that the president had given until Nov. 12 for TikTok's national security concerns to be resolved, and if they were, the prohibitions in the order could be lifted.... [TikTok] has also been utilized as a political tool -- hundreds of teenage TikTok users claimed credit for low turnout at a rally for Mr. Trump in Tulsa, Okla., earlier this year."

White House Put Kibosh on Mass Mask Distribution. Benjamin Siegel & Lucien Bruggeman of ABC News: "The United States Postal Service drafted plans to distribute 650 million reusable cotton face masks to Americans last spring -- five to every household -- as the country grappled with the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, according to USPS internal documents obtained by a watchdog group.... 'There was concern from some in the White House Domestic Policy Council and the office of the vice president that households receiving masks might create concern or panic,' one administration official told The Washington Post about the proposal. Instead, the initiative, announced by the Trump administration under the 'Project: America Strong,' was a more targeted program to send face masks to critical infrastructure sectors, companies and health care, community and religious organizations."

Aaron Davis of the Washington Post: "A pattern of campaign contributions by employees and relatives of Louis DeJoy before he became postmaster general indicates a possible effort to reimburse his associates for donations as recently as 2018, according to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed Thursday by a government watchdog group. The filing by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center is the third complaint seeking a state or federal investigation since The Washington Post this month reported allegations that DeJoy and his aides urged employees at New Breed Logistics, his former North Carolina-based company, to write checks and attend fundraisers on behalf of Republican candidates. DeJoy then defrayed the cost of those political contributions from 2003 to 2014 by boosting employee bonuses, two employees told The Post.... 'There is reason to believe that Louis DeJoy violated [the Federal Election Campaign Act] by reimbursing his employees for federal political contributions, using his own funds and/or corporate funds from the company he led, XPO Logistics, and its predecessor, New Breed Logistics,' the complaint states."

Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "Lawyers representing the United States at Julian Assange's extradition trial in Britain have accepted the claim that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a presidential pardon by a Congressman on the condition that he would help cover up Russia's involvement in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee. Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer, told the court that she had attended a meeting between Assange, then Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and pro-Trump troll Charles Johnson at Assange's hide-out, the Ecuadorian embassy in London, on August 15, 2017. Robinson said the two Americans claimed to be emissaries from Washington and 'wanted us to believe they were acting on behalf of the president.' The pair allegedly told Assange that they could help grant him a pardon in exchange for him revealing information about the source of the WikiLeaks information that proved it was not the Russians who hacked Democratic emails."

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Presidential Race, Etc.

Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. faced his first sustained questioning from voters as the Democratic presidential nominee on Thursday, as Pennsylvanians pressed him on issues including health care, racism and policing at a CNN town-hall-style event held less than seven weeks before Election Day. At a gathering in Moosic, Pa., not far from his childhood home in Scranton, Mr. Biden -- who played up his local, middle-class roots -- sought at every opportunity to turn the focus to President Trump's stewardship of the coronavirus, casting the president as a callous leader who cannot empathize with the concerns of most Americans and who has exacerbated the hardships they face.... Mr. Biden delivered a relatively energetic performance defined by withering criticism of Mr. Trump and palpable enthusiasm for connecting with voters after many months without much significant interaction with them...." Mrs. McC: I watched a bit of the event. It was so pleasant to see a candidate who knew the issues & could distill them for voters. And who managed to show he was aware of their problems & planned to address them. The contrast with Trump was stark. ~~~

     ~~~ Joseph Ax of Reuters: "... Joe Biden on Thursday bluntly contradicted ... Donald Trump's suggestion that a coronavirus vaccine may be only weeks away, warning Americans they cannot trust the president's word. 'The idea that there's going to be a vaccine and everything's gonna be fine tomorrow - it's just not rational,' Biden said during a CNN town hall in Moosic, Pennsylvania. Trump again said on Wednesday that a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, could be ready for distribution ahead of the Nov. 3 election.... Trump has accused Biden of spreading 'anti-vaccine rhetoric,' [Mrs. McC: not true] while Biden has emphasized that he will listen to scientists, not the president, regarding a vaccine's safety. [Mrs. McC: sensible]." Mrs. McC Note to Joe Ax: When a claim is false, write that down & report it out. ~~~

     ~~~ Glenn Thrush of the New York Times with some takeaways from Biden's town hall: "Mr. Trump and his backers have spent months suggesting, without proof, that Mr. Biden is in cognitive decline.... Despite a few miscues on Thursday night, Mr. Biden was lucid, sprightly, relaxed and conversant with granular details on energy policy, international relations, the economy and agricultural policy. At one point, he had to stop himself from going on a tangent about 'fertilizer and water tables.'... Mr. Trump's town hall on ABC earlier in the week had the feel of a confrontation between a chef and a restaurant full of angry patrons who hated what they were served.... CNN scheduled Mr. Biden's event near Scranton, Pa., his hometown, and Mr. Biden took fullest home-field advantage -- defusing potentially uncomfortable moments with folksy banter. When a former local police chief started to ask him a question about his stance on law-and-order, Mr. Biden interrupted with, 'Didn't I meet you when you were chief?' 'We did, sir,' the man responded."

~~~ From Moosic to Mosinee. AP: "... Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric Thursday on cultural issues, aiming to boost enthusiasm among rural Wisconsin voters.... Trump's event took place largely outside an aircraft hangar at the Mosinee airport, his campaign's preferred format for mass rallies amid the coronavirus, though Trump has been willing to host large events indoors as well, sometimes in violation of state and federal distancing guidelines." ~~~

~~~ Earlier That Same Day. Aamer Madhani & Deb Riechmann of the AP: "... Donald Trump intensified efforts to appeal to his core base of white voters on Thursday by downplaying the historical legacy of slavery in the United States and blasting efforts to address systemic racism as divisive. The president's comments marking the 233rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution amounted to a defense of white culture and a denunciation of Democrats, the media and others who he accused of trying to indoctrinate school children and shame their parents' 'whiteness.' He also argued that America's founding 'set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.'... He said Thursday he will soon sign an order to establish a commission to promote patriotic education dubbed the 1776 Commission. The panel, he said, would be tasked with encouraging educators to teach students 'about the miracle of American history.'... The move is a response to The New York Times' '1619 Project,' which highlights the long-term consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans." Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Trump Celebrates "Constitution Day" with Racist Speech. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "In a speech rife with race-baiting and dog whistles, the President decried 'left-wing mobs' and claimed their tactics were comparable to anti-American propaganda used by foreign adversaries." ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump escalated his attacks on 'left-wing demonstrators' and 'far-left mobs' on Thursday, portraying himself as a defender of American heritage against revolutionary fanatics and arguing for a new 'pro-American' curriculum in the nation's schools. Speaking at the National Archives Museum, Mr. Trump vowed to counter what he called an emerging classroom narrative that 'America is a wicked and racist nation,' and he said he would create a new '1776 Commission' to help 'restore patriotic education to our schools.' The president reiterated his condemnations of demonstrators who tear down monuments to historical American figures, and he even sought to link ... former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., to the removal of a founding father's statue in Mr. Biden's home state, Delaware.... Hours after extolling the United States' iconic heroes, Mr. Trump missed a [dedication] ceremony ... of a new memorial to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington."

** Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic showed a 'flat-out disregard for human life' because his 'main concern was the economy and his reelection,' according to a senior adviser on the White House coronavirus task force who left the White House in August. Olivia Troye, who worked as homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser to Vice President Pence for two years, said that the administration's response cost lives and that she will vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this fall because of her experience in the Trump White House.... She was a major participant in the task force's work.... 'The president's rhetoric and his own attacks against people in his administration trying to do the work, as well as the promulgation of false narratives and incorrect information of the virus have made this ongoing response a failure,' she said in an interview.... 'I would not tell anyone I care about to take a vaccine that launches prior to the election,' she said.... Troye is the first Trump administration official who worked extensively on the coronavirus response to forcefully speak out against Trump and his handling of the pandemic." Administration officials took the opportunity to disparage Troye. CNN has a story here.~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Despite Trump's repeated assertions to the contrary, the existing public record strongly supports [Olivia] Troye's contention that the president fumbled the government's response." Bump runs down a "greatest hits" list of Trumpian failures. ~~~

~~~ Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice: "The White House is trying to dismiss her as a deep state coffee girl, but it sounds like she has the goods, including details about how Trump interfered with scientists who were trying to manage the pandemic and his inexcusable politicization of mask-wearing[.]... Here's hoping some of the courageous generals will profit from the deep state coffee girl's example, step the fuck up already and spill all the goddamned tea." ~~~

~~~ Oh, Heavens to Betsy. Daniel Lippman & Michael Stratford of Politico: "Josh Venable, the former chief of staff to Education Secretary Betsy Devos, has joined another former Trump administration official's group opposing the president. Venable is lending his name as an adviser to the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, a group [of] former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor launched on Thursday of current and former Trump administration officials and other Republican leaders who want to see ... Donald Trump defeated in November.... Olivia Troye joined the group too...."

Former DNI Dan Coats writes a both-siderism New York Times op-ed for the books: "I propose that Congress ... create a supremely high-level bipartisan and nonpartisan commission to oversee the election.... It would monitor [ballot collection & tabulation] mechanisms and confirm for the public that the laws and regulations governing them have been scrupulously and expeditiously followed -- or that violations have been exposed and dealt with -- without political prejudice and without regard to political interests of either party. Also, this commission would be responsible for monitoring those forces that seek to harm our electoral system through interference, fraud, disinformation or other distortions.... The most urgent task American leaders face is to ensure that the election's results are accepted as legitimate..., rejecting the vicious partisanship that has disabled and destabilized government for too long.... We must firmly, unambiguously reassure all Americans that their vote will be counted, that it will matter, that the people's will expressed through their votes will not be questioned and will be respected and accepted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, Dan, who do you think is sowing doubt (trump barr) about the legitimacy of the vote? And why haven't you got the guts to say so? There seems to be a Fear of Trump that transcends firing & belittling & throwing sand in a former aide's face. ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "... Donald Trump, is just as responsible for sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming elections as any Russian intelligence officer. What's especially troubling is that Coats knows this better than citizens who haven't had access to our most sensitive intelligence or the experience of working closely with Donald Trump. Yet, we don't need high-level access to classified information to notice Attorney General William Barr is doing everything he can to sow doubt about the results of the election. For months he's been warning that mail voting is susceptible to foreign manipulation, and he's been saying the same about Americans. As Dahlia Lithwick reports for Slate, Trump and Barr are doing a tag-team to convince us that 'our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent.'... It may be a nice idea for Congress to establish a commission to protect our elections, but the Republican Party is committed to the opposite which is why they'd never go along with Coats's idea." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress on Thursday that Russia is still working to influence the U.S. presidential election, and hoping to'denigrate' former vice president Joe Biden because it sees the Democratic nominee as part of an American policy establishment antagonistic to Moscow's interests. Election year politics were front and center at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on threats to the country, as lawmakers pressed Wray to weigh in on a variety of issues where politics, extremism and violence overlap.... Unlike in 2016, when the most serious interference efforts involved hacking Democrats' emails and state election systems, Wray said Russian activity so far this year seems more limited to misinformation campaigns.... Trump's acting homeland security secretary, Chad Wolf, was a no-show Thursday, having broken his agreement to appear and prompting a showdown with the committee's chairman, who issued Wolf a subpoena." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times' story is here.

Louie's Bad Day

** Gene Johnson of the AP: "A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them 'a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service' before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service.... The judge noted after a hearing that Trump had repeatedly attacked voting by mail by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud.... He also said the changes created 'a substantial possibility many voters will be disenfranchised.' Bastian, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued a written order later Thursday that closely tracked the relief sought by the states. It ordered the Postal Service to stop implementing the 'leave behind' policy, to treat all election mail as first class mail rather than as slower-moving categories, to reinstall any mail processing machines needed to ensure the prompt handling of election mail, and to inform its employees about the requirements of his injunction." A Washington Post story is here.

Tony Romm & others of the Washington Post write a long piece, based on some 10,000 emails & other documents, about how the USPS was in crisis even before Louis DeJoy took over, partly because of consequences of the coronavirus & partly because of action & inaction by the Trump administration & pro-Trump advisors. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pennsylvania & Washington State. Nick Corasanini, et al., of the New York Times: "Courts on both sides of the United States issued rulings on Thursday that could expand mail-in voting in the election in November, as the postmaster general privately apologized to state officials for missteps in his agency's efforts to educate voters on mail-in ballots. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court paved the way for more mail-in ballots to be counted by extending the due date they must be received by election officials and allowing expanded use of drop boxes. In Washington State, a federal judge blocked operational and policy changes made by the Postal Service in recent months that have slowed mail delivery and amounted to 'voter disenfranchisement.' Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who instituted those changes, conceded during a video conference with election officials on Thursday afternoon that he had failed to adequately consult with state election officials on a postcard that was sent to addresses nationwide to educate voters about mail-in ballots."

Pennsylvania. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Green Party presidential ticket from state ballots, allowing state and local election officials to resume preparations for Nov. 3 and begin mailing ballots to voters. The court ruled that presidential contender Howie Hawkins and his running mate, Angela Walker, did not qualify for the ballot because the party did not submit signed filing papers in person, as required by state rules. It's the second such ruling in a week. On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court found deficiencies in the Green Party's ballot petition in that state, excluding the party from the ballot." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alabama. Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Alabama Republican Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville struggled to explain his position on questions surrounding the Voting Rights Act and had difficulty describing the law, according to audio obtained by HuffPost on Thursday. The former Auburn University football coach, a political neophyte running to unseat Sen. Doug Jones (D), was asked whether he supported extending the landmark 1965 civil rights statute during a Sept. 1 call with the Birmingham, Alabama, Sunrise Rotary Club. His answer ... verges on the incomprehensible and raises doubts about his understanding of the law that was key to ending the sweeping suppression of voting by Black people in the South[.]" Mrs. McC: Tuberville is likely to win, and what this country needs right now is one more know-nothing senator who doesn't give jack about minority voting rights.

Craziness, Corruption, Laziness & Lies

Even Trump Knows He's Only Part President*. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump argued this week that the death toll from the coronavirus was actually not so bad. All you had to do was not count states that voted for Democrats. 'If you take the blue states out,' he said, 'we're at a level that I don't think anybody in the world would be at. We're really at a very low level.' The statement was as jarring as it was revealing, indicative of a leader who has long seemed to view himself more as the president of Red America rather than the United States of America. On the pandemic, immigration, crime, street violence and other issues, Mr. Trump regularly divides the country into the parts that support him and the parts that do not, rewarding the former and reproving the latter.... The contrast with his predecessors in moments of national crisis could hardly be more stark.... 'It's so unworthy of a president,' Tom Ridge, a Republican former governor of Pennsylvania and later secretary of homeland security under [George W.] Bush, said on Thursday. 'It's beyond despicable. It's soulless.... Covid-19 is really bipartisan.'"

Palling Around with Terrorists. CBS News: "Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and partnering with the Taliban has made the United States less safe, says H.R. McMaster, President Trump's former national security adviser. The retired lieutenant general speaks to Scott Pelley in his first interview about his new book on the 53rd Season Premiere of 60 Minutes, Sunday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS.
McMaster calls the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan a big mistake and writes in the book, 'Battlegrounds,' that the region is a hotbed of terrorism."

Lev! Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed new charges Thursday against Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump's personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, accusing the Soviet emigre of defrauding investors in a fraud-protection company he founded -- and for which Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult. Parnas already faced charges of campaign finance fraud for allegedly using a shell company to filter political donations from a foreign national to candidates seeking state and federal office in the United States. The superseding indictment filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York does not reference Giuliani, though it indicates that prosecutors have been closely scrutinizing a company that hired him while he was also serving as the president's lawyer."

Gosh, Jim Clyburn Says Bill Barr Is a Tad Insensitive. Devan Cole of CNN: "House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Thursday slammed Attorney General William Barr for comparing coronavirus lockdowns in the US to slavery.... 'You know, I think that that statement by Mr. Barr was the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard,' Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and its highest ranking Black member, told CNN's John Berman.... 'It is incredible that (the) chief law enforcement officer in this country would equate human bondage to expert advice to save lives. Slavery was not about saving lives, it was about devaluing lives.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Lucy Osborne of the Guardian: "A former model has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the US Open tennis tournament more than two decades ago, in an alleged incident that left her feeling 'sick' and 'violated'. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Amy Dorris alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom in his VIP box at the tournament in New York on 5 September 1997. Dorris, who was 24 at the time, accuses Trump of forcing his tongue down her throat, assaulting her all over her body and holding her in a grip she was unable to escape from.... Dorris ... provided the Guardian with evidence to support her account of her encounters with Trump, including her ticket to the US Open and six photos showing her with the real estate magnate over several days in New York. Trump was 51 at the time and married to his second wife, Marla Maples. Her account was also corroborated by several people she confided in about the incident. They include a friend in New York and Dorris's mother, both of whom she called immediately after the alleged incident, as well as a therapist and friends she spoke to in the years since. All said Dorris had shared with them details of the alleged incident that matched what she later told the Guardian." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Trumpies Publish Fake CDC Guidance That Could Kill You. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency's website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times. The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of Covid-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a C.D.C. product and had been revised with input from the agency's director, Dr. Robert Redfield. But officials told The Times this week that the Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting and then 'dropped' it into the C.D.C.'s public website, flouting the agency's strict scientific review process. 'That was a doc that came from the top down, from the H.H.S. and the task force,' said a federal official with knowledge of the matter, referring to the White House task force on the coronavirus. 'That policy does not reflect what many people at the C.D.C. feel should be the policy.' The document contains 'elementary errors' -- such as referring to 'testing for Covid-19,' as opposed to testing for the virus that causes it -- and recommendations inconsistent with the C.D.C.'s stance that mark it to anyone in the know as not having been written by agency scientists.... Adm. Brett Giroir, the administration's testing coordinator and an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, the C.D.C.'s parent organization, said in an interview Thursday that the original draft came from the C.D.C., but he 'coordinated editing and input from the scientific and medical members of the task force.'... A new version of the testing guidance, expected to be posted Friday, has also not been cleared by the C.D.C.'s usual internal review...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rachel Maddow says Redfield should resign. Yeah, so should "Admiral" Giroir & HHS Secretary Azar.

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates of Western wildfire developments are here. "A firefighter died while battling a fire that was sparked during a celebration to reveal the sex of a baby in Southern California, the authorities said on Friday, the 26th person to die in the fires that have consumed California this summer."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 17, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here.

Gosh, Jim Clyburn Says Bill Barr Is a Tad Insensitive. Devan Cole of CNN: "House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Thursday slammed Attorney General William Barr for comparing coronavirus lockdowns in the US to slavery.... 'You know, I think that that statement by Mr. Barr was the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard,' Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and its highest ranking Black member, told CNN's John Berman on 'New Day.' 'It is incredible that (the) chief law enforcement officer in this country would equate human bondage to expert advice to save lives. Slavery was not about saving lives, it was about devaluing lives.'"

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress on Thursday that Russia is still working to influence the U.S. presidential election, and hoping to'denigrate' former vice president Joe Biden because it sees the Democratic nominee as part of an American policy establishment antagonistic to Moscow's interests. Election year politics were front and center at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on threats to the country, as lawmakers pressed Wray to weigh in on a variety of issues where politics, extremism and violence overlap.... Unlike in 2016, when the most serious interference efforts involved hacking Democrats' emails and state election systems, Wray said Russian activity so far this year seems more limited to misinformation campaigns.... Trump's acting homeland security secretary, Chad Wolf, was a no-show Thursday, having broken his agreement to appear and prompting a showdown with the committee's chairman, who issued Wolf a subpoena." A Politico story is here.

Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Green Party presidential ticket from state ballots, allowing state and local election officials to resume preparations for Nov. 3 and begin mailing ballots to voters. The court ruled that presidential contender Howie Hawkins and his running mate, Angela Walker, did not qualify for the ballot because the party did not submit signed filing papers in person, as required by state rules. It's the second such ruling in a week. On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court found deficiencies in the Green Party's ballot petition in that state, excluding the party from the ballot."

Lucy Osborne of the Guardian: "A former model has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the US Open tennis tournament more than two decades ago, in an alleged incident that left her feeling 'sick' and 'violated'. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Amy Dorris alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom in his VIP box at the tournament in New York on 5 September 1997. Dorris, who was 24 at the time, accuses Trump of forcing his tongue down her throat, assaulting her all over her body and holding her in a grip she was unable to escape from.... Dorris ... provided the Guardian with evidence to support her account of her encounters with Trump, including her ticket to the US Open and six photos showing her with the real estate magnate over several days in New York. Trump was 51 at the time and married to his second wife, Marla Maples. Her account was also corroborated by several people she confided in about the incident. They include a friend in New York and Dorris's mother, both of whom she called immediately after the alleged incident, as well as a therapist and friends she spoke to in the years since. All said Dorris had shared with them details of the alleged incident that matched what she later told the Guardian.&"

Tony Romm & others of the Washington Post write a long piece, based on some 10,000 emails & other documents, about how the USPS was in crisis even before Louis DeJoy took over, partly because of consequences of the coronavirus & partly because of action & inaction by the Trump administration & pro-Trump advisors.

Dan Coats writes a both-siderism New York Times op-ed for the books: "I propose that Congress ... create a supremely high-level bipartisan and nonpartisan commission to oversee the election.... It would monitor [ballot collection & tabulation] mechanisms and confirm for the public that the laws and regulations governing them have been scrupulously and expeditiously followed -- or that violations have been exposed and dealt with -- without political prejudice and without regard to political interests of either party. Also, thiscommission would be responsible for monitoring those forces that seek to harm our electoral system through interference, fraud, disinformation or other distortions.... The most urgent task American leaders face is to ensure that the election's results are accepted as legitimate..., rejecting the vicious partisanship that has disabled and destabilized government for too long.... We must firmly, unambiguously reassure all Americans that their vote will be counted, that it will matter, that the people's will expressed through their votes will not be questioned and will be respected and accepted." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, Dan, who do you think is sowing doubt (trump barr) about the legitimacy of the vote? And why haven't you got the guts to say so? There seems to be a Fear of Trump that transcends firing & belittling & throwing sand in a former aide's face. ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "... Donald Trump, is just as responsible for sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming elections as any Russian intelligence officer. What's especially troubling is that Coats knows this better than citizens who haven't had access to our most sensitive intelligence or the experience of working closely with Donald Trump. Yet, we don't need high-level access to classified information to notice Attorney General William Barr is doing everything he can to sow doubt about the results of the election. For months he's been warning that mail voting is susceptible to foreign manipulation, and he's been saying the same about Americans. As Dahlia Lithwick reports for Slate, Trump and Barr are doing a tag-team to convince us that 'our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent.'... It may be a nice idea for Congress to establish a commission to protect our elections, but the Republican Party is committed to the opposite which is why they'd never go along with Coats's idea."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "With deaths from the coronavirus nearing 200,000 in the United States, Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday assailed President Trump for playing politics with a potential coronavirus vaccine, saying he did not trust Mr. Trump to determine when a vaccine was ready for Americans.... In his speech, Mr. Biden thrust the issue of a coronavirus vaccine to center stage in the presidential race, expressing grave concern over the political pressure he said Mr. Trump was exerting over the government's approval process and accusing him of trying to rush out a vaccine for electoral gain.... Mr. Biden delivered his remarks after receiving a briefing on the coronavirus vaccine from top national health experts, including Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I listened to Biden's remarks. He took several questions after his brief remarks, and he showed a remarkable grasp of the difficulties of distributing the vaccine -- actually, vaccines; he was educating the reporters who asked the questions. The contrast between him and President* Know-Nothing was breathtaking. If you're concerned Biden has lost it -- he has not.

Jack Brewster of Forbes: "Twitter flagged President Trump for sharing a misleading video that made it appear Joe Biden had played the anti-police rap song 'F-- tha Police' by N.W.A. on his phone during an event in Florida on Tuesday -- when the Democratic nominee had actually played the song 'Despacito,' a song by Latin music star Luis Fonsi. The original clip showed Biden playing the song 'Despacito' on his phone during a Hispanic Heritage month event, in a tribute to Fonsi, who had introduced the Democratic nominee at the event.... After Twitter flagged the tweet, Trump shared the manipulated video again, this time saying 'China is drooling. They can't believe this!'" Mrs. McC: Twitter should just kick Trump off the platform.

Brian Stelter of CNN was able to reach three of the undecided voters who participated in ABC News' town hall Tuesday (related stories linked yesterday). One said Trump didn't answer his question, but by failing to do so he "essentially" answered the question. Another said, "He didn't answer anything. He was lying through his teeth." And the third said he had "reanimated" her to vote: "I'm going to vote for Biden." So good work, Donald. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "Besides somehow blaming ... Joe Biden for not enacting a national mask mandate, Trump spent the town hall claiming that a 'herd mentality' would stop COVID-19 (he was presumably referring to the herd immunity method, which health experts have largely rejected as a solution to the pandemic), falsely denying that he wasn't trying to kill preexisting conditions protections in the Affordable Care Act, and bragging about endorsements from the police when asked about systemic racism in the criminal justice system.... Throughout it all, both [host George] Stephanopoulos and the town hall participants pushed back against Trump's laundry list of falsehoods.... 'This was just a firehose of lying, again, from the President,' [CNN's fact-checker Daniel] Dale said.... '... that performance tonight by the President ... should send shudders and shockwaves through the Republican Party,' [the Washington Post's Philip] Rucker said during an appearance on MSNBC. 'The first debate is 14 days away..., and this is a president who's clearly not ready for that debate.'"

Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "A new advocacy group [-- "Democrats Against Joe Biden' --] ostensibly comprised of Democrats opposed to the election of Joe Biden appears to have the backing of few, if any, actual Democrats. Those involved, however, do include a Republican operative whose group illicitly funneled millions into political contests, a longtime Trump fan whose son works for the president's campaign, and a self-described celebrity psychic who's taught best practices for exorcisms." Mrs. McC: I'm the CEO of Trumpbots Against Donald Trump, so I don't know what Markay is complaining about. (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The nation's top intelligence official is partially reversing course on his decision to scale back critical election-security briefings for lawmakers. John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement Wednesday that he will continue to brief congressional leaders and the Senate and House intelligence committees on efforts to secure the 2020 vote from foreign interference -- though his office will no longer conduct briefings for all lawmakers, citing the need to protect intelligence sources and methods.... House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ... described Ratcliffe's reversal as the result of 'extensive public criticism' and said Ratcliffe must also ensure that 'all members and the American people' receive similar updates about foreign threats to the 2020 election. Last month, Ratcliffe told congressional leaders that he would no longer provide those critical in-person briefings on election security, prompting widespread backlash."

North Carolina Senate Race. Senator for Sale. Cheap. Nick Ochsner of WBTV Charlotte: "Senator Thom Tillis [R-N.C.] accepting more than $20,000 in campaign contributions from political action committees tied to pharmaceutical companies within two weeks of sponsoring a bill related to drug prices in late 2019. Tillis was an original co-sponsor on the Lower Costs, More Cures act, which was introduced on December 19, 2019. It was similar to a competing bill that had been introduced earlier in the year by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, except that it omitted a key provision opposed by the pharmaceutical industry that would cap drug prices at inflation. Grassley's bill had bipartisan support but had stalled in the Senate before Tillis and a group of other Republican senators introduced their proposal on December 19. Campaign finance records shows Tills received $20,500 in campaign contributions from political action committees tied to pharmaceutical companies in the days before and after the bill was filed...."

Craziness, Corruption, Laziness & Lies

Fiddling While the Nation Smoldered. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "... a detailed review of the 10-day period from late January, when Trump was first warned about the scale of the threat [the coronavirus posed], and early February -- when he acknowledged to author Bob Woodward the extent of the danger the virus posed -- reveals a president who took relatively few serious measures to ready the nation for its arrival. Instead, enabled by top administration officials, Trump largely attempted to pretend the virus did not exist -- spending much of his time distracted by impeachment and exacting vengeance on his political enemies. He also carried on as usual with showy political gatherings and crowded White House events."

Wherein Bill Barr Goes Off the Deep End

It'll be a close vote. People will say the president just won Nevada. 'Oh, wait a minute! We just discovered 100,000 ballots! Every vote will be counted!' Yeah, but we don't know where these freaking votes came from. -- William Barr, sowing doubt about the November election, to John Kass of the Chicago Tribune ~~~

~~~ Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "Attorney General Bill Barr spoke recently with Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass and went off on Democrats over 'mob violence.'... Barr teed off on the 'so-called resistance' going after the Trump administration and said, 'There undoubtedly are many people in the government who surreptitiously work to thwart the administration.... I think we are getting into a position where we're going to find ourselves irrevocably committed to a so[c]ialist path. And I think if Trump loses this election, that will be the case. In other words, I think now there's a clear fork in the road for our country.'... The subject eventually turned to mail-in ballots and that's when Barr really went off:

Just think about why we vote the way we vote now, where you have a precinct, your name is on a list, you go in and say who you are, you go behind a curtain, no one's allowed to go in there to influence you, and no one can tell how you voted. All of that is gone with mail-in. There's no secret vote. You have to associate the envelope in the mailing, the name of who's sending it in, with the ballot. So there's no more secret vote with mail-in vote. A secret vote prevents selling and buying votes... So now we're back in the business of selling and buying votes. Capricious distribution of ballots means harvesting, undue influence, outright coercion, paying off a postman and saying, "Hey, here. Here's a few hundred dollars, give me some of your ballots."'"~~~

Norman Rockwell. "Election Day." 1944.

~~~ Dahlia Lithwick of Slate traces Barr's recent history of denouncing mail-in voting & his preference for"the way white people once voted -- mostly gathered from Norman Rockwell paintings, apparently": "... Barr's argument to Kass again has the desired effect of pitting voter against voter, American against American, in ways designed to foment doubt and mistrust in a system already stressed by U.S. Postal Service meddling and distortion and a steady drumbeat of presidential claims that -- as Trump suggested this week -- the only way he can possibly lose in Nevada is if its governor rigs the ballots. 'I'm winning that state easily, but the one thing we can't beat, if they cheat on the ballots,' Trump said, adding, 'Now he will cheat on the ballots -- I have no doubt about it.'... Just to recap, then: Your mail-in ballot is unsafe because foreigners want to forge it, Democratic governors want to steal it, antifa operatives plan to harvest it, oh, and Dot, your friendly neighborhood letter carrier will also gladly break the law in order to sell it. This narrative need not be provable or coherent; it's enough that it's rinsed and repeated on a near-daily basis in the media. What Barr is actually performing here is the time-honored, Bannon-christened, Putin-sanctioned electoral practice known formally as flooding the zone with shit."

Barr Makes the Case for Politicizing the DOJ. Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr delivered a scathing critique of his own Justice Department on Wednesday night, insisting on his absolute authority to overrule career staffers, who he said too often injected themselves into politics and went 'headhunting' for high-profile targets. Speaking at an event hosted by Hillsdale College, a school with deep ties to conservative politics, Barr directly addressed the criticism that has been building for months inside the department toward his heavy hand in politically sensitive cases, particularly those involving associates of President Trump.... The attorney general said it was he, not career officials, who have the ultimate authority to decide how cases should be handled, and he derided less-experienced, less-senior bureaucrats who current and former prosecutors have long insisted should be left to handle their cases free from interference from political appointees.... Barr was notably critical of state coronavirus shutdown measures and of health-care professionals who advocate for them over all else. 'All this nonsense about how something is dictated by science is nonsense,' he said."

     ~~~ Katie Benner of the New York Times: "... in his speech on Wednesday night, Mr. Barr said that it was well within his power as the attorney general to be the final arbiter in all cases before the Justice Department. While that assertion is technically true, past attorneys general have typically let the deputy attorney general run the day-to-day matters of the department and have even distanced themselves from politically fraught issues.... 'Letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it is no way to run a federal agency,' he said." ~~~

~~~ Katelyn Polantz & Christina Carrega of CNN: "Attorney General William Barr suggested on Wednesday that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' in history 'other than slavery.' The comments came minutes after he slammed the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him, equating them to preschoolers, in a defense of his own politically tuned decision making in the Trump administration.... In recent weeks, Barr has taken a much more aggressive stance defending Trump administration policies, including suggesting voting by mail is not safe, attacking the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and criticizing governors for their coronavirus response.... The speech comes after Barr has been escalating alarmist and politicized rhetoric in a series of interviews, and advocating against Democrats in the election." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: What Barr is saying here is that he has a legal right & duty to corrupt the Justice Department with overtly political actions, and he does not have to adhere to the apolitical discretion of career junior G-men. More on Boss Billy's remarks linked below.

Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: Michael Caputo, "the top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be taking a medical 'leave of absence,' the agency announced Wednesday.... Caputo has been under fire for comments he made attacking career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accusing them of being anti-Trump. CDC Director Robert Redfield pushed back on Caputo's attack earlier Wednesday, telling a Senate panel that the allegation 'not only is it not true, it deeply saddened me when I read those comments.'" Mrs. McC: Notice that neither Caputo's boss Alex Azar or il capo dei capi Donald Trump has condemned Caputo's remarks. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "HHS said in a statement released early afternoon that [Michael] Caputo would be on leave for the next 60 days to 'focus on his health and the well-being of his family.' That means he will be gone until after the Nov. 3 election. The agency also said that Paul Alexander, a top aide to Caputo, would be leaving the agency permanently. Alexander came under scrutiny in recent weeks for his efforts to exert control over the messages coming from scientists and top health officials, including the content of weekly science reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to make them conform to the president's assertions that the virus is under control."

** Mitt Takes a Stand. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is sharply criticizing an investigation by his own party into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son, saying it's 'not the legitimate role of government' to try and damage political opponents. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has said the committee will issue a report before the Nov. 3 election on Hunter Biden's activities in Ukraine. Johnson, a close ally of ... Donald Trump, is leading the investigation into Burisma, a gas company in Ukraine that paid Hunter Biden to serve as a board member while Joe Biden was vice president.... Senate Democrats have strongly objected to the inquiry and have charged that Johnson could be amplifying Russian propoganda to hurt Biden. After Wednesday's meeting, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., offered a resolution calling for 'the cessation of any Senate investigation or activity that allows Congress to act as a conduit for Russian disinformation.' Johnson himself came to the floor to object, preventing the measure's passage."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Wednesday are here: "The Big Ten Conference said Wednesday that it would try to play football as soon as the weekend of Oct. 23, stepping back from its leadership's decision just more than a month ago not to compete this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic." The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' full report on the Big Ten's reversal is here.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: In a supposed news briefing Wednesday, Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the high Covid-19 death toll: "'... If you take the blue states out, we're at a level that I don't think anybody in the world would be at. We're really at a very low level. But some of the states, they were blue states and blue state-managed.' It is true that the early surge in deaths was heavily weighted toward states that had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.... Over time, though, the percentage of total deaths that have occurred in blue states has dropped. The most recent data, through Tuesday, indicates that about 53 percent of deaths have occurred in blue states -- meaning that 47 percent have occurred in red ones.... Since mid-June, a majority of the new coronavirus deaths each day have occurred in red states. Since mid-July at least 70 percent have." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Not mentioned, but clearly a major factor: the federal government's failure to prepare for the pandemic, so that "blue states," which dominated the early surge, were poorly equipped with "tools" for fighting the virus: testing, ventilators, protective wear, including masks for the general public, etc. By the time the virus migrated in a big way to "red states," the federal government had at least partially mitigated some of its negligence (largely because of public outcries), giving "red states" an advantage, which many wasted by prematurely opening businesses & allowing close contacts among residents.

Brian Naylor & Alana Wise of NPR: "President Trump on Wednesday again said widespread distribution of a vaccine against the coronavirus would happen before the end of the year, directly contradicting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield. The CDC chief testified earlier Wednesday that a vaccine would not be widely available until next spring or summer. Trump said he expects the government to be able to distribute a vaccine 'sometime in October,' though 'it may be a little later than that.'... Redfield ... testified it would take six to nine months after the Food and Drug Administration had authorized the vaccine before it could be distributed nationally.... When asked why his message on a vaccine timeline and the efficacy of masks differed so profoundly from the CDC director's, Trump said that Redfield had 'made a mistake' and 'misunderstood' the questions.... Trump in his Wednesday briefing also refuted Redfield's assertion to a Senate panel that wearing a mask remains 'the most important, powerful public health tool we have.' Trump instead downplayed the importance of masks compared to a vaccine while also mocking his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, for routinely wearing masks in public spaces per public health guidelines. 'The vaccine is going to have tremendous power. It's going to be extremely strong. It's going to be extremely successful. We're not going to have a problem,' Trump said." ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "In a remarkable display even for him, Mr. Trump publicly slapped down Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the president promised that a vaccine could be available in weeks and go 'immediately' to the general public while diminishing the usefulness of masks despite evidence to the contrary.... The public scolding of Dr. Redfield was only the latest but perhaps the starkest instance when the president has rejected not just the policy advice of his public health officials but the facts and information that they provided. ~~~

~~~ "Israeli Health Ministry officials watching an Arab-Israeli ceremony this week at the White House on television grew angry at the lack of masks and social distancing, and they ordered Israeli reporters returning from Washington to quarantine. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was spotted at the event without a mask, coughing while talking with the head of Israel's Mossad spy agency."

Trump: There are a lot of people think that masks are not good....
Stephanopoulos: Who are those people?
Trump: I'll tell you who those people are -- waiters. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and they're playing with the mask...I'm not blaming them...I'm just saying what happens. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That can't be good.... The concept of a mask is good, but it also does ... you're constantly touching it, you're touching your face, you're touching plates. There are people that don't think masks are good. -- ABC News Town Hall, Tuesday ~~~

~~~ ** CDC Director Contradicts Trump Club Waiters' Medical Advice. Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield said Wednesday that wearing a mask is more guaranteed to protect someone from the coronavirus than taking a vaccine. Redfield, speaking at a Senate hearing, emphasized the importance of wearing masks, noting that an eventual vaccine is not expected to work in 100 percent of people, and might only work in, say, 70 percent. But a mask is guaranteed to offer at least some protection for all wearers, he added, though it is far from total protection. 'We have clear scientific evidence they work, I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70 percent and if I don't get an immune response, the vaccine's not going to protect me, this face mask will,' Redfield said." Mrs. McC: But can Redfield present a well-done steak slathered in ketchup? (Also linked yesterday.)

CBS Philly News: "The White House says a staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 less than 24 hours after ... Donald Trump visited Philadelphia. However, officials say the person was 'not associated with' and did not affect the president's trip. When asked about a report that staff members tested positive earlier Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, 'I'm not here to give people's personal identities' and that 'close contacts' with a person who has since tested positive would be notified, according to Bloomberg.... President Trump was in Philadelphia Tuesday for a town hall at the National Constitution Center with undecided voters.... President Trump's trip to Center City and the National Constitution Center had all the characteristics of a presidential visit.... It also included what's now often the norm when Trump travels -- protests and counter-protests."

Erica Werner & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to support a massive economic relief bill with 'much higher numbers' and stimulus payments for Americans, abruptly proposing an entirely different plan from what the Senate GOP sought to advance in recent days. His Twitter post and subsequent comments at a news conference could reframe talks that have stalled for more than a month, and put new pressure on leaders in both parties.... Speaking at the White House on Wednesday evening, Trump expressed support -- but not an explicit endorsement -; for a $1.5 trillion plan unveiled Tuesday by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House.: Mrs. McC: Could be another Lucy & the Football moment.

Think We Don't Live in a Police State?

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr told federal prosecutors in a call last week that they should consider charging rioters and others who had committed violent crimes at protests in recent months with sedition, according to two people familiar with the call. The highly unusual suggestion to charge people with insurrection against lawful authority alarmed some on the call, which included U.S. attorneys around the country, said the people.... The attorney general has also asked prosecutors in the Justice Department's civil rights division to explore whether they could bring criminal charges against Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle for allowing some residents to establish a police-free protest zone near the city's downtown.... In suggesting possible prosecution of Ms. Durkan, a Democrat, Mr. Barr also took aim at an elected official whom President Trump has repeatedly attacked.... During a speech on Wednesday night, Mr. Barr noted that the Supreme Court had determined that the executive branch had 'virtually unchecked discretion; in deciding whether to prosecute cases." A Guardian story is here.

** Ammo & Heat-Ray Guns. Marissa Lang of the Washington Post: "Hours before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square in early June amid protests over the police killing of George Floyd, federal officials began to stockpile ammunition and seek devices that could emit deafening sounds and make anyone within range feel like their skin is on fire, according to an Army National Guard major who was there. D.C. National Guard Maj. Adam D. DeMarco told lawmakers that defense officials were searching for crowd control technology deemed too unpredictable to use in war zones and had authorized the transfer of about 7,000 rounds of ammunition to the D.C. Armory as protests against police use of force and racial injustice roiled Washington. In sworn testimony, shared this week with The Washington Post, DeMarco provided his account as part of an ongoing investigation into law enforcement and military officers' use of force against D.C. protesters.... DeMarco, who provided his account as a whistleblower, was the senior-most D.C. National Guard officer on the ground that day and served as a liaison between the National Guard and U.S. Park Police." The New York Times' story is here.

Aimee Ortiz of the New York Times: "Official misconduct played a role in the criminal convictions of more than half of innocent people who were later exonerated, according to a new report by a registry that tracks wrongful convictions. According to the report, by the National Registry of Exonerations, official misconduct contributed to false convictions in 54 percent of exonerations, usually with more than one type of misconduct. Over all, men and Black exonerees 'were modestly more likely to experience misconduct,' although there were larger differences by race when it came to drug crimes and murder." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Still Doesn't Think American Jews Are Americans. Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "... Donald Trump spent much of his 20-minute call with American Jewish leaders making the case for more American Jews to vote for him. He closed by repeating a line that has raised their eyebrows before. 'We really appreciate you,' Trump said as he signed off the call, an annual pre-Rosh Hashanah presidential tradition. 'We love your country also.' Earlier, introducing his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who brokered the historic deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain that were signed Tuesday at the White House, Trump called him 'an unbelievable leader for Israel.'"

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of West Coast fire developments are here.

Weather Channel: "Rivers and inland waterways in many areas were expected to continue to rise throughout the day as rainfall from Sally's remnants continues to fall over the Southeast. At least two deaths are being blamed on the storm, which made landfall as a hurricane near Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Wednesday and moved inland. One person was killed Wednesday when a tree fell on a home in Atlanta, where heavy rain continued to cause flooding Thursday morning. Officials in Cobb County, just north of the city, said they were dealing with dozens of downed trees and flooded roads. About 30,000 people were without power statewide, according to poweroutage.us. In Alabama, Ken Grimes, city administrator in Orange Beach, confirmed the death of an unidentified man in the town on Wednesday. A female was missing who knew the Alabama man, but it was unclear if the two were together at the time. First responders in boats and high water vehicles aided hundreds of people stranded in flooding and storm surge as Sally made landfall Wednesday morning and moved inland across Alabama and Florida as a tropical storm. Mandatory evacuation orders weren't issued ahead of the storm in the hardest-hit areas, although residents in many vulnerable locations were advised to leave voluntarily."