December 1, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday signaled it is on the verge of a major shift in its abortion jurisprudence, and is likely to uphold a Mississippi law that mostly prohibits the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Whether that would mean overruling Roe v. Wade's finding that women have a fundamental right to end their pregnancies was unclear. But none of the six conservatives who make up the court's majority expressed support for maintaining its rule that states may not prohibit abortion before the point of fetal viability, which is generally estimated to be between 22 and 24 weeks. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., often the most moderate of the conservatives, said Mississippi's limit of 15 weeks was not a 'dramatic departure' from viability, and gave women enough time to make the choice to end their pregnancies." Politico's analysis, by Alice Ollstein & Josh Gerstein, is here.
Bill Chappell of NPR: "The first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has been identified in the U.S., health officials said on Wednesday. The case was detected in a person in [San Francisco,] California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The individual was a traveler who returned from South Africa on November 22,' the CDC said in a news release. 'The individual, who was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, is self-quarantining and has been since testing positive. All close contacts have been contacted and have tested negative.'... The infected person is not believed to have had a booster shot, Dr. Anthony Fauci ... said as he announced the news at a White House briefing."
Georgia Governor's Race. Jeff Amy of the AP: "Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and leading voting rights activist, said Wednesday that she will launch another campaign to become the nation's first Black woman governor. Without serious competition in a Democratic primary, the announcement could set up a rematch between Abrams and incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Their 2018 contest was one of the most narrowly decided races for governor that year and was dominated by allegations of voter suppression, which Kemp denied."
Oregon House Race. Tanya Snyder of Politico: Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon firebrand who leads the House's transportation committee, will step down after 36 years in Congress, spelling more bad news for Democrats in 2022 and taking with him an encyclopedic amount of institutional and technical knowledge on infrastructure. DeFazio told Politico that he was retiring to 'focus on my health and well-being,' but his announcement comes on the heels of a frustrating few years in which DeFazio's dreams of an ambitious, environmentally focused overhaul of the nation's highway and transit program were sidelined for a major infrastructure bill that went only as far as Republicans in the Senate would agree to go."
Rachel Shatto of the Advocate, republished by Yahoo! News: "... according to [Fox 'News']'s morning talk show, [the new omicron coronavirus variant] was created in order to help boost Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg into the presidency in 2024.... '[Buttigieg] has said we can't fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until COVID is over,' explained [cohost Rachel] Campos-Duffy. 'And now we see these new variants. So that's the answer: more lockdowns, more lockdowns, more fear and therefore he doesn't have to do his job of fixing the supply chain because "we'll keep this whole thing going."' Campos-Duffy's cohosts Pete Hegseth and Will Cain agreed. 'You can count on a variant about every October, every two years,' Hegseth added, insinuating that the new variant and any that follow would just be inventions by Democrats seeking an advantage in future elections." Thanks to a friend for the link. MB: Buttigieg is probably the smartest guy who has run for president in the past several cycles, but creating a scary new virus variant is just the most clever way to become president anyone has ever imagined. (The logic here is sort of lost on me, but, hey, good work, Pete!)
Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government on Wednesday teetered one step closer to a potential weekend shutdown, as Republicans seized on a fast-approaching fiscal deadline to mount fresh opposition to President Biden's vaccine and testing mandates. Entering the week, Democrats and Republicans initially had hoped to fund the government before a current spending arrangement expires on Friday. Lawmakers aimed to finance federal agencies and initiatives at least into late January, buying themselves more time to craft a series of longer-term measures that could sustain Washington through the rest of the fiscal year.... House and Senate leaders had yet to settle on the exact duration of their short-term funding measure, delaying lawmakers from starting the time-sensitive votes. And some GOP lawmakers in both chambers newly promised to hold up the process...." An Axios item is here.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump claimed more than a dozen times that he was the most transparent president in history. But according to a top aide and ally, when he tested positive for the coronavirus for the first time in the fall of 2020, his White House did not disclose it, went forward with events including one with veterans and a debate [with Joe Biden], and then spent weeks refusing to confirm reporters' correct suspicions that it had hidden Trump's diagnosis.... Here's a look at the chronology." Related Guardian story linked below.
The New York Times's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
Adam Taylor & Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "... global leaders on Wednesday agreed to start negotiations to create an international agreement to prevent and deal with future pandemics -- which some have dubbed a 'pandemic treaty.' The special session of the World Health Assembly, only the second ever held by the WHO's governing body, pledged by consensus to begin work on an agreement, amid a round of applause, after three days of talks."
Massachusetts Gubernatorial Race. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a moderate Republican who defied ... Donald J. Trump during his two terms, announced on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election next year. 'After several months of discussion with our families, we have decided not to seek re-election in 2022,' Mr. Baker and his lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, wrote in a letter to supporters. Mr. Baker, 65, who is more popular in polling among Democrats and independent voters than he is among fellow Republicans, confronted a Trump-backed primary challenge and a general election in which he could have faced the state's popular attorney general, Maura Healey, a Democrat." The AP's story is here.
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John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday is taking up the most serious challenge in decades to the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade in 1973. The Mississippi law at issue bans most abortions after 15 weeks into pregnancy and has not taken effect because lower courts said it violated Roe and the subsequent decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which said states may not ban abortion before viability, usually between 22 and 24 weeks." It appears the Post is live-updating developments on this page. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I assume that, as is customary with big cases, ScotusBlog will also provide live updates. As of 8:30 am ET, the blog has not yet posted a live updates page, but the main page, linked here, will probably get you there later in the morning. ~~~
~~~ NEW. Update: ScotusBlog will provide live audio of oral arguments here. The Court is scheduled to convene at 10 am ET.
Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times: "Gone are the blood-red trees. Gone are the icy, sparkling boughs and the imagery of a woman isolated in a winter wonderland (or a horror story, depending on your point of view). In their place: red-and-white striped knit stockings with green heels dangling brightly from a hearth, family photos, handwritten thank-you notes and an arch of presents in bright red boxes. The Biden White House Christmas décor, unveiled on Monday..., [is] positively '' accessible. In this, it is fully in line with the tactile, unpretentious image that the current first couple likes to project. The president and first lady: Just like us! Their home is your home, only a little more so." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is what struck me, too, when I first looked at pictures of the decor in some of the White House rooms. Any American family that celebrates Christmas & has amassed -- after years of collecting -- an assortment of ornaments could aspire to making their own living rooms look a bit like one of the White House rooms. Yeah, sure, maybe the tree isn't so tall & maybe the furniture isn't a collection of priceless antiques, but, in general, you too could have a room that looks at least sort of like a White House room.
Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a request from Oklahoma's governor to exempt his state's National Guard members from the coronavirus vaccine requirement, the latest salvo in a showdown that could result in punishments -- including removal from the military -- for service members who refuse to comply with the Pentagon's mandate. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), the only governor to enact such a policy, maintains that he possesses the authority to sidestep federal directives while troops are under the state's control, his office said, and is exploring legal guidelines on who can be punished for refusing the Pentagon's orders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. New Lede: "National Guard members who refuse the coronavirus vaccine will be barred from training and have their pay withheld, the Pentagon said Tuesday in an apparent warning shot from the Biden administration to Republican governors looking to defy federal mandates."
Meadows Puts His Own Future Before Trump's. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff under ... Donald J. Trump, has reached an agreement with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to provide documents and sit for a deposition, the panel said on Tuesday, a stunning reversal for a crucial witness in the inquiry. The change of stance for Mr. Meadows, who had previously refused to cooperate with the committee in line with a directive from Mr. Trump, came as the panel prepared to seek criminal contempt of Congress charges against a second witness who has stonewalled its subpoenas. It marked a turnabout after weeks of private wrangling between the former chief of staff and the select committee over whether he would participate in the investigation, and to what degree." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Three federal appellate judges appear likely to reject Donald Trump's effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from obtaining his White House records -- a big potential boost for lawmakers hoping to reveal the former president's actions as a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol. 'We have one president at a time under our constitution,' said Patricia Millett, one of the three judges on the D.C. Circuit panel that heard arguments Tuesday in the high-profile fight. 'That incumbent president ... has made the judgment and is best positioned, as the Supreme Court has told us, to make that call as to the interests of the executive branch.' As they questioned Trump's lawyers, the judges repeatedly expressed skepticism that a former president could override a decision by the sitting president -- in this case Joe Biden -- to release documents to Congress, particularly when the incumbent has decided it's in the national interest to release records to investigators." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story, by Charlie Savage is here.
Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Hours before the deadly attack on the US Capitol this year, Donald Trump made several calls from the White House to top lieutenants at the Willard hotel in Washington and talked about ways to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election win from taking place on 6 January. The former president first told the lieutenants his vice-president, Mike Pence, was reluctant to go along with the plan to commandeer his largely ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress in a way that would allow Trump to retain the presidency for a second term. But as Trump relayed to them the situation with Pence, he pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden's certification from taking place on 6 January, and delay the certification process to get alternate slates of electors for Trump sent to Congress. The former president's remarks came as part of strategy discussions he had from the White House with the lieutenants at the Willard -- a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon -- about delaying the certification.... The former president's call ... is increasingly a central focus of the House select committee's investigation into the Capitol attack, as it raises the specter of a possible connection between Trump and the insurrection." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Wahoo! Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "The star CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was suspended indefinitely by the network on Tuesday after new details emerged about his efforts to assist his brother, Andrew M. Cuomo, the former governor of New York, as he faced a cascade of sexual harassment accusations that led to the governor's resignation. Chris Cuomo had previously apologized for advising Andrew Cuomo's senior political aides -- a breach of traditional barriers between journalists and lawmakers -- but thousands of pages of evidence released on Monday by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, revealed that the anchor's role had been more intimate and involved than previously known.... Mr. Cuomo's entanglement with the last 18 months of his brother's governorship has proved a slow-moving headache for CNN, which had stood by its top-rated anchor even as a drip of uncomfortable revelations raised questions about the network's adherence to journalistic standards."
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of the notorious Mexican drug lord best known as El Chapo, was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison on charges of helping run her husband's multibillion-dollar criminal empire and playing a role in his escape from custody after he was captured in 2014. Ms. Coronel, a former beauty queen who married El Chapo -- whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera -- in 2007, on her 18th birthday, was arrested at Dulles International Airport, near Washington, in February, two years after her husband was convicted at a trial in New York City and sentenced to life in prison. She had been in the cross-hairs of U.S. authorities for months. She ultimately pleaded guilty in June to helping Mr. Guzmán smuggle drugs across the U.S. border and make his dramatic flight from a high-security Mexican prison...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
Carolyn Johnson & Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "Expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended authorization Tuesday of the first coronavirus pill to prevent high-risk people from developing severe illness in a divided vote that reflects the complicated mix of benefits and risks involved with a new and easy mode of treatment. Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics developed the drug, molnupiravir, as a five-day regimen to be taken at home within five days of onset of coronavirus symptoms. The FDA is not bound by the 13-to-10 vote but typically follows its external advisers' recommendations. The drug could have an immediate impact on the pandemic if authorized...."
CBS/AP: "Dutch health authorities announced on Tuesday that they found the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in cases dating back as long as 11 days, indicating that it was already spreading in western Europe before the first cases were identified in southern Africa. The RIVM health institute said it found Omicron in samples dating from November 19 and 23. Those findings predate the positive cases found among passengers who came from South Africa last Friday and were tested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Azi Paybarah & Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the start of President Biden's national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which had been set to begin next week. The injunction, written by Judge Terry A. Doughty, effectively expanded a separate order issued on Monday by a federal court in Missouri. The earlier one had applied only to 10 states that joined in a lawsuit against the president's decision to require all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4."
Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "... shortly after workers began [coronavirus] vaccinations [at Kimball Elementary School in D.C.], a tall, gangly former president ambled into the school's multipurpose room. 'We are just getting through the holiday season and we have one more thing to be thankful for, which is that we can get kids vaccinated if they're between the ages of 5 and 11,' Barack Obama told the crowd of more than 50 students, teachers and parents. 'Nobody really loves getting a shot. I don't love getting a shot. But I do it because it's going to help keep me healthy.' Obama was accompanied by Anthony S. Fauci ... in the surprise event at a vaccination clinic."
** NEW. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 three days before his first debate [on September 29, 2020,] against Joe Biden, the former president's fourth and last chief of staff has revealed in a new book. Mark Meadows also writes that though he knew each candidate was required 'to test negative for the virus within seventy two hours of the start time ... Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there.' Trump, Meadows says in the book, returned a negative result from a different test shortly after the positive.... Trump announced he had Covid on 2 October. The White House said he announced that result within an hour of receiving it. He went to hospital later that day.... The [debate] host, Chris Wallace of Fox News, later said Trump was not tested before the debate because he arrived late. Organisers, Wallace said, relied on the honor system." MB: Yes, because trusting the Biggest Liar is always a safe bet.
Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Marcus Lamb, founder of the large Christian network Daystar, died Tuesday after contracting the coronavirus. Lamb's network during the pandemic has made the virus a huge focus, calling it a satanic attack that should not be treated with vaccines. He was 64 years old."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "The Tucson Police Department moved swiftly on Tuesday to fire a police officer after he fatally shot a man in a motorized wheelchair who was suspected of stealing a toolbox from a Walmart and flashing a knife when challenged. Police bodycam video shows an officer pursuing the suspect and yelling, 'Do not go into the store, sir,' as the man, identified as Richard Lee Richards, 61, continued to the entrance of a Lowe's Home Improvement store on Monday night. The officer, Ryan Remington, fired nine shots and hit the man in the back and side, the police said, causing Mr. Richards to hunch over and fall in front of a display of pink and red flowers. A store surveillance video shows Officer Remington placing handcuffs on a motionless Mr. Richards.... [According to his former lawyer, Richards] had a lengthy rap sheet dating to when he was a teenager that included being charged and convicted of attempted first-degree murder."
Arkansas. Where "Conservative Christian Values" Have the Effect You'd Expect. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Josh Duggar, who gained celebrity on the TLC reality show '19 Kids and Counting' as the eldest sibling of a brimming family guided by conservative Christian values, went on trial Tuesday in Arkansas on federal child pornography charges. Mr. Duggar, 33, appeared in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., for the first day of jury selection in his closely watched trial. He was arrested in April, accused of using the internet to download explicit material showing the sexual abuse of children, some younger than 12 years old, according to an indictment."MB: Needless to say I never saw the teevee show, but it might be fun to see a couple of rerun episodes featuring Josh being all holier-than-thou.
California. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday restored California's prohibition on high-capacity magazines, a decision with national implications that could also lead to the reinstatement of a state ban on semiautomatic weapons. In a 7-4 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a state ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition -- reversing a federal judge's decision that said the statute violated gun owners' Second Amendment rights."
California. An Academic Question: What If You Named the Library after a Beloved Librarian Who Was a Hateful Bigot & Hitler Fan? Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "Leaders of California State University at Fresno are proud of their campus library, a gleaming edifice that includes a five-story elliptical tower of glass, steel and angled wood meant to symbolize a woven Native American basket.... Now, the university confronts a troubling fact about the library: It is named, [Fresno State's president, Saúl] Jiménez-Sandoval said this week, for a man 'who held deeply antisemitic views and Nazi sympathies.' Henry Madden, who was the longtime librarian of Fresno State, expressed his views on Jewish people and Nazi Germany in personal papers that remained sealed for a quarter-century after they were given to the university in 1982. A scholar at the university found them a few years ago through research on a book about Nazi sympathizers, and the information recently came to the university president's attention. Jiménez-Sandoval said in a statement Monday ... that the ... university will form a task force to review the [library's] name...."
Georgia. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Andre Dickens, a veteran City Council member, was elected mayor of Atlanta in an upset on Tuesday night after promising voters that he would help guide the city in a more equitable direction. Mr. Dickens, 47, will step into one of the most high-profile political positions in the South after defeating Felicia Moore, 60, the City Council president, in Tuesday's runoff election. In a first round of voting, Ms. Moore had bested Mr. Dickens by more than 17 percentage points. But on Tuesday, Mr. Dickens had about 62 percent of the vote when The Associated Press declared him the winner at about 10:30 p.m. Mr. Dickens, a church deacon, delivered an upbeat, roof-raising victory speech to supporters, noting his humble upbringing in the working-class neighborhood of Adamsville, his engineering degree from Georgia Tech and the daunting problems he has promised to tackle."
New York. Alexandra Alter & Karen Zraick of the New York Times: "Alice Sebold, the best-selling author of the memoir 'Lucky' and the novel 'The Lovely Bones,' apologized publicly on Tuesday to a man who was wrongly convicted of raping her in 1982 after she had identified him in court as her attacker. The apology came eight days after the conviction of the man, Anthony J. Broadwater, was vacated by a state court judge in Syracuse, N.Y., who concluded, in consultation with the local district attorney and Mr. Broadwater's lawyers, that the case against him was deeply flawed." MB: Alas, Alice there is still feeling sorry for herself: "I will also grapple with the fact that my rapist will, in all likelihood, never be known." For context, you should read the whole story, though.
Pennsylvania Senate Race. Marc Levy of the AP: "Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of TV's Dr. Oz Show after rocketing to fame on Oprah Winfrey';s show, announced Tuesday that he is running for Pennsylvania's open U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. Oz, 61, will bring his unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a wide-open race that is expected to among the nation's most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year's election. Oz -- a longtime New Jersey resident -- enters a Republican field that is resetting with an influx of candidates and a new opportunity to appeal to voters loyal to ... Donald Trump, now that the candidate endorsed by Trump has just exited the race." MB: Every character mentioned in this story -- Oz, Oprah & Donald -- is an iconic American crackpot. What a country! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.
Pennsylvania. Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Two men filed a federal lawsuit this month against the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church, saying that they were victims of a human trafficking scheme while they lived at a forced-labor farm for troubled boys run by a church member. The lawsuit said that the men, who were 14 and 18 when they first joined the farm, worked six days a week with no pay, and that they were physically and mentally abused when they stayed at Liberty Ridge Farm in McAlisterville, Pa. The lawsuit said they were denied food and zip-tied at times while at the farm."
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Susannah George of the Washington Post: "... a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday ... documented more than 100 killings and abductions [by the Taliban] of former Afghan officials since August. The New York-based research group described the violations as on the rise and deliberate. The killings come despite a pledge to grant amnesty to former Afghan security forces and government officials, demonstrating that building international pressure for the group to respect human rights has done little to sway the Taliban from the use of indiscriminate violence to respond to groups and individuals perceived as threats."
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Reader Comments (19)
Aww, c’mon, Dr. Jill! Where’s your sense of…not really sure what…Melanie-ness? Reg’lar old Christmas decorations in the White House? No murder trees, no stark, nightmare before Christmas thingies, lit from below to throw scary horror movie shadows on the ceiling? No poor, poor pitiful me “fuck Christmas” declarations?
How was it that those people turned even the best things in life into upside down, backwards, fubared exercises in toxic narcissism? What horrible inner lives they must lead.
Good riddance. How they must despise seeing decent people upend all their beautiful wickedness.
I don't see that Oklahoma has much of a problem.
In our new world of states happily going to hell in their own way, Oklahoma could simply pay the anti-vaxxers out of state coffers and rename the band of idiots the Oklahoma Guard.
As precedent, I'd re-cite this story from yesterday about some states directly paying anti-vaxxers for their stubborn stupidity.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/29/florida-iowa-kansas-tennessee-unemployment-benefits-fired-covid-vaccine-requirements/
And the "state" of Greece takes another approach to anti-vax madness:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/01/greece-compulsory-covid-vaccination-for-those-aged-60-and-above.html
Closer to home and looked at from the distance of years, one could and probably should make the case that some states have never stopped seceding from the Union.
From yesterday: I, for one, applaud Ken for reading Dough-Nut ––it kind of cleans the palate to tip toe into the mind of NYT's cleric and confirms the belief that religious fervor feeds the beast of kookyville. Given the discussion I simply had to read the column myself but then, as I like to do, read some of the comments which I sometimes find more interesting than the column itself. Came across a guy named Phil whose schick is Bioethics. I was impressed by how he first tells us what D. got right and then explains what he got wrong:
Phil says Ross is wrong, in his conclusion about a government intervention over the choice of a pregnant woman, to protect embryonic life. While it's true, Phil says, that our legal system includes a promise that human beings should be protected from lethal violence, abortion is sui generis because the legal system also includes the principle that human beings should have autonomy over their own bodies. That's why the courts decided long ago that a competent person has the right to refuse life-saving treatment. To conclude that the amorphous rights of the unborn supersede the well-established constitutional right of bodily autonomy is to beg the very question that this column addresses. Phil concludes by saying, "In answering such a fundamental question, the decision-maker has to be the person who possesses the constitutional right of bodily autonomy -- the mother. "
Allowing any third party a role in this decision is to effectively make women second-class citizens. Ya think????Let's see what happens today in the S.C. arguments.
Chris Murphy was in his car driving away from a hard day in the Senate when the news of the Michigan school shooting shot a bullet through his heart and he turned around, went back, made his way onto the senate floor and let loose! about the lack of gun laws in this country. Chris is not usually a dynamic speaker–-he's a pretty laid back kind of guy, but last night he was fuming–-shouting---almost on the verge of tears. What is it going to take to make a change in our love for guns country? So far, nothing seems to change. I send my child off to school in the morning––he's killed later–-IN SCHOOL. It breaks my heart.
The malevolent microcosm
I can’t say I’m unhappy about the congressional panel looking into the Day Trump Tried to Take Over the Country (by force), because these people need to be held accountable, at least in some form. My sense is that by the time any real understanding of who did what, when, and how, is reached, and a formal report is finally issued, few members of the low information public will care.
Asswipes like Bannon (and even Meadows, who is giving the appearance of cooperation) will lie and point fingers at Democrats as the true traitors. The supine media will duly report these charges and shake their collective head at the both-sidesyness of it all. Cluck, cluck, cluck.
But in the malevolent microcosm, progress will have been made that will provide much support for the next coup by some later version of the Trump Monster.
Back in the early 40’s, the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon wrote what many sci-fi fans (back me up here, Ken) consider one of the greatest and most original stories of that genre, “The Microcosmic God”. The premise involves a biochemist unhappy with the slow pace of progress and innovation. He creates a race of microscopic creatures called Neoterics and encases them in a glass bubble. The Neoterics’ lifespan is incredibly short so they go through generations in a matter of hours. But in that time, they are able to innovate at a much faster rate than humans. The biochemist starts introducing dangerous situations like poisoning the atmosphere in the bubble environment, killing off millions, but forcing the Neoterics to rapidly come up with solutions to every new problem. These innovations make him very rich. A greedy banker gets involved, and well, on it goes.
Great story.
We have our own Neoterics. They’re called Republicans. And they’re learning. They already have control of most state legislatures, (in my state, they just announced that new voting districts will be introduced the minute the new—Republican controlled legislature—is sworn in, cementing their control for generations to come) and they came close to taking over the country.
But they missed a good trick.
When trying to strong arm the half-pence, Fatty’s lawyers and fellow conspirators in his War Room told little mikey that he could throw out the votes in certain states and rely on alternate electors to the Electoral College, who would vote “the right way”.
This was a lie. There were no alternate slates of electors. But there will be. Next time. The Neoterics are learning. Innovations in how to steal elections, how to stifle their foes, how to get guns to everyone who wants to shoot a Democrat or minority, how to take over the Supreme Court, how to make sure Democrats can’t nominate anyone to that court as well.
They won’t miss that Electoral College trick next time. They’re innovating new ways to take control.
Democrats are not. Innovating, that is. Neither is the media.
Right now there are organized gun nuts swarming across the countryside teaching acolytes how to create chaos, how to grab control. These are some of the same people who have migrated over to the anti-vax crowd because they see everything in terms of their freeeedoms being stolen by people they hate.
And while Democrats wrangle with Trump crooks to get them to sit down (and lie), the Neoterics are innovating.
Malevolent innovations.
And they’re getting ready for the next time they have a chance to strangle democracy and ensure that we all are forced to live in their malevolent microcosm.
Yeah, Akhilleus, that Sturgeon story was as knock-me-out breathtaking to me when I read it in junior high or early high school as the Chaos Party's malevolence is bone-chillingly frightening to me today.
Entitlement. Whether Oklahoma National Guards, police, or Taliban all armed groups feel they should advance to the head of the line. National Guard and Reserve benefits:
Home Loans.
Education.
Life Insurance.
Disability Compensation.
Pension.
Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E)
Health Care.
Burial
Real patriots don't have sponsorships and financial rewards as a carrot for services rendered. We need to clear the ranks of false patriots using our resources to advance to the head of every line, including state and federal hiring and jobs.
Politico is reporting that the Rs are looking to shut the government down on Friday as a way to defund vaccine mandates. These people, who happily send their children to schools with mask mandates tell the plebes to go yell at their school boards to make their own kids less safe.
I say again, start charging 4-figure amounts for any vaccine to anyone who has refused so far, and 5-figure amounts for rescue medications, the real stuff.
I knew Transportation Secretary Pete was one smart cookie, but
how did he find the time to create a new variant while in charge
of about 55,000 employees. Spread the word: Faucci helped him.
They're in cahoots because Faucci wants to be Veep.
Just cannot imagine what the next presidential election would be
like if Pete did run, with millions of haters and millions more with
guns.
Yesterday someone said "30 years ago" and my mind went "ah yes,
the 1970s" but they meant 1991 and now I need to lie down.
I listened, am still "listening" to the potted plants chatting about Roe and what-all, and my conclusion is the same one from yesterday. The SC "worthies" have already decided that the class order is as follows:
Men first, fetuses next, and women and children fight it out for third and fourth place. I am not surprised at the usual suspects blabbing on and on-- my mother would be appalled at how little women and children matter in the scheme of things. And of course, all those decisions listed by Beer Boy gave rights. This one takes them away.
I can't possibly say how this all galls me. Think I will go out and murder some leaves...
Beer Boy also suggested that we could just leave the decision to the "people", but conveniently ignores the fact that the Supremes have said gerrymandering is legal and most voter suppression is cool with them. Therefore only
portion of the people truly get a say and many of those most affected get no voice.
When it comes to masks and vaccines they yell "my body, my choice", but when it comes to women the right-wing has always been yelling "Your body, My choice"
As a Pennsylvanian, I take great umbrage that a carpetbagging charlatan thinks he can waltz into my state and grab a Senate seat. Go back to wherever the hell you come from. Oz. you're no wizard!
After listening to SCOTUS this morning I'm even more firmly behind pro-choice. I firmly believe that children should be able to choose of whose product of conception they would become.
RAS,
Good point. Another example of the confederate mantra “Heads we win, tails you lose.”
I heard some audio clips of the lawyer representing the Mississippi medical clinic under attack by the anti-choice misogynists and all I could see was Pubic Hair Thomas, Hit Man Alito, Rape Boy Bart, and Amy Phony Barrett playing games on their phones, not bothering to listen to any position that countered their pre-conceived decision.
Game over.
Funnily, confederates scream about how their religious rights are constantly under attack, but in most cases, they are the ones whose religious rights clobber everyone else’s rights. The only religious rights that matter are theirs.
The Mississippi AG - Fitch - included in argument that:
“By returning the matter of abortion policy to state legislatures, we allow a stunted debate on how we support women to flourish. It is time for the court to let go of its hold on this important debate.”
She is arguing that the SCOTUS need not apply protection to a right -- that this right, of women over themselves, is arguable, and that your neighbors in your state should be able to decide how much, if any, of that "right" you should be allowed.
This is the antithesis of the concept of "inalienable rights" yet it asserts that the states can determine also how much "right to life" a fetus has ... so that right is also conditional.
So, in the eyes of pro-lifers (or, of the MS AG), these (bodily autonomy; life) are not rights at all, but privileges that can be regulated by political bodies in states, severally as they decide.
I can't wait to read the opinion. It will be the new Dred Scott. John Roberts will replace Roger Taney as "TWCJOAT".
@Akhilleus: You done forgot Beep-Beep Gorsuch, who will protect a zygote but tells a fully-grown working man freezing to death in the cab of his broken-down truck that he must stay there & die since that's what the boss told him to do. I'm afraid we're all in for a scintillating extravaganza starring Amy Phony Barrett & the Back Alley Boyz.
I read yesterday that the key issue in the abortion debate isn’t whether a fetus is a human being, but whether a woman is.
That just about sums it up.
Patrick, et. al.,
As I mentioned yesterday, states' rights used to allow slavery. To me, the connection between then and now is clear.
And as Marie pointed out, corporate rights now pretty much supersede the Bill of Rights and much of the Constitution, with the glaring exception of a misread Second Amendment.
With such clowns on the Court, we are in for a rough and possibly more violent time.
I'm guessing John Roberts, the ball and strikes guy who couldn't see racial animus in states' voting laws, would like to disappear. Wonder if she's having second thoughts about that one.
Just read what I wrote. Didn't mean "she." Should have written "they."