The Commentariat -- July 11, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Marie: I just saw this clip on CNN. It's from a CPAC "forum" held Saturday. I am shaking with rage: ~~~
~~~ Russ Choma of Mother Jones: "On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci ... called the anti-vaccine politics on display [at CPAC] 'horrifying.' Fauci was reacting to a talk in which anti-vaxxer Alex Berenson was roundly cheered by a CPAC audience for saying the US government had failed to 'sucker' 90 percent of Americans into getting vaccinated.... [Meanwhile,] Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina ... push[ed] the idea that ... if the federal government cultivated the ability to go door-to-door for vaccinations that would create the kind of infrastructure that could 'take your Bibles.'"
Sarah Betancourt of the Guardian: "The British entrepreneur Richard Branson has successfully flown to the edge of space and back in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane, days ahead of a rival launch by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as the two billionaires raced to kick off a new era of space tourism. Seventeen years after Branson founded Virgin Galactic to develop commercial spacecraft and cater to future space tourists, the spaceplane went into sub-orbital flight on Sunday morning, reaching 55 miles (88km) above Earth's surface. The launch was slightly delayed until 10.40ET due to weather conditions at the Virgin Galactic's operational base at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates of Richard Branson's short hop into inner space are here: "Branson and crew landed safely after their trip to the edge of space." CNN's live updates are here.
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Sarah Betancourt of the Guardian & Agencies: "British entrepreneur Richard Branson is set to fly to the edge of space in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane on Sunday, days ahead of a rival launch by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as the two billionaires race to kick off an era of space tourism. Branson's extraterrestrial venture Virgin Galactic will send its space plane into sub-orbital flight on Sunday morning, aimed at reaching 55 miles above Earth at its peak altitude." MB: If Richy-Rich is only venturing 55 miles above the Earth & not into the galaxy, I don't see why he named the project "Virgin Galactic." There's nothing galactic about it. ~~~
~~~ Kenneth Chang of the New York Times writes on how to watch Richard Branson's space plane flight: "The flight is scheduled to take off on Sunday morning from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque.... Virgin will broadcast coverage of the flight beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern time, with Stephen Colbert hosting the livestream. The singer Khalid is scheduled to perform a new song after the crew lands, and Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, suggested he may make an appearance.... The Virgin Galactic design already has an imperfect safety record." MB: There's not a chance I'll watch this possible disaster. I can see why people who enjoy watching contact sports & rubbernecking highway accidents would tune in.
Laura Barron-Lopez of Politico: "After months of setbacks and gridlock on voting rights, one of President Joe Biden's top allies in Congress is calling for him to support amending the Senate filibuster. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told Politico Biden 'should endorse' the idea of creating a carveout to the legislative filibuster in the Senate for legislation that applies to the Constitution. In effect, the reform would make it possible for Democrats to pass their sweeping elections reform bill and another bill reauthorizing key sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act with just Democratic support." MB: Biden would not be President if not for Clyburn's pre-primary endorsement in South Carolina. Biden owes Clyburn & should follow his advice.
Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "Haiti's request for U.S. troops to help stabilize the country following the assassination of its president presents a difficult choice for President Biden: send forces to aid a neighbor even as he is trying to pare down America's military footprint overseas, or refrain and risk allowing the chaos unfolding there to escalate into a refugee crisis. Thus far, administration officials have expressed caution about any deployment to Haiti, reflecting the fast pace of events since attackers killed President Jovenel Moïse in his home on Wednesday, but also a broader shift in American attitudes toward military interventions as the 20-year war in Afghanistan winds down."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Global leaders on Saturday agreed to move ahead with what would be the most significant overhaul of the international tax system in decades, with finance ministers from the world's 20 largest economies backing a proposal that would crack down on tax havens and impose new levies on large, profitable multinational companies. If enacted, the plan could reshape the global economy, altering where corporations choose to operate, who gets to tax them and the incentives that nations offer to lure investment. But major details remain to be worked out ahead of an October deadline to finalize the agreement and resistance is mounting from businesses, which could soon face higher tax bills, as well as from small, but pivotal, low-tax countries such as Ireland, which would see their economic models turned upside down."
Mary Jordan & Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Country music stars, a billionaire, a civil rights icon and the most powerful woman in Congress traveled to [Plains, Georgia,] on Saturday to toast Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter for their 75th wedding anniversary. Yet the biggest surprise was that Bill and Hillary Clinton showed up, too, perhaps because time has eased the couples' past tensions. The marquee names, including singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, CNN founder Ted Turner, former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), gathered in the former high school that the Carters attended 80 years ago. There were relatives and neighbors, poor as well as rich, Republicans as well as Democrats."
Brooke Staggs of the Orange County Register: "A Laguna Hills event center canceled plans to host an 'America First' rally on July 17 after learning the speakers were slated to be ... Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. 'We just want to stay clear of that,' Javad Mirtavoosi, general manager of Pacific Hills Banquet & Event Center, said by phone Friday. Greene's campaign disputed that account of how the cancellation transpired. And they're still selling tickets for a rally, though they're still trying to find an Orange County venue for the same day." MB: Seems to me you have to be pretty far out of touch with reality when you can't admit your hotel reservation was cancelled.
Paul Krugman of the New York Times (July 8) on how we're still paying for Trump's government by temper tantrum. "... why are we facing a semiconductor shortage? Part of the answer is that the pandemic created a weird business cycle. People couldn't go out to eat, so they remodeled their kitchens, and they couldn't go to the gym, so they bought Pelotons. So demand for services is still depressed, while demand for goods has soared. And ... practically every physical good now has a chip in it. But as Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics documents in an important new article, the Trump administration's trade policy made the situation much worse.... The structure of the Trump tariffs was, well, stupid.... Multiple studies have found, the tariffs actually reduced U.S. manufacturing employment. But Trump's trade policy wasn't just poorly conceived. It was also erratic.... Basically, international supply chains don't work very well when the policies of one of the world's key economies are governed by the whims of a leader who gets his ideas from cable TV."
Amanda Morris of the New York Times: "Revelations about [Britney] Spears's wish to end the conservatorship that has bound her decision-making and finances since 2008 have drawn new attention to legal mechanisms known in many states as guardianships. These arrangements are intended to support people who are incapacitated and incapable of making decisions, and some families say guardianships have protected their loved ones, including relatives in comas or with severe disabilities.... But advocates for people with disabilities say guardianships have been used too broadly, including in cases of individuals ... who, the advocates say, do not require such intense or continuous oversight.... Under some guardianships, people can lose the right to marry, vote, drive, or seek and retain employment.... Ending a guardianship is extremely difficult in many places, experts said.... There are less restrictive arrangements that can be used instead of guardianship, including what is known as supported decision-making...."
Beyond the Beltway
Alaska Senate Race: Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "The Alaska Republican Party endorsed GOP Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka on Saturday, breaking from longtime incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski ... in a 58-17 vote.... Trump ... formally endorsed Tshibaka last month...." The Anchorage Daily News story is here.
Marie: This is a tale of two states. One, Virginia, which is led by Democrats, faces up to its racist past & attempts to make amends. The other, Texas, led by Republicans, figures it isn't quite racist enough. ~~~
Texas. David Montgomery of the New York Times: "In a year in which Republican led-states around the country have pared back the ability to vote, the legislative process in Texas has been among the most contentious. 'This is the single greatest coordinated attack on democracy in our lifetimes, and perhaps in the life of this country,' declared Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat and a former U.S. representative, echoing the party's contention that the Republican bills would suppress access to the polls, particularly for members of minority groups and low-income residents.... In fact, studies consistently put Texas near the top of the list of states that make it harder to register and vote, which explains, in part, why the stakes are viewed as so high."
Texas. Isabella Paz of the New York Times: "A 62-year-old Texas man who waited hours to cast a ballot in last year's presidential primary was arrested this week on charges that he had voted illegally. The man, Hervis Earl Rogers of Houston, waited seven hours outside Texas Southern University to vote in the state's presidential primary in March 2020. On Wednesday, he was arrested and charged with two counts of illegal voting, a felony. According to court documents, the charges stem from ballots that Mr. Rogers cast on March 3, 2020, and on Nov. 6, 2018, while he was still on parole and not legally permitted to vote. Tommy Buser-Clancy, [of the ACLU] ... and one of the lawyers representing Mr. Rogers, said that Mr. Rogers thought that he could vote during the primary. 'Mr. Rogers's prosecution really shows the danger of overcriminalizing the election code and the process of participating in a democratic society,' he said. 'In particular, it raises the danger that criminal statutes in the election code are being used to go after individuals who at worse have made an innocent mistake. That's not what any laws should be doing.'... Mr. Rogers was being held at the Montgomery County Jail with bail set at $100,000. He could face upward of 40 years in prison.... Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton, who is under investigation for professional misconduct after he challenged President Biden's win in court, brought the charges against Mr. Rogers." ~~~
~~~ Marie: You may be shocked, shocked to learn that Rogers is Black. (You can't tell from the NYT story, but I saw a photo of him in an article on another site.)
Virginia. Hawes Spencer & Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Four years after a woman was killed and dozens were injured when white nationalists protested the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va., workers removed the statue on Saturday, along with a nearby monument to Stonewall Jackson, another Confederate general. The larger-than-life-sized statue of Lee was hoisted off its granite base shortly after 8 a.m. as a crowd of about 200 looked on. As the flatbed truck carrying the bronze statue rumbled down East Jefferson Street, a toot of the truck's horn prompted cheers and applause. Jackson was removed about two hours later, and shortly after noon, the City Council held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to remove yet another statue, this one of the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The 1919 sculpture has long provoked concern for its depiction of Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who is shown along with the two better-known explorers in a crouching manner that some see as subservient." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: "Virginia is preserving hundreds of acres of tall grasslands and woods overlooking the York River, home to Native Americans over several centuries. More than a half-dozen tribes lived in the area before White settlers forced out many of the Indigenous people. After decades of various owners and plans for the land, it was turned into Machicomoco State Park, a name that means 'a special meeting place' in the Algonquin language. The park is the state's 40th and the only one dedicated to Native Americans. Officials said it has a dual purpose: to honor Native American tribes that trace their ancestral roots to the land and to educate nonnative visitors about the land's importance to Indigenous people who still live in the region."
News Lede
New York Times : "The U.S. men's basketball team was upset by Nigeria on Saturday evening in its first exhibition game ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, a stunning outcome even if the effects are more symbolic than likely to affect the United States' eventual gold medal hopes. Nigeria defeated a Team U.S.A. roster stacked with All-N.B.A. players, 90-87, at Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas. It was the first win by an African team over the U.S. men's national team."
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Reader Comments (8)
It's been a while since a Sunday Sermon.
I called this one Skinning the Constitution:
"No matter how you skin a cat, it’s bound to be hard on the animal.
Though I don’t believe Supreme Court conservatives torture cats, they do seem to enjoy skinning the Constitution, and their last two decisions of the 2020-2021 Court session were clear examples of how they do it.
In both their California and Arizona decisions, the Court’s conservative majority said that when it comes to Free Speech our bank account should speak more loudly than our ballot.
Neither decision was a surprise. Since “Citizens United,” which confirmed the questionable claims that money is speech and that corporations have the rights of persons, and the “Shelby County” decision that neutered Section II of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has consistently elevated the power of money over the power of American voters.
In the California case, using potential harassment as its reason the Court said contributors to the dark money PACS that funneled more than one billion dollars to the last election (open secrets.org), could remain unidentified. For those of us who contribute small amounts to political campaigns and whose names are readily available on public disclosure commission websites, it might be hard to summon much sympathy for the wealthy few who shower money on political campaigns behind a court-sanctioned cloak of anonymity.
In its other decision the Court confirmed an Arizona law that forbid out of precinct voting and required each voter to turn in his or her own ballot, despite clear evidence that Republican states regularly change or eliminate voting locations (votingrightsalliance,org), that the new laws were not in response to any proven fraud, and that the law would effectively disenfranchise tens of thousands of Native American and Latino voters who have no ready transportation(nerf.org).
Supreme Court conservatives are slowly skinning the First and Fifteenth Amendments alive."
(BTW, though my new good friend, the paper's content editor, printed this one, how she makes her editorial decisions still escapes me. But then much does. Like the Branson flight's attraction that Marie mentions at the top. )
@Marie
I didn't check the Googles, but maybe Branson is a Virgin.
If The President is "struggling" with a decision whether or not to send troops to Haiti (NYT above), he really may be losing his compos. But I doubt it; probably just Mr. Crowley engaging in a bit of speculative bullshart.
If the US puts "troops" in Haiti other than using military logistics capabilities in temporary support of humanitarian aid, we would make a classic strategic error. The US has a long history of Caribbean interventions, and we DID learn from experience.
The UN's most recent Haiti peacekeeping force was more than a problem, it was a case of serious malfeasance. But the population saw them as buccaneers, not as occupiers. If the US were to "keep the peace" (i.e., martial law) we would be seen as both occupiers and suckers for the Haitian 1%.
The answer may be to get the UN to shape up and have the Blue Helmets do the job right. Easier said than done, but better than the US trying, once again, to run another chronically disordered country.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Since it's Sunday and we had Ken's rousing sermon plus Patrick's cogent comments here is a frill–-just enough to give you a wee thrill. It appears that the RNC has had a hissy fit over Biden's saying, as he signed some papers, "Obama's name is shorter than mine ." Well, not so fast said some of those numskulls over at the RNC–-evidently Biden can't count–--another indication that he is feeble minded!!!!! They, of course, had to tweet about it, showing their super duper superiority. But alas, they got bombarded when it was pointed out that when Biden signs all those important papers his signature is:
Joseph R. Biden
The tweets that followed covered those back at the RNC ranch with lots of eggs on those faces that can't count.
Meanwhile the high heat in the Pacific Northwest made baby hawks hurl themselves out of their nests. And I wonder if that congress critter who stood on the floor of the senate holding a snowball, laughing at the absurdity of anything like global warming, has changed his mind.
@PD Pepe: As far as I can tell from the Googles, President Obama signed his name "Barack Obama" on important documents. On some official docs, he wrote "Ba O/[ +squiggle]". President Biden, again as far as I can tell, uses "Joe Biden" or "/[long forward slash] R. Biden, Jr." on officials documents. If you count the punctuation in the second signature, then Biden's signature is "longer" than Obama's.
In the meantime, this is the second-dumbest criticism I have heard of a president, the first being the tan suit whine, which may remain the all-time winner.
Yes, Marie. They are idiots. All of them.
I heard a commentator on CNN mention that part of the reason for the show and all the PR for the space launch today is because Branson is looking for more investors. He's only worth a measley $5-6 billion dollars while his fellow space tourists Musk and Bezos have hundreds of billions to play around with. It seems most of the major networks decided to help him out and spent all morning talking about Branson's day trip.
If you have a spare few minutes...@michaelharriot is a writer and poet. He frequently offers threads on Twitter explaining historical events in the context of Black history. He has a sharp wit and his pieces are always enlightening. His thread, on July 9th, in response to Zaila Avante-garde winning the National Spelling Bee is a history lesson well worth the time.