The Commentariat -- Oct. 20, 2014
Internal links, defunct video removed.
Laura Barron-Lopez of the Hill: "The U.S. military is readying a 30-person team for Ebola response inside the U.S., the Defense Department said on Sunday. The team, which will be ready to 'respond quickly, effectively, and safely' in the event of more Ebola cases, is in response to a request by the Department of Health and Human Services." ...
... Richard Preston writes a fascinating -- and heartbreaking -- story for the New Yorker on scientists who are racing to map the Ebola genome. "Since there is no vaccine against or cure for the disease caused by Ebola virus, the only way to stop it is to break the chains of infection." The Ebola virus is mutating, but Preston cites an expert who says it is very unlikely to mutate to a form that could survive in dry air & dust motes. "There are many ways by which Ebola could become more contagious even without becoming airborne." ...
... Laura Barron-Lopez: "A top official at the National Institutes of Health on Sunday said a travel ban on flights to and from West Africa would only make things worse in the fight against Ebola, pushing back against calls from lawmakers to institute one. 'The fact is it would be very, very difficult if we lost control of easily tracking people,' Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" ...
... Wait, Let's Hear from Famed Epidemiologist Dr. Ted Cruz. Laura Barron-Lopez: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Sunday slammed President Obama for not instituting a travel ban on flights to and from West Africa. During an interview on CNN's 'State of Union' show, Cruz said the 'biggest mistake that continues to be made is that we continue to allow open commercial air flights.'... Cruz also accused the administration of treating Ebola as 'another political' situation rather 'than a public health crisis.'" ...
... CW: Worth noting: Ted Cruz is the same "expert" who thinks he has the knowledge to contradict actual experts, yet in the same breath complains that Ron Klain is not a medical genius & Ebola expert so he shouldn't be coordinating efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Cruz thinks his own epidemiological knowledge is greater than that of trained epidemiologists, but he doesn't think anyone else is capable of listening to these experts & acting on their advice -- which is what Klain's new job is.* If you were looking for a picture of a sociopathic megalomaniac, look no further. People like Cruz & Rand Paul, who think their own prejudices & self-serving poses are superior to the best expert knowledge (which, admittedly, is not 100 percent accurate), are the most dangerous people in the world to entrust with any power & responsibility. ...
* As Jonathan Cohn explained in the New Republic last week, "... the primary tasks of a czar are to coordinate action and advice among the different agencies -- and to serve as a reassuring public spokesman. Klain has done that.... He has a reputation for knowing the ins and outs of government and how to make things happen...." ...
... Adam Peck of Think Progress: "It has been nearly a year since Vivek Murthy was nominated by President Obama to serve as the next Surgeon General.... Earlier this year, the NRA launched a campaign to derail Murthy's nomination because he voiced support for expanding background checks for gun purchases. His comments that gun violence was a public health concern raised the ire of the gun lobby and conservative lawmakers despite the fact that every major medical association -- and several former Surgeons General under Republican presidents -- shared the same view.... After the NRA began publicly opposing Murthy's nomination, several of Blunt's Republican colleagues including Rand Paul, John Cornyn and John Barrasso said they too would move to block Murthy's nomination, and Paul placed a hold on the nomination."
... Frances Robles & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "The head of the group that runs the Texas hospital under scrutiny for mishandling Ebola cases apologized Sunday in full-page ads in local Dallas newspapers, saying the hospital 'made mistakes in handling this very difficult challenge.'" ...
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the N.I.H.'s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the hospital had been following guidelines on protection gear from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which were prepared by the World Health Organization for treating people in rustic conditions in Africa. The protocols have been refined to be used in a setting where complicated procedures such as dialysis and incubation take place, Dr. Fauci said in an interview on Sunday on the NBC morning news show 'Meet the Press.'
... Julian Barnes of the Wall Street Journal has a bit more on the new guidelines for protective wear. ...
... CW: To prove how seldom I watch the Sunday shows, I just learned that a year ago George Will moved from ABC News to Fox "News." ...
... Driftglass, however, is on it & is not surprised to hear George Will, the Anti-Science Shill, is over there on Fox "News" quoting "some [unspecified] scientists" that Ebola may be an air-borne virus. ...
... Even Fred Hiatt, the Washington Post's editorial page editor, can be right occasionally: "... in a climate that is so unforgiving, so quick to pounce, so unwilling to accept that mistakes will be made and should be learned from, it's understandable that leaders trap themselves into promising more than they can deliver. A desire for accountability does not have to preclude a certain generosity of spirit, or some empathy for those who are performing public service. We seem to have forgotten that."
Paul Krugman: "Amazon.com, the giant online retailer, has too much power, and it uses that power in ways that hurt America.... Can we trust Amazon not to abuse that power? The Hachette dispute has settled that question: no, we can't."
Simone Sebastian & Ines Bebea of the Washington Post: The NFL promotes a culture that encourages players' partners to keep quiet when the players physically abuse them.
November Elections
Florida. Jake Sherman of Politico: "It should've been an easy year for Rep. Steve Southerland, but instead of waltzing to reelection, the two-term congressman has served up a case study in how to blow a relatively safe Republican seat. He started campaigning late, got crosswise with women by holding a men-only fundraiser, warred behind the scenes with his party over strategy and fretted over anonymous quotes criticizing his reelection effort. In the meantime, a threat emerged in the hard-charging Gwen Graham, who put 36,000 miles on her Chevy Equinox traversing this district and drumming up support among rural Republicans and Democrats alike, appearing with her popular father [Bob Graham], a former governor and senator." CW: Southerland can pull this out. he's cooperating with the NRCC now, & President Obama has about a 30 percent approval rating in the district, according to Sherman.
Maryland. There's Something Wrong Here. Jeff Mason of Reuters: "President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday with a rally to support [Anthony Brown,] the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, but early departures of crowd members while he spoke underscored his continuing unpopularity.... A steady stream of people walked out of the auditorium while he spoke..., and a heckler interrupted his remarks." ...
... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Before Mr. Obama's speech ended, a steady trickle of people had departed, leaving some empty seats. And an immigration activist interrupted the speech, holding a sign demanding that '#Not1more' immigrant be deported. As the crowd bellowed the protester away, Mr. Obama suggested that he 'should have been protesting the folks that are blocking' an immigration overhaul." ...
... Here's the Washington Post report, by Jenna Johnson & Arelis Hernandez: "The president told the largely African American, and wildly enthusiastic, crowd that Republicans want voters to become so cynical that they don't vote.... At times, the crowd punctuated each of his sentences with cheers. It also defended him with boos when a heckler challenged Obama on immigration. It was a level of enthusiasm that Brown has yet to see as he campaigns to become the state's first African American governor and the nation's third to be popularly elected. Some in the crowd said they waited in line for hours to see Obama, not Brown." ...
... According to this Obama for America site, Obama & Brown also spoke to a crowd in an overflow room. (Not sure if this was before or after the speech to 8,000.) Someone who attended the rally wrote in the comments, "The older people were dropping like flies. One person after the next was fainting and most of the people who were leaving early were Seniors. This happens at all his rallies."
... CW: I couldn't find video of the full speech, but here's an AP clip:
... Of course wingers are eating up the Reuters story. I do not find it credible that a "largely African American, and wildly enthusiastic, crowd" of people who "waited in line for hours to see Obama, not Brown" got up & walked out en masse when the President spoke. Were the people who left Republicans? Latinos? Going to a ball game? Or, as the commenter says, overcome by the close crowd? This is just odd.
Pennsylvania. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed. All of Gov. Tom Corbett's black friends are Photoshopped. In fact, everyone on Tom Corbett's Website who isn't Tom Corbett is a stock image, Photoshopped in. A stock image of black lady is Photoshopped into one photo facing one way, in another photo, the same image is facing the other way. But wait! Somebody bothered to change the color of her shirt! CW: I guess the governor was too busy messing up the Keystone State to make friends. ...
... Driftglass: "I guess Ben Carson was unavailable."
Texas. A "5 am Wake-up Call on Voting Rights." Rick Hasen in Slate: "... why did Justice Ginsburg keep the court and court-watchers up all night for a relatively lengthy dissent from an order issued with no majority opinion?... My guess is that she wanted to make an important statement about how the Supreme Court should handle these voting cases going forward and to publicly flag where she believes the court is going wrong....This middle-of-the-night dissent calls attention to what Justice Ginsburg likely sees as a grave injustice.
Wisconsin. Alice Olstein of Think Progress: It turns out, at least according to Dan Sebring, the GOP nominee for Congress in Wisconsin's 4th district, that the real reason the Supremes blocked implementation of Wisconsin's voter ID law for this election is that they don't want Scott Walker to be president. In Right Wing World, everything is a conspiracy. And it doesn't have to make a lick of sense. ...
... CW: Here's another dirty trick, this one coming from the librul media cabal. At the top of today's online Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is this headline: "Obamacare plan rates in Wisconsin to keep pace or decline next year." This would never have happened, BTW, if Chief Justice John Roberts had not decided that most of the ACA was constitutional. It's a plot, all right.
News Ledes
New York Times: "At least one chapter of the Ebola saga neared a close Sunday, as most of the dozens of people who had direct or indirect contact here with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola, had been told by officials that they were no longer at risk of contracting the disease."
New York Times: "Escalating its assistance to Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State in the Syrian town of Kobani, American military aircraft on Sunday dropped ammunition, small arms and medical supplies to resupply the combatants, officials said."
New York Daily News: "Tennessee state Sen. Jim Summerville was arrested twice this weekend -- just one month after he was arrested for public intoxication, police said. The outgoing Republican senator from Dickson, Tenn., has been charged with stalking and assault in separate incidents involving his neighbor, Lt. Todd Christian said.
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Reader Comments (14)
Gov. Tom Corbett, in response to his campaign website fraud, stated "I'll have you know that some of my best friends are Photoshopped black people."
I guess fraud connected with the democratic process is fine 'n dandy as long as Republicans are the ones pulling the fast one.
Not for nothin', but can Photoshopped people vote in Pennsylvania? I guess the photo ID wouldn't be a problem.
@Akhilleus wrote, "Not for nothin', but can Photoshopped people vote in Pennsylvania?"
Not the black ones.
Marie
@Nancy wrote yesterday (& @Haley Simon concurred): "Re President's Ebola weekly address.
"I admire Barack Obama. For many reasons, but most of all for his grace and persistence. For all the crap he has to put up with from the right, I looked at the still of the video of him and fantasized that I would hit Play and hear him say, "You know what? F**k y'all. F**k all y'all stupid paste-eating Fox watchers. You're so smart, you ask Rand Paul or Louie Gohmert to explain Ebola to you."
"We can dream, can't we?"
I think Nancy is on to something here. It would be a good idea for President Obama to make another inspiring red-state/blue-state speech, during which he calls out by name a few of the provocateurs -- Cruz & Paul, McCain & Graham, for instance -- for their stupid, divisive, fear-mongering, war-mongering crazy. This shouldn't be just Nancy's dream; Obama should do it. Enough is enough. And it was enough a long while back. If Obama wants to break the red-state/blue-state divide -- or at least make the divide a bit squishier, he needs to speak truth to wingnuts, in no uncertain terms.
Marie
I just filled out my ballot, in the comfort of my own home. In Washington State, everyone receives their ballot in the mail, and may then mail it back or drop it off at a designated ballot box (my choice, just to be sure!).
On the envelope is an admonishment not to vote the ballot fraudulently, including an explanation of what that consists of. Further, there is a clear warning that transgression is a felony , punishable by up to a $10,000 fine or 5 years in prison. Honestly, would anyone risk THAT to vote the wrong ballot?
The whole voter ID thing is just a transparent attempt to rig elections. It might work for awhile, but as David Atkins pointed out (see yesterday's RC for link), it can't work forever as demographics shift.
Here's a post from Charles Pierce describing some of the latest republican shenanigans in Wisconsin:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Cheesy_Schemes_In_Wisconsin#comments
I appreciate his chronicling this stuff, because my friends in other states think I just make it up.
Truth, Lies, Hopes and Fears. Oh, and Assholes.
Drs. Cruz and Li'l Randy (toldya there'd be asssholes), along with their fear mongering Republican cohort in congress and on Fox, an unstoppable fire hose of fevered feculence, are spreading lies and ignorance in ways that, under other circumstances, might make them liable for fraud or worse.
Rather than invoking the "crying fire in a crowded theater" charge (which they are, in fact, doing), which rests on dubious legal theory, at least according to an article by Trevor Timm in the Atlantic several years ago, it certainly should carry with it the stigma of so perverse and willfully evil an act.
Knowingly causing a panic for personal gain, attempting to stampede the public for reasons that are about as far from altruistic as Rand Paul is from being certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, is beyond immoral. It should be criminal. It's fraud. And I know, they'll all say, well, it's just my opinion. But opinion should be delivered in appropriate context and without hyperbolic theatrics.
Stating something as a fact does not come across as mere opinion, it's sending the message that the person delivering the information is confident of its validity. So, saying that Ebola can be spread by thought waves or that Mexican zombie terrorists are streaming over the border to infect Americans is downright criminal.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the creator of the "crying fire" theory was also known, as related by the Atlantic piece, for the belief "...that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market".
Mr. Timm, as proof of this, these days questionable, maxim, recalls the case of another Republican spreading fear and panic, Shashank Tripathi, Wall St. Master of the Universe, and conservative political consultant, who, at the peak of Hurricane Sandy, was furiously sending out tweets, under the too perfect Twitter handle, @comfortablysmug, saying that Con Ed had killed all power to Manhattan, that democratic governor Cuomo had been trapped in the city but had been taken to a secure location, that all subway lines had been flooded and were inoperable...you get the picture. A lying sack of shit peddling deceit and fear. In other words, a Republican.
Timm points out that Holmes' theory about the power of truth gaining traction with the public is supported by the fact that Tripathi's heinous messages were countered by authoritative voices allowing goodness and truth to win the day. All very nice. Except that, in the case of Hurricane Sandy, there were forces that could be immediately brought to bear against the Republican's lies. Not to mention that the truth of his assertions were easily verifiable. This is a far different scenario than the Ebola panic.
Despite the fact that there are authoritative voices pleading the case of truth and informed decision making, several key players on that side have been found wanting (the CDC, eg) and thus can be effectively, and gleefully, ignored by Fox bots and Republican "experts".
Also, the MSM has been no help in promoting the cause of truth in opposition to ignorance. Without even offering a flea flick to the feckless mewlings of sycophants like Upchuck Todd, we have Slate charging Both Sides Do It when it comes to trying to make hay off Ebola.
Low information readers, even if they never scan the article, are sure to see the lede "Both Democrats and Republicans are Assholes About Ebola" but will never read the fine print. Here, according to Slate is one reason why Democrats are as bad the Republicans: In 2003, when The Decider was lying us into a murderous and costly war, Republicans were pushing everyone to side with the president. Now Democrats are pushing everyone to side with President Obama's calls for a reasonable and sane approach to Ebola.
Wait. What?
Republicans calling for everyone to go along with a trumped up war based on lies is the same as Democrats asking that the public listen to reason regarding a massive public panic that has little basis in fact?
Those two things are the same?
This is why we can't trust the media to help us arrive at Justice Holmes' hope for the victory of truth in the marketplace of ideas. On one hand, we have a 24/7 conservative media juggernaut dedicated to spreading lies and fear, and on the other, an MSM which has decided that both sides are to blame, meaning there is no real truth.
I think we're back to crying fire in a crowded theater. There may not be a First Amendment protection against actually saying terrible things, in all cases, but doing so in the interest of spreading panic is a horrible abuse of the public trust and those engaged in fraud on such a massive scale are real--and abominable--assholes.
Just thinking about the problem conservatives have with truth.
Aside from the purely functional value of being able to discount anything they don't like if it conflicts with their ideology, not to mention the fun of blaming President Obama for everything from static cling to dishpan hands, wrestling with truth begins, I believe, on a much more elemental level.
How else do you account for the fact that, far and away, red state wingers are the most avid consumers and seekers of porn?
According to a recent study, states that have a majority who think of themselves as good Christians and politically conservative tend to be the ones employing search terms like "sex, gay sex (oops!) and XXX".
Looks like we have some kind of psychotic distancing between stated purity and desired prurience. A kind of do what we say, not what we do sort of thing. The people who demand that everyone abide by their puritanical notions don't feel bound in the slightest by those same strictures. Ask David Vitter.
According to aatp.org (Americans Against the Tea Party--and why not?), this finding "...dovetails with claims made by strip club owners that they make up to three times as much during Republican conventions than Democratic conventions or even the Superbowl."
Do tell!
So....fundies and RNC attendees, hornier than drunken football fans? Whoa.
But such a psychological clashing reflects an inability to be honest with oneself, to realize certain truths of life in general, not to mention an indication of what must be a constant state of unease and psychological distress.
And don't forget....these are the people who want to run everything.
So here's a Red State daily agenda I recently came across:
Wake up.
Pray.
Shower.
Surf porn sites.
Prayer breakfast.
Speech at the Rotary Club to denounce godless gays.
Lunch at the Naked Eye (just checking on those dirty sluts, see if they're ready for Jesus).
Back to work.
Surf more porn.
Dinner at different strip club with the members of the Obama is a Blah Traitor Club.
Home to surf more porn.
Lecture kids on dangers of porn and sex. Explain "legitimate rape".
Troll sites attracting liberal traitors.
More porn.
Evening prayers.
Bed.
Dream of gay sex, misogyny, and miscegenation.
And you wonder why they're divorced from the truth?
And psycho?
Re: Blocking flights from West Africa: Just how are we going to do that since there are no direct flights from West Africa to the US, almost all flights are routed through Europe. So we block all flights from Europe? What if they take a trip through Asia to the US. I know: block all flights from everywhere!
MAG mentioned awhile back that even doctors in her neck of the woods are irrational on this.
I suggest that these nuts read "The Masque of The Red Death" about keeping bugs out.
Fully agree on the president standing up and telling the idiots to shut up and sit down.
He has nothing to lose and the uproar over their heroes being told to STFU might cause one or two wingnuts (and plenty of those in the middle) to pay slightly less attention to the ravings of idiots like Cruz and the Littlest Self-certified Ophthalmologist.
I mean, seriously. One person has died and we look, to the rest of the world, like we've lost our minds.
Maybe we have.
If nothing else, it would be great political theater. Because we haven't had enough of that.
My "American President" dream is for President Obama to get one of these elected blowhards to come to the Rose Garden and repeat, in his presence, the nonsense they have said, then explain why it's not really true, then apologize. I know, it's a dream.
If he challenges the nuts, what does that make him? Journalist in chief? I suppose he would have the advantage because, as long as he is in his current job, he will be granted access to the liars.
You can argue that having the President call them on the carpet would raise their status but as I see it, their status in certain circles is already above the president's.
I have a hypothesis on how Ebola will finally kill an American in the US.
Someone will shoot a person who arrived in the US from west Africa 20 years ago and has never been back because the gunman feels the need to protect his family. You know, self defense.
Marvin,
You're not wrong. At least in the outrageous differential of the health catastrophe being propagated by the right and their media slugs, or in the similarly disgusting preponderance of concern for white versus black victims.
Let's run the numbers.
Ebola patients in West Africa: Around 10,000
Ebola deaths in West Africa: Around 7,000
Ebola patients in America: 3
Ebola deaths in America: 1
Which situation does Fox and Ted Cruz and Little Randy and Republican MOC think is more urgent?
Ha!
We don't really have to answer that, do we?
But here's the thing. As with AIDS back when Saint Ronald of (right-bastard-asshole) Reagan and his religious storm troopers were happily watching gay men die, a single white AIDS death (not connected to horrible, awful, irreligious, and immoral gayness) was worth a million black African deaths. In fact, Reagan supporter and conservative mouthpiece Pat Buchanan, and fundie leader and Reagan sycophant Pat Robertson, believed that AIDS was god's punishment for not falling in love with Peggy Noonan.
Can we at least admit that right-wingers in this country count the lives of Exceptional American white conservatives as far more valuable than those of any black person you could name? Which means that good ol' boy murderer and child molester Joe Bob Cuckoo Gun Whacko, with multiple arrests for aggravated assault and racial taunting and sexual perversion, sits on a pedestal in Right Wing world, while Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King and any black woman or man who have ever lived a decent, hard-working, loving life, hug the bottom of the Republican totem pole.
Oh yeah, that's if they haven't already been shot and killed.
10,000 African victims, 7,000 of whom have perished horribly...
2 American victims both of whom are recovering nicely...
But Americans are the VICTIMS of a vicious and dirty African disease brought here by Obama....
Any questions?
Akhileus: no questions. You summed it up rather well!
Why thank ya @Marie and @Haley Simon! (for your nice comments on my fantasy about the President's weekly address.)