The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Washington Post: “Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs. The twisters surprised anxious residents, even as the storm’s eye still loomed. Authorities said there had been 'multiple' deaths after the intense and destructive tornadoes.” MB: I'm still on Florida's emergency-call list, and I received several calls from Lee County, urging me to shelter in place.

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a 'life-threatening' storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota as the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes.... By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.”

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Tuesday
Nov242020

The Commentariat -- Nov. 25, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Criminal Pardons Criminal. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Trump pardoned on Wednesday his former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his conversations with a Russian diplomat and whose prosecution Attorney General William P. Barr tried to shut down. 'It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Ken Vogel & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "It's not just Michael T. Flynn. The White House is weighing a wave of pardons and commutations by President Trump in his final weeks in office, prompting jockeying by a range of clemency seekers and their representatives, including more allies of Mr. Trump.... The end of any presidential administration is a time for intense lobbying related to pardons. But in Mr. Trump's case, it extends to his own personal and political considerations, his lingering bitterness over the Russia inquiry and his transactional approach to governing.... There are at least 13,700 people who have formally applied to the Justice Department for pardons that are listed as 'pending.'... There is open speculation about whether he might go even further in using his clemency power in his self-interest, possibly issuing pre-emptive pardons to members of his family and even himself for federal crimes."

Split Screen. The President & the Pretender. Jenna Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden urged Americans on the eve of Thanksgiving to recommit to fighting the coronavirus, not one another, and to take it upon themselves to make decisions that can save lives. In a somber and at times pleading speech, Biden reflected on other times in history that Americans have suffered, on the pain felt by the families of the more than 260,000 people who have been killed by the virus, on the sacrifices many Americans are making by scaling back or canceling their holiday plans and on the additional deaths that will undoubtedly come in the months ahead. He urged Americans to take 'simple steps' like wearing a mask, limiting the size of gatherings and socially distancing from others.... As Biden called on Americans to come together, President Trump spent the day tweeting a steady stream of grievances and baseless accusations, twice scream-tweeting: 'RIGGED ELECTION!' The president made no mention of the pandemic, which has killed more than 260,000 under his watch, offered no suggestions to Americans conflicted about how to celebrate Thanksgiving safely and publicly expressed no gratitude. Just before Biden began speaking in Wilmington, Del., Trump called the cell phone of his attorney Jenna Ellis, who was at a news conference about voter fraud in Pennsylvania. As she put him on speakerphone, he continued to unleash his grievances over the sometimes scratchy line.... At the event, [Rudy] Giuliani appeared without a mask, even though he had been in close contact with campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn, who tested positive after appearing last week at the RNC with Giuliani. Much of the White House was empty on Wednesday morning, and several advisers said they were no longer paying attention to Trump's antics." ~~~

Dan Diamond of Politico: "Trump administration health officials on Wednesday kicked off a series of planned meetings with the Biden transition team on 'Operation Warp Speed,' the administration's effort to rush Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, according to two people familiar with the hastily scheduled session. The focus of the initial meeting was on Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and distribution, said one person familiar with the agenda, with a goal of bringing President-elect Joe Biden's agency review team up to speed on Operation Warp Speed's workings. A second person familiar with the meeting said it was scheduled about 24 hours after the General Services Administration's announcement on Monday that the transition could proceed and that Wednesday's meeting was intended to be the first of multiple briefings in coming weeks."

Meredith McGraw of Politico: "...Donald Trump's campaign has gone quiet. Some aides are leaving their posts for the holidays. It has been days since Trump's aides held a briefing for the press on its dwindling legal efforts to overturn the election, replaced by Rudy Giuliani's Twitter feed and YouTube videos. The campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, hasn't tweeted himself for almost a week. A senior campaign official described the campaign manager, Bill Stepien, as 'MIA.'... But back in Washington, Trump is clinging to the White House, attending to the bare minimum of presidential duties and improbably boasting on Twitter that he 'will soon prevail!' in the already-settled presidential election. In other words, he's soldiering on -- publicly, at least. Almost everyone else is going home."

"In Wisconsin, somebody has to be indefinitely confined in order to vote absentee. In the past there were 20,000 people. This past election there were 120,000...and Republicans were locked out of the vote counting process." @VicToensing @newsmax -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, November 24

In case anyone needed a reminder that Trump simply cannot be believed on the election, this is it. He is casting doubt on Wisconsin's results, but every part of his claim is demonstrably false. -- Salvator Rizzo of the Washington Post

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The pace of first-time filings for jobless claims picked up last week, with the jobs market showing increasing vulnerability to the coronavirus spread. Claims totaled 778,000 for the week ended Nov. 21, ahead of the 733,000 expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and up from 742,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday."

Lauren Leatherby of the New York Times: "For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak hit the United States, the country has added more than one million cases in each of the past two consecutive weeks. Covid deaths, which lag reported cases by weeks, are also at a level not seen since the spring."

~~~~~~~~~~

Joe Is Being President Because We Don't Have One. John Bowden of the Hill: "President-elect Joe Biden will deliver a Thanksgiving address on Wednesday, his White House transition team announced in a press release. A news release Tuesday evening indicated that the live-streamed speech would touch on the 'shared sacrifices Americans are making this holiday season'' while delivering a message 'that we can and will get through the current crisis together.'"

Alana Wise & Barbara Sprunt of NPR: "President-elect Joe Biden stressed a return to multilateralism Tuesday as he introduced key national security and foreign policy appointees and nominees for his incoming White House Cabinet, moving forward with the traditional transition process.... The group joined Biden in his announcement on Tuesday. Biden hailed the group, saying the team gathered behind him 'reflects that America is back.'... Following Biden's remarks, each nominee delivered introductory comments.... Four of the six roles Biden announced require Senate confirmation. [John] Kerry and Jake Sullivan, tapped for national security adviser, will not need such a vote." You can watch the event here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The Washington Post's live election updates Tuesday are here. They are free to non-subscribers. "Pennsylvania certified Biden's victory on Tuesday, effectively handing him 20 electoral votes while further dashing Trump's hopes of overturning a loss in a key battleground state. After receiving official confirmation of the presidential vote totals from all 67 Pennsylvania counties, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D) formally certified the result for president and vice president, a news release from her office stated. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) then signed a certificate selecting Biden's slate of electors, which was submitted to the federal government...." ~~~

~~~ "The Dow Jones industrial average reached 30,000 points for the first time in history, after Trump authorized the government to begin the transition processes and Biden signaled his pick for treasury secretary -- steps Wall Street interpreted as further progress in stabilizing the nation's economy." MB: Wall Street is jumping for joy at the prospect of being rid of you, Donnie Boy. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Investors of all political persuasions say they are ready to turn the page on what was a profitable but extraordinarily politicized and stressful period for the financial markets, where they had to contend with an unpredictable force whose pronouncements frequently moved stock prices. For the most part, investors supported Trump administration policies; it was the president's unpredictable tweeting they found hard to stomach. In the past four years, Mr. Trump used his bully pulpit to praise and berate companies, escalate a trade war with China and signal the economy's strengths ahead of official announcements. In the process, his Twitter account became a singular source of market volatility." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Last Days of the Kaiser

Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump briefly emerged Tuesday to tout the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking 30,000 for the first time ever, and then vanished after a minute without taking questions.... Trump bragged about the stock market's latest milestone.... Trump has repeatedly claimed that if Biden won the election, the stock market and the economy would 'crash.' But the Dow's record-setting rally came weeks after news outlets called the race for Biden, and days after the president-elect started revealing the top officials who would occupy his Cabinet."

Trump's Last Stand for the Confederacy ... and Slavery. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "For what may be the last policy fight of his administration, [Trump is] going to bat one last time for the Confederacy. At issue is the National Defense Authorization Act, the yearly bill that funds America's military colossus. For 58 straight years it has never failed to pass; this year's version spends $740 billion.... But included in the bill -- with the support of all Democrats and some Republicans -- is a provision to rename the 10 military installations still named after Confederate officers, people who waged war on the United States of America to maintain the ability of wealthy White southerners to enslave other human beings. President Trump has said that if the renaming provision is not removed, he will veto the defense bill.... Republicans are now urging Democrats to agree to remove the provision so as not to make the petulant toddler in the White House too upset." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Lazy, Good-for-Nothing Twitter King. Karen Yourish & Larry Buchanan of the New York Times: "In the three weeks since Election Day, President Trump's most visible presence has been on Twitter. Since Nov. 3, he has posted some 550 tweets -- about three-quarters of which attempted to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election results. In total, the president attacked the legitimacy of the election more than 400 times since Election Day, though his claims of fraud have been widely debunked.... Mr. Trump's public calendar, meanwhile, has been remarkably light, especially relative to his pre-election schedule, when he often attended multiple campaign rallies in a single day.... He has managed to maintain his weekend golf plans at his club in Virginia, as he has done most weekends in Washington.... Mr. Trump also used Twitter twice to take care of personnel issues, firing the defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, and the top official in charge of election cybersecurity, Christopher Krebs. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kaitlan Collins & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Three weeks after the election, the White House has given formal approval for President-elect Joe Biden to receive the President's Daily Brief, a White House official told CNN Tuesday. Coordination on when Biden will receive his first briefing is currently underway, but the move is another step toward a transition of power that ... Donald Trump held up for weeks after it was clear he lost the 2020 election. It follows a formal notice by the General Services Administration Monday night that the formal transition of government can proceed." ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Herb & Kristen Holmes of CNN: On "Friday, November 20..., Donald Trump's lawsuits challenging the election result were going nowhere, Georgia was certifying its hand recount for Biden, and both Michigan and Pennsylvania were preparing to certify their elections early the next week. So GSA officials gave the White House a heads up that if Michigan and Pennsylvania certified their elections as expected, [GSA Administrator Emily] Murphy would formally start the transition for Biden in a process known as ascertainment, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.... The message to the White House on Friday set up Murphy's decision to finally send the letter to Biden on Monday saying he could begin the transition -- as well as an effort inside the West Wing preparing Trump for his administration's first official acknowledgment of his defeat, something the President has refused to accept.... GSA did not give the Biden transition team a heads up it was planning to send a letter. But a little more than an hour after Michigan certified its election, Murphy sent a letter to Biden saying that he could begin the transition. The letter failed to refer to Biden as President-elect, nor did it say she explicitly was granting ascertainment."

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "While Mr. Trump's mission to subvert the election has so far failed at every turn, it has nevertheless exposed deep cracks in the edifice of American democracy and opened the way for future disruption and perhaps disaster. With the most amateurish of efforts, Mr. Trump managed to freeze the passage of power for most of a month, commanding submissive indulgence from Republicans and stirring fear and frustration among Democrats as he explored a range of wild options for thwarting Mr. Biden.... Important, legal and political experts said, is the way Mr. Trump identified perilous pressure points within the system.... In [some] scenarios, it might not be such a long-shot gambit for a losing candidate to attempt to halt certification of results through low-profile state and county boards, or to bestir state legislators to appoint a slate of electors or to pressure political appointees in the federal government to block a presidential transition. Indeed, Mr. Trump managed to intrude on normal election procedures in several states."

Trump Secret Sauce Ingredient: Brainwash Juice. Jacob Pramuk of CNBC: "... according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll..., only 3% of Trump voters surveyed said they accept Biden's victory as legitimate, the survey released Monday found. A staggering 73% of respondents consider Trump the legitimate winner. Another 24% said they are not sure." ~~~

~~~ Because the Grifters. David Corn of Mother Jones: "I've heard from Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Lara Trump. I've heard from Rudy Giuliani, Ronna McDaniel, and Newt Gingrich. And I've heard from Donald Trump. Over and over again. The 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The left-wing mob, the Democrats, the fake news media -- they successfully plotted together to pull off the greatest political heist of all time. Trump really won. But fake ballots were counted. Real ballots were trashed. American democracy was undone. The people have been robbed of their rightful president.... Each day I have received a steady stream of emails signed by Trump or one of his minions. These missives all request money for Trump's so-called 'Election Defense Fund' -- that is, his effort to overturn the election results and retain power -- and they are obvious acts of grift. Though they generally ask for small amounts -- from $5 to $45 -- the fine print on the donation page notes that unless you kick in about $8,000, the money goes to Trump's political operation and the Republican National Committee.... This barrage is doing more than squeezing cash out of Trump fanatics. For the recipients, it is solidifying a dangerous message: the election was illegitimate." ~~~

~~~ Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "By lodging baseless claims of voter fraud and embracing -- or declining to reject -- outlandish conspiracy theories about the electoral process, Trump and his allies have normalized the kind of post-election assault on institutions typically seen in less-developed democracies, according to historians, former administration officials, and lawmakers and diplomats from across the political spectrum.... Trump has been undeterred by the cascade of court losses, and his allies have continued to make the case that the election was stolen from him. Unable to change the results with lawsuits or by persuading state lawmakers to overturn the will of voters, Trump has resorted to pressing the last avenues of protest that remain open to him.... The lack of pushback from Republican lawmakers signaled a willingness by them to accept Trump's post-election denial despite the danger it poses, said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University."

Jonathan Swan & Zachary Basu of Axios: "President Trump has told confidants he plans to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts, two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions tell Axios.... Sources with direct knowledge of the discussions said Flynn will be part of a series of pardons that Trump issues between now and when he leaves office." The New York Times story is here.

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is part of the team of ... Donald Trump's administration working to make life difficult for the incoming administration. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that there is about $455 billion in unspent funds from the CARES Act, which Congress passed to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic.... [According to Bloomberg,] 'moving the unspent money [into the general fund, as Mnuchin plans t do,] will make it virtually impossible for [Janet] Yellen, if confirmed by the Senate as Treasury secretary, to deploy on her own. The Biden transition team last week called Mnuchin's clawing back of unspent money from the Fed "deeply irresponsible."'" The Bloomberg story is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "Just as star anchor Sean Hannity and other high-profile Fox News figures were due to be deposed about their promotion of a bogus conspiracy theory about the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, the cable network last month threw in the towel and moved to settle a lawsuit brought by Rich's parents that threatened to expose a wealth of new details about one of its most embarrassing screw-ups in recent years. The settlement between Fox News and Rich's parents, Joel and Mary Rich, was publicly disclosed Tuesday, but with no details about the terms. But legal sources tell Yahoo News that the settlement includes a lucrative seven figure payment to the Rich family consistent with the size of payouts Fox News and related corporate entities have made in other cases that have brought them negative publicity. The hastily arranged settlement also had the benefit of sparing Hannity and other Fox News figures -- including network president Jay Wallace and contributor Newt Gingrich -- the ordeal of being grilled under oath about claims in a series of broadcasts in May 2017 that blamed the leak of DNC emails to WikiLeaks on Rich."


Arkansas. When a Pardon Doesn't Matter. John Moritz of Arkansas Online: "The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Democrat Jimmie Wilson is ineligible to serve in the state Legislature due to decades-old misdemeanor convictions in federal court, wiping out Wilson's victory at the polls earlier this month in House District 12. Wilson, a former state lawmaker who was convicted of selling mortgaged crops and illegal use of farm loans, had argued that a pardon he received from President Bill Clinton in 2001 removed any barriers to his potential return to the Legislature.... After the ruling Tuesday, state GOP chairman Doyle Webb released a statement declaring [Republican David] Tollett the winner in the District 12 race. Tollett will become the first Republican to represent the district -- which is centered in the Democratic-stronghold of Phillips County -- since Reconstruction, Webb said."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The United States logged nearly 2,100 coronavirus-related fatalities on Tuesday, marking the deadliest day in more than six months. Record numbers of fatalities were also reported in nine states -- Maine, Alaska, Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Washington, Ohio and Oregon -- according to data tracked by The Washington Post. Tuesday's tally of 2,092 deaths is the highest the country has seen since May 6, when 2,611 deaths were reported."

Comments Off
Monday
Nov232020

The Commentariat -- Nov. 24, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Alana Wise & Barbara Sprunt of NPR: "President-elect Joe Biden stressed a return to multilateralism Tuesday as he introduced key national security and foreign policy appointees and nominees for his incoming White House Cabinet, moving forward with the traditional transition process.... The group joined Biden in his announcement on Tuesday. Biden hailed the group, saying the team gathered behind him 'reflects that America is back.'... Following Biden's remarks, each nominee delivered introductory comments.... Four of the six roles Biden announced require Senate confirmation. [John] Kerry and Jake Sullivan, tapped for national security adviser, will not need such a vote." You can watch the event here.

The Washington Post's live election updates Tuesday are here. They are free to non-subscribers. "Pennsylvania certified Biden's victory on Tuesday, effectively handing him 20 electoral votes while further dashing Trump's hopes of overturning a loss in a key battleground state. After receiving official confirmation of the presidential vote totals from all 67 Pennsylvania counties, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D) formally certified the result for president and vice president, a news release from her office stated. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) then signed a certificate selecting Biden's slate of electors, which was submitted to the federal government.... ~~~

~~~ "The Dow Jones industrial average reached 30,000 points for the first time in history, after Trump authorized the government to begin the transition processes and Biden signaled his pick for treasury secretary -- steps Wall Street interpreted as further progress in stabilizing the nation's economy." MB: Wall Street is jumping for joy at the prospect of being rid of you, Donnie Boy. ~~~

~~~ Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Investors of all political persuasions say they are ready to turn the page on what was a profitable but extraordinarily politicized and stressful period for the financial markets, where they had to contend with an unpredictable force whose pronouncements frequently moved stock prices. For the most part, investors supported Trump administration policies; it was the president's unpredictable tweeting they found hard to stomach. In the past four years, Mr. Trump used his bully pulpit to praise and berate companies, escalate a trade war with China and signal the economy's strengths ahead of official announcements. In the process, his Twitter account became a singular source of market volatility."

The Lazy, Good-for-Nothing Twitter King. Karen Yourish & Larry Buchanan of the New York Times: "In the three weeks since Election Day, President Trump's most visible presence has been on Twitter. Since Nov. 3, he has posted some 550 tweets -- about three-quarters of which attempted to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election results. In total, the president attacked the legitimacy of the election more than 400 times since Election Day, though his claims of fraud have been widely debunked.... Mr. Trump's public calendar, meanwhile, has been remarkably light, especially relative to his pre-election schedule, when he often attended multiple campaign rallies in a single day.... He has managed to maintain his weekend golf plans at his club in Virginia, as he has done most weekends in Washington.... Mr. Trump also used Twitter twice to take care of personnel issues, firing the defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, and the top official in charge of election cybersecurity, Christopher Krebs.

Trump's Last Stand for the Confederacy ... and Slavery. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "For what may be the last policy fight of his administration, [Trump is] going to bat one last time for the Confederacy. At issue is the National Defense Authorization Act, the yearly bill that funds America's military colossus. For 58 straight years it has never failed to pass; this year's version spends $740 billion.... But included in the bill -- with the support of all Democrats and some Republicans -- is a provision to rename the 10 military installations still named after Confederate officers, people who waged war on the United States of America to maintain the ability of wealthy White southerners to enslave other human beings. President Trump has said that if the renaming provision is not removed, he will veto the defense bill.... Republicans are now urging Democrats to agree to remove the provision so as not to make the petulant toddler in the White House too upset."

~~~~~~~~~~

Real Political News

Short People Got Reason to Live! Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Former Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet L. Yellen is expected to be named Joe Biden's treasury secretary, according to three people in close communication with aides to the president-elect. Yellen, who was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve by President Obama, would be the first woman to lead the Department of Treasury." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

Welcome Back, USA! Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. plans to name several top national security picks on Tuesday, his transition office said, including the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the first woman to head the intelligence community and a former secretary of state, John Kerry, to be his climate czar. At an event in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden will announce plans to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, his transition office said, and Avril Haines to be his director of national intelligence. He intends to name Mr. Kerry as a special presidential envoy on climate. The transition office also confirmed reports on Sunday night that Mr. Biden will nominate Antony J. Blinken to be secretary of state and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser. Mr. Biden will also nominate Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be ambassador to the United Nations and restore the job to cabinet-level status, giving Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman, a seat on his National Security Council. Mr. Kerry will also be given a seat on the council, although his job is not a cabinet position and does not require Senate confirmation. The emerging team reunites a group of former senior officials from the Obama administration, most of whom worked closely together at the State Department and the White House and in several cases have close ties to Mr. Biden dating back years. They are well known to foreign diplomats around the world and share a belief in the core principles of the Democratic foreign policy establishment -- international cooperation, strong U.S. alliances and leadership but a wariness of foreign interventions after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

U.S. Senate. Marianne Levine & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein [Calif.] plans to step down as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, after facing blowback from progressives for her handling of Amy Coney Barrett's contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearing.... 'After serving as the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee for four years, I will not seek the chairmanship or ranking member position in the next Congress,' the California Democrat said in a statement. 'I look forward to continuing to serve as a senior Democrat on the Judiciary, Intelligence, Appropriations and Rules committees as we work with the Biden administration.'... Members of her own party had expressed concern before Barrett's hearing that the 87-year-old wouldn't be aggressive enough. Her approach to the battle over filling the seat left by the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg soon confirmed many Democrats' fears, particularly after she praised Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his handling of the process and gave him a hug at the conclusion." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suspect it wasn't easy for Feinstein to step down. But it is what real adults do when they get a vote of no-confidence.

GM Checks Rear-view Mirror. Sees Trump. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "General Motors turned its back Monday on the Trump administration's legal fight to nullify California's strict fuel economy rules, signaling that it was ready to work with President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to reduce climate-warming emissions from cars and trucks. The decision by Mary Barra, the General Motors chief executive, to withdraw her company's support for Trump administration efforts to strip California of its ability to set its own fuel efficiency standards was a striking reversal. It was also a signal that corporate America is moving on from President Trump." The AP's story is here.

Crash of the Clown Car

** Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "The General Services Administration has informed President-elect Joe Biden and his team that the Trump administration is ready to begin the transition process. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy sent a letter to Biden on Monday saying that Biden would have access to federal resources and services to facilitate a presidential transition, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. Trump in two tweets wrote that he had asked Murphy to being the transition, though he did not concede his loss to Biden and said he would keep fighting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Hours later, [Trump] tried to play down the significance of Ms. Murphy's action, tweeting that it was simply 'preliminarily work with the Dems' that would not stop efforts to change the election results.... Ms. Murphy said she made her decision on Monday because of 'recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results,' most likely referring to the certification of votes by election officials in Michigan and a nearly unbroken string of court decisions that have rejected Mr. Trump's challenges in several states.... In conversations in recent days that intensified Monday morning, top aides -- including Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel; and Jay Sekulow, the president's personal lawyer -- told the president the transition needed to begin.... By late Monday, Mr. Biden's team had already taken its first steps toward a more formal transition, moving its website, buildbackbetter.com, to its new home on government servers made possible by Ms. Murphy's decision: Buildbackbetter.gov." ~~~

~~~ Marie: This is kinda funny. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "In her letter, Murphy also denied that she had been under pressure from the White House to delay the process.... Trump ... said [in a tweet], 'I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.'" Are we supposed to believe it's just a miraculous coincidence that Trump recommended Miss Emily to ascertain Biden as President-elect at the same moment she made the independent judgment to do so? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. According to Flegenheimer & Haberman of the NYT (also linked below), "... after the administrator of the General Services Administration formally designated President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the apparent winner of the election, Mr. Trump blessed the move on Twitter while still vowing to move ahead with legal challenges." So Trump's "recommendation" was after-the-fact & nothing more than a face-saving effort to pretend he had authorized Murphy finally to do her job. ~~~

~~~ Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post have the inside story on how Trump finally agreed to give the green light for the transition to proceed. Pathetic old fool.

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Michigan Board of Canvassers voted Monday to certify the state's election results, effectively awarding the state's 16 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden, who defeated President Trump with a margin of more than 154,000 votes. The decision dealt another blow to Trump's unprecedented effort to undo Biden's win by attempting to delay the certification of the election results in key states. Three out the four board members -- including one Republican -- voted for certification, capping a dramatic political dispute that had roiled the state. The Michigan canvassing board had never before refused to certify a statewide vote.... In the end, one of the Republican board members, Aaron Van Langevelde, joined the two Democratic board members in voting to certify the vote.... 'There's a lot of misunderstanding about this board's role and the power that we have and the authority that we have,' Van Langevelde said during the meeting. 'The law regarding certification gives us a clear duty,' he added later. 'There's nothing in the law that gives me the authority to request an audit as part of the certification process.'... The lone holdout was GOP board member Norman Shinkle, who told The Washington Post in an interview last week that he was leaning toward seeking a delay. Shinkle cited a debunked conspiracy theory aired by Trump that voting machines made by a company called Dominion deleted thousands of Trump votes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ "It's a Felony." Profs. Samuel Bagenstos & Justin Levitt in a Detroit Free Press op-ed: "A canvassing board may not legally refuse to certify an election where no legitimate evidence undermines valid ballots. Michigan courts have repeatedly rejected wild claims of election fraud or improprieties as 'incorrect and not credible.'... Should a member of the state canvassing board seek to misuse their authority, that obstruction won't actually deliver a different result. First, understand what state canvassers do: certification just involves adding county tallies and declaring a winner. Michigan law provides a separate space to review the election process -- a post-election audit, which does not delay or stop certification. The canvassers have one job. State courts can step in to make sure it gets done.... Any refusal to certify an election based on meritless innuendo would likely violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 11(a) makes it illegal to 'willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, and report' lawful votes.... It's a felony. And that may help explain why you've rarely heard of officials refusing to certify an election."

Tom Hamburger & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A group of leading GOP national security experts -- including former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge -- urged congressional Republicans on Monday to demand President Trump concede the election and immediately begin the transition to the incoming Biden administration.' President Trump's refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the U.S. confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,' said a statement signed by more than 100 GOP luminaries. The signers included Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who served as homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush, former CIA director Michael Hayden and John D. Negroponte, who served as director of national intelligence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Portman Joins the Slow Roll. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Monday said there is no proof of widespread voter fraud that could change President-elect Joe Biden;s lead in the vote counts of key battleground states and urged the nation to 'resolve any outstanding questions and move forward.' Portman, who is poised to become the next chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also called on the General Services Administration to release funds to the Biden transition team to help prepare for Biden's inauguration in January." MB: This is ridiculous. It's as if Republicans feel they must coax Trump out of his hidey-hole (Trump has no public appearances on his schedule again Monday) by offering up, one-by-one, teeny incentives for him to admit something that is an obvious fait accompli. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carl Bernstein's Fowl List -- Chickens? Turkeys? Both.
In Three Tweets.

I'm not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens--in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyists, W. House aides--have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness to be POTUS. (1/3)

The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: Portman, Alexander, Sasse, Blunt, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Thune, Romney, Braun, Young, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rubio, Grassley, Burr, Toomey, McSally, Moran, Roberts, Shelby. (2/3)

With few exceptions, their craven public silence has helped enable Trump's most grievous conduct -- including undermining and discrediting the US the electoral system. (3/3)

Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "While ... Donald Trump has publicly praised his legal team's efforts, he has privately expressed frustration with the slapdash nature of his election defense fight, according to several people familiar with the discussions. The president has been complaining to aides and allies about his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and recently-removed lawyer Sidney Powell's over-the-top performances at a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters last week, these people said. Both Giuliani and Powell have continued to make conspiratorial and baseless claims about widespread voter fraud, for which they have provided no evidence. The president is concerned his team is comprised of 'fools that are making him look bad,' said one source familiar with the thinking." MB: Actually, Donald, you've done an excellent job of making yourself look bad. The clown car you chartered was driving down the road you told them to take.

"Just Bizarre and Weak." Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump's campaign filed a narrow appeal Sunday in its long-shot bid to have Trump declared the victor in the presidential race in Pennsylvania despite lagging more than 81,000 votes behind President-elect Joe Biden. With Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar set to certify the results of the election as soon as Monday, the Trump campaign filed an emergency motion with the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals asking that court to compel a lower court to accept a redrafted complaint contending that election officials excluded observers as part of an effort to process thousands of flawed mail-in ballots that largely favored Biden. The campaign did not seek an immediate order from the 3rd Circuit to block certification of Biden as the winner. Instead, the motion filed with the court Sunday evening said the campaign might seek decertification of the results 'if already certified.' Several prominent legal experts expressed puzzlement Sunday at the Trump lawyers'approach." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Trump can't get the best GOP lawyers, he apparently can't get the best legal secretaries, either: a CNN reporter said the appeal was full of misspellings & other errors. ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post posits what it was about Sidney Powell that got her thrown under the very clown car in which she had been riding shotgun: "It wasn't that Powell said things that were obviously untrue. Giuliani himself delineated a whole battery of nonsense at last week's news briefing.... It also wasn't that Powell's claims themselves met with TrumpJoni Ernst (R-Iowa) complained that Powell had accused "Democratic & Republican candidates" of rigging their elections.] 'Sidney Powell accusing Governor Brian Kemp [R] of a crime on television yet being unwilling to go on TV and defend and lay out the evidence that she supposedly has, this is outrageous conduct,' [Chris] Christie said.... The other obvious failure on Powell's part was that she was unable to give Fox News adequate cover to present her claims uncritically. She had been slated to appear on Tucker Carlson's show last week but backed out after Carlson asked her for evidence to support her claims." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The underlying rule seems to be that only Democrats cheat, especially the Black ones.


** Rick Hasen in a New York Times op-ed: "By the time President-elect Biden takes the oath of office, millions of people will wrongly believe he stole the election. At least 300 times since Election Day, Mr. Trump has gone straight to his followers on social media to declare the election rigged or stolen and to claim, despite all evidence to the contrary, himself as the real victor. Mr. Trump's false claims will delegitimize a Biden presidency among his supporters.... Mr. Trump's litigation strategy also will make things worse when it comes to voting rights.... Following the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals courts now routinely say that federal courts should be deferential when states engage in balancing voting rights -- even during a pandemic -- against a state's interests in election administration and avoiding fraud, even when states come forward with no evidence of fraud. Under the so-called 'Purcell principle,' courts increasingly allow states to make voting harder.... The worst appears yet to come. In one of the lawsuits that remains technically alive at the Supreme Court out of Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump and his allies have advanced a muscular version of something that's become known as the 'independent state legislature' doctrine. Taken to its extreme, the doctrine says that state legislatures have complete authority to set election rules.... At stake is whether this country continues ... to allow elections to be decided by a majority of voters." ~~~

~~~ Wendy Weiser & Daniel Weiner in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: "In the weeks before Election Day, the [Supreme C]ourt weighed in on more than a dozen cases in a way that many portrayed as a mixed bag for voting rights -- allowing voting expansions to stand in some cases and sharply curtailing them in others. But that scorecard approach obscures the principal effect of the court's rulings: In all of the cases, regardless of whether the Trump campaign won or lost, the justices quietly -- yet dramatically -- rolled back Americans' voting rights in ways that could do permanent harm -- that is, unless Congress steps in.... In multiple cases, and often without a shred of explanation, the Supreme Court affirmatively stepped in to make it harder to vote.... These decisions likely disenfranchised tens of thousands of Americans this year, disproportionately people of color.... Second, and even more dangerous, five of the court's justices have signed onto opinions endorsing a brand new legal theory -- that the Constitution gives state legislatures virtually untrammeled authority to set voting rules for federal elections, no matter how arbitrary or unreasonable.... The best way to remedy the Supreme Court's betrayal of its responsibility to safeguard American democracy is for Congress to do it instead. Even the Supreme Court agrees." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I believe it was Mrs. Bea McCrabbie who mentioned that the cure for all this tomfoolery is a right-to-vote amendment to the Constitution.

The First Post-Mortem of the Biggest Turkey's Tenure Is All About ... Turkeys. Matt Flegenheimer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald Trump "preferred the parts of the job that combined pomp, splendor and a world amenable to his decisions. In other words, he always seemed to genuinely enjoy pardoning turkeys.... He has generally relished the aspects of the job that allow him to preside over something, fowl-based or otherwise -- forums well suited to a leader for whom attention can seem less a wish than a psychic need. The trappings and the title have plainly pleased him the most, placing him at the center of major celebrations for the mere fact of being president. He has marveled at the Bastille Day parade in Paris, taken to the 'beautiful phones' at the White House and delighted in serving fast food to college football champions.... While he has effectively abdicated any leadership role in steering the nation's coronavirus response -- generally processing its devastation this year through the lens of how the pandemic would affect him politically -- the president plans to see to it that the turkey pardon proceeds as scheduled on Tuesday."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "Anthony S. Fauci ... urged Americans on Monday to get a vaccine when one is available. During a conversation with The Washington Post, Fauci praised pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca's announcement that their coronavirus vaccine candidate is up to 90 percent effective. 'I can tell you that when my turn comes up and the FDA says this is safe and effective, I myself will get vaccinated and I will recommend that my family gets vaccinated,' Fauci said."

Politico: California "Gov. Gavin Newsom [D] and his family are quarantining for 14 days after learning three of their children were exposed to a California Highway Patrol officer who has tested positive for Covid-19, his office announced late Sunday night. The entire family tested negative Sunday for the coronavirus, according to press secretary Jesse Melgar. The family waited until Sunday to take their most recent test under the advice of health professionals, presumably to ensure enough time for the standard incubation period after exposure."

Pope Francis Lambastes the Trump/GOP "Culture"

AFP: "Pope Francis has taken aim at protests against coronavirus restrictions, contrasting them with the 'healthy indignation' seen in demonstrations against racism after the death of George Floyd. 'Some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions -- as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom,' he said in a new book. He railed against those who claim 'that being forced to wear a mask is an unwarranted imposition by the state'. 'You'll never find such people protesting the death of George Floyd, or joining a demonstration because there are shantytowns where children lack water or education, or because there are whole families who have lost their income,' he said. 'On such matters they would never protest; they are incapable of moving outside of their own little world of interests.'"

Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "In a meeting initiated by the Vatican, Pope Francis on Monday hosted a group of NBA players to hear about their social justice activism at a time of deep American polarization. The meeting, with five players who have been vocal on matters ranging from White privilege to police violence, offers a glimpse into what aspects of U.S. society the pontiff feels are most important. The meeting also shows the reach of sports activism in the United States, where athletes, many of them Black, have become some of the highest-profile proponents for social change.... Notably, Francis in September elected not to meet with ... a delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after Pompeo infuriated Vatican officials by criticizing the church's diplomacy with China.... According to the National Basketball Players Association, a Vatican official had reached out to set up the meeting. Three players' union executives met with the pope, as did players Kyle Korver, Sterling Brown, Marco Belinelli, Anthony Tolliver and Jonathan Isaac." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: I haven't been paying attention. Is there a "Francis isn't the real pope" faction out there? I'd be surprised if there wasn't.

News Lede

New York Times: "David N. Dinkins, a barber's son who became New York City's first Black mayor on the wings of racial harmony but who was turned out by voters after one term over his handling of racial violence in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, died on Monday night at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 93."

Comments Off
Sunday
Nov222020

The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2020

Editor's Note: Sadly, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie has retired to an undisclosed location not far from the home of the Constant Weader. I am therefore taking over management of the site and will continue their acerbic but truthful review of daily political news. I shall forever miss & be grateful for their tireless assistance.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

Afternoon Update:

** Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "The General Services Administration has informed President-elect Joe Biden and his team that the Trump administration is ready to begin the transition process. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy sent a letter to Biden on Monday saying that Biden would have access to federal resources and services to facilitate a presidential transition, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. Trump in two tweets wrote that he had asked Murphy to being the transition, though he did not concede his loss to Biden and said he would keep fighting." ~~~

~~~ Marie: This is kinda funny. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "In her letter, Murphy also denied that she had been under pressure from the White House to delay the process.... Trump ... said [in a tweet], 'I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and hav told my team to do the same.'" Are we supposed to believe it's just a miraculous coincidence that Trump recommended Miss Emily to ascertain Biden as President-elect at the same moment she made the independent judgment to do so?

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Michigan Board of Canvassers voted Monday to certify the state's election results, effectively awarding the state's 16 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden, who defeated President Trump with a margin of more than 154,000 votes. The decision dealt another blow to Trump's unprecedented effort to undo Biden's win by attempting to delay the certification of the election results in key states. Three out the four board members -- including one Republican -- voted for certification, capping a dramatic political dispute that had roiled the state. The Michigan canvassing board had never before refused to certify a statewide vote.... In the end, one of the Republican board members, Aaron Van Langevelde, joined the two Democratic board members in voting to certify the vote.... 'There's a lot of misunderstanding about this board's role and the power that we have and the authority that we have,' Van Langevelde said during the meeting. 'The law regarding certification gives us a clear duty,' he added later. 'There's nothing in the law that gives me the authority to request an audit as part of the certification process.'... The lone holdout was GOP board member Norman Shinkle, who told The Washington Post in an interview last week that he was leaning toward seeking a delay. Shinkle cited a debunked conspiracy theory aired by Trump that voting machines made by a company called Dominion deleted thousands of Trump votes." ~~~

~~~ Breaking! Republican May Act Like Normal Person. Annie Grayer of CNN: "One of the two Republican members of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers signaled that he will certify the election results. In his first public comments since the election, Aaron Van Langevelde gave a strong signal that he will vote to certify. 'I think we are pretty limited today. I think we have a duty to do this,' Van Langevelde said." ~~~

     ~~~ ** Breaking! And He Did! CNN: "The Michigan Board of State Canvassers certified results for the 2020 presidential election at a Monday meeting. The state's 16 electors will now go to the winner of the popular of the vote of the state, Joe Biden." According to MSNBC, the vote was 3-0 with one GOP member abstaining. (MB: I assume the abstaining member was Shinkle, but I don't know that.)

Short People Got Reason to Live! Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Former Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet L. Yellen is expected to be named Joe Biden's treasury secretary, according to three people in close communication with aides to the president-elect. Yellen, who was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve by President Obama, would be the first woman to lead the Department of Treasury."

Welcome Back, USA! Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. plans to name several top national security picks on Tuesday, his transition office said, including the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the first woman to head the intelligence community and a former secretary of state, John Kerry, to be his climate czar. At an event in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden will announce plans to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, his transition office said, and Avril Haines to be his director of national intelligence. He intends to name Mr. Kerry as a special presidential envoy on climate. The transition office also confirmed reports on Sunday night that Mr. Biden will nominate Antony J. Blinken to be secretary of state and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser. Mr. Biden will also nominate Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be ambassador to the United Nations and restore the job to cabinet-level status, giving Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman, a seat on his National Security Council. Mr. Kerry will also be given a seat on the council, although his job is not a cabinet position and does not require Senate confirmation. The emerging team reunites a group of former senior officials from the Obama administration, most of whom worked closely together at the State Department and the White House and in several cases have close ties to Mr. Biden dating back years. They are well known to foreign diplomats around the world and share a belief in the core principles of the Democratic foreign policy establishment -- international cooperation, strong U.S. alliances and leadership but a wariness of foreign interventions after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Tom Hamburger & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "A group of leading GOP national security experts -- including former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge -- urged congressional Republicans on Monday to demand President Trump concede the election and immediately begin the transition to the incoming Biden administration.'President Trump's refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the U.S. confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,' said a statement signed by more than 100 GOP luminaries. The signers included Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who served as homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush, former CIA director Michael Hayden and John D. Negroponte, who served as director of national intelligence."

Portman Joins the Slow Roll. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Monday said there is no proof of widespread voter fraud that could change President-elect Joe Biden's lead in the vote counts of key battleground states and urged the nation to 'resolve any outstanding questions and move forward.' Portman, who is poised to become the next chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also called on the General Services Administration to release funds to the Biden transition team to help prepare for Biden's inauguration in January." MB: This is ridiculous. It's as if Republicans feel they must coax Trump out of his hidey-hole (Trump has no public appearances on his schedule again Monday) by each offering up, one-by-one, teeny incentives for him to admit something that is an fait accompli.

"Just Bizarre and Weak." Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump's campaign filed a narrow appeal Sunday in its long-shot bid to have Trump declared the victor in the presidential race in Pennsylvania despite lagging more than 81,000 votes behind President-elect Joe Biden. With Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar set to certify the results of the election as soon as Monday, the Trump campaign filed an emergency motion with the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals asking that court to compel a lower court to accept a redrafted complaint contending that election officials excluded observers as part of an effort to process thousands of flawed mail-in ballots that largely favored Biden. The campaign did not seek an immediate order from the 3rd Circuit to block certification of Biden as the winner. Instead, the motion filed with the court Sunday evening said the campaign might seek decertification of the results 'if already certified.' Several prominent legal experts expressed puzzlement Sunday at the Trump lawyers' approach." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Trump can't get the best GOP lawyers, he apparently can't get the best legal secretaries, either: a CNN reporter said the appeal was full of misspellings & other errors.

Chico Harlan of the Washington Post: "In a meeting initiated by the Vatican, Pope Francis on Monday hosted a group of NBA players to hear about their social justice activism at a time of deep American polarization. The meeting, with five players who have been vocal on matters ranging from White privilege to police violence, offers a glimpse into what aspects of U.S. society the pontiff feels are most important. The meeting also shows the reach of sports activism in the United States, where athletes, many of them Black, have become some of the highest-profile proponents for social change.... Notably, Francis in September elected not to meet with ... a delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after Pompeo infuriated Vatican officials by criticizing the church's diplomacy with China.... According to the National Basketball Players Association, a Vatican official had reached out to set up the meeting. Three players' union executives met with the pope, as did players Kyle Korver, Sterling Brown, Marco Belinelli, Anthony Tolliver and Jonathan Isaac."

~~~~~~~~~~

New York Times Editors: "The 2020 election was not simply free of fraud, or whatever cooked-up malfeasance the president is braying about at this hour. It was, from an administrative standpoint, a resounding success. In the face of a raging pandemic and the highest turnout in more than a century, Americans enjoyed one of the most secure, most accurate and most well-run elections ever."

Lara Jakes, et al., of the New York Times: "Antony J. Blinken, a defender of global alliances and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s closest foreign policy adviser, is expected to be nominated for secretary of state, a job in which he will try to coalesce skeptical international partners into a new competition with China, according to people close to the process. Mr. Blinken, 58, a former deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama, began his career at the State Department during the Clinton administration. His extensive foreign policy credentials are expected to help calm American diplomats and global leaders alike after four years of the Trump administration's ricocheting strategies and nationalist swaggering. Mr. Biden is also expected to name another close aide, Jake Sullivan, as national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the process. Mr. Sullivan, 43, succeeded Mr. Blinken as Vice President Biden's national security adviser, and served as the head of policy planning at the Stat Department under Hillary Clinton, becoming her closest strategic adviser. Together, Mr. Blinken and Mr. Sullivan, good friends with a common worldview, have become Mr. Biden's brain trust and often his voice on foreign policy matters." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's story is here. The AP story is here. An NPR story is here.

Hans Nichols of Axios: "Democrats close to President-elect Biden expect him to name Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, looking to a Black woman and respected diplomat to restore morale."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: “President-elec Joe Biden's incoming chief of staff, Ronald A. Klain, said Sunday that some of Biden's first Cabinet picks will be revealed Tuesday, although he declined to say who or what positions will be announced. Klain made the comments during an interview on ABC News's 'This Week.'" A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

U.S. Senate. California. Carla Marinucci of Politico: "As speculation grows that Gov. Gavin Newsom is leaning toward California elections chief Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a crowd of top Democratic donors and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown are launching an aggressive campaign to argue that another woman of color should fill that seat instead. Brown, the former longtime speaker of the California Assembly, said he's launching a drive Monday to organize Black churches, pastors, civic leaders, fraternal organizations and prominent members of the Black press statewide to urge Newsom to consider leading Black women for the seat. Among the leading choices, he said, are Reps. Barbara Lee, Karen Bass and Maxine Waters; San Francisco Mayor London Breed; and state Sen. Holly Mitchell. 'There's no way that Gavin Newsom should allow anyone other than a Black woman to fill the seat of Harris, who's only the second Black woman in the history of the U.S. Senate,' Brown told Politico on Sunday. 'There should be no contest.' Brown's campaign comes as some 150 of the state's top female Democratic donors on Monday will publish full-page newspaper ads with an open letter urging Newsom to pick a woman of color, Vox reported Sunday.... It could amount to virtually a lifetime appointment, considering the way Democrats dominate California politics. Newsom is unlikely to pick a caretaker who would leave after two years."

Clown Car Wheels Continue to Spin

Jim Rutenberg & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "... President Trump and Republicans loyal to him have sought to overturn his defeat by making false claims about widespread voting fraud in Philadelphia..., Atlanta..., [and ] Detroit.... Lost on no one in those cities is what they have in common: large populations of Black voters. And there is little ambiguity in the way Mr. Trump and his allies are falsely depicting them as bastions of corruption. '"Democrat-led city" -- that's code for Black,' said the Rev. William J. Barber II, the president of the civil rights group Repairers of the Breach. 'They're coupling "city" and "fraud," and those two words have been used throughout the years. This is an old playbook being used in the modern time, and people should be aware of that.' Mr. Trump's fruitless and pyromaniacal campaign to somehow reverse President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the election rests on the wholesale disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters, a disproportionate number of them Black Americans living in the urban centers of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.... And, in a year in which the nation elected its first Black vice president, Senator Kamala Harris of California, the push represents a newly conspicuous phase of a decades-long effort by the Republican Party to expand power through the suppression of voters of color." ~~~

~~~ "A Plainly Racist Strategy." Aaron Morrison, et al., of the AP: "President-elect Joe Biden was in part powered to victory ... by Black voters, many of them concentrated in cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta.... Since Election Day..., Donald Trump and his allies have sought to expose voter fraud that simply does not exist in these and other overwhelmingly Black population centers.... Trump renewed his attack on Motown voters Thursday, tweeting without evidence, 'Voter Fraud in Detroit is rampant, and has been for many years.'... The Trump campaign sought a partial recount in Wisconsin - in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which include the majority of the state's Black population. On Thursday, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani renewed unproven claims of voter fraud and impropriety during mail-in vote counting in Pennsylvania, naming Philadelphia and nearby Camden, New Jersey, which is also predominantly Black.... Black voters are not the only targets. A Trump-allied group ... True the Vote filed a lawsuit alleging officials relaxed voter ID requirements for absentee voters in Menominee County, Wisconsin, which is essentially the Menominee Nation Indian reservation. Most of the group's lawsuits have been tossed out or withdrawn. In Nevada..., the Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans alleged the Nevada Native Voter Project illegally enticed Native American voters with gift cards, gas cards, raffle tickets and T-shirts if they voted early or on Election Day. That lawsuit has been dismissed. And in Arizona, the Trump campaign and the state Republican Party jointly asked courts to halt certification of votes in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and a significant portion of the state's Hispanic population.... A judge dismissed that lawsuit on Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We've been pointing at the racism here ever since Trump started caterwalling about 3 am tallies, etc. It's taken the major media a helluva a long time to catch up & join us. The GOP's racism should never be the quiet part.

Too Crazy for Rudy. John Bowden of the Hill: "The Trump campaign on Sunday sought to distance itself from attorney Sidney Powell despite her appearing with campaign lawyers at press events as recently as last week. In a brief statement released Sunday afternoon..., Rudy Giuliani and senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis said that Powell 'is not a member of the Trump Legal Team.... She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.'... The statement followed a series of media appearances from Powell during which she made baseless allegations of widespread nationwide election fraud.... Trump ... referred to Powell as a member of his legal team in tweets as recently as Nov. 14." OR, as NiskyGuy put it at the end of yesterday's thread Sidney got "thrown under the clown car." ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The repudiation of Ms. Powell ... added unwanted drama for the president's legal team at a moment when it is losing case after case, offering a public window into the chaotic nature and amateurish tactics of most of its attempts so far to fight the election outcome. Even as many campaign aides, White House advisers and professional lawyers want nothing to do with the claims, a small group of lawyers for Mr. Trump's campaign has presided over a widely mocked, circuslike legal effort to try to invalidate votes and prevent states from certifying their results. People like Ms. Powell and Mr. Giuliani have been frequent guests on conservative news programs, where they have made spurious claims that have been rejected by judges or that the Trump campaign has refrained from echoing in court becaus they lack evidence.... Ms. Powell also made an easy target for deflection by Mr. Giuliani and others, as Mr. Trump vented his frustrations about [federal Judge Matthew Brann]'s scathing ruling [against a case Mr. Giuliani had argued against Joe Biden's win in Pennsylvania]. Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: As commentators & reporters on CNN repeatedly emphasized Sunday night, Sidney Powell is pushing many of the same false claims Trump & Giuliani are making. Here are a couple of cases on point:

~~~ Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "... President Trump spent Sunday at his private golf course in Virginia. Then, just before midnight, he took to Twitter to repeat more of the unfounded claims of mass voter fraud that have animated his weeks-long resistance to acknowledging defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Trump's tweets, which included another false claim that he 'won' the election, were quickly flagged by Twitter with disclaimers.... In one tweet Sunday, the president claimed that 'in certain swing states, there were more votes than people who voted, and in big numbers,' while also alleging 'fake ballots' and 'egregious conduct.'" ~~~

Want evidence of fraud. In 70% of Wayne County, Detroit, there were PHANTOM VOTERS. There were more votes than registered voters. 120%, 150%, 200%, even 300%. -- Rudolph W. Giuliani, in a tweet on Nov. 22

The slapdash legal effort on behalf of the president is exemplified in this instance. Wild claims about Michigan were based on 1) a mix-up of two states, Michigan and Minnesota 2) a misunderstanding of 'estimated votes' 3) a misidentification of voting machines used in Wayne County. Yet even after this comedy of errors was exposed, the president's chief legal advocate shamefully continues to tout this fraudulent claim as 'evidence' to more than 1 million followers on Twitter. Giuliani apparently has given up on being a lawyer and turned to writing fiction. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump and his allies are harking back to his own transition four years ago to make a false argument that his own presidency was denied a fair chance for a clean launch. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany laid out the case from the White House podium last week and the same idea has been floated by Trump's personal lawyer and his former director of national intelligence.... But the situations are far different. The day after her defeat in 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton conceded.... The next day, President Barack Obama who had portrayed Trump as an existential threat to the nation, invited the president-elect to the White House and visited with him in the Oval Office. Obama's aides offered help to Trump';s incoming staffers.... Trump's team is not wrong that his own transition was chaotic, but the disarray in many ways was of his own doing. Trump fired the head of his transition, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and abandoned months of planning in favor of a Cabinet hiring process that at times resembled a reality show. His team ignored offers of help from the outgoing Obama administration..., leaving briefing books unopened and ignoring special iPads loaded with materials. The lack of preparation left aides clueless even about how to work the overhead intercom in the West Wing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Several prominent Republicans said this weekend that President Trump's legal arguments had run their course, calling on him to concede to Joe Biden or at least allow the presidential transition process to begin. 'The conduct of the president's legal team has been a national embarrassment,' former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week.' Christie, a Trump confidant who helped run debate preparations, said the Republican Party needed to focus on trying to win Georgia's two runoff elections Jan. 5 to secure the Senate majority, rather than continuing with the unsuccessful legal challenges of the election results. 'The rearview mirror should be ripped off,' Christie said." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Axios: "Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that it is past time to 'cooperate with the transition' to President-elect Joe Biden, adding that he believes President Trump still has the right to continue fighting in court over election results.... 'It should happen tomorrow morning because it didn't happen last Monday morning,' Cramer said of the GSA administrator giving the go-ahead for the transition. 'Give the incoming administration all the time they need.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This caveat "open-minded" Republicans add to every recommendation to approve the transition -- that Trump has the right to fight the election results in court -- is past its sell-by date. If you tried to bring nearly three dozen frivolous lawsuits into the courtroom, haranged the judge about fraud, abuse & corruption but never presented evidence of any of it, well, we wouldn't get to three dozen. If they were nice, courts would tell you to go away; if not, they'd fine you for wasting their time.

Kate Kelly & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "... more than 100 chief executives plan to ask the administration on Monday to immediately acknowledge Joseph R Biden Jr. as the winner and begin the transition to a new administration. As a way of gaining leverage over the G.O.P., some of the executives have also discussed withholding campaign donations from the two Republican Senate candidates in Georgia unless party leaders agree to push for a presidential transition.... In a letter they plan to send Monday, business leaders will demand that Emily W. Murphy, head of the General Services Administration, issue a letter of ascertainment affirming that Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have won the election."

** Michigan. Jake Tapper & Annie Grayer of CNN: "A key Republican on the Michigan canvassing board is expected to vote against certifying the state's election results on Monday, a potential boon for the Trump campaign's conspiracy theory-fueled effort to delay the finalization of results. According to Michigan GOP Rep. Paul Mitchell, who said he spoke days ago with Norman Shinkle, one of the two GOP members on the board, Shinkle indicated last week he would vote against certifying the election results until an investigation is completed so as to push a delay even though there is no evidence of fraud or malfeasance that would necessitate such a move.... Depending on how Aaron Van Langevelde, the other GOP member of the board, casts his vote, Mitchell told CNN either members of the Trump team end up delaying the certification of the election results or they have something that they can point to as evidence of unfairness, even if it isn't. Van Langevelde's family told CNN he would have no comment on his expected vote.... 'State election law provides for no process or ability to conduct such an "investigation,'" Mitchell told CNN." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Michigan's top Republicans were serious about certifying the election as is required under their own state laws, they could have put tremendous pressure on Shinkle to get with the program. It would appear they have not done so.

Georgia. Remember how Bill Barr tried to sic U.S. attorneys on voters, "directing investigators to pursue allegations of 'voting and vote tabulation irregularities'"? The prosecutors pushed back, urging him to rescind his memo because it endorsed Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud. After Georgia declared Joe Biden the state's winner, Trump asked for another recount. David Wickert of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Georgia is preparing to tally about 5 million votes in the presidential election for a third time as the FBI and GBI investigate threats against some state election officials.... On Saturday, Gabriel Sterling, the state's voting system manager, said on Twitter that he had received threats that prompted police protection around his home.... On Sunday, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said the FBI and the GBI are investigating threats to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger [R] and his team.... Trump has blasted [Gov. Brian] Kemp [R] and Raffensperger on Twitter, writing that another review of voter signatures on absentee ballot envelopes could have found 'illegal ballots.'... On Saturday, Trump's campaign continued to make unsubstantiated claims that Georgia's official results are tainted.... Such claims have not held up to legal scrutiny." MB: Looks as if the only voter problems worthy of the feds' scrutiny are attacks coming from Trump and his supporters, not from bent voters or election officials.


Yet Another Stupid Trump Trick: Whistling Dixie Past the Graveyard. Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is threatening to veto legislation to fund the military as one of his final acts in office unless a widely supported, bipartisan provision to rename military bases honoring Confederate military leaders is removed, according to White House, defense and congressional sources. Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump has privately told Republican lawmakers that he won't back down from his position during the campaign that he would veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act if it includes an amendment to rename the bases." MB: In fairness to Trump, he is being consistent with his pre-election promise, his racist attacks on the election results and his lifelong racist views. Hobgoblin of little minds and all....

Paulina Firozi of the Washington Post: "The United States has formally withdrawn from the Treaty on Open Skies, a decades-old pact meant to reduce the chances of an accidental war by allowing mutual reconnaissance flights by parties to the 34-nation agreement. The exit comes six months after President Trump first announced his intention to withdraw, saying Russia has been violating the pact.... The move risks sowing further divisions between the United States and European allies, some of which called on the administration to stay in the pact despite concerns about Russia. In a statement in May, Joe Biden said that in announcing the intention to withdraw, Trump 'doubled down on his short-sighted policy of going it alone and abandoning American leadership.' 'I supported the Open Skies Treaty as a Senator, because I understood that the United States and our allies would benefit from being able to observe -- on short notice -- what Russia and other countries in Europe were doing with their military forces,' his May statement added." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "G20 leaders meeting remotely pledged on Sunday to 'spare no effort' to ensure the fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide, but offered no specific new funding to meet that goal.... The bulk of the summit focused on ensuring that the coronavirus vaccines expected to hit the market imminently are available for distribution at affordable prices in poorer countries.... The virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia was an awkward swan song for Donald Trump, who skipped some sessions on Saturday to play golf, paid little attention to other leaders' speeches and claimed the Paris climate agreement was designed not to save the planet but to the kill the US economy. Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the accord on day one of his presidency...." ~~~

~~~ Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "A final communique [from the G-20 summit] heralded achievements, including an offer of debt relief to developing nations and a commitment to ensuring equitable access to coronavirus treatments. But it also laid out a frightening litany of challenges facing economies and societies that the scaled-back summit, or any global gathering, would be hard-pressed to meet.... [Its] plea for a coordinated response [to the coronavirus pandemic] reflected the struggles faced by countries such as France, India and Turkey as infection rates soar. It was also a retort to the Trump administration and its go-it-alone approach to international challenges ranging from the pandemic to climate change.... On Sunday, Trump addressed a summit session on the environment titled 'Safeguarding the Planet.' The president, whose administration has weakened regulations intended to reduce pollution generated in the United States, called his record on protecting the environment 'historic' and attacked the Paris climate accord.... 'The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment,' Trump told the summit. 'It was designed to kill the American economy.'"

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

William Booth & Antonia Farzan of the Washington Post: "The coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is up to 90 percent effective when administered at a half dose and then a full booster dose a month later, scientists said Monday. The announcement follows upbeat results from two other front-running vaccine candidates, by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, in the last two weeks. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is likely to be cheaper than those made by Pfizer and Moderna, and it does not need to be stored at subzero temperatures but can be kept in ordinary refrigerators in pharmacies and doctor's offices. AstraZeneca executives said the vaccine is already being manufactured. The first 4 million doses could be ready in December, and 40 million could be delivered in the first quarter of 2021, they said. By the spring, the company and its global partners in India, Brazil, Russia and the United States could be cranking out 100 million to 200 million doses a month."


Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd., Especially for Trump Donors. Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "A company owned by a major donor to President Trump that operates auto-title loan stores with names such as LoanStar and Moneymax secured a $25 million low-interest loan from a government pandemic aid program, using what consumer advocates describe as a loophole to a rule designed to prevent most lenders from getting this federal help. The cash infusion to Wellshire Financial Services -- part of a multi-state title loan empire run by Atlanta businessman Rod Aycox -- came from the Federal Reserve's $600 billion Main Street Lending program for small- and medium-size businesses.... Wellshire's government-backed, five-year loan came with a 3.15 percent interest rate, Fed records show. Loans to consumers at Wellshire's auto-title loan stores can carry a 350 percent annual rate, thanks to high fees and interest supercharging the cost of borrowing, according to corporate disclosure documents." Emphasis added.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ben Hubbard, et al., of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel flew to Saudi Arabia for a covert meeting Sunday night with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an Israeli cabinet minister confirmed on Monday. The visit was the first known meeting between high-level Israeli and Saudi leaders and could signal an acceleration of gradually warming relations between the two powers.... The visit follows agreements by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan to establish formal relations with Israel, moves that the Trump administration had pushed for to crack a boycott of Israel by most Arab states in solidarity with the Palestinians. A similar agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be much more significant because of the kingdom's size, wealth and standing in the Muslim world as the protector of many of Islam's holiest sites. But there had been little indication that such a move was imminent."

Kim Wilsher of the Guardian/Observer: "Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, will make history on Monday when he appears in court accused of corruption and influence peddling. The case is the first of several investigations against the rightwing politician who led France between 2007 and 2012 to come before judges after years of attempts to have the charges dropped or nullified. In a case known as the 'bugging affair', the prosecution alleges Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, attempted to bribe a senior magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, to hand over secret information from a separate investigation against the former French leader. In return, Sarkozy is accused of offering to help secure Azibert a cushy job on the Côte d'Azur." MB: Hmmm, I would accept a bribe promising ";a cushy job on the Côte d'Azur."

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