The Ledes

Friday, October 11, 2024

Washington Post: “Floridians began returning to damaged and waterlogged homes on Thursday after Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction and grief across the state, the second massive storm to strike Florida in as many weeks. At least 14 storm-related deaths were attributed to the hurricane, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. The deadly tornadoes, rising waters, torrential rain and punishing winds battered the state from coast to coast as Milton churned eastward before heading out to sea early Thursday.”

Washington Post: “Twelve people were rescued from an inactive Colorado gold mine after they were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours following an elevator malfunction. One person was killed in the accident, which happened about 500 feet underground at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colo., Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at a Thursday news conference. The site is a tourist attraction. Eleven other people aboard the elevator at the time, including two children, were rescued shortly after the mechanical malfunction, which Mikesell said 'created a severe danger for the participants.' He said four suffered minor injuries.... Twelve others in a separate group remained trapped in a mine shaft 1,000 feet underground for several hours after the incident, before they were rescued Thursday evening, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said.”

The Wires
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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.

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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


Wednesday
Nov182020

The Commentariat -- November 19, 2020

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "An emotional President-elect Joe Biden praised Republican governors and others who have bucked President Trump to endorse more-stringent measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, while warning Wednesday that a 'tough guy' approach contributes to preventable deaths. Biden contrasted restrictions imposed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and a growing number of other Republican leaders with what he suggested is Trump's negligence. 'Now you have the governor of North Dakota, you have others figuring it out, that this is real. We've got to do something,' Biden said as he led an on-screen briefing with nurses, a firefighter, a home health aide and others with firsthand experience dealing with the pandemic. 'And it's not a political statement. It's not about, you know, whether you're a tough guy or not a tough guy,' Biden said, breaking off. '... It's about patriotism. If you really care about your country, what you want to do is keep your neighbors and your family safe.'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: There is only one president at a time in the U.S., and Joe Biden seems to be the guy. ~~~

~~~ Kristen Holmes & Devan Cole of CNN: "The Health and Human Services Department will not work with President-elect Joe Biden's team until the General Services Administration makes a determination that he won the election, Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday, even as public health experts stress that a smooth transition is a critical part of the government's response to the worsening coronavirus pandemic. 'We've made it very clear that when GSA makes a determination, we will ensure complete, cooperative professional transitions and planning,' Azar said at a briefing. 'We follow the guidance. We're about getting vaccines and therapeutics invented and get the clinical trial data and saving lives here. That's where our focus is as we go forward with our efforts.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Alex says he's "about savings lives." I get that Alex is such a weenie that he's afeared of a guy who doesn't do his job at all & is about to be evicted from government housing. But how is it "about saving lives" to refuse to share necessary information with the team who will be in charge of distributing the life-saving viles of vaccines? Alex knows he will not be around to pass out the viles, but he won't tell the team that will have the job where the storage locker is & where the transport trucks are. Clearly, Alex is not "about saving lives." This is not a policy issue; it's a logistics issue. Presumably, both Alex's team & Joe's team have the same goals. So what's the problem?

Natasha Korecki & Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "Joe Biden's transition team has tried to project calm as ... Donald Trump refuses to concede and many Republicans -- and even one key part of the federal government -- continue to have his back. But behind the scenes, Biden's advisers are in the midst of a fierce lobbying blitz to get Trump's allies to crack. They're dispatching emissaries from past administrations -- Republican and Democrat -- along with a wide array of business and interest group leaders to intercede on Biden's behalf. According to three transition officials, Biden's team is in talks with multiple Republican leaders and officeholders to end the transition stalemate, warning them of risks to national security and public health if the president-elect isn't granted access to the government. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are also deploying aides and allies to ramp up public pressure on General Services Administrator Emily Murphy, who has refused to acknowledge Biden's victory and thus allow the transition to officially begin." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: If you too would like to annoy Miss Emily, contributor Julia suggests you give her a call at 1-844-GSA-4111 (1-844-472-4111). Julia says you do get a person if you press 1 after the menu readout. Or you could email Emily at emily.murphy@gsa.gov ... I think Emily may be in. Yesterday a reader told me privately that Emily looks like Donald Trump in drag. Private communication being the appropriate place to start a conspiracy theory, I immediately speculated that there is no Emily. The Emily who occasionally shows up at GSA is in fact Donald in drag. CNN is reporting this morning that in the last 16 days, Trump -- who is challenging democratic principles to keep a government job he doesn't do -- has had 12 days with nothing at all on his schedule. So maybe some of that time, he's over at GSA being Emily.

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "A handful of current Trump administration officials, as well as some political appointees who left in recent months, have quietly started to reach out to members of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team, according to people briefed on the matter. The outreach is a sign that ... Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election and the continued obstruction from the White House is beginning to frustrate even those affiliated with the administration."

Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "President-elect Joe Biden's winning tally is approaching a record 80 million votes as Democratic bastions continue to count ballots and the 2020 election cracks turnout records. Biden has already set a record for the highest number of votes for a winning presidential candidate, and ... Donald Trump has also notched a high-water mark of the most votes for a losing candidate. With more than 155 million votes counted and California and New York still counting, turnout stands at 65% of all eligible voters, the highest since 1908, according to data from The Associated Press and the U.S. Elections Project. The rising Biden tally and his popular vote lead -- nearly 6 million votes -- come as Trump has escalated his false insistence that he actually won the election, and his campaign and supporters intensify their uphill legal fight to stop or delay results from being certified, potentially nullify the votes of Americans."

The Clown Car Is Full

I wonder what happens when you call up Loser.com

The Washington Post's live election updates Wednesday are here: "President Trump has abandoned his plan to win reelection by disqualifying enough ballots to reverse President-elect Joe Biden's wins in key battleground states, pivoting instead to a goal that appears equally unattainable: delaying a final count long enough to cast doubt on Biden's decisive victory.... His personal lawyer, ­Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has taken over the president's legal team, asked a federal judge to consider ordering the Republican-controlled legislature in Pennsylvania to select the state's electors. And Trump egged on a group of GOP lawmakers in Michigan who are pushing for an audit of the vote there before it is certified. Giuliani has also told Trump and associates that his ambition is to pressure GOP lawmakers and officials across the political map to stall the vote certification in an effort to have Republican lawmakers pick electors and disrupt the electoral college when it convenes next month -- and Trump is encouraging of that plan, according to two senior Republicans who have conferred with Giuliani and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. But that outcome appears impossible. It is against the law in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin law gives no role to the legislature in choosing presidential electors, and there is little public will in other states to pursue such a path." The page is free to non-subscribers.

Nick Corasaniti, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump’s false accusations that voter fraud denied him re-election are causing escalating confrontations in swing states across the country, leading to threats of violence against officials in both parties and subverting even the most routine steps in the electoral process.... In courtrooms, statehouses and elections board meetings across the country, the president is increasingly seeking to force the voting system to bend to his false vision of the election, while also using the weight of the executive office to deliver his message to lower-level election workers, hoping they buckle. The effort has been joined by surrogates like [Sen. Lindsey] Graham, who has used his visibility as a senior United States senator to make false claims about vote processing in Nevada; [... pressured the Georgia secretary of state to find ways to disqualify Democratic ballots;] forward disputed accusations about mail ballots in Pennsylvania to the Justice Department; and level unsubstantiated accusations about supposedly fraudulent votes for Mr. Biden." The report includes, among other tidbits, more info on those two yahoos -- Monica Palmer & William Hartmann -- who first voted not to certify Detroit's votes.

Kendall Karson & Meg Cunningham of ABC News: A "chaotic few hours in Wayne County[, Michigan,] stemmed from two Republican members of the board -- Monica Palmer, who serves as the board of canvassers chair, and William Hartmann -- initially refusing to certify the county's election results, in a move that was sharply criticized as flagrantly partisan, only to reverse course just hours later.... Despite the about-face, the drama fueled fears about the Trump campaign coordinating an effort across critical battlegrounds to subvert the democratic process by pressuring GOP-controlled legislatures to override the will of the people and choose their own slate of pro-Trump electors to vote for the president at the Electoral College's December meeting.... Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser with the Trump campaign, wrote, 'This evening, the county board of canvassers in Wayne County, MI refused to certify the election results. If the state board follows suit, the Republican state legislator will select the electors. Huge win for @realDonaldTrump.'... [BUT] State leaders in [Michigan,] Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, too, are putting distance between themselves and any possible strategy to circumvent the popular vote...." ~~~

~~~ About Jenna. All the Best People, Fascist Enabler Edition. Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "Jenna Ellis has been one of President Donald Trump's most ardent defenders since joining his campaign as a legal adviser and surrogate a year ago, but in early 2016 she was one of his toughest critics and deeply opposed his candidacy.... Ellis ... repeatedly slammed then-candidate Trump as an 'idiot,' who was 'boorish and arrogant,' and a 'bully' whose words could not be trusted as factually accurate. She called comments he made about women 'disgusting,' and suggested he was not a 'real Christian.'" In one March 2016 Facebook post, Ellis said Trump's values were 'not American,' linking to a post that called Trump an 'American fascist.'... In March 2016, Ellis attacked Trump supporters in a Facebook post for not caring that the Republican candidate was 'unethical, corrupt, lying, criminal, dirtbag.'" --s

Mrs. McCrabbie: BTW, the Trump legal team's "win" rate is 1-29, according to CNN. In the one of 30 cases the team won, no vote totals changed.

Michigan. Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "After three hours of tense deadlock on Tuesday, the two Republicans on an election board in Michigan's most populous county reversed course and voted to certify the results of the Nov. 3 election, a key step toward finalizing President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state. Now, they both want to take back their votes. In affidavits signed Wednesday evening, the two GOP members of the four-member Wayne County Board of Canvassers allege that they were improperly pressured into certifying the election and accused Democrats of reneging on a promise to audit votes in Detroit." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Election certification is supposed to be routine: Canvassers at the county or municipal level (depending on the state) review precinct results, make sure every ballot is accounted for and every vote was counted, double-check the totals and send the certified numbers to state officials. It's the process by which the results reported on election night are confirmed.... If the canvassers find possible errors, it is their job to look into and resolve them, but refusing to certify results based on minor discrepancies is not normal.... It is also highly abnormal to suggest, as [one of the Wayne County refuseniks, Monica] Palmer did, that canvassers certify the results in one place but not another when there is no meaningful difference between the two in terms of the number or severity of discrepancies. Before the deadlock was resolved, Ms. Palmer had proposed certifying the results in 'the communities other than the city of Detroit.'&" That is, she was happy to certify the results for whitey-white areas, but not for Detroit, which is 80% Black.

Pennsylvania. Jon Swaine & Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post report on Rudy's first court appearance in nearly three decades. In his oral argument, for instance, Rudy told the judge his side wanted "to ensure opacity." He did admit, "I'm not quite sure what 'opacity' means. It probably means you can see." The judge had to explain to Rudy that it meant the opposite. ~~~

~~~ Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post finds her inner Rudy and writes a 3 am infomercial for his $2,000/hour services: "Hi! I'm Rudy Giuliani! Have you been injured in an election? Do you think you should be president, but due to an unexpected setback, you've wound up short by thousands of votes in key states? Hire me, and you will get the settlement you deserve!.... I have a surefire way to overturn any election result you dislike, or this isn't the Four Seasons Hotel! Call toll-free now!" ~~~

(~~~ Readers pick the Worst of Trump winners as Gail Collins of the New York Times totes up the write-in votes. Mrs. McC: You may want to demand a recount, but it could cost you $20K a day in legal fees, especially if you live in Philadelphia and/or come in a darkish hue that is not painted on your face. ~~~)

~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump's campaign has filed yet another version of its lawsuit over the election results in Pennsylvania, now contending that he should be named the victor in the presidential contest there or that the state legislature be given the authority to assign the state's 20 electoral votes. The third iteration of the suit also restores legal claims dropped in the second version that the campaign's constitutional rights were violated because of allegedly inadequate access for observers during the processing of mail-in ballots. The campaign eliminated those claims in a version of the suit filed on Sunday, but Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said that was due to a miscommunication prompted by harassment and threats directed at lawyers who represented the campaign. The new complaint claims 1.5 million mail-in or absentee votes in seven Pennsylvania counties 'should not have been counted' and that the disputed votes resulted 'in returns indicating Biden won Pennsylvania.'" ~~~

~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "Attorneys representing President Donald Trump's re-election campaign in challenging thousands of ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania agreed to sign court documents on Wednesday informing the court that there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct pertaining to those ballots. The lawsuit -- filed last week by the campaign as well as the Republican National Committee and two GOP candidates for state office -- sought to have the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas invalidate more than 2,200 'defective ballots' that were counted following a review by the Board of Elections.... During a Tuesday hearing, both parties also agreed that election observers from each party were permitted access to watch the pre-canvassing and canvassing processes. Despite President Trump's oft-repeated false claim that he 'won Pennsylvania by a lot' and that he is only losing the state to Joe Biden due to fraudulent ballots, Trump's campaign lawyers have had to take a far different approach when they get before a judge."

Arizona. Nat Naham of Law & Crime: "Arizona's Secretary of State blamed the violent threats she and her family have received on President Donald Trump's's misinformation campaign regarding the 2020 election results. Secretary Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday that the president and his allies in the Republican Party have 'encouraged' and stoked distrust in the election outcome."

Wisconsin. Jeff Zeleny & Casey Tolan of CNN: "The Trump campaign said Wednesday that it will seek a limited recount of some Wisconsin counties. The campaign needs to officially request the recount, any pay an upfront fee, by 5 p.m. CT Wednesday. Wisconsin election officials confirmed on Wednesday that they received a partial payment of $3 million from the Trump campaign. These officials said last week that the price tag for a statewide recount would be approximately $7.9 million. 'The Wisconsin Elections Commission has received a wire transfer from the Trump campaign for $3 million. No petition has been received yet, but the Trump campaign has told WEC staff one will be filed today,' the election commission said. CNN projected that President-elect Joe Biden will win Wisconsin. According to unofficial results, Biden leads ... Donald Trump by 20,470 votes, or 0.62%." (Also linked yesterday.)

Georgia Senate Race. Insider Trading. Sam Brodey of the Daily Beast: "Right before he was put in charge of a powerful Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the U.S. Navy, Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) began buying up stock in a company [called BWX] that made submarine parts. And once he began work on a bill that ultimately directed additional Navy funding for one of the firm's specialized products, Perdue sold off the stock, earning him tens of thousands of dollars in profits.... Perdue's activity is unusual in how his leadership of a very niche subcommittee lined up with his investment in a company squarely within that niche -- just as work began on the federal legislation most important to that company's bottom line.... Perdue's investment in BWX is not the first time the senator, one of the most active stock traders in Congress and one of its wealthiest members, has engaged in conspicuously timed trading."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The United States passed a grim milestone on Wednesday, hitting 250,000 coronavirus-related deaths, with the number expected to keep climbing steeply as infections surge nationwide. Experts predict that the country could soon be reporting 2,000 deaths a day or more, matching or exceeding the spring peak, and that 100,000 to 200,000 more Americans could die in the coming months."

Lauren Leatherby & Rich Harris of the New York Times: "Coronavirus cases are rising in almost every U.S. state. But the surge is worst now in places where leaders neglected to keep up forceful virus containment efforts or failed to implement basic measures like mask mandates in the first place, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the University of Oxford." Lots o' charts & graphs.

Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "More than 900 employees at Mayo Clinic, a top research hospital that is based in Rochester, Minnesota, have contracted Covid-19 in the last two weeks. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Dr Amy Williams, dean of clinical practice at the hospital, said that the vast majority of staff who were infected -- 93% -- were not infected at work, according to the St Paul Pioneer Press. Most of those who were infected at work contracted the virus while eating without a mask during their breaks, Williams said. The hundreds of employees who have contracted the virus over the last two weeks make up over a third of all employees who were infected since the start of the pandemic. The hospital is experiencing a shortage of 1,000 employees at its headquarters in Rochester, according to the Pioneer Press." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sophie Kevany & Tom Carstensen of the Guardian: "Seven countries are now reporting mink-related Sars-CoV-2 mutations in humans, according to new scientific analysis. The mutations are identified as Covid-19 mink variants as they have repeatedly been found in mink and now in humans as well." --s


Trump Could Not Be Bothered to Pick up the Phone. Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "When it comes to diplomacy in Asia, showing up is half the battle. But President Trump couldn't be bothered to attend two key Asia-related summits last weekend, even though they were held virtually. This was the lame-duck president's latest and hopefully last insult to the United States' Asian allies -- and an unforced error in the greater competition with China. For the third year in a row, Trump declined to participate in the annual summit of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes a meeting between leaders of the group's 10 member nations and the United States. The president was also a no-show for the East Asia Summit, which President Barack Obama began attending in 2011. And Trump wasn't the only one. For the first time in this administration, no Cabinet-level official participated in either event. No travel was required; all they had to do was call in to corresponding video forums." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Nicole Gaouette, et al. of CNN: "President Donald Trump's order of a further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq is the latest foreign policy move on a growing list in his final weeks in office that are meant to limit President-elect Joe Biden's options before he takes office in January.... A second official tells CNN their goal is to set so many fires that it will be hard for the Biden administration to put them all out. It's a strategy that radically breaks with past practice, could raise national security risks and will surely compound challenges for the Biden team -- but it could also backfire. Analysts and people close to the Biden transition argue the Trump team may act so aggressively that reversing some of its steps will earn Biden easy goodwill points and negotiating power with adversaries." --s

** Corey Dickenson of Stars & Stripes: "Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller on Wednesday ordered the Pentagon's top civilian overseeing the military's special operations community to report directly to him, effectively elevating U.S. Special Operations Command to the same level of the Pentagon's military departments.... The change makes the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict a service secretary-like position responsible for the oversight and advocacy of the military's special operations forces.... Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a former aide to Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn, is now filling the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict role on an acting basis." --safari: This should ring serious alarm bells.

Joseph Cox of Vice News: "The U.S. military is buying the granular movement data of people around the world, harvested from innocuous-seeming apps.... The most popular app among a group Motherboard analyzed connected to this sort of data sale is a Muslim prayer and Quran app that has more than 98 million downloads worldwide. Others include a Muslim dating app, a popular Craigslist app, an app for following storms, and a "level" app that can be used to help, for example, install shelves in a bedroom.... The news highlights the opaque location data industry and the fact that the U.S. military, which has infamously used other location data to target drone strikes, is purchasing access to sensitive data." --s

Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "Mike Pompeo is expected to tour an Israeli winery this week built on land Palestinian families say was stolen from them, a deeply provocative act that would make him the first US secretary of state to officially visit a settlement in the occupied territories. The top diplomat's visit has been widely reported by Israeli media but not confirmed by Washington. If it went ahead, it would be a parting gift to Israel's nationalist government and the settler movement, as the Trump administration scrambles in its final weeks to impose a vision for the Middle East that has deeply favoured Israel's far right." --s

Aram Roston of Reuters: "Before William Barr became President Donald Trump's choice to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, he represented Caterpillar Inc ... in a federal criminal investigation by the department. Much was at stake for Caterpillar: Since 2018, the Internal Revenue Service has been demanding $2.3 billion in payments from the company in connection with the tax matters under criminal investigation.... A week after Barr was nominated for the job of attorney general, Justice officials in Washington told the investigative team in the active criminal probe of Caterpillar to take 'no further action' in the case.... The decision, the email said, came from the Justice Department's Tax Division and the office of the deputy attorney general, who was then Rod Rosenstein." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Trump's policy of turning away migrant children at the border as public health risks, ruling that the expulsion of thousands of children without due process exceeded the authority that public health emergency decrees confer. The Trump administration has since March used an emergency decree from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to effectively seal the border to migrants, rapidly returning them to Mexico or Central America without allowing immigration authorities to hear their claims for asylum. Top homeland security officials have cited the potential spread of the coronavirus that could come from detaining asylum seekers in border facilities. But Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, an appointee of President Bill Clinton's, said that while the emergency rule allows the authorities to prevent the 'introduction' of foreigners into the United States, it did not give border authorities the ability turn away children who would normally be placed in shelters and provided an opportunity to have a claim for refuge heard. The order applies across the country."

All the Best People, Farce Edition. Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "A former speechwriter fired from the White House in 2018 after he attended a conference alongside white supremacists has been appointed to a commission tasked with preserving Holocaust-related sites across Europe. According to a press release from the White House this Tuesday, Darren Beattie will join the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The White House drew criticism from a prominent Jewish group [-- the Anti-Defamation League --] on Wednesday, a day after it appointed a speechwriter it fired for attending a gathering with white nationalists to a commission that helps preserve sites related to the Holocaust. Darren Beattie, who was fired in 2018, was appointed to the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad for a three-year term that will last into the next administration. Mr. Beattie's dismissal followed the revelation that two years earlier he had appeared on a panel with Peter Brimelow, the founder of the anti-immigrant site VDare, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a 'hate website.' The commission, founded in 1985, is tasked with identifying and preserving cemeteries and historic buildings in Europe, including sites used to kill primarily Jews during the Holocaust."

Marianne Levine & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Two months before Joe Biden assumes the presidency, Senate Republicans are racing to install a series of conservative nominees that will outlast Donald Trump. While Trump still refuses to concede the election, the Senate GOP is moving quickly to ensure that the president's stamp sticks to the Federal Elections Commission, Federal Reserve Board, the federal judiciary and beyond." Mrs. McC: One could almost conclude that the Turtle's gang thinks Joe Biden won the election.

Sarah Ferris & Heather Caygle of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi secured her caucus' nomination for another term leading the House on Wednesday as Democrats kicked off their multiday leadership elections for the new Congress. Pelosi is running unopposed and only needed a simple majority of the Democratic Caucus during the secret ballot vote. But she'll still have to clinch 218 votes on the House floor in January to officially become speaker -- and she has a much narrower majority to work with this time around after Democrats lost more than half a dozen seats on Election Day." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A former Green Beret conspired to spy for the Russian government while serving in the Army and as a defense contractor with a top-secret security clearance. Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, of Gainesville, Va., pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit espionage. He will be sentenced Feb. 26 in federal court in Alexandria and faces up to life in prison. Born in the United States but with family ties to Russia, Debbins told investigators in a written statement that he had a 'messianic vision' of saving Russia from its own leadership and thought the intelligence operatives 'would be my allies in overthrowing their government,' according to court papers. He said he also became concerned about the impact on his wife's family if he did not engage and was bitter about his experience in the U.S. Army." The AP's story is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Jake Bleiberg of the AP: "The FBI is investigating allegations that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [R] broke the law in using his office to benefit a wealthy donor, according to two people with knowledge of the probe. Federal agents are looking into claims by former members of Paxton's staff that the high-profile Republican committed bribery, abuse of office and other crimes to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, the people told The Associated Press.... Each of Paxton's accusers has resigned, been put on leave or been fired since reporting him. Last week, four of them filed a state whistleblower lawsuit against the attorney general, claiming he ousted them as retribution.... The full nature of Paxton and Paul's connection remains unclear. In 2018, Paul donated $25,000 to the attorney general's reelection campaign. The developer also said in a recent deposition that Paxton recommended a woman for her job with his company. Two people previously told The Associated Press that Paxton acknowledged in 2018 having an extramarital affair with the woman, who was then a state Senate aide." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede:

CNBC: "Jobless claims totaled 742,000 for the week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, ahead of the 710,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. That total also represented an acceleration from the previous week's 709,000 and a continuation of the job market struggles since the coronavirus pandemic hit in early March. The week-over-week increase was the first after four straight weeks of decline."

Comments Off
Tuesday
Nov172020

The Commentariat -- November 18, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "More than 900 employees at Mayo Clinic, a top research hospital that is based in Rochester, Minnesota, have contracted Covid-19 in the last two weeks. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Dr Amy Williams, dean of clinical practice at the hospital, said that the vast majority of staff who were infected -- 93% -- were not infected at work, according to the St Paul Pioneer Press. Most of those who were infected at work contracted the virus while eating without a mask during their breaks, Williams said. The hundreds of employees who have contracted the virus over the last two weeks make up over a third of all employees who were infected since the start of the pandemic. The hospital is experiencing a shortage of 1,000 employees at its headquarters in Rochester, according to the Pioneer Press."

Aram Roston of Reuters: "Before William Barr became President Donald Trump's choice to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, he represented Caterpillar Inc ... in a federal criminal investigation by the department. Much was at stake for Caterpillar: Since 2018, the Internal Revenue Service has been demanding $2.3 billion in payments from the company in connection with the tax matters under criminal investigation.... A week after Barr was nominated for the job of attorney general, Justice officials in Washington told the investigative team in the active criminal probe of Caterpillar to take 'no further action' in the case.... The decision, the email said, came from the Justice Department's Tax Division and the office of the deputy attorney general, who was then Rod Rosenstein." --s

Sarah Ferris & Heather Caygle of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi secured her caucus' nomination for another term leading the House on Wednesday as Democrats kicked off their multiday leadership elections for the new Congress. Pelosi is running unopposed and only needed a simple majority of the Democratic Caucus during the secret ballot vote. But she'll still have to clinch 218 votes on the House floor in January to officially become speaker -- and she has a much narrower majority to work with this time around after Democrats lost more than half a dozen seats on Election Day."

Jeff Zeleny & Casey Tolan of CNN: "The Trump campaign said Wednesday that it will seek a limited recount of some Wisconsin counties. The campaign needs to officially request the recount, any pay an upfront fee, by 5 p.m. CT Wednesday. Wisconsin election officials confirmed on Wednesday that they received a partial payment of $3 million from the Trump campaign. These officials said last week that the price tag for a statewide recount would be approximately $7.9 million. 'The Wisconsin Elections Commission has received a wire transfer from the Trump campaign for $3 million. No petition has been received yet, but the Trump campaign has told WEC staff one will be filed today,' the election commission said. CNN projected that President-elect Joe Biden will win Wisconsin. According to unofficial results, Biden leads ... Donald Trump by 20,470 votes, or 0.62%."

Trump Could Not Be Bothered to Pick up the Phone. Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "When it comes to diplomacy in Asia, showing up is half the battle. But President Trump couldn't be bothered to attend two key Asia-related summits last weekend, even though they were held virtually. This was the lame-duck president's latest and hopefully last insult to the United States' Asian allies -- and an unforced error in the greater competition with China. For the third year in a row, Trump declined to participate in the annual summit of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes a meeting between leaders of the group's 10 member nations and the United States. The president was also a no-show for the East Asia Summit, which President Barack Obama began attending in 2011. And Trump wasn't the only one. For the first time in this administration, no Cabinet-level official participated in either event. No travel was required; all they had to do was call in to corresponding video forums."

Jake Bleiberg of the AP: "The FBI is investigating allegations that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [R] broke the law in using his office to benefit a wealthy donor, according to two people with knowledge of the probe. Federal agents are looking into claims by former members of Paxton's staff that the high-profile Republican committed bribery, abuse of office and other crimes to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, the people told The Associated Press.... Each of Paxton's accusers has resigned, been put on leave or been fired since reporting him. Last week, four of them filed a state whistleblower lawsuit against the attorney general, claiming he ousted them as retribution.... The full nature of Paxton and Paul's connection remains unclear. In 2018, Paul donated $25,000 to the attorney general's reelection campaign. The developer also said in a recent deposition that Paxton recommended a woman for her job with his company. Two people previously told The Associated Press that Paxton acknowledged in 2018 having an extramarital affair with the woman, who was then a state Senate aide."

~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the Future. Steve Peoples, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump's refusal to cooperate with his successor is forcing President-elect Joe Biden to seek unusual workarounds to prepare for the exploding public health threat and evolving national security challenges he will inherit in just nine weeks. Blocked from the official intelligence briefing traditionally afforded to incoming presidents, Biden gathered virtually on Tuesday with a collection of intelligence, defense and diplomatic experts. None of the experts is currently affiliated with the U.S. government, raising questions about whether Biden is being provided the most up-to-date information about dangers facing the nation. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a more formal briefing on Tuesday as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, though still has relatively limited information about the specific threats Biden will inherit."

Alice Ollstein of Politico: "The leaders of President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus advisory board said Tuesday the Trump administration's continued refusal to allow the transition to move forward is hurting their preparedness planning on multiple fronts, from addressing mask shortages to recommending targeted closures in hot spots and laying the groundwork to distribute prospective vaccines. The transition team is unable to consult with federal health officials or access real-time data on available hospital beds, the status of the National Strategic Stockpile and therapeutics, among other things. For now, they said that's forcing them to rely on piecemeal data from state and local officials and public sources like the Covid Tracking Project."

Our Bananas Republic

Don the Dysfunctional Despot. Kevin Liptak, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's agenda listed 'no public events' on Tuesday -- the 10th time since the election that those words have appeared on his daily schedule. He has answered no questions from reporters, invited no cameras into the Oval Office and ventured no further than his namesake golf course, 25 miles from the White House in Virginia.... Trump has even canceled his plans to travel to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving, administration officials told CNN. The President and first lady were scheduled to spend the holiday at their South Florida resort, but have decided to stay in Washington instead.... Trump has demonstrated little interest in adding more to his schedule, people familiar with the matter said, and few aides have raised the idea with him because of his dark mood and preoccupation with his loss." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Bear in mind that Donnie's dysfunction -- which is in itself a nearly-adequate definition of insanity -- has not been caused by some terrible, unpredictable catastrophe that befell him. He lost an election he was expected to lose, and he lost it by less than expected. Perhaps, mired in his megalomania, he forgot that elections were cyclical things, and he knew this one was coming. It is too bad he hasn't figured out his election loss was a win for the country. Maybe someone should tell him that & give him a reason to celebrate.

Will Steakin, et al., of ABC News: "As ... Donald Trump's legal efforts challenging the election results continue to hit dead ends, his campaign and legal teams have descended into chaos..., multiple sources tell ABC News.... President Trump has suffered a dizzying barrage of court losses and setbacks around the country, leading him late last week to install Rudy Giuliani ... to lead the legal efforts going forward. But Giuliani's ascent has led to an explosion of infighting and disillusionment among the president's longstanding legal team and top campaign officials, resulting in dueling factions emerging from inside the president's dwindling campaign.... Over the weekend, Giuliani and his own team of lawyers, which also includes Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis, attempted what was described to ABC News as an internal campaign 'coup'.... Ellis told the remaining campaign staff [at the campaign's HQ in Arlington, Va.,] that they should only follow orders from people named 'Rudy or Jenna' and to ignore any other directives from campaign leadership.... The directive sparked outrage from senior campaign aides including Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and senior adviser Jason Miller, sources said. The attempted power grab hit a boiling point on Saturday when Miller, who's been the campaign's chief strategist for months, and Ellis got into what sources said was a 'screaming match' in front of other staffers."

Katelyn Polantz & Jessica Schneider of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani, representing ... Donald Trump's campaign, delivered a sweeping broadside against mail-in voting Tuesday in a federal courtroom as part of the campaign's long shot case to block Pennsylvania from certifying votes. Giuliani argued in a courtroom in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that the Trump campaign has been blocked from observing ballot processing in key cities and saying Democrats could have conspired to commit election fraud by counting absentee votes -- both assertions others judges have rejected repeatedly in court as unfounded or wrong. With Giuliani's entrance in court, the hearing may be the grand finale of the Trump campaign's flailing effort in court to stop the formalization of President-elect Joe Biden's win.... [It was Giuliani's] his first oral arguments before a trial judge in decades.... Giuliani jumping in to argue the case is the latest in a wild legal scramble for Trump.... Trump and his backers have faced ridicule from the legal community for bringing meritless lawsuits to challenge the election and spread disinformation to undermine Biden's win...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Based on various remarks I heard on the teevee, Giuliani's "sweeping broadside" was all conspiracy theory & no evidence. Giuliani argued that Republicans' "lack of access" in Democratic-led counties should invalidate 700,000 votes in those counties, but later upped the number of votes to be tossed to 1.2 million. ~~~

~~~ Pennsylvania. Pam Fessler of NPR: "Things did not go well Tuesday for the Trump campaign's effort to stop certification of the Pennsylvania vote count -- which has Joe Biden ahead by more than 73,000 votes. At almost the same time the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was in federal court in Williamsport, Pa., complaining that Republican observers were illegally denied access to vote counting in Philadelphia and other Democratic areas, the state Supreme Court in Harrisburg concluded otherwise. By a 5-2 vote, it ruled that Philadelphia election officials had acted properly in their handling of the observation process. The Trump campaign had argued that GOP representatives were kept too far away to see whether there were any irregularities, but the court said they were able to view election workers 'performing their duties,' as required. It was a major loss for the president and his campaign's flailing effort to overturn the election results.... [Giuliani] alleged, without providing any evidence, that voting in Pennsylvania was riddled with fraud. He said it was 'not an isolated case' either, but part of 'widespread national voter fraud' involving other jurisdictions, including Detroit and Milwaukee. However, Giuliani later admitted to the judge that the Pennsylvania lawsuit was 'not a fraud case.'"

Clown Car Driver Demands $20,000/Day Salary. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has helped oversee a string of failed court challenges to President Trump's defeat in the election, asked the president's campaign to pay him $20,000 a day for his legal work, multiple people briefed on the matter said. The request stirred opposition from some of Mr. Trump's aides and advisers.... Since Mr. Giuliani took over management of the legal effort, Mr. Trump has suffered a series of defeats in court and lawyers handling some of the remaining cases have dropped out. A $20,000-a-day rate would have made Mr. Giuliani ... among the most highly compensated attorneys anywhere.... There is little to no prospect of any of the remaining legal cases being overseen by Mr. Giuliani altering the outcome in any of the states where Mr. Trump is still fighting in court, much less of overturning President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s Electoral College and popular vote victory." Mrs. McC: Tuck in your shirt, Rudy. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: BTW, $20K-per-Day Rudy misrepresented his qualifications on his application to appear in the Pennsylvania case. He represented that he was "currently a member in good standing" of the District of Columbia Bar. In fact, the D.C. bar suspended him for non-payment of dues. That, of course, means he is not a member in good standing. (He is, however, a member of other bars which would qualify him to appear in a federal court.) Maybe Rudy figured he needed that fat per diem to pay off his bar dues.

Arizona. Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "The Arizona Republican Party has asked a judge to bar Maricopa County from certifying its Nov. 3 election results, including Democrat Joe Biden's win over ... Donald Trump, until the court issues a decision about the party's lawsuit seeking a new hand-count of a sampling of ballots. The GOP made the request Monday night after the county revealed officials planned to approve the returns on Thursday or Friday. A judge is scheduled to hear arguments in the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon. The county faces a Nov. 23 deadline for certifying its results."

Nevada. Ed Komenda & James DeHaven of the Reno Gazette Journal: "Despite showing no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in court filings..., Donald Trump's campaign in Nevada has leveled a flurry of allegations in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday questioning the integrity of Nevada's general election. The lawsuit is asking that Trump be named the winner of the election -- or that the results of the presidential race in Nevada are annulled and no winner is certified there. Former Vice President Joe Biden won Nevada by a 33,596-vote margin, according to the Nevada Secretary of State's office.... Nevada's state and federal courts have recently rebuffed at least a half-dozen similar legal challenges filed by Team Trump and the Nevada Republican Party."

Georgia. Kate Brumback of the AP: "A second Georgia county has uncovered a trove of votes not previously included in election results, but the additional votes won't change the overall outcome of the presidential race, the secretary of state's office said Tuesday. A memory card that hadn't been uploaded in Fayette County, just south of Atlanta, was discovered during a hand tally of the votes in the presidential race that stems from part of a legally mandated audit to ensure the new election machines counted the votes accurately, said Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the secretary of state's office. The memory card's 2,755 votes are not enough to flip the lead in the state from Democrat Joe Biden to Republican ... Donald Trump. The breakdown of the uncounted ballots was 1,577 for Trump, 1,128 for Biden, 43 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen and seven write-ins, Sterling said.... The counties have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to complete the hand count. The secretary of state's office originally said the results of the hand tally would be certified." ~~~

~~~ ** Wes Bruner & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A staffer for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger said Tuesday that he participated in a controversial phone call with Sen. Lindsey Graham and said he heard Graham ask if state officials could throw out ballots. The comments from the staffer, election implementation manager Gabriel Sterling, corroborate Raffensberger's recent claims about the phone call with Graham, who is one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken allies. Earlier this week, Raffensberger accused Graham of asking him to 'look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out,' referring to absentee ballots that skewed heavily in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. Graham denied the claim.... Sterling said on Tuesday, 'What I heard was basically discussions about absentee ballots and if a potentially ... if there was a percentage of signatures that weren't really, truly matching, is there some point we could get to, we could say somebody went to a courtroom could say well, let's throw (out) all these ballots because we have no way of knowing because the ballots are separated.'" ~~~

~~~ Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "In 2016, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised the integrity of the nation's elections system, criticizing claims by Donald J. Trump that the vote was 'rigged.'... Mr. Graham, who has transformed during that time to become one of Mr. Trump's most loyal allies, now seems determined to reverse the election's outcome on the president's behalf.... The phone call to [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger was one in a string of episodes in which Mr. Graham ... has tried to cast doubt on the presidential election's outcome, demanding that Mr. Trump not concede the race to Mr. Biden despite the Democrat's decisive Electoral College victory.... A longtime advocate of states' rights, Mr. Graham had interjected his Senate voice into a role historically delegated to states -- administering elections.... On Tuesday, Mr. Graham's office said he had raised concerns about vote counting in Georgia as well as in Arizona and Nevada...." ~~~

~~~ Lindsey's One-Man Band. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) started off the day by saying he had talked with the secretaries of state in Arizona and Nevada, in addition to the conversation he had acknowledged earlier with Georgia's top election official. A little later, Graham ... [said] he had actually talked to Arizona's governor and some other officials..., and he wasn't sure which officials from Nevada had briefed him about that state's 2020 election procedures.... By midafternoon Tuesday, Graham realized he had never spoken to anyone from the Silver State about its 2020 vote. This is the state of Graham's solo investigation into election laws in states that President Trump narrowly lost in this month's election.... Graham's colleagues increasingly saw this latest version of his activities as somewhat farcical, rather than political extortion." ~~~

~~~ Jessica Huseman & Mike Spies of ProPublica:"Long before Republican senators began publicly denouncing how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger handled the voting there, he withstood pressure from the campaign of Donald Trump to endorse the president for reelection. Raffensperger, a Republican, declined an offer in January to serve as an honorary co-chair of the Trump campaign in Georgia, according to emails reviewed by ProPublica. He later rejected GOP requests to support Trump publicly, he and his staff said in interviews. Raffensperger said he believed that, because he was overseeing the election, it would be a conflict of interest for him to take sides. Around the country, most secretaries of state remain officially neutral in elections. The attacks on his job performance are 'clear retaliation,' Raffensperger said. 'They thought Georgia was a layup shot Republican win. It is not the job of the secretary of state's office to deliver a win -- it is the sole responsibility of the Georgia Republican Party to get out the vote and get its voters to the polls. That is not the job of the secretary of state's office.'" ~~~

~~~ Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Georgia's Republican secretary of state said Tuesday that President Trump's attacks on the integrity of mail-in voting contributed to his loss in the Peach State. 'Twenty-four thousand people did not vote in the fall; either they did not vote absentee because they were told by the president "don't vote absentee, it's not secure,"' Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said in an interview with WSB-TV, an Atlanta-area ABC affiliate. 'But then they did not come out and vote in person. He would have won by 10,000 votes. He actually depressed, suppressed his own voting base."

** Michigan. Kayla Ruble & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Democrats and voting rights advocates expressed outrage Tuesday after the Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked on whether to certify its ballot count, punting the question of who won the state's most densely populated region to a state regulatory board that meets Nov. 23. The four-member board's two Republicans voted against certification, while its two Democrats voted to certify the results. Joe Biden holds a lead of nearly 148,000 votes in Michigan.... Mark Brewer, a leading Democratic election lawyer in Michigan, called the vote 'outrageous, unprecedented and racist.' He said the two White Republicans on the Wayne County board 'have essentially disenfranchised Black voters.... They had a legal duty to certify' a vote that was fair he said.... President Trump's false claims about widespread fraud have reverberated with his supporters, putting white-hot attention on the usually mundane vote certification process across Michigan." The article is free to non-subscribers. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: Republican appointees on a key board in Michigan's most populous county Tuesday night reversed their initial refusal to certify the vote tallies in the Detroit area, striking a last-minute compromise with Democrats that defused a political fight over the process to formalize President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state." The AP's story is here.

"It's the Monday, Stupid." Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... even as we throw cold water on [the conventional wisdom]..., we're still left with the unanswered question of how Trump performed as well as he did [in the election]/ He may not have transformed the Republican coalition, but he held onto much of his 2016 support and even enlarged it, if not in percentage terms then in absolute ones.... I want to propose an alternative explanation for the election results, one that accounts for the president's relative improvement as well as that of the entire Republican Party. It's the money, stupid. At the end of March, President Trump signed the Cares Act, which distributed more than half a trillion dollars in direct aid to more than 150 million Americans, from stimulus checks ($1,200 per adult and $500 per child for households below a certain income threshold) to $600 per week in additional unemployment benefits.... Now, the reason this many Americans received as much assistance as they did is that Democrats fought for it over the opposition of Republicans.... But voters, and especially the low-propensity voters who flooded the electorate in support of Trump, aren't attuned to the ins and outs of congressional debate.... All they knew is that Trump signed the bill (and the checks), giving them the kind of government assistance usually reserved for the nation's ownership class."

The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud -- including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, 'glitches' in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. -- Donald Trump, on Twitter, this evening, tweets Twitter later labeled as inaccurate ~~~

~~~ Tweet-Fired for Doing His Job. Ellen Nakashima & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday fired a top Department of Homeland Security official who led the agency's efforts to help secure the election and was vocal about tamping down unfounded claims of ballot fraud. In a tweet, Trump fired Christopher Krebs, who headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS, and led successful efforts to help state and local election offices protect their systems and to rebut misinformation. Earlier in the day, Krebs in a tweet refuted allegations that election systems were manipulated, saying that '59 election security experts all agree, "in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent."' Krebs' statement amounted to a debunking of Trump's central claim that the November election was stolen." An NPR story is here. Mrs. McC: The liar has set Krebs free.

California. City New Service, published by KNBC-TV Los Angeles: "A man who tried to run for mayor in Hawthorne[, California,] is among two people charged in a voter fraud case in which thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications were allegedly submitted on behalf of homeless people, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday. Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro -- also known as Mark Anthony Gonsalves -- was set to be arraigned Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on 18 felony counts of voter fraud, 11 felony counts of procuring a false or forged instrument, two felony counts of perjury and one felony count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud, along with nine misdemeanor counts of interference with a prompt transfer of a completed affidavit, according to the District Attorney's Office. Montenegro, 53, allegedly submitted more than 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications between July and October, as well as allegedly falsifying names, addresses and signatures on nomination papers under penalty of perjury to run for mayor in Hawthorne.... No votes were ever actually cast. The registrar caught on quickly and flagged the applications...."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday gave an emergency green light to the first rapid coronavirus test that can run from start to finish at home, paving a potential path for more widespread testing outside of health care settings. The test, developed by the California-based company Lucira Health, requires a prescription from a health care provider. People under the age of 14 also cannot perform the test on themselves. But with a relatively simple nasal swab, the test can return results in about half an hour, and is projected by the company to cost $50 or less, according to the product's website. Clinicians can also run the test on patients, including children under the age of 14, potentially delivering answers during a single visit to a care center or pharmacy, instead of routing a tough-to-collect sample through a lab."

Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "The drug maker Pfizer said on Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine was 95 percent effective and had no serious side effects -- the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial.... The data showed that the vaccine prevented mild and severe forms of Covid-19, the company said. And it was 94 percent effective in older adults, who are more vulnerable to developing severe Covid-19 and who do not respond strongly to some types of vaccines. Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with its partner BioNTech, said the companies planned to apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization 'within days,' raising hopes that a working vaccine could soon become a reality. The trial results -- less than a year after researchers began working on the vaccine -- shattered all speed records for vaccine development, a process that usually takes years." An AP story is here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Chuck Grassley [R-Iowa], the oldest Senate Republican, will quarantine after exposure to the virus." (Also linked yesterday.)

Best Headline: "After Big Thanksgiving Dinners, Plan Small Christmas Funerals, Health Experts Warn." Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Mississippians should plan 'to have very small Thanksgiving gatherings' with only nuclear family members this year to stay safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs and other public health officials warned on Friday. 'You're going to have a lot of sick folks who caught (COVID-19) during Thanksgiving. We know this is the perfect milieu, having young folks and old folks and folks with chronic illness around the table -- and then death,' Dobbs said during a sober Mississippi State Medical Association Zoom meeting with fellow physicians on Nov. 12. The state's top health official urged even Mississippians who are having small holiday gatherings to observe 6 feet of social distancing and to hold the gatherings outdoors, where the chance of transmission is lower." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quietly removed controversial guidance from its website that pushed for schools to reopen in the fall and downplayed the transmission risks of COVID-19 to children and others. The documents, one of which was reportedly written by political appointees outside of the CDC, stated that children appear to be at lower risk for contracting COVID-19 compared to adults and that children are unlikely to be major spreaders of the virus. The CDC removed two guidance documents from its website in late October with no public announcement. When reached for comment, a CDC spokesperson said, 'Some of the prior content was outdated and as new scientific information has emerged the site has been updated to reflect current knowledge about COVID-19 and schools.'"

Dan Diamond of Politico: "The Health and Human Services department has scrapped a planned ad campaign featuring celebrities discussing Covid-19, a senior HHS official told a congressional oversight panel in a letter shared with Politico. The abandoned $15 million contract with Atlas Research, part of a larger $300 million taxpayer-funded campaign aimed at 'defeating despair' over the pandemic, was conceived by a close political ally of ... Donald Trump this summer. It was met with outrage from Democratic lawmakers, who charged it was an attempt to boost lagging public opinion of Trump's coronavirus response ahead of the election.... HHS did not respond to questions about why the Trump administration vetted celebrities' political views as part of the campaign."


Dan Lamothe & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "The U.S. military will halve the number of troops it has in Afghanistan within the next two months, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, as President Trump seeks to move closer to keeping a promise to end wars abroad despite concerns that the decision could undermine negotiations with the Taliban. Pentagon officials also said they would make smaller cuts in Iraq, where U.S. forces have focused on countering the Islamic State.... Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller ... Miller said the military will carry out Trump's orders in both countries by Jan. 15, with troop numbers reduced from about 5,000 to 2,500 in Afghanistan and from about 3,000 to 2,500 in Iraq." ~~~

~~~ Adam Taylor & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Afghanistan could once again become a haven for international terrorist organizations that seek to harm Western countries if foreign forces leave too abruptly, the head of NATO said Tuesday in a rare rebuke of U.S. policy, following reports that the Trump administration would withdraw thousands of troops from the country. 'We now face a difficult decision. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and no NATO ally wants to stay any longer than necessary,' NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. 'But at the same time, the price for leaving too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be very high.'"

Senate Blocks Gold Bug Lady's Confirmation. Seung Min Kim & Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "Judy Shelton's nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was blocked in the Senate on Tuesday, with bipartisan opposition to the controversial economist and GOP absences prompted by the coronavirus imperiling her candidacy. The vote had been expected to be razor-thin for Shelton, who was nominated by President Trump despite her past criticism of the central bank and her unorthodox views of monetary policy. But after the vote was scheduled, two Republicans, Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) and Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), announced they were quarantining themselves after being exposed to the coronavirus and could not attend. (Grassley on Tuesday evening announced he had tested positive for the virus.) Two Republican senators [-- Susan Collins & Mitt Romney --] voted against advancing Shelton on Tuesday; a third GOP senator who does not support her, Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), was not in attendance for the vote Tuesday. The last-minute shifts proved too much for Republicans to overcome, at least for now. Although the GOP holds 53 seats in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was able to muster only 48 Republican senators to end the filibuster on Shelton's nomination."

Alan Fram of the AP: "House Democrats seem certain to nominate Nancy Pelosi for two more years as speaker, but she'll be leading a smaller majority divided along ideological lines as it tries shepherding President-elect Joe Biden's agenda toward enactment. Pelosi, D-Calif., faced no announced rivals for the post Wednesday as the chamber's Democrats planned their first-ever virtual leadership elections in response to the pandemic. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and No. 3 party leader Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., were also on track to retain their positions." ~~~

~~~ Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Rep. Kevin McCarthy easily won reelection as House Republican leader, a stunning turnaround as the entire GOP leadership team was rewarded by their colleagues for reducing the Democrats' House advantage in the November election. McCarthy faced no opposition Tuesday to return as minority leader during the closed-door gathering under COVID-19 protocols. After a quick vote, he won a standing ovation, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private session."

Mark Sherman of the AP: "The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is asking the Supreme Court to put off upcoming arguments about whether Congress should have access to secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The House Judiciary Committee that takes office in January 'will have to determine whether it wishes to continue pursuing the application for the grand-jury materials that gave rise to this case,' Douglas Letter, the top lawyer for the House said in a written filing Tuesday. Letter noted that ... Donald Trump's defeat in his bid for reelection could affect the committee's decision." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

NBC News: "The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that the Boeing 737 Max will be recertified, the end of a two-year road to redemption after the craft was grounded following two fatal overseas crashes. The Max was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after a Lion Air crash in October 2018 in Indonesia killed 189 people and was followed five months later by an Ethiopian Airlines crash, shortly after takeoff, that caused the death of all 157 people aboard." A New York Times story is here.

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Monday
Nov162020

The Commentariat -- November 17, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Clown Car Driver Demands $20,000/Day Salary. Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has helped oversee a string of failed court challenges to President Trump's defeat in the election, asked the president's campaign to pay him $20,000 a day for his legal work, multiple people briefed on the matter said. The request stirred opposition from some of Mr. Trump's aides and advisers.... Since Mr. Giuliani took over management of the legal effort, Mr. Trump has suffered a series of defeats in court and lawyers handling some of the remaining cases have dropped out. A $20,000-a-day rate would have made Mr. Giuliani ... among the most highly compensated attorneys anywhere.... There is little to no prospect of any of the remaining legal cases being overseen by Mr. Giuliani altering the outcome in any of the states where Mr. Trump is still fighting in court, much less of overturning President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s Electoral College and popular vote victory." Mrs. McC: Tuck in your shirt, Rudy.

Mark Sherman of the AP: "The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is asking the Supreme Court to put off upcoming arguments about whether Congress should have access to secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The House Judiciary Committee that takes office in January 'will have to determine whether it wishes to continue pursuing the application for the grand-jury materials that gave rise to this case,' Douglas Letter, the top lawyer for the House said in a written filing Tuesday. Letter noted that ... Donald Trump's defeat in his bid for reelection could affect the committee's decision."

Best Headline: "After Big Thanksgiving Dinners, Plan Small Christmas Funerals, Health Experts Warn." Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Mississippians should plan 'to have very small Thanksgiving gatherings' with only nuclear family members this year to stay safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs and other public health officials warned on Friday. 'You're going to have a lot of sick folks who caught (COVID-19) during Thanksgiving. We know this is the perfect milieu, having young folks and old folks and folks with chronic illness around the table -- and then death,' Dobbs said during a sober Mississippi State Medical Association Zoom meeting with fellow physicians on Nov. 12. The state's top health official urged even Mississippians who are having small holiday gatherings to observe 6 feet of social distancing and to hold the gatherings outdoors, where the chance of transmission is lower."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Chuck Grassley [R-Iowa], the oldest Senate Republican, will quarantine after exposure to the virus."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The President-elect

Anne Gearan & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden urged Congress to immediately pass an economic relief package Monday as he warned that the coronavirus pandemic will worsen in the coming months. The incoming Democratic president also criticized President Trump for his refusal to concede his election loss and begin handing over power. Biden called Trump's unprecedented actions 'embarrassing for the country' and irresponsible. The delay in cooperation is setting back plans for a coordinated rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, Biden said. Most of that rollout would fall to the Biden administration next year, but the Trump White House is not sharing details of its distribution plan. Trump falsely claims that he won the Nov. 3 election and is holding up the normal transition process for a new president." The Hill's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden on Monday ratcheted up pressure on the Trump administration to engage in a transition of power, mincing no words on the dire consequences if his incoming team faces further delays in working with federal agencies. 'More people may die if we don't coordinate,' Biden said during a news conference in Wilmington, Del., following remarks on the economic impact of the coronavirus in which he warned of a 'very dark winter' where 'things are going to get much tougher before they get easier.' He also pointed out the absurdity that Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the vice president-elect, still has access to classified intelligence briefings because she is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But Biden himself is not able to get those briefings because Trump's administration has yet to acknowledge that Biden won the election."

Dan Merica & Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Jen O'Malley Dillon will join President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration as a deputy chief of staff, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. The expected move, first reported by NBC News [in a tweet from reporter Geoff Bennett], is the latest in a long line of expected senior White House hires as Biden moves to fill out his administration. O'Malley Dillon was Biden's campaign manager, joining his team in March after he consolidated support among most of his primary rivals. She helped transform a shoestring primary organization, which struggled to raise money, into a general election juggernaut that ultimately made Donald Trump a one-term president. She was the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential race."~~~

~~~ Steve Peoples & Bill Barrow of the AP: "President-elect Joe Biden is drawing from the senior ranks of his campaign to fill out an increasingly diverse White House leadership team. Sources familiar with Biden's initial decisions confirmed Monday that former campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon will serve as a deputy chief of staff, while campaign co-chair Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond and campaign adviser Steve Ricchetti will play senior roles in the new administration. Richmond will leave his Louisiana congressional seat to fill the White House job.... Richmond, a 47-year-old African American, will take on a public engagement role in the Biden administration that will allow him to deal with Congress along with a focus on the Black community and other minority groups. Richmond's role will be like that of Valerie Jarrett in Obama's administrations, said two Democrats with knowledge of the hire. A former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Richmond was among Biden's earliest high-profile supporters and served as his campaign co-chair."

The Farce

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump began his third straight week of angry defiance of the election results, brooding behind the scenes about the state of his campaign's legal challenges and of Georgia's hand recount while refusing the pleas of some advisers to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Despite mounting legal losses in courts..., Trump dug in on his false claim that he 'won' the election. The president also assailed Georgia for what he described on Twitter as a 'Fake' and 'MEANINGLESS' recount in that state, which President-elect Joe Biden leads by 14,205 votes and has been projected to win.... As the Trump campaign's losses mount in courts, some of the president's more conspiratorial and polarizing advisers have become ascendant.... [Rudy] Giuliani, [Jenna] Ellis and others, including Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, have embraced more extreme conspiracy theories...."

The Washington Post's live election updates Monday are here. They are free to non-subscribers. President-elect Joe "Biden plans to forge ahead Monday with his transition to the presidency, delivering remarks from Delaware on the economic recovery, his latest in a series of speeches on key issues confronting the country. According to his transition team, both Biden and Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the vice president-elect, will receive a briefing on the economy, in Wilmington, in advance of a scheduled afternoon address. ~~~

~~~ [POUTUS.] "Trump continued to refuse to accept defeat, tweeting in all caps shortly before midnight on Sunday, 'I WON THE ELECTION.' He repeated his baseless claim on Monday morning, tweeting, 'I won the election,' amid a spate of other tweets airing grievances about the process. Twitter responded by a slapping a warning on the Sunday tweet, reading, 'Official sources called this election differently,' with a link to multiple news accounts of Biden winning the presidency.... Trump, meanwhile, has no public events on Monday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Which one of these is more like a president? The one practicing to be president or the one who, theoretically, has held the job for almost four years?

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "The top General Services Administration official who's blocking President-elect Joe Biden's transition team from accessing government resources ahead of his inauguration appears to be looking for a new job, according to a message obtained by ABC News. Emily Murphy, head of the GSA, recently sent that message to an associate inquiring about employment opportunities in 2021, a move that some in Washington interpreted as at least tacitly acknowledging that the current administration soon will be gone.... Congressional Democrats have accused Murphy of undermining the peaceful transition of power and could subpoena her for testimony on Capitol Hill to explain why she's doing so.... Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., a senior member of the House Oversight Committee, insisted that Murphy reaching out privately about future employment opportunities 'exposes the hypocrisy' of the Trump administration's position."

Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Fifty-nine of the country's top computer scientists and election security experts rebuked President Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud and hacking on Monday, writing that such assertions are 'unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.' The rebuttal, in a letter to be published on various websites, did not mention Mr. Trump by name but amounted to another forceful corrective to the torrents of disinformation that he has posted on Twitter. 'Anyone asserting that a U.S. election was "rigged" is making an extraordinary claim, one that must be supported by persuasive and verifiable evidence,' the scientists wrote.... 'To our collective knowledge, no credible evidence has been put forth that supports a conclusion that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical compromise,' they wrote."

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Voters in four states who had brought longshot lawsuits to disrupt President-elect Joe Biden's win and went nowhere in court dropped their cases Monday morning. The cases were short-lived in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania federal courts, and fed into a pro-Donald Trump legal strategy to block Biden's presidential win before the Electoral College formalizes it.... Cases seeking to block battleground states' popular vote wins for Biden are getting fewer by the day, with two from the Trump campaign before federal judges in Michigan and Pennsylvania, one from an elector in Georgia, and one from pollwatchers in Michigan. The announcement that the voters are dropping their suits comes three days after a federal appellate court said voters couldn't bring some constitutional claims, essentially shutting down the path the Pennsylvania voters wanted to take in their suit." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As Ari Melber put it on MSNBC Monday, Trump's "legal strategy" is pretty much down to Rudy's rantings on Fox "News."

Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "The White House's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, on Monday promised president-elect Joe Biden an orderly transfer of power, a departure from other Trump administration officials who have shunned any perception that ... Donald Trump lost the election. 'If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner -- and obviously things look that way now -- we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council,' O'Brien said in a virtual interview at the Global Security Forum.... O'Brien couched his statements, as Trump's campaign is still pursuing legal challenges to the election results, and he said the transition would commence 'if the current lawsuits don't work out for the president.... If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies,' O'Brien said.... [MEANWHILE,] 'The Radical Left Democrats, working with their partner, the Fake News Media, are trying to STEAL this Election,' Trump tweeted [Monday morning]. 'We won't let them!'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Nearly two weeks after the election, there are signs that Republicans are starting to accept reality.... Most Republicans have been reluctant to contradict Trump's claim that he can still hold the White House, but there's been a steady trickle of GOP lawmakers defecting from Trump's false contention that he was robbed by fraudsters. After Trump tweeted Monday, 'I won the election,' Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told reporters, 'I wouldn't have advised he put it that way.' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Trump can and should continue his legal challenges but has 'every confidence on Jan. 20 we're going to inaugurate a president. And it will probably be Joe Biden.'... Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, referred to Biden as the president-elect unprompted, saying 'that's what the results, the preliminary results, seem to indicate, and we certainly have to anticipate that that's the highest likelihood at this point.'... Rubio is among a small minority of Republicans who believe that the General Services Administration should formally certify Biden as the winner...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I thought Trump -- and Republican "leaders" in general -- were supposed to be brave macho-men who could face any adversity, while they characterized Democrats as weak cowards who let their girly "feelings" guide them. It isn't turning out that way, is it?

** Georgia. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that he has come under increasing pressure in recent days from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), to question the validity of legally cast absentee ballots in an effort to reverse President Trump's narrow loss in the state.... Raffensperger expressed exasperation over a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia's voting machines, is a 'leftist' company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes to be left out of the count. The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that both he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read: 'You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.'... The normally mild-mannered Raffensperger saved his harshest language for Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), who is leading the president's efforts in Georgia and whom Raffensperger called a 'liar' and a 'charlatan.'" ~~~

~~~ Here's the part about Lindsey Graham: "In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state's signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said. Raffensperger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots." Wowza! The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~

     ~~~ David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Marc Elias, a top attorney for the Democratic Party who has spent decades defending voting rights, is calling on the Ethics Committee to investigate Senator Lindsey Graham.... Former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa [in a tweet:] 'So this seems like something that would come under the guidance Bill Barr recently gave DOJ to investigate.'... Political scientist David Rothkopf [in a tweet]: 'This demands investigation. If laws were broken, it demands prosecution. Clearly, if true, @LindseyGrahamSC has no business being in the US Senate.'" ~~~

     ~~~ With Friends Like These.... Mrs. McCrabbie: Might be a good time to remind ourselves, "According to the 2015 version of Sen. Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump is 'a race baiting, xenophobic religious bigot,' while Joe Biden is 'as good a man as God ever created.'"

~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Georgia's Republican secretary of state posted several fact checks on his official Facebook page Sunday correcting misinformation about the election promoted by ... Donald Trump and his campaign. Brad Raffensperger, for example, shared an Associated Press story that fact-checked Trump's false claim that Georgia election officials were unable to verify signatures on absentee ballots because of a legal settlement.... Raffensperger also wrote that his office strengthened the absentee ballot process for the first time since 2005, and, in another post, said one of the first things he did as secretary of state was to ban ballot harvesting after the Legislature passed his proposal in 2019. 'Truth matters. Integrity matters,' he wrote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Aris Folley of the Hill: "More than 2,600 votes have reportedly been uncovered in Georgia amid its recount process that weren't previously included in the state's overall tally of ballots in the presidential election. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the ballots were uncovered in Floyd County. Gabriel Sterling, who serves as Georgia's voting system manager, told the newspaper the mishap was the result of human error, not equipment issues.... According to the newspaper, President Trump could see roughly 800 net votes added to his tally in the state as a result of the discovery.... The paper reports that the mishap has been the 'most significant issue' to come up as the state continues with its closely watched recount." Mrs. McC: Prior to the discovery of the untallied ballots, Biden had a lead of about 14,000 votes. The AJC story is firewalled.

Pennsylvania. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The game of musical chairs among lawyers pursuing ... Donald Trump's court challenges to the election results continued on Monday evening, as the campaign tried to replace the entire team handling the campaign's federal lawsuit seeking to block certification of Pennsylvania's results. A court filing said Marc Scaringi, a Harrisburg, Pa., attorney, conservative talk radio host and former [spectacularly failed] Senate candidate, was taking over the case.... The legal escapade devolved into farce on Monday night as the federal judge rejected a move by the campaign to postpone [a] key [Tuesday afternoon] hearing." Two of the 'new' lawyers the campaign brought in to handle the Pennsylvania case lasted only one business day. Minutes after the campaign assured the judge Scaringi would be ready to meet the court's schedule, Scaringi asked for more time. And so on. Mrs. McC: In fairness to Trump, many of his escapades "devolve into farce" rather quickly. This one has the advantage of having begun as farce.

Fall of the House of Javanka. Frank Bruni of the New York Times: "Just five short years ago Jared and Ivanka were dinner-party royalty here in Manhattan.... They had money, they had youth, they had celebrity. They were thin. I'm told that their manners were impeccable, so you'd never know that his father was an actual felon and her father a de facto one.... [But now.] Jared and Ivanka are about to be held accountable.... They are the Faustian poster couple of the Trump presidency, the king and queen of the principle-torching prom at which so many danced alongside them, although in less exquisitely tailored attire.... Down there, near the border: migrant children in cages. Over here, near the Potomac: Javanka in their gilded tableaux.... They have made their bed. Lucky for them, the sheets have a serious thread count." (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Krugman of the New York Times writes that in the election, "the big winners were the coronavirus and, quite possibly, catastrophic climate change.... Trump paid less of a penalty than expected for his deadly failure to deal with Covid-19, and few down-ballot Republicans seem to have paid any penalty at all. As a headline in The Washington Post put it, 'With pandemic raging, Republicans say election results validate their approach.' And their approach, in case you missed it, has been denial and a refusal to take even the most basic, low-cost precautions -- like requiring that people wear masks in public." ~~~

~~~ Emily Oster, in a New York Times op-ed inappropriately headlined, "How to deal with people who ignore Covid safety," backs up Krugman. She writes that people are unlikely to change their behavior for their own good, much less for the good of others: "People are often reluctant to do things they might find unpleasant to improve their health. The American government spends millions of dollars every year to educate the public about a healthy diet, for example. And yet most of this advice is ignored." She does write that aggressive testing could somewhat ameliorate that problem.


Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump is expected to order the U.S. military to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia by the time he leaves office in January, using the end of his time in power to significantly pull back American forces from far-flung conflicts around the world.... Shortly before Mr. Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper last week and installed Christopher C. Miller as the acting Pentagon chief, Mr. Esper had sent a classified memo to the White House expressing concerns about accelerating the troop drawdown in Afghanistan, a senior administration official said. Senator Mitch McConnell ... delivered a thinly veiled warning to Mr. Trump from the Senate floor on Monday, suggesting that the president would put himself at risk of squandering his record of accomplishment in the Middle East and repeating the mistakes of former President Barack Obama...."

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran's main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in the country's stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former U.S. officials said on Monday. A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers -- including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- warned that a strike against Iran's facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump's presidency."

Going, Going, Gone. Henry Fountain of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Monday announced that it would begin the formal process of selling leases to oil companies in a last-minute push to achieve its long-sought goal of allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. That sets up a potential sale of leases just before Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, leaving the new administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has opposed drilling in the refuge, to try to reverse them after the fact."

More on Trump's Legacy. Michael Balsamo of the AP: "Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s, according to an FBI report released Monday.... There were 7,314 hate crimes last year, up from 7,120 the year before -- and approaching the 7,783 of 2008. The FBI's annual report defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on a person's race, religion or sexual orientation, among other categories."

The Trumpdemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced a statewide mask mandate on Monday, months after dismissing such orders as 'feel-good' measures with little impact. Coronavirus infections in the state have doubled over the past month, and the number of hospitalized patients reached a new high on Monday. Stricter public health orders are also being imposed in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Oklahoma and California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state needed to slam the 'emergency brake' on reopening."

Elizabeth Cohen of CNN: "The Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective against coronavirus, according to early data released Monday by the company, making it the second vaccine in the United States to have a stunningly high success rate. 'These are obviously very exciting results,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor. 'It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding.' Moderna heard its results on a call Sunday afternoon with members of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board, an independent panel analyzing Moderna's clinical trial data." ~~~

~~~ Carl Zimmer of the New York Times provides some data points on "what you need to know about Moderna's Covid vaccine." Mrs. McC: He does leave out a couple of important points that I heard from multiple experts on the TV yesterday: 1. Moderna has not released its testing data; rather, they have issued a press release. (Same with Pfizer.) So there's nothing for outside experts to analyze. 2. Moderna's vaccine has a huge advantage over Pfizer's in that Moderna's product can be transported at normal refrigeration/freezer temperatures, while Pfizer's is more unstable & requires super-freezers to transport & store it. You might think that, for the good of humanity, Moderna would share the trick they've perfected for stabilizing the vaccine. Alas, as we know, capitalism is awesome, and Moderna is keeping its patented formula super-secret. And, BTW, Moderna has received about $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars even as it cossets its secret patent. Seems to me there's something wrong with that picture.

Mrs. McCrabbie: I was kinda wondering what, if anything, the vaunted Hoover Institution would have to say about Scott Atlas. Here's Stanford's statement, in part: "The university has been asked to comment on recent statements made by Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who is on leave of absence from that position.... Dr. Atlas has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university's approach in response to the pandemic. Dr. Atlas's statements reflect his personal views, not those of the Hoover Institution or the university." I assume, not necessarily accurately, that Stanford isn't paying him to encourage a revolution against a sitting governor who has already been the subject of a foiled kidnapping/murder plot, but we taxpayers are. ~~~

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "SCOTT ATLAS is a neuroradiologist, not an infectious disease expert, nor an epidemiologist. As President Trump’s leading adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, he continues to make statements that will cause more illness and death. He ought to be fired immediately.... Of [new] Michigan restrictions [imposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)], he wrote on Twitter: 'The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp.' So, while the governor was desperately trying to save lives by slowing the virus transmission, Dr. Atlas was urging people to disobey and revolt. This is incendiary talk, especially since the governor was the target of a kidnapping plot foiled by the FBI before the election."

Death in De Nile. Kathryn Krawczyk of the Week: "After a Twitter thread of her experiences started circulating, [South Dakota nurse Jodi] Doering appeared on CNN's New Day on Monday to describe how South Dakota hospitals are overwhelmed with coronavirus patients -- and yet some of them don't believe the virus they have is real.... Some COVID-19 patients spend their last moments refusing to call family and friends because they're convinced they're going to be fine, Doering said. 'Their last dying words are, "This can't be happening. It's not real,'" Doering recalled. In some cases, patients even insist they have the flu or lung cancer to avoid acknowledging the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marina Watts of Newsweek: "'The ones that stick out are those who still don't believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is Going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm,' [Jodi Doering] wrote. 'They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that "stuff" because they don't have COVID because it's not real. Yes. This really happens.'" Mrs. McC: These stories harken back to a comment contributor Jeanne wrote in Sunday's thread. Anyway, thanks, Trump! (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

Weather Channel: "Hurricane Iota is spreading a dangerous threat of flooding rainfall and damaging winds into Central America after making landfall in northern Nicaragua as a strong Category 4 late Monday night. Iota made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph at 10:40 p.m. EST on Monday near the town of Haulover, Nicaragua, or about 30 miles south of Puerto Cabezas, the National Hurricane Center said. The landfall location of Iota was just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall as a Category 4 earlier this month on Nov. 3. This is the first time on record two major hurricanes - Category 3 or stronger - have made landfall in Nicaragua in the same hurricane season, much less only two weeks apart. NOAA's hurricane database only documented seven such Category 3-plus landfalls in Nicaragua prior from the mid-19th century through 2019."

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