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
Oct142020

The Commentariat -- October 15, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Lauren Leatherby of the New York Times: "The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States is surging once again after growth slowed in late summer. While the geography of the pandemic is now shifting to the Midwest and to more rural areas, cases are trending upward in most states, many of which are setting weekly records for new cases.... 'We are headed in the wrong direction, and that's reflected not only in the number of new cases but also in test positivity and the number of hospitalizations,' said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. 'Together, I think these three indicators give a very clear picture that we are seeing increased transmission in communities across the country.'"

Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "President Trump called Thursday for even more stimulus spending than the $1.8 trillion proposed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in his talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, injecting yet more chaos into the unruly negotiations as the election nears. 'I would take more. I would go higher,' Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network, repeating his directive from earlier in the week to 'Go big or go home!!!['] Trump said he’s communicated his views to Mnuchin. 'I've told him. So far he hasn't come home with the bacon,' the president said." Mrs. McC: Trump's advocacy for a bigger stimulus package deal is B.S. Obviously, he wouldn't have to twist Mnuchin's arm to get him to up the administration's offer. Usually, the devil is in the details, but I'd say here the devil is in the Oval. And you don't complain that a Jewish person hasn't brought home the bacon. Idiot. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Dan Primack of Axios: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he would not put a potential $1.8 trillion+ deal struck by Democrats and the Trump administration on the Senate floor. 'My members think half a trillion dollars, highly targeted is the best way to go,' he said." Mrs. McC: I expect McConnell knows or fears that a majority would vote for such a bill as in extremis Republican senators peel off & vote with Democrats to pass the bill.

Trump-o-nomics. Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "After an ambitious expansion of the safety net in the spring saved millions of people from poverty, the aid is now largely exhausted and poverty has returned to levels higher than before the coronavirus crisis, two new studies have found. The number of poor people has grown by eight million since May, according to researchers at Columbia University, after falling by four million at the pandemic's start as a result of an $2 trillion emergency package known as the Cares Act. Using a different definition of poverty, researchers from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame found that poverty has grown by six million people in the past three months, with circumstances worsening most for Black people and children.... The recent rise in poverty has occurred despite an improving job market, an indiction that the economy has been rebounding too slowly to offset the lost benefits."

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "Descended into rants"? I wonder if the POTUS* realizes that the paper of record, the realm of the Gray Lady, is happy to publish news stories -- not opinion pieces -- that more-or-less describe him as a raving lunatic. It is a remarkable evolution.

Chelsea Janes & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris canceled her travel through this coming weekend after two people who were around her tested positive for the coronavirus Wednesday night.... Harris ... tested negative for the virus Wednesday and will be tested again Thursday, the campaign said. Harris has not been in close contact recently with either communications director Liz Allen or the other person who tested positive, a flight crew member who is not a campaign staff member, aides said. Former vice president Joe Biden..., also has not been in contact with those affected, according to a statement from campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon."

Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "When NBC News drew fire for scheduling Thursday night's town hall with President Trump directly opposite an ABC News town hall with Joe Biden, the excuse was parity.... I'd describe that gambit with an entirely different word: specious. It may sound plausible, but it is wrong. In fact, NBC News is doing what so much of mainstream media has done time and again: allowed Trump to steal the spotlight and command attention on his terms. 'I am dismayed -- more like disgusted -- by NBC's decision to air Trump's "I won't play by the rules so let me make my own rules" town hall opposite Biden's,' wrote a former NBC News executive, Cheryl Gould. She wasn't alone. MSNBC marquee host Rachel Maddow obliquely signaled her unhappiness with the decision.... More than a hundred actors and producers from NBC's entertainment division are protesting the move in a letter to top executives, as well."

Trip Gabriel, et al., of the New York Times: "With polls showing the president behind Mr. Biden nationally and in key states, Mr. Trump has descended into rants about perceived enemies, both inside and outside his administration, triggering in his staunchest supporters such fears for the outcome -- possibly a 'stolen' election, maybe a coup by the far left -- that he is emboldening them to disrupt the voting process, according to national security experts and law enforcement officials.... None of [the right-wing violence] has stopped Mr. Trump from fear-mongering about leftist violence. 'Biden will disarm law abiding Americans,' the president told supporters in suburban Virginia last month. 'At the same time, they'll have riots down your street and that's just fine.'... It was notable, national security experts said, that none of the nation's top officials from the Justice Department or the F.B.I. spoke at the news conference to announce the arrests in the Whitmer case." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you ever wonder what happened to the ugly misfit rowdy boys who dropped out of your high school class, it seems they got uglier & rowdier, are packing rifles & are dressed up in camo.

Mrs. McCrabbie: The New York Post has another story out about Hunter Biden today. Didn't read it, not gonna, not linking it. ~~~

~~~ Alex Kaplan of Media Matters: "A user on TheDonald.win, a far-right message board, was hinting at and promoting a series of dubious articles from the New York Post about Hunter Biden days before they were published. The user also claimed to know the people involved with the articles.... In the days leading up to October 14 (a Wednesday), an account on TheDonald.win called 'Freedom_USA_88' had repeatedly posted threads that claimed that a 'massive' story about Biden was coming out that day. As noted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), '88' is 'a white supremacist numerical code for "Heil Hitler."' The account's username also has exactly 14 characters, a reference to the white nationalist '14 Words' slogan that is often combined with '88,' as noted by the ADL.... The user claimed that they [he] had been 'authorized to drop a hint about Wednesday's story' and 'know the parties involved.'" Mrs. McC: That's actually believable, not only because he was right but also because he's a Nazi aficionado; IOW, just Rudy's type.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stacking the Court

The New York Times' live updates of Amy Coney Barrett's Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday are here. They include live video of the proceedings, but you can shut down the audio. The Washington Post's live video for Wednesday are here. Live video also included, but you have to activate it. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) tries to explain to dumb-as-a-rock Chuck Todd the right-wing dark money conspiracy that is funding the push for right-wing judges & justices. There's a related story linked under "Presidential Race":

The Court Proposes, Trump Disposes. Mrs. McCrabbie: Despite her pretense that she won't be a "pawn" for Trump, it is beginning to appear that Judge Amy, like many a Republican witness, is testifying for an audience of one. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post's live coverage of Wednesday's hearing: "Barrett stated unequivocally Wednesday morning that 'no one is above the law' -- but she warned that the Supreme Court has no real recourse to make sure people, including the president, obeyed its orders.... Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) had asked Barrett whether a president could refuse to comply with a court order. Barrett's bleak assessment, in a word, was yes. 'The Supreme Court can't control what the president obeys,' she said flatly. When Leahy then asked whether the president could pardon himself for a crime, Barrett was circumspect. 'So far as I know, that question has never been litigated,' she said. 'That question may or may not arise, but it's one that calls for legal analysis about what the scope of the pardon power is.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Derek Hawkins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Judge Amy Coney Barrett faced the final day of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.... In her testimony, the conservative jurist declined to share her legal views on abortion rights, voting rights and the Affordable Care Act, seeking to separate her academic writings from how she might rule if confirmed. She also declined to say whether she thought it was wrong to separate migrant children from their parents to deter immigration to the United States. 'That's a matter of hot political debate in which I can't express a view or be drawn into as a judge,' Barrett said in response to a question from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)." ~~~

~~~ Mark Sherman of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett invoked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday in refusing to discuss her view of gay rights and the Constitution. 'Justice Ginsburg with her characteristic pithiness used this to describe how a nominee should comport herself at a hearing. No hints, no previews, no forecasts. That had been the practice of nominees before her. But everybody calls it the Ginsburg rule because she stated it so concisely,' Barrett said.... It's become a standard response by Republican high court nominees to recite Ginsburg's words from her own confirmation hearing. Ginsburg ... did utter those words 27 years ago, saying 'A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.' But she also said much more on a range of hotly debated issues, including abortion, that went well beyond the rule that bears her name. Here's Ginsburg on abortion in 1993, shortly before the Senate voted 96-3 to confirm her: 'The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: For one thing, you can bet Ginsburg would not have stonewalled a question about whether or not voter intimidation was legal.

Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "Public calendars from the University of Notre Dame's law school show at least seven additional talks not listed on Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate paperwork, including one with the law school's anti-abortion group, according to a CNN KFile review.... Barrett is required to disclose to the Senate Judiciary Committee all public talks she has given in her professional career...."

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: “Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday clarified that he was being sarcastic when he referred to the 'good old days of segregation' and blasted his opponent for seeking to capitalize on the comments. During a recess in the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Graham (R-S.C.) insisted to reporters that his comments were made in jest and accused Jaime Harrison of launching a disingenuous attack. 'It was with deep sarcasm that I suggested that some legislative body would want to yearn for the good old days of segregationism,' the senator said. 'The point that I'm trying to make, there's nobody in America in the legislative arena wanting to take us back to that dark period in American history and for my opponent to suggest that says far more about him than me.'" Here's the clip from Wednesday morning's hearing. Given the context, I think he was being sarcastic. You decide: (Also linked yesterday.)

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "A coalition of more than 60 state prosecutors and attorneys general from across the country declared Wednesday that they would not enforce laws that criminalize abortion, even if the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision that legalized it nationwide. The declaration comes amid the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative who many believe would vote to reverse Roe v. Wade if elevated to the high court.... The prosecutors' statement invokes the power of prosecutorial discretion, which some prosecutors have used to reduce or eliminate prosecution of marijuana charges and other misdemeanors to reduce the disproportionate harm they can cause to nonviolent offenders. 'It is imperative,' the prosecutors declared in their statement, 'that we use our discretion to decline to prosecute personal healthcare choices criminalized under such laws.' Citing the 47 years of legal precedent established by Roe, the prosecutors said that 'women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion.'"

Hannah Jones of (Minneapolis/St. Paul) City Pages: In a Facebook post, former "Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor wrote, "'It seems clear that Judge Barrett will sit on the Supreme Court and this will mean the reversal of Roe v. Wade and some deep dents in the Affordable Care Act... I don't think Roe v. Wade is worth fighting for anymore.' Keillor thinks guaranteeing the right to a safe abortion has 'torn the country asunder,' and wondered, 'to what good?... We can accept a system of states' rights, whereby abortion is legal in some states, illegal in others, same as you have a death penalty in some states, not in others,' Keillor wrote.... Let South Dakota be South Dakota and if they wish to criminalize LBGTQ, then they can deal with the consequences. Let's give the cultural war a rest and focus on the economy and tax policy and environment.' The post ... has since been removed.... Keillor posted again to 'clarify' his thoughts later that morning." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's worth remembering that Keillor is not the wry & pleasant folksy guy he played on the radio. Minnesota Public Radio fired him specifically because of "inappropriate behavior" toward a woman, which Keillor claimed was "nothing more than having placed his hand on a woman's back to console her." But MPR reporters write that Keillor allegedly made many other uninvited sexual advances over the years.

Presidential Race, Etc.

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: Joe "Biden announced on Twitter that his campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $383 million in September, a massive sum that leaves him flush with cash in the final weeks before the election. The amount raised in one month beat the Democrats' record-shattering haul in August of $364.5 million. The former vice president on Wednesday tweeted a video of him calling a grass-roots donor named Trimicka, a special-education teacher, to personally thank her and tell her first about the sum raised." The story, part of the Post's election blog, is free to non-subscribers.

Kyle Cheney & Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Joe Biden's campaign is punching back at a New York Post story that alleged a direct link between the Democratic presidential nominee and his son's business dealings. Top Biden advisers who staffed him during his vice presidency, citing their own recollections as well as a review of Biden's official schedules, sharply rejected the Post's suggestion that Biden met with a representative of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings in 2015. And social media companies throttled sharing of the article on their platforms, fueling complaints from conservatives that information critical of the Bidens was being censored.... The story, which ran on the front page of the New York tabloid under the banner headline 'Biden Secret E-mails,' accused the then-vice president of meeting Vadym Pozharskyi, a top adviser to Burisma, whose board Biden's son had joined at the time. Allies of the president seized on the purported revelation.... There was no immediate indication of Russian involvement in the release of emails that the Post obtained, but its general thrust mirrors a narrative that U.S. intelligence agencies have described as part of an active Russian disinformation effort aimed at the 2020 election." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The underlying New York Post story is BIG NEWS in right-wing world, but I'm not linking it. This is a Rudy Giuliani/Steve Bannon production. Josh Kovensky of TPM explains the ways the story is so bogus, starting with maybe the funniest part: the supposed "source": "The story claims that a Delaware computer repair shop owner received a laptop full of Hunter Biden's emails last year for data extraction and repair. After the client never paid or came to pick up the laptop, the anonymous store owner supposedly said, the Apple computer repair man went to both the FBI and Rudy Giuliani with the information." Very believable. ~~~

     ~~~ So Then. Jordan Howell & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: A gaggle of reporters interviewed the supposed computer repair shop owner. Other than that the guy couldn't get his story straight, said he has a medical condition that prevented him from seeing who dropped off the laptop, & ended the interview with, "Ah shit" he seems really credible! ~~~

     ~~~ Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "Hours after the Post published its article, Facebook said on Wednesday that it had decided to limit the distribution of the story on its platform so it could fact-check the claims. Twitter said it was blocking the article because it included people's personal phone numbers and email addresses, which violated their privacy rules, and because the article violated their policy on hacked materials. Facebook's and Twitter's actions immediately provoked strong reactions from Republicans that the social media platforms were censoring them, an outcry that grew louder later on Wednesday when the Trump campaign said the personal account of the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, had been locked because she had posted the New York Post story." ~~~

~~~ In case you were thinking Rudy & the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Conspiracy Fabricators could not get more clownish ~~~

~~~ Justin Baragona & Sam Stein of the Daily Beast: "... Rudy Giuliani was caught mocking Asians and even pantomiming a bow in video footage his team accidentally posted to his YouTube page on Wednesday. The remarks came well after Giuliani had finished interviewing former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for his podcast.... For several minutes on the extended YouTube version [of the podcast], the screen was black and silent. Then Spicer appeared briefly only to quickly sign out, leaving Giuliani at his desk speaking with individuals off-screen.... After a few moments of small talk with an assistant who appears to be Jayne Zirkle, an animated Giuliani started affecting a stereotypical Chinese accent.... After asking others in the room what they wanted for dinner, Giuliani continued to say Zirkle's name in the mocking accent. He then started pantomiming a bow while repeating her name...." Includes video. ~~~

     ~~~ Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "In recent weeks, Donald Trump was made aware of an alleged secret trove of material about Hunter Biden's foreign dealings and private life, and was keen on getting it out into the public domain as soon as possible, according to two sources familiar with the matter.... The ongoing efforts by Giuliani, Trump, and other prominent Republicans to push unverified dirt on the Biden family not only illustrates the degree to which nefariously obtained documents and rumor and disinformation have become a form of modern campaign currency; but also, just how comfortable the president and his team are peddling it."

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden often crosses himself and looks toward the sky when saying something he jokingly might need to apologize for, regularly referring to the nuns who taught him during 12 years in Catholic school. Now, several recent TV ads from Biden's campaign show him standing with Pope Francis or huddled with a Jesuit priest. He's reading from a pulpit, bowing his head in prayer, or standing solemnly in front of a church's stained-glass window. And a radio spot includes a parishioner from Biden's home church talking about how the Democratic presidential nominee is a regular at Sunday Mass.... In the final stretch of a campaign in which Catholic voters are seen by both parties as a decisive bloc in several battleground states, Biden's campaign has increasingly highlighted his direct connection to the faith -- and his potential to make history as the country's second Catholic president, 60 years after John F. Kennedy became the first. The strategy comes as President Trump and his allies have sought to portray Democrats as anti-Catholic...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Dawsey & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Trump is using his recovery from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to reinforce the message that the pandemic is receding and Americans should return to work -- resisting entreaties to change his tone and behavior three weeks ahead of the presidential election. Despite the outbreak at the White House that also infected the first lady, their son and nearly a dozen top aides, Trump and his allies continue to downplay the virus, arguing that the country is 'turning the corner' and holding campaign events with thousands of supporters even as cases are increasing rapidly, especially in the Midwest. Several advisers hoped Trump's experience would move him to speak more empathetically about a virus that has killed at least 215,000 Americans and infected nearly 8 million. Instead, Trump has seemed further emboldened, flouting public health guidelines to convince voters that life is returning to normal, according to current and former administration officials."

"Thank You, Honey." Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to shore up support from constituencies that not so long ago he thought he had in the bag: big business and voters in the red state of Iowa. In a morning address to business leaders, he expressed puzzlement that they would even consider supporting his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, arguing that his own leadership was a better bet for a strong economy. Later, the president held his third campaign rally in three nights, this time in Iowa, a state he won handily in 2016 but where Biden is making a late push.... At moments during his economic address on Wednesday his voice was raspy. His trip to Iowa comes as the state this week surpassed 100,000 coronavirus cases and has seen a recent surge in hospitalizations.... A public health emergency declared by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in March remains in place and requires that organizers of mass gatherings 'must ensure at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) of physical distance between each group or individual attending alone.' Trump acknowledged Reynolds' presence at the rally. 'Thank you, honey,' he said." ~~~

Origin: Daily Beast.Michael Grynbaum & Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "NBC said on Wednesday that it would broadcast a televised town hall with Mr. Trump from Miami on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern -- the exact time that Mr. Biden will appear on ABC for his own town-hall-style event in Philadelphia. Mr. Biden's town hall has been on the books since last week, after Mr. Trump, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, rejected plans to convert the second formal presidential debate into a virtual matchup; the debate was eventually canceled. Mr. Trump's campaign then sought its own telecast to rival Mr. Biden's, leading to a lengthy negotiation with NBC officials who wanted independent proof that the president would not pose a safety risk to other participants.... On Wednesday, NBC said the town hall would occur 'in accordance with the guidelines set forth by health officials' and proffered a statement from Clifford Lane, a clinical director at the National Institutes of Health. In the statement, Dr. Lane said he and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... had reviewed medical data about Mr. Trump's condition, including a P.C.R. test that the N.I.H. 'collected and analyzed' on Tuesday.... Dr. Lane concluded 'with a high degree of confidence' that the president is 'not shedding infectious virus,' NBC said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So Thursday night, I'm tuning the teevee to ABC, whether I listen on not, just in case the gremlins come through my tubes & wires & make note of what channel I'm watching. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Staffers at NBC, CNBC and MSNBC were said to be angry this week after learning that ... Donald Trump was offered the opportunity to hold a solo town hall event.... Others on Twitter also lashed out at NBC for 'rewarding' Trump ... [for refusing to cooperate with the presidential debate committee's rules]." And Edward-Isaac Dovere can't figured out why the White House is willing to share so much information w/NBC about the president's health so as to make this Thursday town hall happen, but releasing when the last time pre-diagnosis that he had tested negative would violate his privacy[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a related story by Maxwell Tani, et al., of the Daily Beast. Mrs. McC: To make matter worse, Trump will probably get better ratings than Biden because NBC is airing its Trump extravanganza across its platform: NBC broadcast network, "MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo, and their digital platforms such as NBC News NOW and the new streaming service Peacock."

Meet Your Trump Activists. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "... the Council for National Policy [is] a little-known group that has served for decades as a hub for a nationwide network of conservative activists and the donors who support them. Members include Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Leonard Leo, an outside adviser to President Trump who has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors to support conservative causes and the nominations of conservative federal judges. Videos provided to The Post -- covering dozens of hours of CNP meetings over three days in February and three in August -- offer an inside view of participants' obsessions and fears.... The videos ... show influential activists discussing election tactics, amplifying conspiracy theories and describing much of America in dark and apocalyptic terms.... At the February meetings, attendees ... said the right will begin 'ballot harvesting,' a controversial technique that involves the collection and delivery of sealed absentee ballots from churches and other institutions. At the time of the meeting, Trump, his campaign officials and other Republicans were blasting the practice as an abuse by Democrats. 'GET RID OF BALLOT HARVESTING, IT IS RAMPANT WITH FRAUD,' Trump tweeted this spring."

Meet Your Trump Voter. Amanda Burke & Larry Parnass of the Berkshire Eagle: "In the hour before he admits he burned a political message he deplored, Lonnie Durfee stopped at a convenience store in his town.... He told another shopper he planned to set fire to hay bales across from Holiday Brook Farm that had been painted with an endorsement of the Biden-Harris presidential ticket, according to a Dalton police report. Minutes before that encounter Friday evening, he said the same thing to people inside Paddy's, a Dalton bar.... Not long after, Durfee pulled out of the Cumberland Farms on Main Street with containers of gasoline and headed for the small mountain of hay bales, and the message they displayed, though one container fell out of the back of his yellow GMC pickup onto the road, and was left behind." Read on. Thanks very much to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: There's a country & Western song in here somewheres, along the lines of the last verse of this'un here:

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "In the pantheon of Republican pseudo-scandals, 'unmasking' has always been one of the dumbest.... Sadly for Republicans, the investigation turned up nothing.... The investigation basically exonerated the Obama team and probably would have hurt Donald Trump's reelection, so [AG Bill] Barr decided to keep it under wraps. This is how the Justice Department works these days: it's a PR shop for Donald Trump, not an independent agency serving the best interests of the American public." --s ~~~

~~~ Yeah But. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News (on Yahoo!): "... Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is 'not happy' with Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department's investigation of the Obama administration found no wrongdoing and quietly concluded with no criminal charges. Trump made the comments to Newsmax TV. He also declined to say whether he would keep Barr on as attorney general for a potential second term. 'Can't comment on that. It's too early. I'm not happy, with all of the evidence I had, I can tell you that. I am not happy,' Trump said in the interview. Trump ... has used the Justice Department as a cudgel to go after perceived political enemies. Recently, news emerged that the Justice Department had concluded an investigation commissioned by Barr into the Obama-era 'unmasking' of people named in national security documents related to the Russia investigation -- a practice that Trump and conservatives pundits claimed was a political conspiracy. However, the Justice Department found no evidence of wrongdoing and declined to release its report publicly or to file any charges." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: IOW, unless the AG verifies a crazy Trump conspiracy theory, his head is on the chopping block. Trump not only expects the DOJ to run down rabbit holes, he expects them to pull out big fat rabbits.

** Katelyn Polantz, et al. of CNN: "For more than three years, federal prosecutors investigated whether money flowing through an Egyptian state-owned bank could have backed millions of dollars Donald Trump donated to his own campaign days before he won the 2016 election.... The investigation, which both predated and outlasted special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, examined whether there was an illegal foreign campaign contribution.... The investigation was kept so secret that at one point investigators locked down an entire floor of a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, so Mueller's team could fight for the Egyptian bank's records in closed-door court proceedings following a grand jury subpoena. The probe, which closed this summer with no charges filed, has never before been described publicly.... In the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump and [Dictator Al-]Sisi met in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. The Republican presidential candidate hit it off with the dictator.... Sisi became the first foreign leader to call and congratulate Trump after he won the election.... CNN sent Mueller detailed questions about the Egypt investigation for this story. [s: Like a chickenshit] He declined to comment." --s

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "American workers continued to hit the unemployment line in large numbers last week, with 898,000 new claims filed for jobless benefits. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 830,000." At 8:35 am ET, this was a breaking news story.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: Now I think we know one big reason Trump lied from the git-go to ordinary Americans about the dangers the coronavirus was about to pose: giving insider Covid-19 information to his big donor buddies was a boon to them (and therefore to him). If this sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory borrowed from crooked Sen. Richard Burr, read on ~~~

~~~ Kate Kelly & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "On the afternoon of Feb. 24, President Trump declared on Twitter that the coronavirus was 'very much under control' in the United States, one of numerous rosy statements that he and his advisers made at the time about the worsening epidemic.... But hours earlier, senior members of the president's economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident. Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. The next day, board members -- many of them Republican donors -- got [a similar] taste of government uncertainty from Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council. Hours after he had boasted on CNBC that the virus was contained in the United States ..., Mr. Kudlow delivered a more ambiguous private message [to the board].... A hedge fund consultant who attended the three-day gathering of Hoover's board..., wrote, 'What struck me ... was that nearly every official he heard from raised the virus 'as a point of concern, totally unprovoked.'... The president's aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent." Emphasis added. Investors & money managers immediately acted on the tips to adjust their portfolios.

** Trump's Plan to Kill Millions of Americans. Epidemiologists & infectious disease experts Marc Lipsitch, Gregg Gonsalves, Carlos del Rio. & Rochelle Walensky in a Washington Post op-ed: "President Trump has long seemed fascinated with the idea that herd immunity could provide an easy end to the coronavirus pandemic, even before his own diagnosis with covid-19 and his blithe declaration after he checked himself out of the hospital that no one should be afraid of getting it. 'With time, it goes away,' he told an ABC News town hall last month. 'And you'll develop -- you'll develop herd -- like a herd mentality. It's going to be -- it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen.'... But now, the official policy of the Trump administration will be to try to speed up the arrival of herd immunity to the novel coronavirus by letting the virus infect people faster. Without a vaccine, though, this strategy risks the deaths of millions of Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I must admit I am baffled by anyone who thinks killing millions of Americans will make him more popular or improve the economy or whatever it is Trump thinks killing off a sizable portion of the popular will do for him.

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Barron Trump, the teenage son of ... Donald Trump, contracted coronavirus along with his father and mother earlier this month, first lady Melania Trump revealed on Wednesday.... The first lady noted that Barron, 14, exhibited no symptoms...." Mrs. McC Warning: Do not read this story while enjoying a beverage; spit-takes are inevitable & you could ruin your keyboard.

Wherein Nancy Pelosi tells Wolf Blitzer he doesn't know what he's talking about (Washington Post link). ~~~

~~~ Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that a new economic relief bill is unlikely before the election, suggesting that Democrats are unwilling to give President Trump a victory. 'I'd say at this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult, just given where we are,' Mnuchin said during an event hosted by the Milken Institute's Global Conference."


The Execution of a Suspect. Evan Hill, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump praised the killing of Michael Reinoehl, suspected of fatally shooting a far-right protester, as 'retribution.' Our investigation found that officers may have shot without warning or seeing a gun.... On Sept. 3, about 120 miles north of Portland, Mr. Reinoehl was getting into his Volkswagen station wagon when a pair of unmarked sport utility vehicles roared through the quiet streets, screeching to a halt just in front of his bumper. Members of a U.S. Marshals task force jumped out and unleashed a hail of bullets that shattered windows, whizzed past bystanders and left Mr. Reinoehl dead in the street. Attorney General William P. Barr trumpeted the operation as a 'significant accomplishment' that removed a 'violent agitator.' The officers had opened fire, he said, when Mr. Reinoehl 'attempted to escape arrest' and 'produced a firearm' during the encounter. But a reconstruction of what happened that night, based on the accounts of people who witnessed the confrontation and the preliminary findings of investigators, produces a much different picture — one that raises questions about whether law enforcement officers made any serious attempt to arrest Mr. Reinoehl before killing him." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is what passes for "the rule of law" in an authoritarian regime.

Ryan Deto of the Pittsburgh City Paper: "Yesterday, the Baldwin home of Sean Troesch was raided by special agents from the United States Postal Service, who confiscated eight large garbage bags of suspected undelivered mail, according to KDKA. KDKA also reported that the post office said this latest haul didn't contain any discarded mail-in ballots.... According to screenshots of a Facebook page apparently belonging to Troesch, the mail carrier has been trafficking in conspiracy theories related to QAnon for at least the last several months." --s

A special report from the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights "explores the breadth and depth of the network built by [Ammon] Bundy and named 'People's Rights.' What started in late March with a few dozen supporters in a rural Idaho warehouse has swiftly expanded to a membership base of over twenty thousand across the country. Relying on field reports, countless hours of video footage, interviews, archival material, and a massive trove of online data, report researchers have captured the first full picture of Ammon's army ... spurred by a fusion of Bundy's core of the far-right paramilitary supporters built up over years of armed standoffs with a mass base of new activists radicalized in protest over COVID-19 health directives." --s

Charles Blow of the New York Times buries his brother in a segregated cemetery.

Beyond the Beltway

UK. American exports. Shayan Sardarizadeh of BBC: "A wide-ranging conspiracy theory about elite Satan-worshiping paedophiles has migrated from the US, inspiring a series of regular street protests. How did QAnon find a British audience?... [O]utside the US, British followers lead the way. Our analysis of online data from the last three months puts the UK ahead of all European countries, followed by Germany and the Netherlands. Marc-Andre Argentino, a researcher at Concordia University in Montreal, has identified at least 114 [U.K] Facebook groups which spread QAnon content under the guise of campaigning against child trafficking. Membership of such groups has risen by more than 3,000 percent since July, he says.... [T]he upheaval of the pandemic created a perfect storm which helped QAnon find common ground with Covid-19 conspiracists." --s

Emma Briant of OCCRP: "A week before the parent company of Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy, one of its employees opened a UK firm [Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group] that has since been providing similar 'behavioral modification' training to clients including the Canadian and Dutch militaries.... It's vital that scandals such as this are properly investigated to protect against unethical business practices, conflicts of interest, security issues and data rights infringements.... So far, this is not happening. Governments are failing us. Such firms continue to provide training, or engage directly, in tactics to influence the behavior of citizens. As if to underscore the negligence of U.K. authorities, the country's Information Commissioner's Office told me late last month that it had halted its investigation into data misuse, without making a public statement. It says it is no longer publishing a promised report on the content of SCL and Cambridge Analytica servers."--s

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Tuesday
Oct132020

The Commentariat -- October 14, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday clarified that he was being sarcastic when he referred to the 'good old days of segregation' and blasted his opponent for seeking to capitalize on the comments. During a recess in the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Graham (R-S.C.) insisted to reporters that his comments were made in jest and accused Jaime Harrison of launching a disingenuous attack. 'It was with deep sarcasm that I suggested that some legislative body would want to yearn for the good old days of segregationism,' the senator said. 'The point that I'm trying to make, there's nobody in America in the legislative arena wanting to take us back to that dark period in American history and for my opponent to suggest that says far more about him than me.'" Here's the clip from Wednesday morning's hearing. Given the context, I think he was being sarcastic. You decide:

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

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden often crosses himself and looks toward the sky when saying something he jokingly might need to apologize for, regularly referring to the nuns who taught him during 12 years in Catholic school. Now, several recent TV ads from Biden's campaign show him standing with Pope Francis or huddled with a Jesuit priest. He's reading from a pulpit, bowing his head in prayer, or standing solemnly in front of a church's stained-glass window. And a radio spot includes a parishioner from Biden's home church talking about how the Democratic presidential nominee is a regular at Sunday Mass.... In the final stretch of a campaign in which Catholic voters are seen by both parties as a decisive bloc in several battleground states, Biden's campaign has increasingly highlighted his direct connection to the faith -- and his potential to make history as the country's second Catholic president, 60 years after John F. Kennedy became the first. The strategy comes as President Trump and his allies have sought to portray Democrats as anti-Catholic...."

Michael Grynbaum & Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "NBC said on Wednesday that it would broadcast a televised town hall with Mr. Trump from Miami on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern -- the exact time that Mr. Biden will appear on ABC for his own town-hall-style event in Philadelphia. Mr. Biden's town hall has been on the books since last week, after Mr. Trump, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, rejected plans to convert the second formal presidential debate into a virtual matchup; the debate was eventually canceled. Mr. Trump's campaign then sought its own telecast to rival Mr. Biden's, leading to a lengthy negotiation with NBC officials who wanted independent proof that the president would not pose a safety risk to other participants.... On Wednesday, NBC said the town hall would occur 'in accordance with the guidelines set forth by health officials' and proffered a statement from Clifford Lane, a clinical director at the National Institutes of Health. In the statement, Dr. Lane said he and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... had reviewed medical data about Mr. Trump's condition, including a P.C.R. test that the N.I.H. 'collected and analyzed' on Tuesday.... Dr. Lane concluded 'with a high degree of confidence' that the president is 'not shedding infectious virus,' NBC said." Here's an NBC News report. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So Thursday night, I'm tuning the teevee to ABC, whether I listen on not, just in case the gremlins come through my tubes & wires & make note of what channel I'm watching. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Staffers at NBC, CNBC and MSNBC were said to be angry this week after learning that ... Donald Trump was offered the opportunity to hold a solo town hall event.... Others on Twitter also lashed out at NBC for 'rewarding' Trump ... [for refusing to cooperate with the presidential debate committee's rules]." And Edward-Isaac Dovere can't figured out why is willing to share so much information w/NBC about the president's health so as to make this Thursday town hall happen, but releasing when the last time pre-diagnosis that he had tested negative would violate his privacy[.]"9

Meet Your Trump Voter. Amanda Burke & Larry Parnass of the Berkshire Eagle: "In the hour before he admits he burned a political message he deplored, Lonnie Durfee stopped at a convenience store in his town.... He told another shopper he planned to set fire to hay bales across from Holiday Brook Farm that had been painted with an endorsement of the Biden-Harris presidential ticket, according to a Dalton police report. Minutes before that encounter Friday evening, he said the same thing to people inside Paddy's, a Dalton bar.... Not long after, Durfee pulled out of the Cumberland Farms on Main Street with containers of gasoline and headed for the small mountain of hay bales, and the message they displayed, though one container fell out of the back of his yellow GMC pickup onto the road, and was left behind." Read on Thanks very much to unwashed for the link. Mrs. McC: There's a country & Western song in here somewheres, along the lines of the last verse of this'un here:

The Court Proposes, Trump Disposes. Mrs. McCrabbie: Despite her pretense that she won't be a "pawn" for Trump, it is beginning to appear that Judge Amy, like many a Republican witness, is testifying for an audience of one. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post's live coverage of Wednesday's hearing:"Barrett stated unequivocally Wednesday morning that 'no one is above the law' -- but she warned that the Supreme Court has no real recourse to make sure people, including the president, obeyed its orders.... Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) had asked Barrett whether a president could refuse to comply with a court order. Barrett's bleak assessment, in a word, was yes. 'The Supreme Court can't control what the president obeys,' she said flatly. When Leahy then asked whether the president could pardon himself for a crime, Barrett was circumspect. 'So far as I know, that question has never been litigated,' she said. 'That question may or may not arise, but it's one that calls for legal analysis about what the scope of the pardon power is.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Stacking the Court

The New York Times' live updates of Amy Coney Barrett's Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday are here. They include live video of the proceedings, but you can shut down the audio. The Washington Post's live video for Wednesday are here. Live video also included, but you have to activate it.

Mark Sherman, et al., of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ... declined to commit to recusing herself from any cases arising from [the presidential] election. 'I can't offer an opinion on recusal without short-circuiting that entire process,' she said." Mrs. McC: Looks as if Judge Amy is signaling she plans to join the massive right-wing conspiracy (and, no, I'm not kidding) to steal the election. These people truly believe they have a right to "win" by any means necessary, the will of the voters be damned. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "When asked at last month's presidential debate by moderator Chris Wallace if he was counting on the Supreme Court, including a potential Justice Barrett, to settle an election dispute, Trump responded: 'Yeah. I think I'm counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely.' Democrats and ethics experts point to a federal statute that requires judges to recuse themselves from any proceeding in which their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned' by the public. 'In light of Trump's public statements, it will reasonably appear to the public that Trump offered her the job with the implicit understanding that just weeks later she would help him keep his,' said Stephen Gillers, an expert on judicial ethics at New York University Law School." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times' live updates of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Every Question Is Too Hard for Judge Amy to Answer. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "... the most chilling moment of [Barrett's] Supreme Court confirmation testimony Tuesday came when she said she would 'need to hear arguments' about whether President Trump can postpone the election.... Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, observed. 'Does the Constitution give the president of the United States the authority to unilaterally delay a general election under any circumstances? Does federal law?'... There was only one correct answer: No. But this is not the answer Barrett gave.... By the plain wording of the Constitution and the law, a president cannot unilaterally postpone an election. But this nominee, sounding more Trumpist than textualist, tells us it's debatable. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) ... ask[ed] Barrett: 'Under federal law, is it illegal to intimidate voters at the poll?' Again, an easy question with an obvious answer.... But Barrett ... [said,] 'I can't apply the law to a hypothetical set of facts.'..." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ BUT a Bigoted, Right-Wing Answer Gives Her Away. Matthew Choi of Politico: "Amy Coney Barrett apologized Tuesday for referring to sexual orientation as a 'preference' during the second day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing. 'I certainly didn't mean and would never mean to use a term that would cause any offense to the LGBTQ community,' Barrett said.... Barrett made the remark earlier in the day before the Senate Judiciary Committee when asked by the panel about Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage across the country. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) had asked Barrett ... if she shared the late Supreme Court justice's dissenting views on the case. Barrett responded by saying she had 'no agenda' and that 'I have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference and would not discriminate on the basis of sexual preference.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: What's amazing about Barrett's response is that she lives in such a cocoon that she had no idea that the world outside her cocoon has long rejected the naive, anti-scientific notion that sexual orientation is a "preference."

Good Luck, Profs! Jordan Williams of the Hill: "Faculty members of the University of Notre Dame wrote a letter asking Amy Coney Barrett to 'halt' her Supreme Court nomination process until after the November presidential election. In an open letter to Barret, the faculty noted her nomination comes amid a tense 2020 election in which voters are already casting ballots. More than 11 million ballots have been cast in the 2020 election, according to data from the United States Election Project. The members noted the 'rushed nature' of the nomination process, which 'may effectively deprive the American people of a voice in selecting the next Supreme Court justice.... You are not, of course, responsible for the anti-democratic machinations driving your nomination,' the letter read before mentioning Senate Republicans' refusal to take up former President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland during the 2016 presidential election. The letter also stated that stopping the confirmation process now would fulfill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish to leave her seat on the bench open until after the November election."

Whatever Donald Wants ~~~

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to shut down the census count ahead of schedule, a move that could allow the Census Bureau to submit tabulations excluding unauthorized immigrants by the end of the year. The court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when the court acts on emergency applications. It said the count could stop while appeals moved forward. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying that 'the harms associated with an inaccurate census are avoidable and intolerable.' The order was a major victory for the Trump administration, which had argued that it needed to shut down census field work to meet a statutory deadline. Critics argued that the administration's plan was aimed at diluting Democratic voting power and would hurt the accuracy of the count. The administration had proposed various deadlines for completing field work and submitting the results.... In August, [the administration ordered] the field work wrapped up by Sept. 30, and delivery of totals by Dec. 31. The move came not long after the announcement in July that the administration would seek to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population totals it will send to Congress for reapportioning seats in the House. The two developments appear to be related." ~~~

~~~ Jan Wolfe of Reuters: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an end to a lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats that accused ... Donald Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution with his business dealings. The justices refused to hear an appeal by 215 Senate and House of Representatives Democrats of a lower court ruling that found that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the case that focused on the Republican president's ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The lawmakers accused Trump of violating the Constitution's rarely tested 'emoluments' clauses that bar presidents from taking gifts or payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval. The lead plaintiff in the case is U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ AND Here's Another Reason Trump Needs Judge Amy. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Personal lawyers for President Trump, seeking to appeal their case to the Supreme Court for the second time in less than a year, asked the justices on Tuesday to delay a ruling that would allow the Manhattan district attorney to obtain Mr. Trump's financial records. In a 38-page 'emergency' application, Mr. Trump's legal team told the court that a Federal District Court judge was wrong to rule that the prosecutor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., had a legal right to subpoena the materials -- and that an appeals court panel in New York was wrong to uphold that ruling this month." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. DOJ Argues Trump's Crazy-Tweets Are Not Orders. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "When Donald Trump tweeted last week that he authorized the 'total declassification of any & all documents' related to the long-running Russia investigation and Hillary Clinton's emails -- 'No redactions!' he tweeted -- he really didn't mean it, the Justice Department argued in court Tuesday. DOJ attorneys told a judge that the White House Counsel's Office effectively told DOJ to disregard Trump's tweets on the matter. They weren't accompanied by an actual declassification order, and DOJ will proceed as though the tweets hadn't occurred, continuing to redact and release documents at its discretion."

Presidential Race, Etc.

Patricia Mazzei & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. turned his attention on Tuesday to older Americans, making a case in South Florida that President Trump viewed seniors as 'expendable' and that they were paying the price for the president's poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 'The only senior that Donald Trump cares about -- the only senior -- is senior Donald Trump,' Mr. Biden said in a speech at a community center in Pembroke Pines, a city in the vote-rich Democratic stronghold of Broward County.... Mr. Biden, who wore a mask during his speech, offered an unsparing critique of Mr. Trump's management of the nation's monthslong public health crisis and also assailed the president over his own behavior. 'I prayed for his recovery when he got Covid, and I had hoped at least he'd come out of it somewhat chastened,' Mr. Biden said. 'But what has he done? He's just doubled down on the misinformation he did before.' He went on to say that Mr. Trump's 'reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis is unconscionable.'"

     ~~~ Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link.

What Trump thinks a "suburban housewife" looks like.At Rally, Trump Makes Another Direct Racist Appeal. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "At a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pa., Trump touted his repeal of an Obama-era regulation meant to expand low-income housing in suburbs in an attempt to quash racial discrimination and his support for law enforcement as reasons suburban voters should flock to his campaign. '... I'm about law and order. I'm about having you safe. I'm about having your suburban communities. I don't want to build low-income housing next to your house.... Suburban women, they should like me more than anybody here tonight because I ended the regulation that destroyed your neighborhood. I ended the regulation that brought crime to the suburbs, and you're going to live the American dream,' he added. 'So can I ask you to do me a favor? Suburban women, will you please like me? I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?'"

Summer Concepcion of TPM: "... Rudy Giuliani went all in on President Trump's efforts to portray himself as an all-powerful strongman who has beat COVID-19 (he has not) during an indoors Italians for Trump rally in Philadelphia Monday night. Speaking to a crowd of about 75 Trump supporters at the campaign's Northeast Philadelphia office space -- which was originally scheduled to be held at the 15,000-square-foot 2300 Arena, but was forced to relocate when the arena's owners canceled the night before after finding out the event was a Trump rally -- Giuliani falsely declared victory over COVID-19 as the country tops more than 215,000 fatalities amid the pandemic. 'People don't die of this disease anymore,' Giuliani said, before baselessly insisting that 'young people don't die at all' and that 'middle age people die very little[.]... And even elderly people have only 1 percent chance of dying,' Giuliani said, without evidence." Mrs. McC: According to the lede of a Philadelphia Inquirer story (which I can't link), people at the event were "squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder" & many of them wore "Save Colombus" masks. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** A Barr Plot to Smear Obama & Biden, et al., Collapses. Matt Zapotosky & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "The federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William P. Barr to review whether Obama-era officials improperly requested the identities of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents has completed his work without finding any substantive wrongdoing, according to people familiar with the matter. The revelation that U.S. Attorney John Bash, who left the department last week, had concluded his review without criminal charges or any public report will rankle President Trump at a moment when he is particularly upset at the Justice Department. The department has so far declined to release the results of Bash's work, though people familiar with his findings say they would likely disappoint conservatives who have tried to paint the 'unmasking' of names -- a common practice in government to help understand classified documents -- as a political conspiracy." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The timing of this apparent leak could not be better -- for Biden. ~~~

     ~~~ BUT Bill Barr Is Still Trying. Reuters: "The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday accused Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, author of a tell-all book about first lady Melania Trump, of breaking their nondisclosure agreement and asked a court to set aside profits from the book in a government trust. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, Justice Department lawyers said Wolkoff, a former aide who fell out with the first lady, failed to submit to government review a draft of her book, 'Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady,' which offers an unflattering portrayal of ... Donald Trump's wife." Mrs. McC: This suit sounds like a joke and, in any event, a joke the DOJ should not have told. On the other hand, Amy Coney Barrett.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Trump campaign has suggested that Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former White House aide, pay for an ad campaign costing nearly $1 million as a 'corrective' remedy for her critical comments about President Trump in her 2018 book and in subsequent interviews." Trump's lawyers apparently are unconcerned that should Newman pay more than $2,800 for an ad campaign, she would be making an illegal campaign contribution.

Drop Boxes for Republicans But Not for Democrats. Glenn Thrush & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "From lawsuits by the Trump campaign to a decree from the governor of Texas -- to the sudden appearance of boxes falsely labeled 'official' in California -- Republicans are intensifying efforts to eliminate the use of drop boxes to collect mail-in ballots, or using them in ways that undermine confidence in their security. In recent months, a handful of states and local governments, most of them controlled by Democrats, have expanded the use of drop boxes as a safe alternative to voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic."

Nick Corasaniti & Denise Lu of the New York Times chart when each state will process absentee ballots. "Some states begin this work weeks in advance and others are only allowed to begin on Election Day. States that begin early may have a lot more results counted by election night."

Davey Alba of the New York Times: Numerous right-wing social media figures are disseminating false stories that Democrats and/or "liberals" have various plans to steal the presidential election & effect a "left-wing coup." All of the rumors appeared to be having the same effect: Of riling up Mr. Trump's restive base, just as the president has publicly stoked the idea of election chaos. In comment after comment about the falsehoods, respondents said the only way to stop violence from the left was to respond in kind with force.... The misinformation, which has been amplified by right-wing media such as the Fox News host Mark Levin and outlets like Breitbart and The Daily Wire, adds contentiousness to an already powder-keg campaign season.... Distorted information about the election is also flowing in left-wing circles online, though to a lesser degree, according to a New York Times analysis."

Florida. Marc Caputo of Politico: "Republicans typically hold a slight edge in absentee ballot returns in Florida elections. But this year, there's been a stunning development. For the first time ever at this stage of a general election, Democrats here are outvoting Republicans -- and by a mammoth 384,000-vote margin through Tuesday."

Texas & Georgia. Devan Cole, et al., of CNN: "Early voting began in Texas on Tuesday with lines and hours-long wait times for thousands of voters at some locations.... The challenges facing voters in Texas echoed what happened a day earlier in Georgia, where some of the more than 126,000 Peach State voters who turned out for that state's first day of early voting on Monday had to stand in long lines at polling centers across the state.


Allan Smith of NBC News: "Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Tuesday he's fed up with how 'vile' and 'vituperative' American politics have become, placing the blame largely on ... Donald Trump. 'I have stayed quiet with the approach of the election,' Romney said in a statement posted to Twitter. 'But I'm troubled by our politics, as it has moved away from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hate-filled morass that is unbecoming of any free nation -- let alone the birthplace of modern democracy.... The president calls the Democratic vice presidential candidate "a monster;" he repeatedly labels the speaker of the House "crazy;" he calls for the Justice Department to put the prior president in jail; he attacks the governor of Michigan on the very day a plot is discovered to kidnap her,' Romney said of comments Trump has made within the last week in Fox News interviews and on Twitter. Romney then lamented commentary and actions on the left side of the aisle, saying Democrats 'launch blistering attacks of their own -- though their presidential nominee refuses to stoop as low as others.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Now here's a headline that looks unbelievable. But it's true: ~~~

~~~ Michigan Sheriff Defends Terrorists. Sara Sidner of CNN: "On May 18, the FBI was months into investigating an alleged terror plot targeting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. On that day, a local sheriff was sharing a protest stage with one of the men who would be charged with providing material support to terrorist acts. Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf said he knew nothing of the alleged crimes being planned.... After 13 men were charged in connection with the plot, Leaf said some of their actions could have been lawful. 'A lot of people are angry with the governor and they want her arrested,' Leaf told CNN affiliate WXMI. At the May rally, Leaf had compared Whitmer's stay-at-home orders to mass detention, MLive reported. Leaf said to WXMI: 'So are they trying to arrest or was it a kidnap attempt?  Because you can still, in Michigan if it's a felony, you can still make a felony arrest.... And (it) doesn't say if you are in elected office that you are exempt from that arrest. So I have to look at it from that angle. And I am hoping that's more like what it is.'" Mrs. McC: We should not be surprised. As Mitt points out, the POTUS* used the occasion of the arrests by his own Justice Department, not to deplore the alleged planned terrorist attacks, but to criticize Whitmer.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The White House has embraced a declaration by a group of scientists arguing that authorities should allow the coronavirus to spread among young healthy people while protecting the elderly and the vulnerable -- an approach that would rely on arriving at 'herd immunity' through infections rather than a vaccine." Mrs. McC: Dr. Sanjay Gupta of A public health expert on CNN called this "a call for mass murder."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "States across the West and Midwest are reporting record numbers of new coronavirus cases, a worrying sign of rapid transmission that could signal the arrival of a long-feared cold weather wave of infections. Since Saturday, more than 20 states have hit a new high in their seven-day average of reported case counts, and more than half of those states set records again on Tuesday, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. Midwestern states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio are driving the surge, while states farther west -- like Colorado, Idaho and the Dakotas -- have seen their cases rise steadily for weeks."

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson became the second vaccine maker to halt late-stage trials this week as investigators probe whether a participant's undisclosed illness may be linked to the vaccine. On Tuesday, Eli Lilly & Co. also paused a trial of its closely-watched monoclonal antibody drug -- the same class of medicine President Trump received and credited with his recovery — for safety concerns. Experts say the pauses of trials of vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca and a treatment from Eli Lilly demonstrate the system to protect participants' safety is working as intended. But the intense scrutiny of the fast-moving covid-19 trials mean that the lack of transparency around possible adverse events could unintentionally help foster distrust of the scientific effort to develop ways to prevent and treat the disease."

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "The Labor Department announced in a news release Tuesday night that Secretary Eugene Scalia's wife, Trish, has tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement said that Eugene Scalia has tested negative so far but will work from home 'for the time being.' Both Eugene and Trish Scalia attended the Rose Garden event where ... Donald Trump announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett was his pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. They were seated in the second row, directly behind first lady Melania Trump and next to former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway -- both of whom would later test positive for Covid-19." Trish Scalia "is experiencing mild symptoms."

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ Why Is Trump Faking an Endorsement from a Man He Disses? David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's long-fraught relationship with Anthony S. Fauci ... ruptured again this week in an ugly public dispute just as U.S. coronavirus cases have ticked past 50,000 per day and with three weeks left in a campaign dominated by the government's response to the pandemic. Trump on Tuesday responded to Fauci's warnings that the president's decision to resume campaign rallies this week was 'very troublesome' by mocking him in a tweet that unfavorably compared his medical guidance to his errant ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals game in July. 'Actually, Tony's pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications,' Trump wrote, erroneously suggesting that Fauci's advice in the early days of the pandemic that the public need not wear masks meant that the doctor was playing down the novel coronavirus."

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam criticized President Trump's 'cavalier' attitude toward coronavirus safety on Tuesday during his first public appearance since contracting the illness last month. Northam (D) and first lady Pam Northam began isolating in the Executive Mansion, with no staff except for a security detail, after announcing that they tested positive 18 days ago. They are believed to have contracted the virus from a mansion employee who works in the couple's private quarters. About 65 staff members who had close contact with the Northams were told to ­self-isolate for two weeks. Northam said none tested positive, which he called 'a testament' to the value of wearing masks. He noted that masks protected several staff members who could not physically distance from him before he tested positive.... He contrasted that with the largely mask-free Rose Garden ceremony last month that Anthony S. Fauci ... has called a superspreader event." This article is free to non-subscribers.

Jeff Stein & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Tuesday that the Senate will take up a narrow economic relief bill when it comes back in session next week. President Trump immediately undermined the move, writing on Twitter: 'STIMULUS! Go big or go home!!!' The clashing messages were a stark display of GOP disunity just three weeks before the November election, as Senate Republicans balk at a $1.8 trillion relief package Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has offered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Trump, though, has suggested Republicans should agree to an even bigger deal than what Democrats have offered." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


David Eggert & Kathleen Foody of the AP: "Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia's governor [Ralph Northam (D)] during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified Tuesday during a court hearing for a group of men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor. Special Agent Richard Trask also revealed new details about investigators' use of confidential informants, undercover agents and encrypted communication to arrest and charge six men last week in the plot aimed at Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [Michigan]." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

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Monday
Oct122020

The Commentariat -- October 13, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Jan Wolfe of Reuters: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an end to a lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats that accused ... Donald Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution with his business dealings. The justices refused to hear an appeal by 215 Senate and House of Representatives Democrats of a lower court ruling that found that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the case that focused on the Republican president's ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The lawmakers accused Trump of violating the Constitution's rarely tested 'emoluments' clauses that bar presidents from taking gifts or payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval. The lead plaintiff in the case is U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut."

David Eggert & Kathleen Foody of the AP: "Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia's governor [Ralph Northam (D)] during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified Tuesday during a court hearing for a group of men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor. Special Agent Richard Trask also revealed new details about investigators' use of confidential informants, undercover agents and encrypted communication to arrest and charge six men last week in the plot aimed at Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [Michigan]." A Washington Post story is here.

Allan Smith of NBC News: "Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Tuesday he's fed up with how 'vile' and 'vituperative' American politics have become, placing the blame largely on ... Donald Trump. 'I have stayed quiet with the approach of the election,' Romney said in a statement posted to Twitter. 'But I'm troubled by our politics, as it has moved away from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hate-filled morass that is unbecoming of any free nation -- let alone the birthplace of modern democracy.... The president calls the Democratic vice presidential candidate "a monster;" he repeatedly labels the speaker of the House "crazy;" he calls for the Justice Department to put the prior president in jail; he attacks the governor of Michigan on the very day a plot is discovered to kidnap her,' Romney said of comments Trump has made within the last week in Fox News interviews and on Twitter. Romney then lamented commentary and actions on the left side of the aisle, saying Democrats 'launch blistering attacks of their own -- though their presidential nominee refuses to stoop as low as others.'"

Jeff Stein & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Tuesday that the Senate will take up a narrow economic relief bill when it comes back in session next week. President Trump immediately undermined the move, writing on Twitter: 'STIMULUS! Go big or go home!!!' The clashing messages were a stark display of GOP disunity just three weeks before the November election, as Senate Republicans balk at a $1.8 trillion relief package Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has offered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Trump, though, has suggested Republicans should agree to an even bigger deal than what Democrats have offered."

Mark Sherman, et al., of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ... declined to commit to recusing herself from any cases arising from [the presidential] election. 'I can't offer an opinion on recusal without short-circuiting that entire process,' she said." Mrs. McC: Looks as if Judge Amy is signaling she plans to join the massive right-wing conspiracy (and, no, I'm not kidding) to steal the election. These people truly believe they have a right to "win" by any means necessary, the will of the voters be damned. ~~~

~~~ Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "When asked at last month's presidential debate by moderator Chris Wallace if he was counting on the Supreme Court, including a potential Justice Barrett, to settle an election dispute, Trump responded: 'Yeah. I think I'm counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely.' Democrats and ethics experts point to a federal statute that requires judges to recuse themselves from any proceeding in which their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned' by the public. 'In light of Trump's public statements, it will reasonably appear to the public that Trump offered her the job with the implicit understanding that just weeks later she would help him keep his,' said Stephen Gillers, an expert on judicial ethics at New York University Law School."

Summer Concepcion of TPM: "... Rudy Giuliani went all in on President Trump's efforts to portray himself as an all-powerful strongman who has beat COVID-19 (he has not) during an indoors Italians for Trump rally in Philadelphia Monday night. Speaking to a crowd of about 75 Trump supporters at the campaign's Northeast Philadelphia office space -- which was originally scheduled to be held at the 15,000-square-foot 2300 Arena, but was forced to relocate when the arena's owners canceled the night before after finding out the event was a Trump rally -- Giuliani falsely declared victory over COVID-19 as the country tops more than 215,000 fatalities amid the pandemic. 'People don't die of this disease anymore,' Giuliani said, before baselessly insisting that 'young people don't die at all' and that 'middle age people die very little[.]... And even elderly people have only 1 percent chance of dying,' Giuliani said, without evidence." Mrs. McC: According to the lede of a Philadelphia Inquirer story (which I can't link), people at the event were "squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder" & many wore "Save Colombus" masks.

~~~~~~~~~~

Senate Confirmation Hearings

The New York Times' live updates of Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's live updates are here.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Republicans and Democrats offered sharply divergent arguments on Monday in a Supreme Court confirmation fight whose outcome is likely to steer the court to the right for years, vying to define Judge Amy Coney Barrett and frame the political stakes of President Trump's rush to install her before he faces voters. In a marathon day of opening statements, Democrats assailed Judge Barrett as a conservative ideologue who would overturn the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights, and whose nomination amounted to an illegitimate power grab by a president in the last days before the election. Republicans steered clear of addressing Judge Barrett's anticipated effect on the court, instead promoting her sterling qualifications and accusing Democrats of unjustly attacking her because of her Catholic faith, despite the fact that [Democrats] made no mention of it on Monday." ~~~

~~~ Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, who attended the super spreader event -- the Rose Garden announcement of President Trump's nomination of Judge Barrett to the Supreme Court -- and tested positive soon after, delivered his opening statement sans mask. He had previously assured everyone that he had been 'cleared' by his doctor." Mrs. McC: The committee's chair, Lindsey Graham, has refused to be tested despite also attending the Rose Garden superspreader. And good news: Leibovich learned from talking to protesters that one can purchase a hazmat suit at Walgreens. Seems like an appropriate Halloween costume. ~~~

~~~ Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "On Sept. 29, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) attended a party together to watch the first presidential debate. Two days later, feeling sick, Lee took a test for the novel coronavirus, receiving a positive diagnosis, the first of three GOP senators to announce in a 24-hour span that they contracted the virus. Less than 11 full days later, Lee participated in Monday's Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, delivering an opening statement in person -- with no mask -- and periodically whispering to his GOP colleagues. Yet Cruz, who tested negative and has never had any symptoms, remained in quarantine at his Washington apartment and delivered his statement via videoconference technology.... Also in the room were the Senate's two oldest members -- Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), both 87.... Cruz is expected to attend Tuesday's question-and-answer session in person." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Frankly, it makes me feel sick just thinking of going to a party & finding Ted Cruz & Mike Lee there.

The New York Times' live updates of Monday's confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So here's the only part of the hearing I watched. Judge Amy looks very mean:

~~~ Marissa Lang of the Washington Post: "More than a dozen protesters calling on senators to reject the confirmation of ... Judge Amy Coney Barrett were arrested Monday moments before the first day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings began. Unlike in past years, the public was not allowed to watch the hearings in person because of the coronavirus pandemic. Demonstrators instead took their dissent to the entrances of Senate office buildings and the marble steps of the Supreme Court. About 8:45 a.m., anti-Barrett protesters were handcuffed and removed from the doorway of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, where a sit-in was underway. They carried signs and wore cloth face masks bearing the likeness of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.... Across the street, conservative women cheered as they held up signs that said 'confirm Amy' and 'women for Amy.' The group, dotted with maskless students and women holding their children, chanted 'law and order' from behind a police line as officers lifted protesters to their feet, one at a time. For hours, competing chants of 'let the people decide' and 'fill that seat' filled the cold, wet air outside government buildings. Tense debates broke out among members of the two groups as others resorted to shouting." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Republicans once insisted that Merrick Garland, Obama's final Supreme Court nominee, didn't deserve a hearing because the election was only 11 months away.... In October 2016, Senator Ted Cruz suggested that the Senate ... wouldn't move on a Clinton nominee either, essentially reducing the court to eight judges.... Throughout Obama's administration, Republicans went to extraordinary lengths to stop the president from appointing federal judges, describing his ordinary attempts to fill vacant seats as 'court packing.' Senator Tom Cotton, then in the House, even sponsored a bill, the Stop Court-Packing Act, that would have shrunk the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 11 judges to eight.... Now, facing another presidential election that they expect to lose, Republicans are caterwauling about Democratic calls to expand the court. As they prepare to jam through ... Amy Coney Barrett, Republicans are shocked -- shocked! -- that Democrats would contemplate playing constitutional hardball just as Republicans do."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Confidence in the Supreme Court has fallen dramatically since Justice Clarence Thomas's confirmation. Fifty-six percent of Americans had high confidence in the high court back in 1985, according to Gallup. That figure has averaged in the high 30s lately. Views are overwhelmingly partisan: Fifty-three percent of Republicans have confidence, compared with 33 percent of Democrats. And that was before President Trump proposed, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state, to replace the liberal icon with her jurisprudential opposite, forming the most right-wing court in 70 years. On top of this is the rank hypocrisy of Republicans breaking their promises not to hold confirmation hearings so close to an election.... This confirmation is indefensible. Republicans shut down the Senate floor because of a covid-19 outbreak that apparently began at Barrett's nomination ceremony at the White House. But they are still pushing through, mere days before an election that Trump appears likely to lose, a nominee who Trump hopes, by his own account, will help him delegitimize the election result."

Presidential Race, Etc.

Scott Wartman & Sharon Coolidge of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The path to the White House could begin in Cincinnati, former Vice President Joe Biden said Monday during a campaign stop at Union Terminal. Biden called Cincinnati the 'starting gate' to winning Ohio.... 'You here in Cincinnati can make all the difference and all the difference in Ohio,' Biden said.... Biden spoke for about 35 minutes to about 20 local Democrats and union leaders in the massive rotunda of Cincinnati's Union Terminal.... It was the second of two campaign events in Ohio on Monday, the first being at a union hall in Toledo. Biden's speech [in Cincinnati] was invitation-only to keep crowds small and protect against the spread of COVID-19. All 20 attendees wore masks and had their temperatures checked before entering.... Biden portrayed a message of unity, which he contrasted with Trump.... Biden raised his voice at the end for the first time urging people to vote. 'It's time to stand up, take back our democracy and unite,' Biden said. 'Let's for the first time in awhile reflect the values a vast majority hold.'"

Wall Street Welcomes Democrats. Mark Phillips of the New York Times: Wall Street "investors and analysts have begun to take into account the possibility that Mr. Trump's time in the White House may soon be over, as Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. continues to pull ahead in polls just weeks before the election. And that is producing some optimism on Wall Street, because many investors believe that the higher Mr. Biden climbs in polls, the lower the chance of a contested presidential election.... Largely, investors are of the view that a 'blue wave' victory -- in which Democrats retain the House of Representatives and retake the Senate as well as the presidency -- represents the best chance to get another large injection of federal money into an economy that continues to struggle. Economists and policymakers, including the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, say such assistance is sorely needed...."

David Jackson of USA Today: "Faced with a daunting new political environment..., Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Monday as he proclaimed himself healthy and took the podium maskless at a Florida rally just a week-and-a-half after testing positive for COVID-19.... While claiming himself cured of COVID, Trump also asserted he is 'immune' from the virus moving forward, though some medical professionals said there is no guarantee of that. 'Now they say I'm immune. I just feel so powerful,' Trump said. 'I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and the... I'll just give you a big, fat kiss.' Trump also returned to familiar themes, attacking Biden and the 'Washington establishment,' talking up the stock market and Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and savaging the media for reporting on his illness. He pledged to have new COVID-19 vaccines soon, though doctors said that are still months away.... Trump said the new polls showing Biden expanding his lead are 'fake,' and he continued to attack mail-in voting as potential 'fraud.'... Trump's comeback rally lasted a little more than an hour...." ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump, whose voice sounded hoarse and strained as he began to speak onstage at a hangar at Orlando Sanford International Airport, claimed he was fully recovered and therefore immune to the coronavirus -- a claim for which there is no conclusive scientific backing.... Mr. Trump arrived in Florida only hours after the White House physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, said that the president had tested negative 'on consecutive days' using a rapid antigen coronavirus test not intended for that purpose. Experts cautioned that the test's accuracy had not been investigated enough to be sure that the president was virus-free or, as his doctor claimed, 'not infectious to others.'" Also, see Bobby Lee's comment below. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: An infectious disease expert appearing on MSNBC called Dr. Conley's memo a "campaign document" rather than a medical report. She said she regarded it as proof that Trump had failed recent PCR tests. Although Conley has previously written, without providing the results, that Trump took a recent PCR test, he did not release those results in yesterday's memo, either. Instead, he released only the rapid antigen test results, a test which gives false negatives in as many of 30% of cases.

Trump's Final Appeal Is to Racism & Sexism. Kathleen Ronayne of the AP: "Grasping for a comeback..., Donald Trump and his Republican allies are intensifying their focus ... on Sen. Kamala Harris -- arguing without evidence that it's Harris, the first Black woman on a major party ticket, who would really be in charge if Democrats win the White House. The effort is laced with sexist and racist undertones, and one that is aimed at winning back Republicans and independents who are comfortable with Biden's more moderate record, but may associate Harris with Democrats' left flank, despite her own more centrist positions on some major issues. During the past week, Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News that Harris would assume the presidency within 'three months' of Biden's inauguration. During a conversation with Rush Limbaugh, he warned that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would 'replace' Biden with Harris.... Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ... call[ed] Biden 'docile' and Harris 'aggressive.'"

Erin Banco & Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "... Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded that the Trump campaign refrain from using him in future campaign ads, saying Monday that it would be 'outrageous' and 'terrible' if he was featured in another commercial and it could 'come back to backfire' on Team Trump.... 'By doing this against my will they are, in effect, harassing me,' Fauci said. [CNN's Jake] Tapper..., [in an interview of Fauci], suggested that the Trump campaign was already planning on using Fauci again, without his permission, in another political commercial." ~~~

~~~ Lara Seligman of Politico: "... Donald Trump's campaign is running an online political ad that uses an image of his vice president, his Pentagon chief and his most senior military adviser watching the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the Situation Room on Oct. 29, 2019.... But the campaign didn't seek approval from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley to use his image in the ad, a defense official said. 'This photo, like many others, was not used with [Milley's] knowledge or consent,' said the official, who requested anonymity.... The military has strict rules against uniformed service members participating in political campaigns, and the ad is just the latest example of the president or those around him pulling the nation's highest-ranking officer and other Defense Department officials into the political realm."

SN.AFU. WDIV Detroit: "Eric Trump has canceled a Michigan based campaign event scheduled to take place Tuesday at Huron Valley Guns in New Hudson after one of its former employees was linked to the domestic terror plot against the state's governor [and others]. Just last week 13 men were charged in a domestic terror plot to kidnap [Michigan Gov. Gretchen] Whitmer and overthrow the government." Mrs. McC: So Eric & the Trump campaign thought it was a good idea to hold a campaign event at a gun shop, but backed out when they found out the shop previously employed a terrorist, who according to the shop, "would show up for work in a LOT of tactical gear." See, the Trumpies do have standards.

Trump Bribes Farmers (With Your Money, Of Course). Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "For the American farmers President Trump counts on for support, the government money is flowing faster than ever. Federal payments to farmers are projected to hit a record $46 billion this year as the White House funnels money to Mr. Trump's rural base in the South and Midwest ahead of Election Day. The gush of funds has accelerated in recent weeks as the president looks to help his core supporters who have been hit hard by the double whammy of his combative trade practices and the coronavirus pandemic. According to the American Farm Bureau, debt in the farm sector is projected to increase by 4 percent to a record $434 billion this year and farm bankruptcies have continued to rise across the country.... Government support will account for about 40 percent of total farm income this year.... Last week, the Office of Special Counsel determined that Mr. Trump's Agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, had improperly used his position to push the president's re-election by promising more help for farmers." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Nice to know that you've paid 40 percent more for much of what you eat.

Today in GOP Vote-Stealing & Voter-Suppression

** California. IOKIYAR. Glenn Thrush & Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "The California Republican Party has admitted responsibility for placing more than 50 deceptively labeled 'official' drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange Counties -- an action that state officials said was illegal and could lead to voter fraud. The dark gray metal boxes have been popping up over the past two weeks near churches, gun shops and Republican Party offices, mostly in conservative areas of a deep-blue state, affixed with a white paper label identifying them as either an 'Official Ballot Drop off Box' or a 'Ballot Drop Box.' To the average voter, they are virtually indistinguishable from drop-off sites sanctioned by the state, which are governed by strict regulations intended to prevent the partisan manipulation of ballots.... California Attorney General Xavier Becerra ... called the boxes 'fake.'... He warned that anyone 'engaging in this activity' could be subject to criminal prosecution or civil action. Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the California Republican Party, said the party would continue to distribute the boxes, without adding any label identifying them explicitly as Republican ballot drops.... [He] said the party's actions were legal because state law did not restrict 'ballot harvesting,' a practice that allows a third party to collect voters' completed ballots. Mr. Trump and his supporters have decried the practice as corrupt when Democrats have been accused of collecting bundles of ballots...." ~~~

~~~ Georgia. Sam Levine of the Guardian & Agencies: "Voters in Georgia faced hours-long lines on Monday as people flocked to the polls for the first day of early voting in the state, which has developed a national reputation in recent years for voting issues.... In Atlanta, some voters reported waiting more than 10 hours for their chance to cast an early ballot." Mrs. McC: In all of the photos & videoclips I've seen, the majority of voters standing in line appear to be black. I wonder why that is.

Michigan Senate Race. Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "In the late 1980s, Sen. Gary Peters's wife at the time, Heidi, was four months pregnant when her water broke. leaving the baby with no chance of survival. The hospital in Detroit wouldn't allow Heidi's doctor to perform an abortion, so the physician told them to go home and wait for a miscarriage. 'The mental anguish someone goes through is intense,' Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said in an interview with Elle magazine published on Monday, 'trying to have a miscarriage for a child that was wanted.' But the situation became more critical when Heidi's health deteriorated, so the couple found a doctor at another hospital who agreed to do the procedure.... Peters joins a small group of members of Congress who have spoken about their personal experiences with abortion.... Peters [is fighting] to retain his seat in the Senate in a battleground state that President Trump narrowly won in 2016. Peters faces John James, a well-funded Republican businessman...."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Matthew Herper of STAT: "The study of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine has been paused due to an unexplained illness in a study participant. A document sent to outside researchers running the 60,000-patient clinical trial states that a 'pausing rule' has been met, that the online system used to enroll patients in the study has been closed, and that the data and safety monitoring board -- an independent committee that watches over the safety of patients in the clinical trial -- would be convened."

India. Hannah Ellis-Peterson & Manoj Chaurasia of the Guardian: "While the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked devastation on India, no one has suffered worse than its children. In the space of seven months, the country has been set back decades in the fight against child labour, child trafficking and child marriage, with the lockdown and the economic collapse that followed creating a perfect storm of poverty and exploitation. Schools, which are not only vital for education but act as an essential surveillance mechanism to ensure that children are kept out of the hands of child traffickers and not pushed into arranged underage marriages, have been closed since March." --s


The Trump Kids Are Bilking You Twice. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Eric Trump took his Secret Service agents to Trump golf courses in Scotland, as he led transatlantic tours for paying customers. Donald Trump Jr. took his protectors to the Trump hotel in Vancouver, stopping over on hunting trips to Canada. And Ivanka Trump took her Secret Service detail to the Trump golf club in Bedminster, N.J., again and again -- even after she asked other Americans to 'please, please' stay home during the coronavirus pandemic. On trips like these, Secret Service agents were there to protect Trump's children.... When Trump's adult children visited Trump properties, Trump's company charged the Secret Service for agents to come along. The president's company billed the U.S. government hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for rooms agents used on each trip, as the agency sometimes booked multiple rooms or a multiroom rental cottage on the property[.]" So not only do we pay Secret Service agents to protect Trump's children while they galavant around the world promoting Trump businesses, in many cases we're also paying directly into Trump's pockets. ~~~

~~~ You're Paying Trump to Wine, Dine & Entertain a Billionaire Aide. Martyn McLaughlin of The Scotsman (Oct. 7): "US federal government receipts show that Woody Johnson enjoyed a £426 dinner with his wife during a visit to the US president's Turnberry property, and spent several hundred pounds on its golf offerings. One leading ethics watchdog said it was 'simply embarrassing' that the 'multi-billionaire' diplomat, who is from one of the wealthiest families in America, would play golf at Mr Trump's course and leave the US public to pay for the privilege.... The new receipts [totalling £1,143] ... detail the extent of Mr Johnson's spending during his stay at the property, which coincided with Mr Trump's own two-night stay there in the summer of 2018.... The bill includes nearly £600 spent on 'golf retail', as well as green fees for Turnberry's Arran golf course, and a series of payments listed as 'refreshment centre'." --s


Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "China, Russia, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are expected to be elected to the board of the UN human rights council on Tuesday, leaving human rights campaigners in the countries aghast and pleading with EU states to commit to withholding their support. The Geneva-based monitoring NGO UN Watch described the situation as the equivalent of allowing five convicted arsonists to join the fire brigade.... Donald Trump withdrew the US from the council two years ago, which campaigners say has strengthened the authoritarian view that human rights should be measured through the prism of economics as opposed to individual freedom." --s

News Lede

New York Times: "Roberta McCain, whose son, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said she had inspired his will to survive as a prisoner of war in Vietnam -- and who at 96 campaigned spiritedly in his losing bid for the presidency against in 2008 -- died on Monday at her home in Washington. She was 108."

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