;)
November 20, 2021
President Biden does the annual Stupid Pet Trick. An AP story is here:
Katie Rogers & Lawrence Altman of the New York Times: "President Biden's personal physician [Kevin O'Connor] said on Friday that he was a 'healthy, vigorous, 78 year old' who was fit to carry out his duties, after the president underwent a full medical evaluation and briefly transferred powers to the vice president so he could undergo a colonoscopy."
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Kamala D. Harris on Friday became the first woman to serve as acting president of the United States, as President Biden was briefly placed under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy. Biden underwent the procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Friday morning. Harris was acting president for about an hour and twenty-five minutes, according to the White House.... Harris worked 'from her office in the West Wing during this time,' the White House said." ~~~
~~~ Wait! Wait! Harris Is the Real President All the Time! Claire Goforth of the Daily Dot (Nov. 17): "On Monday, President Joe Biden signed his big infrastructure bill into law. [Shortly thereafter,] Vice President Kamala Harris tweeting a video of the bill signing.... The presidential seal is blurred in the video." This excited numerous conspiracy theorists like one Paul McCullough, who tweeted, "Because he's not the real president. Totally fraudulent election. The truth will come out!" Others seemed to think everything in the video was fake, including the bill and the image of the President himself. Alas, the truth that came out is a bit simpler: "Federal law dictates that the seal can't be used for any type of advertisement, such as campaigning. Thus, the seal had to be blurred because Harris tweeted the video from her personal Twitter account, rather than the official vice president account."
Odious DeJoy Could Be on the Way Out. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday announced plans to nominate two former federal officials to the U.S. Postal Service's governing board, replacing key allies of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, including its Democratic chairman. The move was a surprise to postal officials and even members of Congress, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, and casts doubt on DeJoy's future at the agency. It potentially gives liberals on the panel two crucial votes to oust the postal chief, who can be removed only by the board.... The White House on Friday, confirming a Washington Post report on the decision, announced it would nominate Daniel Tangherlini, who served as the administrator of the General Services Administration during the Obama administration, to replace Ron A. Bloom. Derek Kan, a Republican and the former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, would replace Republican John M. Barger."
Julian Barnes & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "American intelligence officials are warning allies that there is a short window of time to prevent Russia from taking military action in Ukraine, pushing European countries to work with the United States to develop a package of economic and military measures to deter Moscow, according to American and European officials. Russia has not yet decided what it intends to do with the troops it has amassed near Ukraine, American officials said, but the buildup is being taken seriously and the United States is not assuming it is a bluff."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will propose reinstating a Clinton administration-era rule to ban logging and road building in more than half of North America's largest temperate rainforest[, Alaska's Tongass National Forest].... The restrictions had managed to stay in place for years because of a series of court battles, but the Trump administration wiped them out last fall.... The proposed rule would protect critical habitat and prevent the carbon dioxide trapped in the forest's ancient trees from escaping into the atmosphere, but Alaska's governor and congressional delegation say it would hurt the timber industry. Alaska Native leaders, environmentalists and tour operators argue that protecting the region's remaining wild landscapes will sustain the state's economy in the long term." MB: Well, yes, it does seem likely that banning logging would hurt the timber industry.
Emily Cochrane & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The House on Friday narrowly passed the centerpiece of President Biden's domestic agenda, approving $2 trillion in spending over the next decade to battle climate change, expand health care and reweave the nation's social safety net, over the unanimous opposition of Republicans. The bill's passage, 220 to 213, came after weeks of cajoling, arm-twisting and legislative legerdemain by Democrats. It was capped off by an exhausting, circuitous and record-breaking speech of more than eight hours by the House Republican leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, that pushed a planned Thursday vote past midnight, then delayed it to Friday morning -- but did nothing to dent Democratic unity." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.... I urge everyone to express their views peacefully, consistent with the rule of law. -- President Joe Biden in a statement
I'm disappointed in the verdict, I have to tell you. I think it speaks for itself. But I also have spent the majority of my career focused on what we need to do to ensure that the criminal justice system is more fair and just, and we still have a lot of work to do. -- Former President-for-a-Moment Kamala Harris, remarks Friday ~~~
~~~ Mark Guarino, et al., of the Washington Post: "A jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all counts Friday, more than a year after the teenager fatally shot two people and wounded a third amid unrest over a police shooting in Kenosha, a case that set off searing national debates over guns, race, vigilantism and self-defense."
Marie: This is an indictment (1) of the U.S. gun culture; (2) of the Supreme Court confederates for encouraging that gun culture; (3) of the Wisconsin open-carry law; (4) of the Kenosha police who let a kid who did not even look of age prance around town with a loaded AR-15 during a riot; and (5) of irresponsible parents who allowed their irresponsible child to go on a murderous excursion. Although race was not mentioned during the trial, it should not be lost upon us that Rittenhouse associated himself with the white supremacist Proud Boys and the men he killed and maimed were participating in a Black Lives Matter protest. Whether in the acquittal of the murderers of three civil rights workers in 1964 Mississippi or the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the U.S. "justice" system, both in the South & in the North, protects white supremacists even when they murder anti-racist activists.
Steve M. posts a few responses from the right. He concludes, "This is what Republicans say to one another when they don't believe anyone else is paying attention. This is what no New York Times reporter on a rural diner safari has ever managed to elicit from them. But it's what they really think." ~~~
~~~ Anti-Defamation League: "As soon as the jury announced its verdict, online extremist spaces erupted in cheers and self-congratulatory rhetoric. Supporters heralded the Rittenhouse verdict as a victory for the principle of self-defense and providing legal precedent for violent responses to perceived threats, and some argued that people no longer need to avoid acting during tense situations for fear of legal repercussions...." The extremist posts, tweets & messages the ADL republishes are horrible.
Charles Blow of the New York Times: "... perhaps the most problematic aspect of this case was that it represented yet another data point in the long history of some parts of the right valorizing white vigilantes who use violence against people of color and their white allies.... The idea of taking the law into one's own hands not only to protect order, but also to protect the order, is central to the maintenance of white power and its structures."
Not Just Racists, But Misogynists, Too. Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "So upbeat [is the GOP outlook] that it apparently is cool with the fact that in three Senate races -- Georgia, Missouri and Pennsylvania -- it has leading candidates who have been accused of harassing, abusing, threatening or otherwise mistreating women.... The allegations, the candidates' responses, the warmth of the party's embrace -- the creeping not-so-casual misogyny is indicative of the dark path down which ... Donald Trump continues to lead the G.O.P.... For devout Trumpists, accusations of toxic masculinity can even be a comfort of sorts, a kind of corrective to a #MeToo movement that many in the MAGAverse consider excessive and anti-man.... Under Mr. Trump, the Republican Party has undergone a fundamental shift, swapping a fixation on character and morality and so-called Family Values for a celebration of belligerence, violence, and, yes, toxic masculinity." Cottle provides numerous examples of the "new GOP." Emphasis added.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge on Friday squarely placed the blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Donald Trump, suggesting that the former president's role in seeding lies about the 2020 election -- and the effect it had on his followers -- has been an underappreciated part of the entire episode. Judge Amit Mehta issued his commentary as he delivered a 14-day jail sentence to Jan. 6 rioter John Lolos -- a sentence Mehta said he shortened in part to reflect the fact that Lolos was responding to Trump's call.... 'People like Mr. Lolos were told lies, told falsehoods, told our election was stolen when it clearly was not,' Mehta [said], adding that the defendants were paying for conduct that was largely enabled by Trump and his allies. 'We're here today deciding whether Mr. Lolos should spend 30 days in jail when those who created the conditions that led to Mr. Lolos' conduct, led to the events of Jan. 6 [haven't been] held to for their actions and their word.' 'In a sense, Mr. Lolos, I think you were a pawn,' Mehta continued." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sorry, Judge, if people are going to believe the "news" disseminated by Fox "News," Facebook & the right-wing mediasphere in general, they are going to make terrible mistakes (see also Rittenhouse). Normal Americans had every reason to know that Donald Trump and his allies are congenital liars and that Joe Biden won the presidential election. Citizens have an obligation to be discerning. If they are not, they should suffer the consequences. Yes, Trump is responsible for inciting the insurrection, but the "pawns" themselves should accept responsibility for their own acts of stupidity & violence.
Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal and state investigators are examining an attempt to breach an Ohio county's election network that bears striking similarities to an incident in Colorado earlier this year, when government officials helped an outsider gain access to the county voting system in an effort to find fraud. Data obtained in both instances were distributed at an August 'cyber symposium' on election fraud hosted by MyPillow executive Mike Lindell, an ally of ... Donald Trump.... Together, the incidents in Ohio and Colorado point to an escalation in attacks on the nation's voting systems by those who have embraced Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud.... Investigators with the office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) believe a government official appears to have facilitated the attempted breach of the election network in Lake County, a spokesman for LaRose said."
This Man Has Too Much Money. Karen Matthews of the AP: "A rare first printing of the U.S. Constitution sold at Sotheby's in New York for $43.2 million, a record price for a document or book sold at auction. The buyer, hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin, will loan the document to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, for public exhibition, Sotheby's announced Friday. Griffin, the founder and CEO of multinational hedge fund Citadel, outbid a group of 17,000 cryptocurrency enthusiasts from around the world who crowdfunded to buy it over the last week.... The museum opened in 2011 and was founded by Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton.... This printing of the Constitution was last sold in 1988, when real estate developer and collector S. Howard Goldman bought it at auction for $165,000. Proceeds from Thursday's sale will benefit a foundation established by Goldman's widow, Dorothy Tapper Goldman, to further the understanding of constitutional principles."MB: Okay, that's nice, but all these people have/had too much money.
The New York Times has some great still pictures of Friday morning's lunar eclipse.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
Lauran Neergaard, et al., of the AP: "The U.S. on Friday opened COVID-19 booster shots to all adults and took the extra step of urging people 50 and older to seek one, aiming to ward off a winter surge as coronavirus cases rise even before millions of Americans travel for the holidays.... Under the new rules, anyone 18 or older can choose either a Pfizer or Moderna booster six months after their last dose. For anyone who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the wait already was just two months. And people can mix-and-match boosters from any company.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to agree before the new policy became official late Friday. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky endorsed [the] recommendation from her agency's scientific advisers...." The New York Times story is here. A Washington Post story, which is free to nonsubscribers, is here.
Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released two new reports Friday highlighting the dangers of covid-19 to pregnant people and their fetuses or babies, particularly since July, when the highly contagious delta variant took hold in the U.S. One report examines covid -- associated deaths during pregnancy.... The second report focuses on stillbirths -- a usually rare event that has been more strongly linked to covid-19 since delta became dominant.... The reports' authors emphasize the importance of preventive measures including vaccination, which the CDC recommends for pregnant women. Only about 30 percent of pregnant Americans are vaccinated, a rate far lower than the population as a whole." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
Beyond the Beltway
California. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A former university professor has been indicted on charges that he set four wildfires in national forests while on an 'arson spree' in California this summer, prosecutors said. The former professor, Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, was charged with four counts of arson to federal property, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, Phillip A. Talbert, announced on Thursday. Some of the fires were ignited behind firefighters as they worked to extinguish the flames of the Dixie fire, which consumed more than 960,000 acres as one of the largest wildfires in California history." Maynard has denied the charges.
Florida. Jason Dearen of the AP: "In June, three Florida prison guards who boasted of being white supremacists beat, pepper sprayed and used a stun gun on an inmate [of color] who screamed 'I can't breathe!' at a prison near the Alabama border, according to a fellow inmate [Jamaal Reynolds] who reported it to the state. The next day, the officers at Jackson Correctional Institution did it again to another inmate, the report filed with the Florida Department of Corrections' Office of Inspector General stated.... Both incidents occurred in view of surveillance cameras, he said.... But the inspector general's office did not investigate, corrections spokeswoman Molly Best said.... Some Florida prison guards openly tout associations with white supremacist groups to intimidate inmates and Black colleagues, a persistent practice that often goes unpunished, according to allegations in public documents and interviews with a dozen inmates and current and former employees in the nation's third-largest prison system." Read on.
Georgia. When Will This Lawyer Wear His White Hood to Court? Russ Bynum of the AP: "The defense attorney who caused an outcry by saying Black pastors should be barred from the murder trial over Ahmaud Arbery's death declared in court Friday that a courthouse rally and other actions supporting the slain Black man's family were comparable to a 'public lynching' of the three white defendants.... [Attorney Kevin] Gough renewed a request for a mistrial the day after the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III joined hundreds of pastors, most of them Black, praying and rallying at the steps of the Glynn County courthouse. The event was organized after Gough last week objected to Sharpton sitting in the back row of the courtroom with Arbery's parents.... He told the judge his client's right to a fair trial was being violated by a 'left woke mob.' Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley dismissed the mistrial motion with little discussion." ~~~
~~~ Devon Sayers, et al., of CNN: "A defense attorney for one of the three White men accused of chasing and killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery asked prosecutors for a plea deal and was declined, an attorney for Arbery's mother told CNN. William 'Roddie' Bryan Jr.'s lawyer 'asked for a plea deal before resting their case. Prosecutors declined any plea offer,' Lee Merritt, an attorney for Wanda Cooper-Jones, said Friday. The district attorney's office that is prosecuting the case declined to comment about being approached about a plea deal." (Also linked yesterday.)
Wisconsin. More Disturbing News from the Badger State. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Republicans in Wisconsin are engaged in an all-out assault on the state's election system, building off their attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential race by pressing to give themselves full control over voting in the state. The Republican effort -- broader and more forceful than that in any other state where allies of ... Donald J. Trump are trying to overhaul elections -- takes direct aim at the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, an agency Republicans created half a decade ago that has been under attack since the chaotic aftermath of last year's election.... Last week, [U.S.] Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, said that G.O.P. state lawmakers should unilaterally assert control of federal elections, claiming that they had the authority to do so even if Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, stood in their way -- an extraordinary legal argument debunked by a 1932 Supreme Court decision and a 1964 ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His suggestion was nonetheless echoed by Michael Gableman, a conservative former State Supreme Court justice who is conducting the Legislature's election inquiry." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Hey, Sens. Joe, Krysten, et al., as we may have mentioned, you-all could fix this by suspending the filibuster & passing voting rights legislation.
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The Verdict: I can't help imagining how the parents of those two dead boys must be going through––the awful grief from those deaths and the verdict that let the killer off scot free. So much coverage in this case reflects the division in this country––outside the courthouse it was like a microcosm of this state––one mob against the other in stark contrast.
Last March the New Yorker featured a lengthy piece about how, entering a time of containment, New York "is at its best and its worse." Within was mention of Camus', "The Plague," that I thought relevant to what we have been going through. Camus insisted that the plague exposes existing fractures in societies, in class structure, and individual character; under stress, we see who we really are. The secession of the very rich, the isolation of the well-off, the degradation of social capital by inequality: these truths become sharply self-evident now.
And seeing who we really are is not only troubling but terrifying. No wonder there are so many ads for sleep aids. The fact that the group of Animal Crackers who reside in Congress are touting Rittenhouse and gun vigilantes and may even bring this little punk into their house of mayhem is enough to cause even more sleepless nights.
And just a word about Biden's medical check-up. What a pleasant change in procedure! We even got to know his actual blood pressure!
PD mentions "The Plague". Remember that old expression
"avoid it like the plague?" Guess we should write that old
expression off since so many people seem to be ignoring an
actual plague.
And I keep reading how tough times are and sales are hurting, etc.
One of our landscaping clients owns a shop in town and she told us
last week that this has been the best year saleswise in her 20 years
in business. (Could help that Betsy shops there occasionally).
Also, I had a problem with blue-ray player last week, called the
audio-visual guy who does my work. He's booked up until the end
of the year installing what people are buying. Fortunately he could
advise me over the phone and together we got the problem solved.
Could be that things are tough in Alabama or Mississippi, but that
ain't the case around here.
It was inevitable that the right would spout hateful, outrageous rhetoric no matter the Rittenhouse verdict. Either guilty or innocent would have done the trick because celebration and anger grievance result in the same performative outcome. Hate looks the same from either perspective. Like everyone else, I've been reading "takes" from lots of folks. Serwer's piece in The Atlantic gave me the best analysis I've read.
https://bit.ly/3cuiGnn
"...Wisconsin law allows an individual to provoke an attack and still claim self-defense...It is one thing to argue that the jury reached a reasonable verdict based on this law, and another entirely to celebrate Rittenhouse’s actions. Much of the conservative media and the Republican Party, however, don’t see the killings as “wrongful” in any sense, instead elevating Rittenhouse as the manifestation of retributive violence against their political enemies."
"...the desire to kill your political opponents is a sentiment no longer confined to the dark corners of the internet. The principle that canonizes Rittenhouse as a saint for defending his city from rioters, and the mob that stormed the Capitol as martyrs, is the principle that the slaughter of the right’s enemies is no crime."
Very angry but not surprised at the trial outcome. Expecting fiction from GA, too, at the other trial. People are so damn stupid it is a miracle they can walk unscathed across the street. Just got back from a trip to Target. Daughter and I and about 8 others besides the employees were masked. Everyone else, no thoughts about anything. They think nothing of walking right up to you and breathing in your face... I repeat: people are stupid. And mean. And careless. And thoughtless. My UU brethren maintain that all human beings have worth. I increasingly do not believe that. The little worm on trial fake-cried and fake-collapsed, not unlike Kavenaugh in years past...He's a creep and a murderer, and his jury was dense. (Not moving to WI ever, even though I was born there.) All those "not guiltys" are such BS-- he clearly IS guilty. Hope he enjoys his political "career..." Well, we already have Lauren Boebert, his peer...
Marie: just realized what you did there:
Odious DeJoy...! Haha! You are clever and cute.