;)
October 31, 2021
~~~ Marie: I wonder what would be scarier? (1) Donald Trump trick-or-treating as Donald Trump, or (2) Donald Trump trick-or-treating as Grover Cleveland, who was president for two non-consecutive terms?
~~~ Sophie June of the New York Times: "Supply chain issues have been making everything from Cheerios to toilet paper more expensive since the start of the pandemic. At the same time, Halloween fans have pent-up demand for celebrations after last year's holiday was subdued by Covid-19 restrictions. Consumers are expected to spend $10.1 billion on Halloween this year, up from $8.05 billion in 2020, according to the National Retail Federation. And an estimated 65 percent of Americans plan to celebrate, up from 58 percent last year.... This year is a perfect storm for a costume shortage. There are all the reasons the port-to-store supply chain is running at less than capacity -- including shortages of truck drivers, warehouse employees and other workers, Covid lockdowns, natural disasters, and container scarcity." ~~~
~~~ Marie: When I was in the second grade, I desperately wanted a store-bought Halloween costume. My parents said, no, that they were too expensive, and they would make me a costume. To my childish chagrin, my father, mostly, dressed me up as Al Capp's L'il Abner witch, and off we went to the school Halloween celebration. At one point, and to my bewilderment, many of us were lined up for a costume prize. I won. That was the last and only time I felt deprived for not having the "right" Halloween costume. Kids, sometimes your parents get things right.
Afternoon Update:
Nicole Winfield, et al., of the AP: "Leaders of the world's biggest economies made a vague commitment Sunday to seek carbon neutrality 'by or around mid-century' as they wrapped up a two-day Rome summit that was laying the groundwork for the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. According to the final meeting communique, the Group of 20 leaders also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad but set no target for phasing out coal domestically -- a clear nod to China, India and other coal-dependent countries. The G-20 countries represent more than three-quarters of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and summit host Italy and Britain, which is hosting the Glasgow climate conference, had looked for more ambitious targets to come out of Rome."
** The Washington Post has published a long, three-part feature on the January 6 insurrection. It begins, sensibly enough, with the "before" section here. Click on "during" and "after" for the other two parts.
Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "Southwest Airlines is conducting an internal investigation after one of its pilots reportedly said a phrase used in right-wing circles as a stand-in for swearing at President Biden over the plane's public address system -- apologizing to customers and insisting it does not condone employees sharing personal political opinions while on the job. The airline faced turbulence on social media over the weekend after an Associated Press journalist was on a flight from Houston to Albuquerque on Friday when she heard the pilot use the phrase 'let's go Brandon,' writing that it brought on 'audible gasps from some passengers.' Audio of the pilot's greeting, which The Washington Post could not independently verify, was separately circulating widely on social media."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "As presidents and prime ministers arrive in Glasgow this week for a pivotal climate summit, the outcome will determine, to a large extent how the world's seven billion people will survive on a hotter planet and whether far worse levels of warming can be averted for future generations. Tensions loom over the 12-day summit. Some poor countries hard hit by climate disasters are holding out for money promised, and yet to be delivered, by the industrialized nations that fueled the crisis. Polluting countries are pressing each other to cut their emissions while jockeying for advantage and wrestling with the impacts on their own economies.... Complicating matters, the need for collective action to tackle such an urgent, existential global threat comes at a time of rising nationalism. This makes the talks in Glasgow a test of whether global cooperation is even possible to confront a crisis that does not recognize national borders."
The Washington Post is live-updating developments at the G-20 summit. The New York Times' live updates are here.
Katie Rogers, et al., of the New York Times: "From the opening moments of the Group of 20 summit on Saturday, the leaders of the world's largest economies wanted to send a strong message about ending the coronavirus pandemic.... But as the leaders gathered to discuss plans to protect against future pandemics, health experts and activists expressed concerns that the world's richest nations were still not doing enough to help people in poor nations survive the current one.... While wealthy nations are offering people third vaccine doses and increasingly inoculating children, poor countries have administered an estimated four doses per 100 people, according to the World Health Organization.... [As President Biden addresses other issues,] health experts and influential advocates, including Pope Francis, have urged Mr. Biden during his trip to stay focused on closing the vaccine gap for poor nations...."
Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden opened new fronts in global engagement Saturday, endorsing international accords on taxation and vaccinations while joining key European allies to ramp up pressure on Iran to revive the 2015 deal to curb its nuclear program.... Taken together, the moves marked fresh efforts to turn away from Trump's policies that included withdrawal from key international accords, a snub of the Iran nuclear deal and a range of protectionist trade measures. Perhaps the most uncertain of the developments Saturday is the fate of the nuclear accord that set limits on Iran's uranium enrichment and other advances in exchange for easing international sanctions.... During the first full day of the G-20 summit in Rome, Biden met with leaders of the E3 countries -- France, Germany and Britain -- in an attempt to coordinate with other parties of the original agreement. Russia and China were also part of the accord." ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden and the other national leaders gathered for the Group of 20 summit formally endorsed a new global minimum tax on Saturday, capping months of negotiations over the groundbreaking tax accord. The new global minimum tax of 15 percent aims to reverse the decades-long decline in tax rates on corporations across the world, a trend experts say has deprived governments of revenue to fund social spending programs. The deal is a key achievement for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who made an international floor on corporate taxes among the top priorities of her tenure and pushed forcefully for swift action on a deal.... Nearly 140 countries representing more than 90 percent of total global economic output have endorsed the deal, but they each must implement the new standards in a process that could take time and overcome internal political opposition.... The minimum tax will be coupled with a broader change to global taxation intended to prevent countries and companies from undercutting the new floor. Under the pact, corporations trying to evade taxation by shifting profits to low-tax countries will face a 'top-up' tax, which would require them to pay the difference between the tax haven's tax rate and the 15 percent minimum tax rate of the companies where they are headquartered." ~~~
~~~ Ana Swanson & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "The Biden administration announced on Saturday that it had reached a deal to roll back tariffs on European steel and aluminum, an agreement that officials said would lower costs on goods like cars and washing machines, reduce carbon emissions, and help get supply chains moving again. The deal, which comes as President Biden and other world leaders meet at the Group of 20 summit in Rome, is aimed at easing trans-Atlantic trade tensions that had worsened under ... Donald J. Trump, whose administration initially imposed the tariffs. Mr. Biden has made clear he wants to repair relations with the European Union, but the agreement also appears carefully devised to avoid alienating U.S. labor unions and manufacturers that have supported Mr. Biden.... The agreement will put an end to retaliatory tariffs that the European Union had imposed on American products including orange juice, bourbon and motorcycles. It will also avert additional tariffs on American products that were set to go into effect on Dec. 1." MB: Hmmm. Sounds like good news for Florida & Kentucky.
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "House Democrats are aiming to vote as soon as Tuesday on two spending initiatives totaling roughly $3 trillion as they seek to overcome months of delays that have ensnared President Biden's broader economic agenda. The tentative schedule would mark the final vote for a roughly $1.2 trillion package to improve the country's infrastructure, which would then head to the president's desk for a signature. And it would tee up the Senate to begin debate over a second, roughly $1.75 trillion measure to overhaul the nation's health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws." ~~~
~~~ Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "With the House set to vote on a sweeping spending measure as soon as Tuesday, it marked a new test as to whether Democrats, largely led by women in the House and Senate, could sway [Sen. Joe] Manchin [D-ish-W.Va.] and deliver the help they long have promised to millions of Americans.... The paid-leave plan that Democrats originally envisioned would have provided 12 weeks of aid for Americans who fall ill, need to care for a sick loved one or are tending to the birth of a new child.... An incensed Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) hammered Manchin indirectly, stressing that Democrats are 'not going to let one man tell all the women in this country that they can't have paid leave.' And a wide array of lawmakers including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have placed calls to Manchin directly about the issue...."
Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Goodluck Nwauzor fled Boko Haram militants in Nigeria only to end up cleaning showers for $1 a day while housed at one of the United States' largest immigrant detention facilities. Now his testimony has helped convince a federal jury that GEO Group, which runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., violated the state's minimum wage laws and owes thousands of immigrant detainees $17.3 million in backpay.... The decision on Friday means Nwauzor and roughly 10,000 other detainees will receive individual awards ranging from $7 for a single day worked, to more than $30,000 in the instance of a detainee who worked almost 700 days, according to ... the law firm representing Nwauzor and the other detainees. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan will decide how much money GEO Group must pay the state for unjust enrichment -- a sum on top of the $17.3 million already ordered.... 'Immigration detention center labor is a kind of murky area that's been operating under the aegis of prison labor, [Erin Hutton, a University of Buffalo sociology professor,] said. 'It's been in dispute, but this ruling shows that they can't get away with it without scrutiny.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I had no idea that working for pennies an hour -- or candy! -- was one of the options for detainees. But according to the story, "Detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center were paid a $1 per day regardless of how many hours they worked in various cooking, cleaning, laundry and maintenance roles, if they were paid at all; some detainees were paid with candy or other snacks, according to court records." Congress needs to acknowledge there's something really, really wrong with ICE -- and do something about it.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Donald Trump is seeking to prevent Jan. 6 investigators from accessing daily presidential diaries, drafts of election-related speeches, logs of his phone calls, handwritten notes and files of top aides, the National Archives revealed in a Saturday morning court filing. According to the National Archives, the former president has sought to block about 750 pages out of nearly 1,600 identified by officials as relevant to the Jan. 6 investigation. Among them are hundreds of pages from 'multiple binders of the former press secretary [Kayleigh McEnany] which is made up almost entirely of talking points and statements related to the 2020 election,' according to the court filing. The filing details are the clearest indication yet of what Trump is trying to withhold from congressional investigators.... The National Archives indicated that many files were drawn from the systems of key Trump aides including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, adviser Stephen Miller and deputy counsel Patrick Philbin.... The National Archives submitted its filing in response to Trump's lawsuit seeking an emergency court order to block [Archivist David] Ferriero from transmitting them to Congress.... But the archives rejected Trump's legal arguments, emphasizing that the Jan. 6 committee's requests were tailored specifically to its investigation, and that President Joe Biden had already made the 'manifestly reasonable' decision to reject Trump's claims of privilege." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story is here. In case you were asking yourself, "Why, what's he got to hide?", read on. ~~~
** Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Vice President Mike Pence hid from a marauding mob during the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, an attorney for ... Donald Trump emailed a top Pence aide to say that Pence had caused the violence by refusing to block certification of Trump's election loss. The attorney, John C. Eastman, also continued to press for Pence to act even after Trump's supporters had trampled through the Capitol -- an attack the Pence aide, Greg Jacob, had described as a 'siege' in their email exchange. 'The "siege" is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,' Eastman wrote to Jacob, referring to Trump's claims of voter fraud.... Jacob, Pence's chief counsel, included Eastman's emailed remarks in a draft opinion article about Trump's outside legal team that he wrote later in January but ultimately chose not to publish. The Washington Post obtained a copy of the draft. [The draft shows] that Eastman's efforts to persuade Pence to block Trump's defeat were more extensive than has been reported previously...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the text (via the WashPo) of the draft op-ed Greg Jacob wrote in January 2021. It begins: "In the days and hours leading up to the counting of the electoral votes in Congress, a cadre of outside lawyers to the President spun a web of lies and disinformation, to him and to the public, for the purpose of pressuring the Vice President to betray his oath to uphold our laws and the Constitution of the United States.... Now that the moment of immediate crisis has passed, the legal profession should dispassionately examine whether the attorneys involved should be disciplined for using their credentials to sell a stream of snake oil to the most powerful office in the world, wrapped in the guise of a lawyer's advice." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM views the Washington Post story (Josh Dawsey, et al.) linked below as "one of the biggest revelations I've seen to date.... Here we're getting the details, the documentary evidence. [Attorney John] Eastman didn't recoil when the President's rally escalated to violence. He clearly saw the inside coup plot and the insurrectionists on the street as part of the same effort. This isn't surprising to most of us.... Eastman recognized the insurrection as the paramilitary wing of the coup plot he was part of and as the Capitol was under siege used it as a cudgel to force Pence's hand.... There was the notorious phone call between Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Trump in which McCarthy demanded Trump call off his insurrectionists. Trump notoriously responded, 'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.'... Trump's message was the same as Eastman's. You brought it on yourself and they're my guys.... They both recognized the insurrectionists as their foot soldiers and expressed as much in real time to the members of Congress under siege." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Trump's comment to McCarthy, and Trump's tweet attacking Pence, it's pretty clear the Trump team saw utility in the mob. And they apparently tried to exploit it to the bitter end." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "Since [John Eastman's] memo [on how to overturn the election results] was published, Eastman and his current employer, the Claremont Institute, have sought to downplay its significance.... But Eastman was not participating in some after-hours law-school bull session; he was advising a corrupt and desperate man who would do almost anything to hold onto power. The radical scenario outlined in the memo, and the equally-radical scenario Eastman says he ultimately recommended -- in which Pence would decline to certify the results, buying time for Republican legislators in key states to purportedly investigate alleged fraud, and submit new slates of electors -- would have only indulged Trump's delusions about his own chances. And Eastman pursued all of this, because he was likewise deluded about what had happened in November. As part of a legal analysis he prepared for state legislators making the case that they could reject their states' election results, the Post reported, 'Eastman's seven-page paper featured theories about voter fraud published by the right-wing blog the Gateway Pundit and an anonymous Twitter user named "DuckDiver19."' DuckDiver19. It's a long way from Federalist no. 68." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "John Eastman, a conservative lawyer working ... Donald Trump's legal team, said in a radio interview in early January that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the power to throw the 2020 presidential election to the House of Representatives, saying it depended on whether Pence had 'courage and the spine.' Those comments are more direct than how Eastman has recently described his conversation with Pence, when he has said he told the vice president it was an 'open question' whether he could throw out seven states' Electoral College votes and that it'd be a 'foolish' option to pursue. Eastman made the comments, unearthed by CNN's KFile, on the radio show of former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Bannon on January 2...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian writes a recap of what we know about Trump's attempted coup. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Pandemic, Ctd.
** Alexander Nazaryan of Yahoo! News: "... a new study published on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that finds that natural immunity offers far weaker protection than does a vaccine. The new study finds that people who had natural immunity from having recently fought off COVID-19 and who were not vaccinated were 5.49 times more likely to experience another COVID-19 infection than were vaccinated people who had not previously been infected. 'The data demonstrate that vaccination can provide a higher, more robust, and more consistent level of immunity to protect people from hospitalization for COVID-19 than infection alone for at least 6 months,' a CDC press release said." MB: I for one am shocked, shocked to learn that Doctor-Senator Rand Paul got this ass-backwards. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
California. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "'Absolutely stunning' is how the University of California, Santa Barbara, described plans for Munger Hall, a towering residence hall for more than 4,500 students that was designed by Charles T. Munger, a billionaire and an executive of Berkshire Hathaway. But Dennis McFadden, an architect who served as a consultant on the university's design review committee, did not agree. On Oct. 24, in a scathing letter to the chairwomen of the committee, he announced that he was resigning over the university's decision to approve a design he likened to 'a social and psychological experiment.' He said he was 'disturbed' by a design that would cram the students into a 1.7-million-square-foot, 11-story building and make the vast majority of them live in small rooms without windows, 'wholly dependent on artificial light and mechanical ventilation.'" MB: But, hey, the cells will have fake natural light! I guess this is how billionaires think the little people should live, even when the little people attend a toney U.C. institution.
Texas. Kate McGee of the Texas Tribune: "As supporters of ... Donald Trump surrounded and harassed a Joe Biden campaign bus on a Central Texas highway last year, San Marcos police officials and 911 dispatchers fielded multiple requests for assistance from Democratic campaigners and bus passengers who said they feared for their safety from a pack of motorists, known as a 'Trump Train,' allegedly driving in dangerously aggressive ways. 'San Marcos refused to help,' an amended federal lawsuit over the 2020 freeway skirmish claims. Transcribed 911 audio recordings and documents that reveal behind-the-scenes communications among law enforcement and dispatchers were included in the amended lawsuit, filed late Friday.... The lawsuit alleges that by refusing the help, law enforcement officers violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 because they were aware of 'acts of violent political intimidation' but did not take appropriate steps to prevent the Trump supporters from intimidating eligible voters.... Trump later praised his supporters' behavior [in the bus incidents], which occurred months before the former president's backers violently stormed the U.S. Capitol...."
Way Beyond
Russia/Ukraine. Paul Sonne, et al., of the Washington Post: "A renewed buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border has raised concern among some officials in the United States and Europe who are tracking what they consider irregular movements of equipment and personnel on Russia's western flank. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity..., said the troop movements have reignited concerns that arose in April, when the largest buildup of troops by Russia near the Ukrainian border in years sparked an international outcry. The renewed movements of Russian forces in the area come as the Kremlin embraces a harder line on Ukraine. Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down have escalated their rhetoric in recent months, attacking Kyiv's Western ties and even questioning its sovereignty. Putin has warned that any expansion of NATO military infrastructure on Ukrainian territory represents a 'red line' for Moscow."
News Lede
NBC News: "One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting at the home of a city official in California, where an outdoor party was taking place early Saturday, police said. A man was pronounced dead at the home of Gilroy City Council Member Rebeca Armendariz, and the three survivors were hospitalized, two with 'life-threatening injuries,' the Gilroy Police Department said in a statement[.]"
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Reader Comments (7)
Munger Hall at UC Santa Barbara is EXACTLY why old rich should be taxed up the wazzu. As these old guys (and their wives, think Betsy DeVos) show they lose their ability to think well and clearly as they age. How casually DeVos could up it's investment from $50 million in Theranos to $100 million is about as crazy as Orange Turd 'thinking' he won the election twice or Charley Munger spending $200 million on a dorm. They ain't generous, they're soft in the head and think they hit a triple. And they've never been hit by a pitched ball.
Yes, my neighbor up the road came from a billionaire family and
married into a billionaire family. When they give hundreds of
millions of dollars to anything, like DeVos Childrens Hospital in
Grand Rapids, you can bet your bippy they're doing it to get their
name on something for posterity and for tax breaks.
On the other hand, they all aren't like that. Two blocks up the street
we have an almost billionaire office furniture company owner.
His name isn't on anything beyond the towels in the bathroom.
His summer cottage up the street is unpretentious, unlike Betsy's
summer cottage (building permit $24 million) with gates and guards.
Poor people and the middle class pay taxes.
The rich pay lawyers.
The wealthy pay politicians.
Well, citizen, let's hope the lot of these $B buggers get hit by a pitched ball, sooner than later.
From yesterday: @Victoria: A loud yes to your comments. Here are a few treatments--and I use that word lightly–-that I have stopped before my doctor's intervention because I did the research myself: Fosamax, calcium supplements, aspirin, estrogen, vitamin pills, and Travatan. What you went through with Lime is terrible! Looks like the bottom line is we have to stay way ahead of medicine that sometimes crawls at a snails' pace–––sort of like our judicial system.
However in the case of Covid vaccines ( got my booster yesterday and flu shot last week) there shouldn't be a question about its validity and those reluctant to get vaccinated are putting themselves in danger as well as others so perhaps the message to these folks should be:
ANTI-VAXCCERS ARE BIG BABIES; THEY ARE AFRAID OF GETTING A SHOT IN THE ARM!
and by the way–-could someone explain to me what the religious objection to these shots would be? Jesus don't cotton to shots in the arms but seems powerless to stop those other shots from all them guns?
Bob Ferguson, Washington State's Attorney General, was poised to run for governor had not Inslee decided to seek a third term.
I mildly regretted Inslee's decision but am very grateful that Ferguson is still at the helm of our state's legal apparatus. He has a remarkable record.
Can’t find a recent tally of his victories, but here’s a sample from a a while back.
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/state/article248272480.html
BTW, unlike his loony brethren on the SCOTUS, Bob is a GOOD Catholic boy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEO_Group. I wonder what the profit maximizing level of production is when running private prisons? The CEO of GEO is laughing all the way to the bank.
Gort, Klaatu barada nikto
So here we are. Another summit (what is this, the seventh? Ninth? Twentieth?) to discuss whether or not we earthlings have smarts or the bottle, or simply the sense of self preservation to attempt to halt, even minimally, the climate change that threatens the entire planet.
Sure, there’ll be speeches and various sessions and conversations about reducing carbon footprints and yadda, yadda, yadda. Then the wingnuts and reactionaries around the world will have their say (“No” in every language).
What we need is something a tad more, um, convincing.
In 1951, just a few years after WWII, as more and more nuclear testing was going on, director Robert Wise came out with the film “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Probably you’ve seen it (run as fast as possible from the god awful remake). The gist is a man representing a coalition of planets visits the Earth with a message: now that you people have atomic weapons and rocket technology, if you export your violence to other worlds, a race of giant, implacable robots, like my friend Gort here, will reduce your world to a smoking cinder.
The spaceman, Klaatu, gives Pat Neal the secret code for making sure Gort doesn’t flip out and go on a rampage in case anything happens to him (which, of course, it does; he’s shot, natch). The phrase likely translates to something like “Gort, Klaatu sez ixnay on cooking the planet”.
Unfortunately, we’re the ones now cooking the planet and there’s no secret code words to put a stop to it. Maybe if we were threatened by a race of giant robots we might wake up. Or maybe they’d decide to let us kill ourselves and save themselves the trouble.
Even it we were visited by giant robots, there’d still be idiots screaming about their freeeedoms.
Gort, Klaatu sez “Have at it”.
Psaki tests positive for Covid:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/31/politics/psaki-biden-covid/index.html