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The Commentariat -- August 29, 2021
Marie: The Reality Chex Comments function is all better now. You no longer need to jump through hoops to post a comment . So comment as usual. No need to sign in.
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Afternoon Update:
Marie: If you think a news story seems bizarre, it's probably more bizarre than you think. ~~~
~~~ The Lady Disappears. Matt Shuham of TPM: As we've learned, "Tina Peters, the clerk in conservative Mesa County, Colorado, [is] now under investigation for allegedly helping facilitate the leak of sensitive election software information to a QAnon influencer.... Peters ... has acknowledged taking digital images of her election machines' hard drives both before and after a May 25 software update [in an effort to prove election law violations.... But] someone [else] in the room took surreptitious video and pictures[, too]." Next, QAnon Guy Ron Watkins released footage of the sensitive hard drive on his Telegram account, and investigators swarmed Peters' office. Meanwhile, Peters went to speak at Mike Lindell's flop of a "cyber-symposium"; in keeping with the theme of the event -- "Cyber-symposium Flops" -- Peters' 'revelations" of election-machine irregularities were "unimpressive." But wait. A story set in Colorado & South Dakota surely needs ... a surfer! Back on stage, QAnon Guy suddenly alleged surfer Conan Hayes had stolen the Mesa County harddrives. Whereupon, whereupon, "Tina Peters leaped to the stage, denying that any county property had left her office -- and seemingly setting off a recording of a duck quacking>.... And then, and then -- Peters disappeared! And who helped her in this dramatic after-act? Why, Mike Lindell, the MyPillow Guy. He first ferried Peters to Texas, then accidentally leaked her location, then moved her again.Tune in for the next exciting episode. Will officers find Tina? Or is she unrecognizable, hanging out in a wetsuit & hanging ten of them toes over the edge of a surfboard?
Aamer Madhani of the AP: "President Joe Biden met in solemn privacy Sunday with the families of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the suicide attack near the Kabul airport as the remains of their loved ones returned to U.S. soil from Afghanistan. Biden and first lady Jill Biden were also to attend the 'dignified transfer' of the fallen troops while at Dover Air Force Base, a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combat."
Kathy Gannon, et al., of the AP: "A U.S. drone strike Sunday struck a vehicle carrying 'multiple suicide bombers' from Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate before they could target the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul's international airport, American officials said. There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighborhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The Taliban initially described the two strikes as separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce and witnesses heard only one large blast Sunday in the Afghan capital."
Florida. Mark Harper of the Daytona Beach News-Journal: "Marc Bernier, a talk radio host in Daytona Beach for 30 years, died after a three-week battle with COVID-19, WNDB and Southern Stone Communications announced on Twitter Saturday night. Bernier, 65, of Ormond Beach, has been remembered in recent days as a conservative who sought out and aired others' points of view while airing a morning comment, three-hour afternoon show, weekend shows and specials.... He also was an outspoken opponent of vaccinations." Emphasis added.
Texas. Fake "Freedom Defender" Dies. AP: "A man who led efforts in his Central Texas community against mask wearing and other preventative measures during the coronavirus pandemic has died from COVID-19, one month after being admitted to the emergency room. Caleb Wallace died on Saturday, his wife Jessica Wallace said on a GoFundMe page where she had been posting updates on his condition, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported Saturday. He was 30 years old and a father of three children. His wife is pregnant with their fourth child." More on Caleb Wallace in yesterday's Commentariat. MB: Let's see. He's 30 years old, has three children, a pregnant wife who had to rely on GoFundMe to survive, he refuses the vaccine, takes horse dewormer & Vitamin C instead, encourages others to put themselves & associates at risk. Everything about this guy was irresponsible. I don't "wish him dead," as his wife implies; I wish he had behaved like a responsible adult so he'd still be alive & he'd have a family he took care of.
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The New York Times' live updates of developments in Afghanistan Sunday are here.
Dave Mistich of NPR: "President Biden on Saturday vowed to continue to target the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K in retaliation for the group's bombing at the Kabul airport, while warning that another terrorist attack on the airport is 'highly likely' on Sunday or Monday. U.S. military officials announced Friday evening that a drone strike killed an ISIS-K target in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. On Saturday, officials updated that to say that two 'high-profile' targets -- described as 'a planner and a facilitator' -- were killed and one other person from the terrorist group was injured in the retaliatory strike. 'This strike was not the last,' Biden said in a statement Saturday. 'We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.' The Department of Defense on Saturday also released the names of the U.S. service members killed in Thursday's attack. ~~~
~~~ Lara Seligman of Politico: "The U.S. military is actively hunting terrorists connected to the deadly attack in Kabul this week and expects to carry out additional airstrikes in the coming days and weeks, according to U.S. officials. President Joe Biden has given the Pentagon the 'green light' to strike any targets affiliated with the Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS-K, the group responsible for the attack, without seeking White House approval, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the operation. Senior Pentagon leaders already had this authority, but Biden reaffirmed it in instructions to the military on Friday, one of the officials said."
President Biden's statement Saturday on the evacuation mission in Kabul is here.
They Lived All Their Lives in a Country at War. Until It Killed Them. Marc Fisher, et al., of the Washington Post: "The 13 American service members killed in Kabul on Thursday died in gruesome violence, victims of a terrorist bombing. They were, with one exception, 9/11 babies, born within a few years of the terrorist attacks that led the United States into a military conflict that stretched across four presidencies and throughout the lives of these 11 men and two women. They never knew a United States that was not at war, never lived in the world before the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, a country without ID checks in office buildings, metal detectors at schools, shoes X-rayed at the airport. Instead, they grew up keenly conscious of security concerns, in a culture now sometimes fixated on safety.... They were in Afghanistan this month not to fight, but to help finally end a war that has lasted two decades. In the pictures they posted, the videos they sent home, they held Afghan babies and guided fleeing families and stood guard in a hectic, precarious place."
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "The suicide bomber waited until the last possible moment, U.S. officials said.... At 5:48 p.m., the bomber, wearing a 25-pound explosive vest under clothing, walked up to the group of Americans who were frisking people hoping to enter the complex. He waited, officials said, until just before he was about to be searched by the American troops. And then he detonated the bomb, which was unusually large for a suicide vest, killing himself and igniting an attack that would leave dozens of people dead, including 13 American service members.... Pentagon officials said they were still piecing together the chain of events that took place at Abbey Gate on Thursday."
Kori Schake, in a New York Times op-ed: "... in both hubris and folly, [no other president] come[s] close to matching Donald Trump. For someone who prided himself on his abilities as a dealmaker and displayed an 'I alone can fix it' arrogance, the agreement he made with the Taliban is one of the most disgraceful diplomatic bargains on record. Coupled with President Biden's mistakes in continuing the policy and botching its execution, the deal has now led to tragic consequences for Americans and our allies in Kabul. Mr. Trump's handling of Afghanistan is an object lesson for why presidents of both parties need to be better constrained by Congress and the public in their conduct of foreign policy.... The problem with Mr. Trump's Taliban deal ... was that the strongest state in the international order let itself be swindled by a terrorist organization.... We agreed to disreputable terms, and then proceeded to pretend that the Taliban were meeting even those." Schake was an NSC official under Dubya.
The "Shadow Docket." Supreme Friends of Trump Not So Friendly to Biden. Steve Vladeck in a Washington Post Outlook opinion piece: "A quiet but undeniable trend during the Trump administration was the dramatic rise in the federal government's applications to the Supreme Court for what lawyers call 'emergency relief.' On 41 occasions, the Trump Justice Department asked the court to put on hold an adverse lower-court ruling for the duration of the government's appeal. In 28 of those cases, the Supreme Court granted the relief, at least in part. But on Tuesday, the court refused the Biden administration's very first request for such relief -- declining to freeze a district court injunction that requires the administration to restart the shuttered 'Remain in Mexico' program.... In so ruling, the court has sent a clear signal to President Biden that he may not expect the same deference accorded to his predecessor Donald Trump when it comes to 'emergencies.'... Most of the 28 grants of relief [to Trump & Co.] came over dissents from at least one -- and sometimes all four -- of the progressive justices. Although almost none of the court's rulings were accompanied by any analysis.... For better or worse, these stays had the effect of allowing policies that no court ever actually upheld to remain in place for years."
Chauncey DeVega in Salon assures us that old white folks really do believe the crap they hear on Fox "News," and if you try to rattle them with facts, they might shoot you. Marie: He reminds me of the guy who, way last week, decided to blow up Washington, D.C., because Joe Biden had taken healthcare benefits away from the guy's mother & given the benefits to Afghans. Biden had to call him on the phone, resign & reinstall Trump in the White House. Or else.
** The Leesburg Stockade Girls. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: Shirley Green-Reese was 13 in July 1963 when she tried to buy tickets at the front of an Americus, Georgia, movie theater instead of lining up in a back alley. Police arrested her, then "transported [her] from cell to cell in rural southwest Georgia before [she] finally end[ed' up in a stockade in Leesburg, where she was among 15 girls imprisoned for at least 45 days without ever being charged with a crime.... For a long time, their parents had no idea where they were.... Conditions inside the Civil War-era structure in the backwoods of Lee County were appalling.... As the days wore on, conditions worsened.... Finally, after weeks of wondering whether anyone would come to help them, the girls noticed a White photographer by the window.... He was [Danny Lyon,] a 21-year-old photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who had been rooming with SNCC leader John Lewis. He had been assigned to find the stockade by James Forman, the executive secretary of SNCC...." Lyon took his photos quickly while someone distracted the guard, and Jet Magazine published them in September, "bringing national attention to the Leesburg Stockade Girls. They were released the same week four Black girls were killed in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the 16th Street Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala...."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Guardian's live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.
Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: "On May 19, one teacher [in a Marin County, California, elementary school], who was not vaccinated against the coronavirus..., [took off her mask] so she could read to the class. By the time she learned she was positive for the coronavirus two days later, half her class of 24 had been infected -- nearly all of them in the two rows closest to her desk -- and the outbreak had spread to other classes, siblings and parents, including some who were fully vaccinated.... The case study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and highlighted by CDC director Rochelle Walensky during a briefing on Friday, highlights the potential danger for children under the age of 12 -- the only group in the United States ineligible for coronavirus vaccines as a hyper-infectious variant tears across the country.... The fourth wave of the coronavirus is hitting children and families faster and harder than before...."
Killing People Bad for DeSantis' Poll Numbers. Florida. Matt Dixon of Politico: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been untouchable for the past year as he commanded the Republican culture wars to become heir apparent to Donald Trump. The latest coronavirus surge is starting to change that. Covid infection rates continue to climb as the state faces shortages of health care staff, morgue space and even oxygen for patients. About 16,000 people are hospitalized. Child infection rates have shot up. School districts -- even in Republican strongholds -- have rebelled against DeSantis' anti-mask mandates. And cruise lines are resisting DeSantis' vaccine passport ban. Even his recent poll numbers are slipping. It's new terrain for a Republican governor who defied dire expectation during the first wave of Covid-19 but has continued his hands-off approach as the more contagious Delta variant infects large swaths of Florida's unvaccinated population." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The headline here should be something like, "Floridians Belatedly Notice Governor Is Determined to Kill Schoolchildren, Others" Instead, it's a calm, matter-of-fact assessment of how killing schoolchildren affects Babyface DeSantis' poll numbers. Dixon is treating mass homicide like a position on a tax bill. ~~~
~~~ Steve Contorno & Kirby Wilson of the Tampa Bay Times: "A California psychiatrist who has advised Gov. Ron DeSantis on the coronavirus pandemic recently promoted a drug for COVID-19 patients that federal disease experts have strongly warned against after a spike in calls to poison control centers.... Dr. Mark McDonald of Los Angeles is among a fringe group of outspoken medical professionals who have pushed ivermectin as an alternative to widespread vaccination against coronavirus. McDonald called ivermectin 'effective, safe, inexpensive treatment' in a Aug. 5 Twitter post.... McDonald called people who think ivermectin is a drug for horses 'ignoramuses' in a tweet posted Monday. (The drug can treat parasites in both humans and animals like horses.)... McDonald was one of several doctors summoned by DeSantis for a July closed-door discussion on mask policies in schools.... [McDonald has] shared on social media a graphic that called people who wear masks 'retarded,' and he has posted comments skeptical of vaccines."
Now, what with its being Sunday, we will take a brief respite to listen to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves' uplifting Christian message. ~~~
~~~ Mississippi. Gov. Reeves: We Aren't Afraid of Covid Because Jesus. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Mississippi has now surpassed the state of New York, the nation's original pandemic hotspot, in total COVID-19 deaths per capita. The only state where the pandemic has proven deadlier than the Magnolia State is New Jersey. Mississippi displaced New York with a report of 65 additional deaths on Friday.... After Mississippi became the world's No. 1 hotspot for COVID-19, Gov. Tate Reeves told attendees at a Republican Party fundraiser in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, that Mississippians 'are a little less scared' of COVID-19 than other Americans because most share Christian beliefs.... 'When you believe in eternal life -- when you believe that living on this earth is but a blip on the screen, then you don't have to be so scared of things,' Bill Dries reported the governor saying in the Daily Memphian.... Mississippi's actual COVID death toll ... is almost certainly thousands higher than the 8,279 officially confirmed; MSDH has recorded at least 11,435 excess deaths since spring 2020." The linked Memphian story is firewalled, and you can't get there from here unless you're a subscriber. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Tate might be right; that more Mississippians are believing Christians than are Americans as a whole. And he also might be right that the reason so many Mississippians are reckless about Covid and irresponsible about everything else is that "What, Me Worry?" attitude the preacher taught them.
U.K. Robin McKie of the Guardian: "Coronavirus infections in England are now 26 times the levels that were experienced this time last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Scientists described the figures as 'sobering', warning that reopening schools this week was likely to trigger further rises in cases -- with more to follow when students return to universities and colleges.... As a result, pressure is mounting on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to approve the deployment of booster jabs for vulnerable people and the extension of vaccinations to most 12- to 15-year-olds. The latter move would bring the UK into line with the US and most large European nations and is backed by most ministers."
News Ledes
New York Times: "Ed Asner, the burly character actor who won seven Emmy Awards -- five of them for playing the same character, the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, introduced on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' -- and later starred in film hits like 'Up' and 'Elf' — died on Sunday. He was 91.... Mr. Asner also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1981 to 1985 and was active in political causes both within and beyond the entertainment industry. The issues he supported over the years included unionism (in particular the air traffic controllers' strike of 1981) and animal rights; those he protested against included the American military presence in El Salvador." ~~~
Weather Channel: "Hurricane Ida is now a major hurricane as it draws closer to the northern Gulf Coast this weekend, where it will bring life-threatening storm surge, dangerous rainfall flooding, potentially catastrophic winds and tornadoes. Pressure is rapidly dropping and lightning is enveloping the eyewall. A new rapid intensification phase is underway. This could be the second Category 4 landfall in Louisiana in a year." ~~~
~~~ The front page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune has links to numerous stories about the hurricane. The New York Times' live updates Sunday are here. ~~~
~~~ From the NYT live updates: "Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, battering the southeastern coast with an onslaught of gushing waters and dangerous winds and threatening to assail Baton Rouge and New Orleans.... The storm sent hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to evacuate, and left countless others bracing for survival, in an eerie reprisal of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana 16 years ago to the day. Ida's eye came ashore about 11:55 a.m. local time on Sunday near Port Fourchon, La., with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, just shy of the 157 m.p.h. winds of a Category 5 storm. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 50 miles from the storm's center, which was moving northwestward, menacing Baton Rouge and New Orleans." ~~~
~~~ Times-Picayune: "A slow-moving Hurricane Ida has left all of Orleans Parish customers without power due to 'catastrophic transmission damage,' according to Entergy New Orleans. A company spokesperson said the storm had caused a 'load imbalance to the company's transmission and generation' and that Entergy is 'making every effort to identify and rectify.'"
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OUR DAY IN DIVINITY:
Harvard, a school that was established to educate the ministry,
adopted the motto:
"Truth for Christ & the Church."
It was named after pastor John Harvard. Now––nearly four centuries later, Harvard's Organization of Chaplains has elected as their new president an ATHEIST––-Greg Epstein, the author of "Good without God." Oh, Happy Day!
Unfortunately that sentiment cannot be expressed for the over-all news of the day. The impending hurricane alone is troubling at best. Our grandson who has just entered Tulane U. in Louisiana will be in the thick of it although according to the University's web site they prepare pretty well ––so we aren't too worried and yet....
But it's the horrific vest explosion in Kabul that tears at your soul killing all those service members and others. Marc Fisher's piece above is beautifully done; he captures exactly the sorrow of what it means to lose those who were babies on 9/11 and now have sacrificed their lives in another goddamn war.
Last week Mo-Do had a column that Marie put on in which she had a grand old time bashing Barry––once again–-about his holding that birthday party on Martha's Vineyard.* I was interested in the comments which were mixed but the one I liked the most was this:
"When I was a young man, I admired clever people. Now that I'm an old man I admire kind people."
And today in the Times we have Eliot Ackerman, an author and former marine whose column's heading is:
"It shouldn't Fall to Veterans to Clean Up Biden's Mess."
Here again I was curious as to the comments. My favorite:
"Clean up Biden's mess"? Stopped reading right there."
Amen.
* Some summers ago our whole family rented a large home on Martha's Vineyard–--a taste of the kind of life that's protected by gates and that large body of water––you get there by ferry.
@PD Pepe: On the upside, now -- and for quite a long time -- many of the elites on the Vineyard who keep the barbarians on the far side of the moat are Black. It ain't just the newly-swell like Barack.
So they want to impeach Joe cuz servicemen killed in a war— would you believe it?! What about the 650,000+ killed cuz idiocy of leaders?
And so it goes. Two more mouthy idiots die of Covid after swearing allegiance to a vicious nutcase and his henchmen, freedumbs, and rebellion against masks and vaccines. But veterinary meds=A-OK!
Does my tax money support the vast industry of stupid?
Pleased to see Ken W's RC post on 08/27 is published today as a Times Pick in a piece on education infrastructure.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/opinion/school-debt-economy.html#commentsContainer