;)
The Commentariat -- December 17, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has been selected to lead the Interior Department in President-elect Joe Biden's administration, making history as the first Native American tapped for a Cabinet position. Haaland, who has been backed by a number of progressive groups as well as tribes, would take over a sprawling, 70,000-person agency with a mandate from Biden to help deliver on his climate promises. If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland would likely deliver a significant turnaround for an agency that has rolled back environmental and endangered species protections and expanded oil and gas drilling. Biden has pledged to bar any new oil and gas leasing on public lands -- an effort likely to require action from Interior." * The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ * Marie: Yeah But. We did have a Native American vice president.
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will nominate Michael S. Regan, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to three people on the Biden transition team. Mr. Regan became Mr. Biden's top choice only in recent days, two people familiar with the selection process said.... A longtime air quality specialist at the E.P.A. working under both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, Mr. Regan later worked for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group. In 2017, Roy Cooper, a Democrat, defeated Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, in North Carolina and tapped Mr. Regan to lead the state environmental agency. There he replaced Donald R. van der Vaart, a Trump administration ally who has questioned the established science of climate change and fought Obama-era rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and championed a pro-business agenda of deregulation in North Carolina. Supporters of Mr. Regan said he improved low morale and emphasized the role of science at the department. Several called it an obvious parallel to what he would be expected to do at E.P.A." MB: As to Regan's improving morale, the photo of Regan that accompanies the article depicts a man who could make me smile on my worst day. Politico's story is here.
The New York Times' live Covid-19 updates Thursday are here.
One-Man Superspreader. Celine Castronuovo of the Hill: "Department of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has tested positive for COVID-19 following days of meetings with political appointees, a department spokesman confirmed to The Washington Post Wednesday. Interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin told the Post in an email that Bernhardt, 51, received the diagnosis ahead of a scheduled Cabinet meeting with President Trump Wednesday, which Bernhardt did not attend following his positive test."
Tuning Out Covid. Neal Rothschild of Axios: "States that voted for President Trump tend to have high coronavirus caseloads compared to how much COVID content they read online, while the opposite is true of states that voted for President-elect Biden, according to exclusive data from social media management platform SocialFlow.... The trend highlights a widespread rejection of coronavirus news and information in states that supported Trump, even in areas where the virus has gotten particularly deadly."
Fred Imbert of CNBC: "Jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week as states reimposed coronavirus restrictions as lawmakers struggle to push through new government aid, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. The number of first-time unemployment-benefits filers totaled 885,000 in the week ending Dec. 12, the most since the week of Sept. 5. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected initial claims to fall to 808,000. Initial claims for the previous week were revised higher by 9,000 to 862,000."
Gabby Orr & Nahal Toosi of Politico: "On Jan. 6, Vice President Mike Pence will oversee final confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Then he'll likely skip town.... According to three U.S. officials familiar with the planning, the vice president is eyeing a foreign trip that would take him overseas for nearly a week, starting on Jan. 6.... For Pence, visiting [Middle East] countries is ... a way to bolster already-strong credentials with the Christian right, which strongly supports Israel. And it allows Pence -- once again -- to put distance between himself and Trump's complaints about the election outcome that are likely to intensify after Congress affirms Biden's win."
Marina Pitofsky of the Hill: "Jennifer Horn, the former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and a co-founder of the anti-Trump GOP group The Lincoln Project, announced Thursday in a new op-ed that she is leaving the Republican Party as President Trump and his allies continue their efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Horn said she 'became a Republican' because she viewed the party's values as 'a voice for equality, freedom and constitutional conservatism, with a rich history of fighting for what was right because it was right.... For the past five years, however, I have found myself fighting for what I thought were the principles of my party in the face of the ever-deteriorating character and integrity of party representatives,' Horn wrote in the op-ed published Thursday by USA Today. 'They have revealed their impotence and decrepitude as they have fallen, one by one, at the feet of the most corrupt, destructive and unstable president in the history of our country.'"
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David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "... the broad Russian espionage attack on the United States government and private companies, underway since spring and detected by the private sector only a few weeks ago, ranks among the greatest intelligence failures of modern times.... Over the past few years, the United States government has spent tens of billions of dollars on cyberoffensive capabilities, building a giant war room at Fort Meade, Md., for United States Cyber Command, while installing defensive sensors all around the country -- a system named Einstein to give it an air of genius -- to deter the nation's enemies from picking its networks clean, again.... President Trump has said nothing, perhaps aware that his term in office is coming to an end just as it began, with questions about what he knew about Russian cyberoperations, and when. The National Security Agency has been largely silent, hiding behind the classification of the intelligence." MB: And for National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, the worst part was the discovery cut short his excellent all-expense-paid vacation to Europe with his wife. ~~~
~~~ AND There's This: "Curiously, the Russian attack barely featured as a footnote at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee [run by Stupidest Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)] hearing on Wednesday, which featured testimony from Christopher Krebs, the cybersecurity chief who was fired last month after refusing to back Mr. Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud. The hack took place during Mr. Krebs's tenure as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, but senators did not ask him about it at the hearing, instead focusing on the hack that wasn't: baseless allegations of fraud in the November election." MB: Nothing "curious" about it at all: there's nothing in it for Johnson, the dimwitted master of Trumpish conspiracy theories.
The New York Times' live Biden transition updates Wednesday are here: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday formally introduced Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary, a role that will be key to advancing Mr. Biden's ambitious agenda on rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and on climate change.... Mr. Biden appeared with Mr. Buttigieg at an event in Wilmington, Del., calling him 'a policy wonk with a big heart.' Vice President-elect Kamala Harris joined via video because of the winter storm on the East Coast. 'We selected Pete for transportation because the department is at the intersection of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better,' Mr. Biden said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Zack Colman & Tyler Pager of Politico: "President-elect Joe Biden will tap Brenda Mallory to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, according to two people familiar with selection, which would put the veteran environmental lawyer in charge of an office with sweeping purview over how the federal government assesses environmental effects of policies, permits and infrastructure projects. The Senate-confirmed post would mark a return to the office for Mallory, who worked as general counsel there during the Obama administration. Mallory currently leads the Southern Environmental Law Center's regulatory practice."
Emily Davies of the Washington Post: "... the coronavirus pandemic will dramatically change President-elect Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony and stoked calls for a more festive celebration around July 4. Members of Congress typically receive 200,000 tickets to distribute among their constituents for inaugurations. This year, tickets will be for the member and one guest only. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who leads the committee, said the decision to limit attendance was made in consultation with public health officials and a separate Biden-appointed committee working on planning.... On Tuesday, Biden's planning team formally announced the president-elect would be sworn in on the west side of the Capitol but also urged Americans to stay home and refrain from gathering during the inauguration." ~~~
~~~ Ken Vogel & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s allies have begun an ambitious campaign to raise millions of dollars from corporations and individuals by offering special 'V.I.P. participation' in reimagined inaugural festivities that will be largely virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.... To create an air of celebration, Mr. Biden's inaugural committee said it was raising private funds to pay for virtual events that will echo the Democratic convention this year, which featured a 50-state roll call from spots around the nation. There are also plans for a 'virtual concert' with major performers whose names have not yet been released -- and possibly for an in-person event later in the year.... President Trump's inauguration ... became an access-peddling bazaar of sorts, and aspects of its record fund-raising and spending emerged as the subjects of investigations."
Quint Forgey of Politico: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued in a new interview that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should no longer lead Democrats in Congress, and complained that the party had failed at grooming a 'next generation' of younger lawmakers to succeed them. 'I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party,' Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Intercept in an interview published Wednesday.... But Ocasio-Cortez observed in the interview that even the party's more moderate members have found it difficult to produce 'viable alternatives' to challenge her leadership. 'I think one of the things that I have struggled with -- I think that a lot of people struggle with -- is [that] the internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there's very little option for succession, if you will,' she said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser
Carol Lee & Courtney Kube of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has come so close to firing FBI Director Christopher Wray in recent months that the White House counsel's office has warned him not to do so because it could put him in potential legal jeopardy, according to a senior administration official with direct knowledge of the discussion and a U.S. official familiar with the discussion. White House lawyers 'strongly' advised Trump against firing another FBI director out of concern that doing so would risk creating the perception that a 'loyalty test' was being imposed on a position that traditionally has maintained independence from the White House, according to the senior administration official. The lawyers, led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, specifically said that firing Wray could spark legal issues similar to those raised after Trump ousted James Comey as FBI director in 2017 in the midst of the Russia investigation, the officials said."
When You Think Trump Can't Get More Insulting. Jewish Telegraph Agency: "... Donald Trump named three White House aides to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, including the son of his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, on Wednesday. Along with Andrew Giuliani, who works in the Office of Liaison, which interacts with interest groups, the others named to the voluntary posts are Mitchell Webber, a lawyer in the Office of the White House Counsel, and Nick Luna, Trump's 'body man.'... Only Webber, who is Jewish and wrote about Jewish and Israeli issues for the conservative New York Sun over a decade ago, seems to have any record of experience in [Jewish affairs].... Andrew Giuliani..., whose designated special interest group in the Public Liaison office is the sports community, at one point aspired to be a professional golfer.... Luna is a former actor who featured in films like 'Sammy and Sherlock Can't Get Any.' The Internet Movie Database summarizes the movie as 'A stoner couple spends the day trying to score weed in their dry suburban town.' His LinkedIn page says he trained in comedy."
The Coming Pardonpalooza. Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "Since Trump lost the election six weeks ago, calls and emails have been flooding into the West Wing from people looking to benefit from the President's powers of clemency.... Trump, who refuses to acknowledge his loss and who officials say is devolving further into denial, has nonetheless been eager to engage on who is requesting what. He's been handed case summaries to review and, in some instances, has polled his network of associates about whom he should pardon."
Because Trump Is Stupid. AFP: "Dutch prosecutors have confirmed that Donald Trump's Twitter account was hacked in October despite denials from Washington and the company, but said the 'ethical hacker' would not face charges. The hacker, named as Victor Gevers, broke into Trump's account @realDonaldTrump on 16 October by guessing the US president's password, Dutch media reports said. Both the White House and Twitter strenuously denied reports that the account had been hacked. Gevers, 44, disclosed the hack immediately, saying the password he guessed was 'maga2020!'" MB: Trump's new password, I'd guess, is "Trump2020."
North Carolina, Virginia. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "On Facebook, North Carolina state Sen. Bob Steinburg (R) ... [suggested] President Trump should declare a national emergency, suspend civil rights and remain in power over his baseless claims of election fraud. Asked by a local TV station on Tuesday whether he stands by those sentiments, Steinburg doubled down, insisting that nefarious forces had corrupted President-elect Joe Biden's victory.... 'President Trump must declare a national emergency,' the 72-year-old state senator wrote in the post, which has since been deleted. 'Trump should also invoke the Insurrection Act.' The Insurrection Act, which was signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807, would allow the president to deploy military forces on U.S. soil.... Steinburg also suggested in the Facebook post that the president suspend habeas corpus.... Virginia state Sen. Amanda F. Chase (R) on Tuesday also called for martial law, echoing a suggestion floated by Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser pardoned by the president last month." ~~~
~~~ Musical Accompaniment: "Dixie Land." Here's a nice version posted by something called "MAGA News." Comments suggest YouTube took the video down at least once. One recent commenter writes, "Texas secead then the rest of the South will and play Dixie so loud."
Leo Shane of the Military Times: "The nation's leading veterans groups on Wednesday formally requested that ... Donald Trump fire Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie immediately from his Cabinet post, saying that the VA administrator 'no longer has the trust or confidence of America's veterans.' The letter -- signed by leaders from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS and Vietnam Veterans of America -- is the latest damning assessment of Wilkie's ability shepherd the department following the release of an inspector general report last week criticizing his handling of a sexual assault allegation late last year.... Since the report’s release, 21 lawmakers have also called for Wilkie's removal, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.... No Republicans have publicly called for Wilkie's firing." The White House has not commented.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Finally, significant fraud has been identified in the 2020 election. It is being perpetrated by Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin.... Though passively admitting 'the conclusion has collectively been reached' that any fraud was too small to reverse President-elect Joe Biden's win, Johnson then spent nearly four hours in a hearing Wednesday trying to suggest otherwise.... Other Republicans on the panel echoed the election-fraud alarm.... Johnson ... accused the ranking Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), of leaking 'a false intelligence product' about his attacks on Hunter Biden echoing Russian disinformation. When Peters tried to respond, Johnson interrupted: 'You lied! ... Outright lie! ... I told you to stop lying!' Peters replied, civilly, 'Mr. Chairman, this is not about airing your grievances. I don't know what rabbit hole you're running down.'... The Republicans displayed a distinct lack of self-awareness as they wondered aloud why most Trump voters believe there was fraud." Here's video of Johnson blowing up at Peters.
How Fox "News" Will Carry on without a Kaiser to Praise. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox News host Tucker Carlson obsessed over Jill Biden's doctorate in education for the third night in a row on Wednesday, this time devoting roughly ten minutes to mocking her dissertation while claiming the incoming first lady is 'borderline illiterate.'... [Carlson] has repeatedly bestowed the 'doctor' title on Sebastian Gorka, whose doctorate in political science has been questioned in the past. He's also addressed several other political scientists as 'Dr.' on his program." MB: As far as I'm concerned, Tucker can keep "obsessing" over Jill Biden for Joe Biden's entire presidency. What nonsense.
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
New York Times: "Officials across the United States on Wednesday reported the highest daily number for new coronavirus since the pandemic began, as well as the most deaths in a single day. New infections were put at 244,365, and deaths at 3,607 -- nearly 500 more than the record set only a week ago. The previous case record, 236,800, was set last Friday (though a reporting anomaly in Texas made it appear still higher.) The latest figures capped day on which health experts warned Americans, buoyed by the rollout of a vaccination campaign, that it is far too soon to abandon common-sense precautions for halting the spread of the virus." From the Times' live updates for Wednesday, also linked below. ~~~
~~~ NBC News: "The U.S. on Wednesday saw its highest numbers yet of the pandemic, setting records for both the number of new cases and deaths. Across the nation, 232,086 Covid-19 cases were reported, with 3,293 deaths, according to NBC News' count.... By Thursday morning, the number of cases in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic passed 17 million, according to NBC News' count. More than 308,000 people have died."
Jeff Zeleny & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President-elect Joe Biden is expected to get his first Covid-19 vaccination early next week, CNN has learned, and plans to get his shot in public. 'I don't want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take,' Biden told reporters Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware. 'When I do it, I'll do it publicly, so you can all witness my getting it done,' the President-elect said. People familiar with the plans say Biden is likely to get his shot next week. The delay has not been borne out of hesitation, aides say, but rather logistics of administering the shot in a public setting." ~~~
~~~ Joey Garrison & Michael Collins of USA Today: "Vice President Mike Pence is set to receive a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus Friday, while President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be vaccinated as soon as next week. Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence will receive the vaccine at the White House. Pence's office said they will get the shot 'publicly' to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and 'build confidence among the American people.' The Pences will be joined by Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who will also receive the vaccine, Pence's office said.... Donald Trump has not announced plans to take the vaccine...."
Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Congressional negotiators are on the brink of a coronavirus rescue package that would include a second round of direct payments and boost unemployment benefits, but would leave out state and local funding and a liability shield, according to lawmakers and sources briefed on the talks. The price tag of the emerging deal is roughly $900 billion, and a deal could be finalized on Wednesday, those sources said. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said the proposal would likely include direct checks to individuals of $600 to $700 and a weekly unemployment boost of $300 through March." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Pharmacists have found a way to squeeze extra doses out of vials of Pfizer's vaccine, potentially expanding the nation's scarce supply by up to 40 percent. The Food and Drug Administration said late Wednesday that those extra doses could be used, clearing up confusion that had caused some pharmacists to throw away leftover vaccine for fear of violating the rules the agency set last week. 'Given the public health emergency, FDA is advising that it is acceptable to use every full dose obtainable,' an agency spokesperson told Politico, mirroring language that a federal health official sent to state vaccine providers Wednesday morning."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The Trump administration is negotiating a deal to use its power to free up supplies of raw materials to help Pfizer produce tens of millions of additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for Americans in the first half of next year, people familiar with the situation said. Should an agreement be struck, it could at least partially remedy a looming shortage that the administration itself arguably helped create by not pre-ordering more doses of the vaccine Pfizer developed with its German partner, BioNTech." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here: "... a health-care worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction and was hospitalized after getting the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and is in stable condition, according to two people.... Authorities have not released further details about the incident, which echoes two similar cases in the United Kingdom last week...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dr Jeremy Faust, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "In research published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, we found that among U.S. adults ages 25 to 44, from March through the end of July, there were almost 12,000 more deaths than were expected based on historical norms. In fact, July appears to have been the deadliest month among this age group in modern American history.... The trends continued this fall.... We know Covid-19 is the driving force behind these excess deaths.... What we believed before about the relative harmlessness of Covid-19 among younger adults has simply not been borne out by emerging data.... We need to tell young people that they are at risk and that they need to wear masks and make safer choices about social distancing."
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled his final major holiday party of the year Wednesday after his exposure to a person who tested positive for the coronavirus forced him into quarantine, according to two officials familiar with the situation. The decision caps a run of indoor holiday parties hosted by Pompeo, his wife, Susan, and his top aides that health experts and U.S. lawmakers warned could turn into superspreader events.... Pompeo was scheduled to give remarks at [a Tuesday] gathering [for which 900 invitations were sent] but canceled without explanation."
Dan Diamond of Politico: "A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a 'herd immunity' approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to internal emails obtained by a House watchdog.... 'There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD,' then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials. Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk ... so we use them to develop herd ... we want them infected...,' Alexander added. '[I]t may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected' in order to get 'natural immunity ... natural exposure,' Alexander wrote on July 24 to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Caputo and eight other senior officials.... Officials told Politico that they believed that when Alexander made recommendations, he had the backing of the White House.... 'Herd immunity is not the strategy of the U.S. government with regard to coronavirus,' HHS Secretary Alex Azar testified in a hearing before the House coronavirus subcommittee on Oct. 2." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
France. Emma Reynolds of CNN: "France's President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19, the Elysee Palace said in a press release.... It said the president was diagnosed after he was tested 'at the onset of the first symptoms.... In accordance with current health regulations applicable to all, the President of the Republic will isolate himself for 7 days. He continues to work and carry out his activities remotely.'" At 4:40 am ET, this is a breaking story.
Major League Baseball Steps Up. At Long Last. Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post: "... on Wednesday, in a monumental change for the sport, Major League Baseball announced it was elevating the 1920-48 Negro Leagues to major league status, a move that not only seeks to right a cosmic wrong that has shadowed the game for a century -- the segregation of baseball that famously ended when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 -- but also forces a wholesale recalibration of its record book.... 'All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game's best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,' Commissioner Rob Manfred said in the statement.... In effect, the move reverses the decision of MLB's Special Baseball Records Committee -- a five-person, all-White group commissioned in 1969 to codify the historical standards that define the major leagues -- which bestowed big league status on six leagues (including the Union Association, which played its only season in 1884) but never even considered including the Negro Leagues."
Katie Benner & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... the Justice Department ... plans to unseal criminal charges in the coming days against another suspect in the [1988] bombing [of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland], a Libyan bomb expert named Abu Agila Mas'ud, according to two people familiar with the case. Monday will mark the 32nd anniversary of the attack.... The case against Mr. Mas'ud in part relied on the work of a journalist named Ken Dornstein, who was working at the PBS news show 'Frontline' when he began his own exhaustive investigation into the bombing. His brother, David, was among those killed aboard the plane...."
News Ledes
Weather Channel: "Winter Storm Gail is hammering the Northeast as a high-impact nor'easter packing heavy snow, strong winds and coastal flooding. This storm's impacts aren't confined to the interior Northeast, but are also occurring near parts of the Interstate 95 corridor from New England to New York City. Over 40 inches of snow has been reported in south-central New York and snowfall from Gail, heavy in some areas, continues to fall in much of New York and New England. Ten inches of snow has been measured at Central Park as of Thursday morning. The National Weather Service has posted winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories from portions of New England to the mid-Atlantic." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates of the winter snowstorm Gail hitting the Northeast U.S. are here. MB: My VW bug, sitting in my snow-hidden driveway, looks less like a vehicle than an igloo with rearview mirrors. ~~~
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For a respite from the daily doom and gloom, here's Trevor Noah's interview with former-President (no asterisk needed) Barack Obama. It's hard to believe/comprehend that we went from someone leading our country who was articulate, intelligent, empathetic and humorous to someone at the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
@unwashed
Make a grim kind of sense though, insofar as that too abrupt transition to the last four years implies that almost half the country might well be both unintelligent and completely self-absorbed.
And when it makes the mistake of speaking, it speaks inarticulately and humorlessly.
As I say, real grim. Or should I say, deplorable?
Here's Jefferson County School's in W.V. Superintendent's letter to parents. It's a touching and perfect message for our time and their first snow day. Brian Williams ended his program last night by reading this letter––another one of his closing the day with something positive.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-districts-sweet-snow-day-letter-will-remind-you-to-let-go-of-the-worry_l_5fda308fc5b610200986c7e9
And here in New England we are experiencing our first big snow storm; its beauty is breathtaking. Most years one could rejoice in having a day off, or having fun with family for a day but we are used to be confined––this is just another day–– unless you bide by the warm suggestion in the letter from Jefferson county.
SERIAL KILLERS
Paul Alexander's memo makes it high on the list of shocking, and sickening maneuvers by those working for the head of the Killer brigade and were willing and able to sacrifice human beings in order to boost the biggest buffoon in U.S. history. There is no limit to these revelations–-and we wondered what the hell happened to the CDC.
Senator josh hawley of MO at yesterday’s hearing: "Yesterday, I was talking with some of the constituents back at home -- a group of about 30 people -- every single one of them, every one of them, told me that they felt they had been disenfranchised, that their votes didn't matter, that the election had been rigged. These are normal, reasonable people, these are not crazy people."
Aww. They “felt” they had been disenfranchised because their guy lost. They “felt” that their votes didn’t matter. Last time I checked, MO went for T****. The key point is that they were allowed to vote, unlike people in Democratic areas who had been kicked off voter rolls or whose polling stations were overloaded, causing hours of waiting for those who could wait, and real disenfranchisement for those who couldn’t wait for whatever reason.
Liberal snowflakes get worked up over issues I sometimes have a hard time understanding, but these confederate snowflakes are just selfish sore losers.
To underscore Milbank, unwashed and my earlier comment, I heard this from Rand Paul at yesterday's Johnson hearing, arguing in his kooky way that since most of the cases alleging voter fraud were tossed out or denied on technical grounds, the absence of court rulings on the extent of actual voter fraud should not be taken as evidence that massive fraud did not exist.
But most if not all of the suits brought on behalf of the Pretender's claims never alleged fraud. Those claims were for the tv and tweetdom, that is, for the Pretender's marks. The lawyers themselves, fully aware they risked sanction for lying in court, were more careful.
This language from a Pennsylvania suit. "Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, any fraud in connection with the challenged ballots; Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, any misconduct in connection with the challenged ballots; Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, any impropriety in connection with the challenged ballots; Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, any undue influence committed with respect to the challenged ballots.”
The suits were dismissed on technical grounds because they were lodged on technical grounds. They were never serious allegations of fraud. They were just a show for the rubes.
And millions of those rubes don't know--or care enought to find out.
How about deplorable stupidity?
For obvious reasons, I have Mencken on my mind.
Dr. Strangelove to Dr. Pepper
OM freaking G! That awful Jill Biden! She calls herself a doctor? Well, so does Dr. Pepper. So there.
How’s that for a cogent argument?
But there are no longer any serious arguments in right wing media, only bluster and bullshit, shouting and unsupported demonization. Unless they’re talking about Trump. Then it’s all sweetness and light. And lies.
But this obsession with Jill Biden’s doctorate is revealing in many ways. What it says is “They got nothin’”. Oh, the Hunter Biden circus is setting up the big top and the clown car and wild animals will soon be marching down Main Street, but in the meantime...zzzzzzzzz...
After eight years of an incoherent, indefensible liar and his war criminal, head torturer sidekick, during which they never saw reason for concern or even wonder as to why we were lied into a war that STILL GOING ON, they found plenty to be outraged over when the horrible nee-groe moved into “their” White House.
The tan suit!
Holy shit! A TAN SUIT!
But war crimes? Meh.
And do it goes. After four years of outright treason and democracy bashing, all of which they found no reason to utter the tiniest criticism, now they have something to be really pissed about. Jill Biden calls herself a DOCTOR! Aieeeeee! Wire Congress! Call the fire department! Go to DEFCON 1,000!
We’re way too far beyond this being funny, but as usual, I’ll call on the visitors from another planet who might observe such kookiness and wonder if intelligence really is so rare on this planet.
I remember getting an email from some knuckleheads who were positively incensed that Obama didn’t salute during the playing of “Hail to the Chief” like all the brass surrounding him. I was invited to their outrage party to whine along with the rest of the knuckleheads. Until I pointed out that presidents don’t salute themselves and found video of both Bush and Reagan in full non-salute mode when the song was playing.
I was never invited back. Fine with me.
But now, once again, we’re moving from true reasons to be outraged to invented bullshit simply because Democrats can’t touch Republicans when it comes to such things.
So we move from undermining American democracy and importuning foreign powers for help taking down Americans, essentially the insanity of Dr. Strangelove, to...Dr. Pepper.
Yeah.
@NiskyGuy: But you don't understand! If you are a Republican, you have been disenfranchised if the Democrat gets more votes.
So much confederate perfidy gets flushed down the memory hole that it’s almost impossible to keep track of the idiocy, lies, ineptitude, malevolence, misprision, and misanthropy. But of all the perfidious doings of the present illegitimate administration*, the ones involving the willful killing of Americans should not be allowed to disappear, so as to let these murderers off the hook (murder understood to be the premeditated killing of other human beings, who would still be alive if not for the actions of the killers).
Six months ago, the “leader” of the Trump coronavirus task force announced that there was nothing to worry about. That medical experts were causing unnecessary worry for Americans who shouldn’t be concerned about a second wave of the virus.
“ The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way, and these grim predictions of a second wave are no different. The truth is, whatever the media says, our whole-of-America approach has been a success. We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared for the most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, and we’ve created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the future. That’s a cause for celebration, not the media’s fear mongering.”
And today, in the midst of the resurgent wave the half-pence assured us was not coming, more than 100 Americans are succumbing each hour to what these murderers maintained was largely media hysteria. In other words, ignore the facts, put yourself and your loved ones at great risk. For me! Because we need to get re-elected.
There is sure to be vicious attempts to rewrite the history of the Trump-Pence lies, but no one should allow these killers to run and hide and Pat themselves on the back.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/vice-president-mike-pence-op-ed-isnt-coronavirus-second-wave/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/opinion/covid-vaccine-big-pharma.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
So those pharmas didn't build it all by themselves?
Which leads the author to some good socialist ideas near the op-ed's end.
The other way, the capitalist way, seems criminal to me.
As criminal as the half-pence op-ed Akhilleus just linked.
Call lying, withholding critical information or vaccines, what they are:
Murder.
Slow Learners?
Jennifer Horn, who is leaving the GOP with her stuff, is 56 years old but just realized that in the past 4-5 years her party has abased itself well below her tolerance for unprincipled and unethical behavior and standards. She blames Trump. (See MB's morning update above)
Perhaps we all owe DiJiT thanks for causing these slow GOP folk to understand that their "conservative" party left the rails. Right now they think that it is "because Trump." Perhaps further forays into the real world will allow them to understand its "because confederates", going back to the mid-fifties after Brown v. and "Impeach Earl", and all the torch rides that followed. DiJiT just saw an opportunity to capitalize on their confusion and anger. It's what con men do.
@Ak: your latest comment brought to mind Ron Serling, he of the night terrors of "The Twilight Zone." When he and his writers got going with their productions on T.V. they encountered the naysaying of material from manufacturers and advertisers that sponsored the show. Thus the first wave of serious T.V. writers was on a collision course with what Serling called the "whole pressure system of sponsors, agencies, and networks."
"Liberal, iconoclastic, and chronically indignant, these writers wanted to awaken the public to bigotries, and cruelties ––anti-Semitism, racism, indifference to the poor. They thought of T.V. viewers as citizens, Sponsors thought of them as consumers."
Something Serling said re: the push at the time to downplay these issues that has stuck with me:
"It was like striking out at a social evil with a feather duster."
b
Andrew Delbanco who reviewed "The Twilight Man: Ron Serling and the Birth of Television" ends with this:
"We are living full time where Serling expected us to live: on the the edge of dysfunction, craving and dreading human contact, stalked by a menace that seems nowhere and everywhere. In a late episode whose theme was mob mentality, "I am the Night: Color me Black", he deplored 'a sickness known as hate. Not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ––but a sickness nonetheless, highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don't look for it in the Twilight Zone––look for it in the mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether."
@Patrick
Yeah.
As inarticulate and scattered as the stable genius is, he has paradoxically served as a great clarifier for some.
Not enough, but for some.
Great stuff today, guys... I really have nothing important to add.
I am kerflummoxed too about the people suddenly seeing the Pig Party for what it is-- Steve Schmidt, another R rep, ex-mayor of Dodge City, and various other folks announcing their resignations and conversion into I status; what is wrong with seemingly intelligent people not seeing this light way back in, say, 2000... ? The party in question has not changed, but it is full of people who don't whisper their biases and shortcomings behind closed doors anymore. The differences in parties is so obvious to me. I never even flirted with being anything but a liberal, so maybe it isn't as obvious, GOP coldness and cruelty, as I think. Maybe most people are not interested in the politics thing, and they are the single-issue voters or nonvoters that have infected the US. I have been angry at anti-abortion, sexist, anti-feminist bigots my whole life, so I have not had a road-to-Damascus conversion to compare with these Johnny-come-latelys in the news. I should just say, welcome to the real world, deplorable basket babies. Glad to have you anyhow, I guess...
If Dr. Jill were first husband, there would be no comments at all regarding her degree, and no one would even think of saying "kiddo."
But I do think of the problem my (PhD) doctor grandfather, when he found himself in Montenegro Just as WWII was starting. Things were quite primitive there at the time. Just as he was ready to douse his lantern and go to sleep, there was a ruckus in the Inn where he was staying. Some of the mountain men had heard that there was a doctor in the inn, and they needed him because there had been an accident. No matter what he tried to explain - that he was not a doctor doctor - nobody listened. Off he went in a sledge, up into some completely dark place in the mountains. There, he witnessed a severe compound comminuted fracture of the leg. The injured man was loaded onto the sledge beside my grandfather. He had absolutely no idea what to do. So, he asked for all the salt available and packed it into the wound and hoped for the best. Some weeks later, grateful family members told him that his patient was healing well. Maybe there's more to a PhD than we thought.
It is what it is:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-mckinsey-clients.html. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/mckinsey-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html. I always wondered how the mayor of South Bend became a first tier player. Javanka: you knew they were raised swinging around the limbs with the other monkeys and all the while they had opportunities around them like leaves.
Pete and Kamala (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/24/kamala-harris-2020-history-224126) had far fewer opportunities to mine the Big Chance. One reason I like AOC and the rest of the Squad is that they didn't do it Kamala and Pete's way; I have more respect for how AOC, Barry O, and Squad did it. That soapboxing of mine aside, I sure hope all of Joe's folks are ready with firehoses, halon, vaccines, and whatever else is needed to put out all the fires left by the Fat Orange one.
From yesterday's WAPO:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/12/16/john-ioannidis-coronavirus-lockdowns-fox-news/
Or how good scientists get stupid.
My mild defense of this Cardinal follows.
"Sometimes some of the evil lies outside the person.
It arises from (as someone else said) from a concatenation of unkind circumstance, from the complex interactions of multiple variables that the good doctor (and I do believe that unlike Dr. Atlas of the Hoover Institution he is a good doctor) failed to notice or take into account.
The main problem for the doctor is that people in leadership positions have to make decisions before the benefit of hindsight is available. In Covid's case those decisions were literally matters of life and death, which could not wait until the experiment had run its course and all the data was crunched.
Despite the problems with the Santa Clara study, sounds like the doctor's initial skepticism about Covid's mortality rates had some basis in fact, so the problem wasn't in the data.
His big problem was in how his remarks intersected with the highly charged political environment he inhabited, where one politcal party is reflexively fact-averse, doesn't hesitate to lie about everything, and who had a leader who cared about one number only: The Dow.
By going public while "thinking aloud" and sharing some of his natural and forgivable skepticism, Dr. Ioannidis offered himself as a potential sacrifice in the political war between the Right and Left, and even if he missed all the political news in the last decade he should have known his skepticism was going to make him an immediate darling of the anti-science Right.
In his case, I don't blame it on his science. Though tentative, like that was solid enough. The problem was in its implications for action, where the world of science merges into politics. That we can make a bomb does not mean we should use it.
So I blame Dr. Ioannidis' problems on our political culture, on the powerful engines of the media we allow to do our thinking for us, and on, yes, on the naive doctor's ego that too much liked the limelight instead of the lab.
And that was stupid."
Jeanne's Basket Baby" comment reminds me of a T shirt I saw the other day: "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?"
Apprehension and Apostasy
Wingers who are suddenly seeing the light are like people in a burning house who have convinced themselves for years that all that heat is the result of a faulty thermostat.
A big piece of this puzzle is the rampant and insidious both siderism, the result of a feckless MSM cowed into submission by the constant attacks from the right that bludgeon any who attempt to ask serious questions or who decline to go along with the lies and confederate fairy tales. In order to appease the attackers (mistake number two: there is no appeasing zealots. They will always want more.), too many in the media, especially after the Gingrich onslaught, bent over backwards to try to look fair, if fairness can be understood as agreeing that savage liars have “a point”, that should be taken seriously.
To those living in that burning building, the fact that nightly news people were now going after liberals with bazookas while genuflecting before the insidious, racist, hate spewing leaders of their own party allowed some form of comfort, that they were somehow on the right side after all.
Both siderism is still rampant, especially when you read “approved” pundits who say things like “Trump did the best he could. No other President could have handled the pandemic much differently, and besides, look at the great economy Trump created!”
Such balderdash is still consumed by too many who should know better, but don’t.
I suppose we should be happy that the light of apprehension has dawned for these recent apostates. Why they waited until their underwear were on fire to figure it out is another problem.
Victoria,
Great story about your grandfather. One of the hallmarks of a smart person is knowing what you don’t know and not trying to stupidly exceed your limitations when a sudden bout of hubris could have dire consequences. Do what you think is best, based on what you know, and avoid the trap of trying out stuff you don’t know. Especially when someone else’s ass is on the line.
With the Decider, we had a guy who claimed to never have made a mistake. This from an indifferent mook who blew off reports of an attack on the country (with an exact description of that attack), leading to the immediate deaths of thousands and a war that killed, maimed, displaced, and radicalized millions more.
Now we have Trump who believes he is the smartest person on the planet and recognizes no limits. Had he been on that mountain in Montenegro instead of your grandfather, he might have suggested a big gulp of bleach for the patient. After the poor man died, Trump would have blamed him for breaking his leg in the first place and wondered why the locals weren’t throwing him a parade.
But why bother with hypotheticals? We all see, every hour of the day, the price of being led by a moron who thinks he’s smart. Those of us still alive, that is.
Are you looking forward to January 20 and the end of a dark era? Then maybe you should skip Paul Waldman's piece today in WashPo answering the question "Why are Republicans so happy?"
Here's a sample:
"The American system as currently constituted gives Republicans a panoply of advantages and means of exercising disproportionate power. The electoral college helps them win elections they lose, which they’ve done twice in the past 20 years. Even this year, with Joe Biden beating Trump by 7 million votes, they came closer than people realize to snatching another such victory: Had Trump gotten just 43,000 more votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, it would have been a 269-to-269 tie and the House of Representatives would have made Trump president for a second term."
And there's plenty more. Truly depressing.
So states that went for Fatty have a higher incidence of Covid infections (and deaths—guess Kushner miscalculated...big surprise that the guy with the biggest real estate fuck up in NYC history made a miscalculation). They also contribute about 40% less to the economy than states that voted for Biden, are bigger moochers, far less educated, more likely to believe fairy tales, and think democracy only works when they win.
So...Trump states are sicker, poorer, demand more government handouts, are stupider, more credulous, and less American.
Sounds exactly right.
@Akhilleus: Yes, Jared's miscalculation was staggeringly stupid. You don't have to think twice to realize that states which get the most traffic from countries where Covid was rampant were going to get the virus first. These travelers went to the New York & L.A. first, not Peoria & Podunk. Of course.
But it's just as obvious that the virus would eventually travel across the country unless those coastal states went on harsh, immediate lockdowns -- which they did not. And Trump, by encouraging his supporters in Flyover Country that they could ignore safety precautions, helped ensure that even remote areas would be affected sooner rather than later.
I don't know what they teach the sons of the rich at Harvard, but logic & common sense clearly are not requirements for graduation.
Marie,
Most students at places like Harvard, ie kids who get in on merit, not because daddy weaseled them in (like Kushner, and like Fatty at Penn), know how to count. They go to classes and study hard. But I knew kids who didn’t give a shit about any of that. They could eke out a “gentleman’s C” as we called it, and go straight from sloughing off in EC 10 to a big desk at daddy’s company, with a six figure salary right out of school, like Kushner. That’s not to say that every graduate of Harvard (Ross Douthat?) has a decent command of logic or critical thinking, but overly privileged little rich pricks like Kushner were recognized as such by those of us who worked to get in and then had to work for our degrees. That’s not to say that all rich kids at Harvard were lazy, lucky, and stupid. But we all knew those who were.
@Jeanne; agree with you on the merits, but also am moved by some of the never trumpers. Steve Schmidt joined Jenn Rubin in something beyond griping about Rs: joining the Democratic Party.
Monkius: Yes, I knew that about Steve, heard his announcement, but I was not clear. Did not hear that about Jennifer Rubin, but she has detested trumpies all from pretty nearly the beginning, so she is putting her money where her mouth is. Good for her. I used to dislike her columns back when... The one that always frosts me is Bernie, who was a Dem long enough to run, and no longer. Ugh. And it is not like Democrats are without sin, but in our sinful worst, we tend to be better than the Goopers. Of course, I am strictly bipartisan...HA...
Except for the likes of the Pretender, who is stupid, most (no, not all) of those fortunate enough to matriculate at academically elite universities are plenty smart.
Smarts ain't the problem. It's most often a matter of character, the degree to which people do or do not define themselves as part of a greater social whole and the sense of obligation they have toward others.
Some care about little but their academic pursuits, so that's pretty much all they see. They are blind to the rest of the world. Others see their schooling as entree to a chosen field, like law, where character again asserts itself. Are they after the big bucks or do they see law as a means of satisfying their social conscience? Some, as Akhilleus says, are just privileged enough to be lazy, because they know their comfortable future is assured. For them, skating works.
My schooling occurred during the late 60's, a time of heightened social awareness. I believed the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement and Earth Day, and all those student protests they engendered would mark my generation forever.
Maybe they did, but not in the way I predicted. It was the Boomers, my classmates, many of them smart as can be, many of whom became political and business leaders of note, who brought us to the our very imperfect present.
For me, that has long been a great disappointment, and made me rethink the utility and effects of schooling.
I now know it ain't just the smarts.