The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Washington Post: “Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs. The twisters surprised anxious residents, even as the storm’s eye still loomed. Authorities said there had been 'multiple' deaths after the intense and destructive tornadoes.” MB: I'm still on Florida's emergency-call list, and I received several calls from Lee County, urging me to shelter in place.

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a 'life-threatening' storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota as the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes.... By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.”

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
The Ledes

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments Tuesday as powerful Hurricane Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida.

New York Times: “Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel star who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died on Monday at her home in Newark. She was 91.”

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Saturday
Jan302021

The Commentariat -- January 31, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Ten Republican senators announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion covid relief package that could serve as a bipartisan alternative to President Biden's $1.9 trillion plan, and requested a meeting with the president to discuss it. The senators, led by Susan Collins (R-Maine), said they would release additional details of the package on Monday. In a letter to Biden they said they were offering their proposal in recognition of the president's 'calls for unity.'... Their move comes as Democrats prepare to move forward on Monday to set up a partisan path forward for Biden's relief bill, which Republicans have dismissed as overly costly.... The GOP proposal is expected to jettison certain elements that have drawn Republican opposition, such as increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It would also significantly narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks Biden wants to send to individual Americans. Biden's plan would cap eligibility for the checks at individuals making $75,000 a year and couples making $150,000. A $600 billion plan that is a fraction of the size of Biden's proposal is unlikely to draw much if any Democratic support." Politico's story is here.

Zachary Petrizzo of Mediaite: "The Lincoln Project's legal counsel sent a scorching letter to Rudy Giuliani after he falsely accused the group of helping plan the January 6th Capitol riot, demanding that Giuliani retract his statement and publicly apologize by February 3. Giuliani made the comments in an appearance on Steve Bannon's 'War Room' podcast, accusing 'antifa' and 'some right-wing groups that operate for the Lincoln Project or have been working with the Lincoln Project at various times' of being responsible for instigating the riot." MB: Wait, wait. Steve Bannon is running a show called the "War Room" & Rudy goes on it to blame the opposition for planning the "war"?

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

** Nicholas Florko of STAT News: "Top Trump officials actively lobbied Congress to deny state governments any extra funding for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout last fall -- despite frantic warnings from state officials that they didn't have the money they needed to ramp up a massive vaccination operation. The push, described to STAT by congressional aides in both parties and openly acknowledged by one of the Trump officials, came from multiple high-ranking Trump health officials in repeated meetings with legislators. Without the extra money, states spent last October and November rationing the small pot of federal dollars they had been given. And when vaccines began shipping in December, states seemed woefully underprepared."

~~~~~~~~~~

Remembering the Anti-President*

Illustration by Jason Seiler for Politico.~~~ Michael Kruse, in Politico Magazine, compares Trump to Benedict XIII, the last anti-pope of Avignon -- who also became power-hungry & refused to concede he had been voted out. ~~~

~~~ ** Lordy, I Hope We See Rudy. Trump's Top Impeachment Lawyers Out. Gloria Borger, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy. It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation. Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers assembled the team. Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who was recently added to the team, has also left, according to another source familiar with the changes. Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, from South Carolina, are no longer involved with the case, either.... A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard. The attorneys had not yet been paid any advance fees and a letter of intent was never signed." This is an update of a breaking story linked earlier. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course Trump didn't pay his lawyers. A New York Times story is here. A Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "In the end..., Trump is who he is. He's a broken, dangerous and irredeemable man. Our greater contempt should fall on the cowards in the Republican Senate who will refuse to hold him accountable in spite of his own efforts at self-sabotage."

Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "As racial justice protests erupted nationwide last year..., Donald J. Trump, struggling to find a winning campaign theme, hit on a message that he stressed over and over: The real domestic threat to the United States emanated from the radical left, even though law enforcement authorities had long since concluded it came from the far right. It was a message that was quickly embraced and amplified by his attorney general and his top homeland security officials, who translated it into a shift in criminal justice and national security priorities even as Mr. Trump was beginning to openly stoke the outrage that months later would culminate in the storming of the Capitol by right-wing extremists.... The effect of his direction was ... substantial, according to interviews with current and former officials, diverting key portions of the federal law enforcement and domestic security agencies at a time when the threat from the far right was building ominously.... The pressure from Mr. Trump was unrelenting." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why, it's almost as if Trump determined to keep intelligence agencies' eyes off the ball in order to give his violent backers free rein.

MTG Is No Anomaly; She's the Face of the GOP. Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: Marjorie Taylor "Greene's widely reported comments about the radical ideology of QAnon and other matters had not stopped a coterie of top Republicans from urging her to run for the seat representing a deeply conservative district in north Georgia, and then issuing fervent endorsements. Greene was 'exactly the kind of fighter needed in Washington to stand with me against the radical left,' declared Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Debbie Meadows, who ran an influential political action committee and whose husband, Mark Meadows, became Trump's chief of staff, gushed, 'We cannot wait to welcome her to Congress.'... While some Republicans have tried to portray Greene as a political anomaly, her ascent demonstrates the extent to which key party leaders embraced her ... despite her well-documented history of spreading false claims and violent rhetoric. Critical to Greene's success was the early intervention on her behalf by some of the party's most staunchly pro-Trump figures and Greene's ability to tap into the far-right online world where baseless claims thrive." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ What a Friend She Has in Donald. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday that she spoke with former President Trump as she faces growing bipartisan criticism over past social media posts in which she expressed support for violence against Democrats. 'I had a GREAT call with my all time favorite POTUS, President Trump! I'm so grateful for his support...,' Greene tweeted."

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "FBI agents around the country are working to unravel the various motives, relationships, goals and actions of the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some inside the bureau have described the Capitol riot investigation as their biggest case since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and a top priority of the agents' work is to determine the extent to which that violence and chaos was preplanned and coordinated. Investigators caution there is an important legal distinction between gathering like-minded people for a political rally -- which is protected by the First Amendment -- and organizing an armed assault on the seat of American government. The task now is to distinguish which people belong in each category, and who played key roles in committing or coordinating the violence.... The FBI is also trying to determine how many people went to Washington seeking to engage in violence, even if they weren't part of any formal organization." The report cites social-media chatter that preceded the siege. For instance, "Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in." read one posting, according to the report. And, "Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Rachel Weiner & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A criminal complaint against two Montana brothers and a detention memo against a prominent member of the Proud Boys help explain how, the government believes, one segment of a mob overran a small, poorly defended line of Capitol Police officers. In these and other filings, prosecutors trace the actions of possible key instigators in the storming of the Capitol, including members of the Proud Boys...." The story outlines the known actions of Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who has been indicted on a number of charges, & some of those he appears to have led, including two brothers from Montana, Joshua Calvin Hughes and Jerod Wade Hughes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A related story in the Hill is here. ~~~

~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "Federal authorities arrested two women in Pennsylvania on Friday on charges related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building after the FBI said one of the women expressed an intent to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).... Dawn Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith were identified by law enforcement after the FBI said it received a tip on Jan. 12 with a video purportedly capturing the two women as they left the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 amid a large mob of people, according to a criminal complaint. 'We broke into the Capitol.... We got inside, we did our part,' Bancroft said in the video she sent to her children, according to the FBI. 'We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin' brain, but we didn't find her.' The women -- who the FBI said initially lied to authorities -- face three federal charges...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An NBC News story is here. ~~~

Lexi Lonas of the Hill: "Far-right radio show host Alex Jones and a prominent GOP donor reportedly played a larger role than previously known in the pro-Trump rally held near the White House before the Capitol riot. Jones was involved in pledging money and getting others to donate money for the Jan. 6 event, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Infowars founder originally planned to give $50,000 in seed money to secure a 'top speaking slot of his choice,' according to a funding document reported by the newspaper. strong>Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the heiress to the Publix Super Markets Inc. chain, reached out to Jones and asked to donate for the Jan. 6 event, organizers told the Journal. Jones reportedly helped Fancelli donate $300,000 through a fundraising official who helped with former President Trump's campaign. Fancelli's donation represented a majority of the funding for the $500,000 rally at the Ellipse, where Trump spoke before chaos erupted later in the day at the Capitol. During the 2020 election cycle, Fancelli donated nearly $1 million to Trump's campaign and the Republican Party, the Journal noted.... A spokesperson for Publix noted to The Hill that Fancelli is not an employee of the supermarket chain and 'is neither involved in our business operations, nor does she represent the company in any way.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Stern of the Washington Post: "... as the Biden administration settles in, some close allies of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky are opening up about one of the longest-running dramas from the Trump era -- the blitz of meetings, messages and public statements in Ukraine by ... Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.... The new disclosures from Ukraine do not offer any bombshell revelations about Giuliani's dealings. But they help fill in some blanks on his frantic -- and unsuccessful -- quest to press Ukraine to make statements seen as potentially helpful to the Trump reelection bid. Giuliani's overall goal, according to the accounts, was to have Zelensky's government validate the Trump campaign's unsupported claims -- including that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine and that then vice president Biden attempted to cover it up. Giuliani, saying he was acting on President Trump's behalf, also was promoting a false narrative that the Ukrainian government colluded to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections against Trump -- an unproven claim that sought to deflect attention from Russia's interference in the campaign.... The Zelensky team's decision to talk about Giuliani's tactics coincides with efforts for a reset in relations with President Biden, who dealt closely with Ukraine during his eight years as vice president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jill Filipovic of the Guardian: "In 2021 legislative sessions (which six states haven't even yet begun), [Republican] lawmakers in 28 states have pushed a whopping 106 bills that would restrict voting access.... Each one of these 106 bills aims to make voting harder, either by scaling back vote-by-mail, imposing stricter voter identification laws, limiting policies that successfully registered large numbers of voters, or allowing states to more easily and aggressively purge their voter rolls.... Republicans trying to restrict voting rights is not new..., but the context after the Capitol riot is different: Republicans now cannot deny the serious, deadly and democracy-threatening costs of exploiting lies about voting fraud to the advantage of Republican politicians.... It's not all bad news on the voting front, though. Appalled by conservative malfeasance, newly emboldened by the success of mail-in voting during Covid, and heartened by hard-won wins in Georgia, more Democrats are latching on to what leaders and organizers like Stacey Abrams have been doing for years: fighting for expanded voting rights. Legislators in 35 states have introduced a total of 406 bills that would make voting easier for more people."

Georgia. WSB-TV Atlanta: "A west Georgia police chief has resigned and an officer has resigned after body camera video shows them making racist comments ahead of a Black Lives Matter protest last year. According to the Assistant to Hamilton Mayor Julie Brown, Chief Gene Allmond and Patrolman John Brooks have both been removed from their positions with the Hamilton Police Department. Chief Allmond reportedly resigned, while Patrolman Brooks was terminated, WTVM in Columbus reported. The footage was obtained by WTVM-TV in Columbus after a city official there was made aware of the it.... WTVM said after viewing the video, it took city leaders about an hour and a half to take action, letting the chief and the officer know they would be fired if they did not resign." The article includes some of the mens' "conversation." We'll skip it here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

"It's a Mess." Tyler Pager, et al., of Politico: "After a week on the job, [President] Biden's team is still trying to locate upwards of 20 million vaccine doses that have been sent to states -- a mystery that has hampered plans to speed up the national vaccination effort.... Only a small percentage of ... unaccounted for doses -- roughly 2 million, two officials said -- is due to lags in data reporting, the Biden team believes. That would mean the rest of the crucial supply is boxed away in warehouses, sitting idle in freezers or floating elsewhere in the complex distribution pipeline that runs from the administration to individual states.... They're searching for new ways to boost production of a vaccine stockpile that they've discovered is mostly empty. And they're nervously eyeing a series of new Covid-19 strains that threaten to derail the response.... In the days since taking over, the Covid response team has confronted a situation that officials described as far worse than expected -- and that has prompted public assessments so dour they surprised some who had worked on the administration's former transition team. On Tuesday, Biden warned that the 'vaccine program is in worse shape than we anticipated or expected,' echoing complaints from his chief of staff, Ron Klain, that a 'plan didn't really exist.'"

Carla Johnson, et al., of the AP: "A racial gap has opened up in the nation's COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Black Americans in many places lagging behind whites in receiving shots, an Associated Press analysis shows. An early look at the 17 states and two cities that have released racial breakdowns through Jan. 25 found that Black people in all places are getting inoculated at levels below their share of the general population, in some cases significantly below. That is true even though they constitute an oversize percentage of the nation's health care workers, who were put at the front of the line for shots when the campaign began in mid-December. For example, in North Carolina, Black people make up 22% of the population and 26% of the health care workforce but only 11% of the vaccine recipients so far.... Experts say several factors could be driving the emerging disparity, including deep distrust of the medical establishment among Black Americans because of a history of discriminatory treatment; inadequate access to the vaccine in Black neighborhoods; and a digital divide that can make it difficult to get crucial information. Vaccination sign-ups are being done to a large degree online." ~~~

~~~ Yes, well, maybe the problem is that they didn't donate a wing to their local hospital. ~~~

~~~ Russ Bynum, et al., of the AP: "While millions of Americans wait for the COVID-19 vaccine, hospital board members, their trustees and donors around the country have gotten early access to the scarce drug or offers for vaccinations, raising complaints about favoritism tainting decisions about who gets inoculated and when.... [For instance,] the Seattle Times has reported that Overlake Medical Center & Clinics emailed about 110 donors who gave more than $10,000 to the hospital system, telling them that vaccine slots were available. The email gave the donors an access code to register for appointments 'by invite' only. At the same time, the public Overlake registration site was fully booked through March... Overlake shut down online access to the invite-only clinic after getting a call from [Gov. Jay] Inslee's [D] staff, and CEO J. Michael Marsh issued an apology."

California. Jordan Williams of the Hill: "A Los Angeles coronavirus vaccination site was temporarily forced to shut down after protesters blocked the entrance. David Ortiz, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department, told The Hill that the department temporarily closed the gates of Dodgers Stadium between 1:50 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. because there were protesters outside. About 50 anti-vaccine and far-right demonstrators gathered at the entrance on Saturday afternoon, The Los Angeles Times first reported.... One social media post shows protesters not wearing masks and carrying sings that said '99.6% Survival Rate' and 'I only like muzzles in the bedroom.'" The LAPD claims that no appointments were affected. MB: That's not possible unless the vaccination team had already planned a lunch break between 1:50 & 2:45 & had scheduled no appointments during that time. The First Amendment does not give me a right to block you from receiving medical care just because I believe that care is useless or harmful.

Florida. Speaking of Publix.... Sharon Zhang of Truthout (Jan. 28): "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing criticism after deciding this month that he would revoke COVID-19 vaccine access at health centers in Palm Beach County and instead, funnel the states' vaccine supply through Publix, a regional grocery chain. His decision comes just a few weeks after Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis. After the county runs out of its current supply, which health officials say will happen early next month, officials confirmed this week that the state would no longer distribute vaccines through Palm Beach's health department and will be giving them directly to Publix. DeSantis says that the county will be a 'test site' for the pilot program to funnel the state's vaccines through Publix.... Some of the county's residents live 40 miles away from a Publix. Florida's vaccine administration has thus far been rocky and, in some ways, discriminatory, some report, and many worry that the distribution of the vaccine through Publix will only cause further disparities.... According to data from the state, approximately 4.9 percent of the people who have been vaccinated so far are Black despite Black people making up 16.9 percent of the population. In Palm Beach, Black people make up 3 percent of the vaccinated population and 19.8 percent of the population overall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: During the time I lived in Fort Myers, Florida, Publix closed down at least two stores that served minority communities and opened up at least four that served affluent areas of the city & county.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News in ProPublica: "Acting Alaska Attorney General Ed Sniffen's abrupt resignation was announced Friday as the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica were preparing an article about allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl three decades ago. Nikki Dougherty White, now 47, recently contacted the news organizations with a detailed account of how she and Sniffen began a sexual relationship in 1991 while she was a student at West Anchorage High School. At the time, he was a 27-year-old attorney with a local law firm and a coach of her school's mock trial competition team.... Under an Alaska law enacted in 1990, months before Sniffen and White traveled to New Orleans for the national mock trial competition, it was illegal for an adult to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old whom he or she was teaching, counseling or coaching.... Public records show White and Sniffen lived at the same address in Anchorage after she turned 18.... Sniffen is the second Alaska attorney general to step down within the past six months amid a Daily News and ProPublica investigation into their interactions with women. Former Attorney General Kevin Clarkson quit in August, hours after the newsrooms revealed he had sent hundreds of unwanted text messages to a junior colleague."

Way Beyond

Russia. The New York Times is live-updating developments in protests across Russia Sunday: "Thousands of people took to the streets to show support for the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny for a second weekend, despite mass arrests and an imposing show of force by the police.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (14)

Re the (updated?) CNN piece:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30/politics/butch-bowers-deborah-barbier-trump-impeachment-team/index.html

As I suspected, the Pretender wants real lawyers to tarnish their reputations with more lies about election fraud. They apparently refused.

Am wondering if somewhere in their negotiations, the lawyers suggested what I did some time back. Just keep talking, Donald...

....The more you talk about the utterly fantastical, the better the evidence for a successful insanity defense.

January 30, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Written Friday, posted Saturday night, offered as a Sunday Sermon.

When I was young, most of the adult men I knew worked hard. My father did. For him and for millions of men of his generation, work was more than a necessity. For these men, work fueled their sense of self-worth. They felt that regardless of what they did, mechanic, farmer, logger or salesman, they were leaving their mark on the world.

That strong work ethic infused the politics of the time for both Republicans and Democrats. Though they might have viewed their work differently, work’s high value was central to both. Often, Democrats were union members working for larger companies like Weyerhaeuser; Republicans, like my father, small businessmen on America’s Main Streets. But for both Democrats and Republicans their relationship to work informed their sense of themselves and hence their politics.

When my grandfather would pridefully say he'd “put in an honest day’s work,” we all knew exactly what he meant.

I wonder what those Proud Boys, the thousands who accompanied them, and the Congressional leaders who supported their assault on our Capitol were so proud of?

Their name suggests, the Proud Boys are certainly proud of being males. The white supremacist groups that forced their way into the halls of congress seem satisfied with their whiteness alone. Many others called themselves nationalists. All were there to overturn a democratic election and retain in power the would-be autocrat to whom the Republican Party is in thrall (nbcnews.com).

So: White. Male. American. Each an accident of birth, each no work at all.

Democracy, on the other hand, is not easy. Applying its messy mechanisms to America’s deep economic and racial problems demands day after day of my grandfather’s “honest work.”

As last month’s events prove, Republicans have given up on it. For them, democracy is just too darn much work (theconversation.com).

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

TICK TOCK or SOCK IT TO HIM

Legal Pressure On Trump Increases with Judge's Orders in Fraud Inquiry: NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/nyregion/trump-fraud-investigation.html

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@Ken: to continue with your comments about work: Jill Lepore asks "What's wrong with the way we work? Americans are told to give their all––time, labor, passion–-to their jobs. but do their jobs give enough back?" Good piece:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/18/whats-wrong-with-the-way-we-work

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Thanks PD, I'll take look at the Lepore.

Another Sunday thought, this on on white supremacy in the military:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/military-white-supremacy-capitol-riot/2021/01/29/1693f124-61a1-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html


And my comment.

Many of those we would label white supremacists exist along a continuum of belief. Though it's far from 100%, in a substantial number of cases there is a documented relationship between religion and wnite supremacy.

As I remember reading, the Air Force Academy was/is rife with fundamentalist Christian fervor extending far above cadet level. Don't know where that stands now, but belief in some kind of god, especially one with whom you have a personal relationship, and/or in some kind of superiority residing in skin color alone are both just that--beliefs, in each case unsupported by any verifiable evidence.

Because these feel-good beliefs, one about god with Constitutional protection, have similar roots, I suspect they go together often enough to render any serious internal investigation of white supremacy in the military very uncomfortable territory, a metaphorical and legal minefield.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@PD, if you have a spare 25 minutes you might enjoy a video one of my nephews made, called "The Art or Work", as his final college project. It's about several local people, most of whom I know, and how they view their work. Having graduated from various colleges, they chose to work with their hands.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

One of my major complaints about #45 is that he apparently never had the opportunity/gift of working with his (tiny pink) hands.
Biden-Harris has a plan to put folks back to work:
https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/1/20/developing-a-pro-worker-civilian-climate-corps
This plan has the added benefit of producing buy-in for the patriots to recognize what a blessing it is to be an American. As well as getting their hands dirty--

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterNJC

From a female point of view, the "proud boys" are just that: boys, immature and lacking a conscience, so possibly sociopaths all. Also, absolutely none of them have any success with women-- did you see them?? No self-respecting woman would touch them with a 100-ft pole. So, incel behavior and damaged egos lead to the carrying of weapons, and the driving of huge trucks loaded with tires and chrome, always a substitute for you-know-what... Can you imagine even having a relationship with any of them? I did not know there were that many disgusting brigands with plane tickets...

As for the boyz and girlz in the excrcment-laden Gigantic Old Psychopaths party, none of them are worth saving or talking to. Let the olde guarde wallow with Marjorie, Lauren, and whatever the dumb name is (Madison Crowfoot or something--)of the lightweight undereducated squirrel. They are toilet paper under our feet, and if their turdly cohorts can't recognize that, too bad. They may be crazier than, but not more disgusting than Rand Paul the self-certified "doctor" or Moscow Mitch or Ted Cruzin'-for-a-bruisin', Ms. Lindsey Graham, Marsha Marsha Marsha or Hoo-ha Hawley. They are simply part of the group. Not worth human interaction.

I wish someone would feed them all oodles of ex-lax or they would contract scabies-- revolting humans, all.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

6 Steps to Defund the GOP and Restore Democracy Reagan Defunded the Democratic Party in 1981: It’s Time to Return the Favor
End Red State welfare
End corporate welfare that gets recycled to GOP politicians
End corporate monopolies that fund the GOP
Bring back Eisenhower’s 91% top tax bracket to restore the middle class that votes Democratic
Impose Elizabeth Warren’s 2% tax on great fortunes and use it to fund healthcare and education for working-class Democratic voters
Reverse Citizen’s United to end the GOP’s campaign money from corporations, SuperPACs and billionaires’ ability to skew our politics

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

The Sedition That Nobody's Talking About | Robert Reich


Also, how sweet would this be "Black Lives Matter has been nominated for a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
Norwegian member of parliament Petter Eide said he nominated the organization because it is "bringing forward a new consciousness and awareness about racial justice."
"To carry forward a movement of racial justice and to spread that to other countries is very, very important. Black Lives Matter is the strongest force today doing this, not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and in Asia," Eide told USA TODAY on Saturday.
Eide said Black Lives Matter carries forward the legacy of earlier racial justice movements, such as the civil rights movement in the U.S. and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa."

It might give the Big Baby an actual heart attack if another one of his hated enemies wins the Nobel Peace Prize he has been so fixated on for the last four years.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

@unwashed. Thanks for the video link.
Most of those interviewed in the video were mentored in their trade by family members or inherited the family business. People like myself who have college, grad school, and trade school degrees, and were not mentored by family in a trade or craft, have difficulty finding paid apprenticeships. If you were brought up in a retail/professional family and have an affinity for working with your hands, you won't find much help. Trade employers want people with a minimum of 2 to 5 years experience because they don't want to spend time or money investing in training long term employees. Employees are expendable - they get cut loose after the job. (I think they teach this in business school). The technical colleges have their own business model of maximizing student residence time (tuition revenue) teaching only the very basic skills in two year programs. Its a good start to be sure.

In my experience, the biggest hurdle for budding craft/trade people in starting out is finding affordable commercial shop space. Corporate or private equity commercial real estate owners rarely cater to the budding sole proprietor. Its all 'get big or get out'; maximize returns. Your average college/tech school grad with no family mentoring or support, living in an over-priced apartment with no garage, isn't going to easily find affordable space to set up and get to work. They get stuck in wage slave jobs just to survive, pay off debt, insurance, and rent.

Maybe this is a left coast thing- where I am, and there are better opportunities in the Midwest or east coast. I love craft and trade videos, but they also convey to me a false impression that farming, trades, and crafts are doable for anyone with a little determination and will power. I think career paths get set early in life with mentoring and circumstances in a big way, and its hard to break out because of the way that capitalism is working these days. I believe this hopelessness is the undercurrent driving some of the anger and division in our society and gets played out on the political battlefield.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered Commenterperiscope

@unwashed

Don't know where my copy is so can't check my memory, but "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew Crawford presents what I remember as a cogent, albeit romanticized, argument for working with one's hands.

Of so says this retired English teacher, whose two sons' professions also keep them mostly away from sawdust, grease and muck.

Am now reading a book on the evils of the internet world we live in and am wondering how all those now employed in handwork limited to punching a keyboard are affected by what they do instead of what they don't.

Seems to me living in the ether automatically removes one from noticing, let alone confronting the correctives of physical reality....

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@unwashed: Just finished watching that marvelous video that Ted–– who is adorable by the way–-who is your nephew? yes?––put together. I loved it! thanks so much! Liked the fact that Ted included the Bloomberg dig––not a wit surprising he'd have that superior mindset.

Much to admire here and let's champion these innovative hard workers.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Dear "unwashed", I LOVED your nephew's video! What a GREAT job he did.....and I completely agree with the concept...I've always thought, "If everyone works in an office, who will fix my roof, or my car, or my plumbing, or my electric?....and on and on. I have much more admiration for the great guys who come to fix my old furnace, or replace my water heater, or make my basement lights work again than I have for anyone in a suit. I hope some of this gets taught in high school, as well as teaching (horrors!) home economics....I was born in 1940, so yes, I am longing for some of the "old ways". Anyway, thank your nephew for me...I'm going to pass the video along to others.

January 31, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterBonnie
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.