;)
The Commentariat -- July 13, 2020
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here: "New U.S. coronavirus cases reached record levels over the weekend, with deaths trending up sharply in a majority of states, including many beyond the hard-hit Sun Belt."
Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday shared a handful of social media posts questioning the expertise of his own public health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, and suggesting their scientific counsel was intended to thwart his political standing ahead of November's general election. In a burst of early morning online activity, Trump retweeted messages from the politically conservative former game show personality Chuck Woolery ... which lamented the 'most outrageous lies' being spread about the coronavirus pandemic. 'Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it,' Woolery wrote in a tweet shared by the president. In another post Trump retweeted, Woolery claimed there exists 'so much evidence, yes scientific evidence, that schools should open this fall. It's worldwide and it's overwhelming. BUT NO.' Trump also retweeted a message from Mark Young, Woolery's co-host on his 'Blunt Force Truth' podcast, which asked: 'So based on Dr. Fauci and the Democrats, I will need an ID card to go shopping but not to vote?'"
John Kruzel of the Hill: "Seventeen states and the District of Columbia on Monday sued to block the Trump administration from stripping foreign students of visas if their colleges move exclusively to online classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit comes after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week that international students whose courses move entirely online would be required to leave the country, rescinding a previous plan to grant exemptions to student visa holders.... The challenge comes after a similar lawsuit was brought last week by Harvard and MIT, as well as litigation filed by other higher education institutions. 'The effect — and perhaps even the goal -- is to create as much chaos for universities and international students as possible,' the Harvard-MIT lawsuit ... alleged. California also filed a lawsuit last week against the Trump administration's move." ~~~
~~~ Collin Binkley of the AP: "More than 200 universities are backing a legal challenge to the Trump administration's new restrictions on international students, arguing that the policy jeopardizes students' safety and forces schools to reconsider fall plans they have spent months preparing. The schools have signed court briefs supporting Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as they sue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in federal court in Boston. The lawsuit challenges a recently announced directive saying international students cannot stay in the U.S. if they take all their classes online this fall."
Eric Tucker of the AP: "A federal judge on Monday demanded more information about ... Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone's sentence. She also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covers just his prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence." Mrs. McC: I do hope Trump submits that stupid statement the White House released Friday night. Since the statement directly contradicts a number of Judge Jackson's rulings, she should really enjoy it. I suppose, however, DOJ will come up with something more coherent to answer the judge's order.
Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "The Texas Supreme Court on Monday upheld Houston's refusal to allow the state Republican convention to hold in-person events in the city due to the coronavirus pandemic. The court dismissed an appeal of a state district judge's denial of a temporary restraining order sought by the state Republican Party.... A separate court hearing was ongoing Monday in Harris County, where Houston is located, in which a different judge was hearing the party's arguments to allow the convention to go forward." Mrs. McC: I think I heard on the teevee that the contract contains a provision allowing either of the parties to default for health & safety reasons.
Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana. The Trump administration immediately appealed to a higher court, asking that the executions move forward. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said there are still legal issues to resolve and that 'the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process.' The executions, pushed by the administration, would be the first carried out at the federal level since 2003.... The new hold came a day after a federal appeals court lifted a hold on the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, which was scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT on Monday at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell."
Bad News. Frederik Pleitgen, et al., of CNN: "Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda has been declared the winner of this weekend's tightly fought and divisive election. Duda, backed by the nationalist ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, won with 51.21% of the vote, the country's election committee said Monday. The more liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, of the center-right opposition Civic Platform party (PO), garnered 48.79%."
~~~~~~~~~~
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here: "More than 15,000 new cases of the coronavirus were announced on Sunday in Florida, marking the highest single-day total of known cases in any state since the start of the pandemic.... Florida also saw single-day records in the counties that include Florida's largest cities, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Pensacola and Sarasota." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
White House Puts Out Oppo Research on Fauci. Josh Lederman & Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News: "The White House is seeking to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, as ... Donald Trump works to marginalize him and his dire warnings about the shortcomings of the U.S. coronavirus response. In a remarkable broadside by the Trump administration against one of its own, a White House official said Sunday that 'several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.' The official gave NBC News a list of nearly a dozen past comments by Fauci that the official said had ultimately proven erroneous.... It was a move more characteristic of a political campaign furtively disseminating opposition research about an opponent than of a White House struggling to contain a pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 people, according to an NBC News tally." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's advisers undercut the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, over the weekend, anonymously providing details to various news outlets about statements he had made early in the coronavirus outbreak that they said were inaccurate. The move to treat Dr. Fauci ... as if he were a warring political rival came as he has grown increasingly vocal in his concerns about the national surge in coronavirus cases, as well as his lack of access to Mr. Trump over the past several weeks.... The list of statements, laid out in the style of a campaign's opposition research document, was later released to several news outlets. It was an extraordinary move for the White House to provide news organizations with such a document about a health official who works for the administration and retains a high level of public trust.... Despite claims early on in the fight against the virus that they enjoyed each other's company, Mr. Trump has long been dismissive of Dr. Fauci in private, according to White House officials, taking note of the amount of time he spent on television and of when the doctor contradicted him during press briefings."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry but this photo-op of Trump wearing a mask Saturday at Walter Reed Medical Center is ridiculous. He has to glower? He has to be in a hospital full of sick people to wear a mask? He has to be followed by an entourage of mask-wearing men in suits & military uniforms? Also, too, it's been reported staff had to beg him for a week before the hospital visit to don the mask, which includes the presidential* seal: ~~~
Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Two of the Trump administration;s top health officials acknowledged Sunday that the country is facing a very serious situation with the onslaught of rising coronavirus cases in several states, striking a far more sober tone than President Trump at this stage of the pandemic in the United States. Adm. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary with the Health and Human Services department, and Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, both emphasized their concern about surging outbreaks, many of them in areas where people have not followed recommended public health guidelines to contain the spread of the virus. Their remarks were in sharp contrast to Mr. Trump's contention just last week that 99 percent of the cases were 'totally harmless' and his boast of the country's low death rate from the virus." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Fadel Allassan of Axios: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told 'Fox News Sunday' that public schools that don't reopen in the fall should not get federal funds, and that the money should be redirected to families who can use it to find another option for their children.... The Trump administration is engaged in a full-court press to reopen schools this fall, despite warnings from some public health officials that the coronavirus outbreak is out of control in many states and that it will be difficult for many schools to reopen safely. Grilled by Fox's Chris Wallace on what the administration is doing to make to make it safer or more feasible, DeVos repeatedly stressed that 'kids cannot afford to not continue learning' and that she's not talking about places where the virus is 'out of control.'" ~~~
@BetsyDeVosED you have no plan. Teachers, kids and parents are fearing for their lives. You point to a private sector that has put profits over people and claimed the lives of thousands of essential workers. I wouldn't trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child. -- Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), in a tweet, Sunday
~~~ Dana Bash & Bridget Nolan of CNN: "Scott Brabrand, the superintendent of Fairfax County schools, says ... the best option they could come up with [was to try] to comply with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.... Education Secretary Betsy DeVos repeatedly calls out Fairfax County, Virginia, criticizing the school system's current plan for only two days a week in the classroom as insufficient. Devos has noted that it is well funded in one of the wealthiest parts of America.... 'Covid hits all of us, and the guidelines for 6 feet social distancing simply mean that you can't put every kid back in a school with the existing square footage footprint. It's just that simple,' Brabrand said flatly in response to DeVos.... He said the school system is the size of 'five Pentagons.' 'You would need another five Pentagons of space to be able to safely accommodate all of the students in Fairfax County Public Schools,' he said, which would not only be expensive but not feasible to build in the next six weeks before school starts." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to the Googles, the Pentagon is 3,700,000 square feet. So, Betsy, why don't you ask the Realtor-in-Chief how to build 3,700,000 square feet of safe, wired, OSHA-compliant structures in six weeks? Maybe Donnie's friends at Fisher Industries (stories linked below) have a suggestion.
No one under the age of 20 has died of the coronavirus. We still don't know whether children can get it and transmit it to others. -- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), explaining to Texans on KXAS-TV Dallas why opening schools was safe, July 10 ~~~
~~~ Katherine Fung of Newsweek (July 10): "Texans under the age of 19 have accounted for more than 1,700 of the state's confirmed cases of COVID-19. Earlier in April, a 17-year-old from Dallas died from complications due to coronavirus. There has also been an increase in infections among child care operations in Texas. Nearly 600 cases of the 1,799 reported cases in those businesses were among children, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.... A spokesperson for Cornyn told Newsweek that his remarks are being 'widely misinterpreted' for political reasons." Mrs. McC: If you misinterpreted Cornyn's remarks for political reasons, shame on you. Sorry I missed this earlier.
New York. Jennifer Peltz, et al., of NBC 4 New York: "New York City health officials reported zero deaths related to the novel coronavirus four months after the state's first official death was recorded on March 11. According to initial data reported by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, no one died from the virus in New York City on July 11. Officials recorded no confirmed deaths the day before as well, but did have two probable deaths. The department's data shows there hasn't been a day without a coronavirus-related death since March 13, two days after the first reported death."
Texas. The Consequences of Choosing Trump Over Fauci. Bryan Pietsch of the New York Times: "A 30-year-old man who believed the coronavirus was a hoax and attended a 'Covid party' died after being infected with the virus, according to a Texas hospital. The man had attended a gathering with an infected person to test whether the coronavirus was real, said Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, where the man died."
Trump Hits a Presidential* Milestone: 20,000 Lies & Counting. Glenn Kessler, et al., of the Washington Post: "It took President Trump 827 days to top 10,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker's database, an average of 12 claims a day. But on July 9, just 440 days later, the president crossed the 20,000 mark -- an average of 23 claims a day over a 14-month period, which included the events leading up to Trump's impeachment trial, the worldwide pandemic that crashed the economy and the eruption of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody. "The coronavirus pandemic has spawned a whole new genre of Trump's falsehoods. The category in just a few months has reached nearly 1,000 claims, more than his tax claims combined."
Justin Wise of the Hill: "President Trump late Saturday lashed out at a pair of Republican senators after they criticized his decision to commute the prison sentence of ... Roger Stone.... 'Do RINO'S Pat Toomey & Mitt Romney have any problem with the fact that we caught Obama, Biden, & Company illegally spying on my campaign? Do they care if Comey, McCabe, Page & her lover, Peter S,the whole group, ran rampant, wild & unchecked - lying & leaking all the way? NO!'"
Mariam Khan of ABC News: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., blasted Republicans for failing to stand up to the president and for not defending the 'rule of law,' after the president moved to commute the prison sentence of his longtime friend and former campaign adviser, Roger Stone. 'I think anyone who cares about the rule of law in this country is nauseated by the fact that the president has commuted the sentence of someone who willfully lied to Congress,' Schiff told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on 'This Week' Sunday.... When asked by Stephanopoulos if Trump's action was an impeachable offense, Schiff said it would be if Trump abused the pardon power to protect himself from criminal liability. But, Schiff noted, 'If the Republicans won't even say a word, of course they're not going to vote to impeach and convict.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Lindsey Suggests Bob Mueller Will Pay for Writing Op-Ed. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) suggested Sunday that former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may be invited to testify before his panel, although Graham did not give any details on the timing of any potential invitation. Graham's statement came one day after Mueller defended his office's prosecution of Roger Stone ... in a Washington Post op-ed.... In his statement Sunday, Graham suggested that he had reconsidered his position on allowing Mueller to testify in light of the former special counsel's op-ed. 'Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing -- and also capable -- of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post,' Graham said. 'Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Hillel Italie of the AP: "A top prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller has a book coming out this fall about the two-year investigation into the alleged ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign of ... Donald Trump. Random House announced Monday that Andrew Weissmann's 'Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation' will be published Sept. 29. Weissmann, often the target of criticism from Trump supporters, is calling the book a meticulous account of the Mueller team's probe and its ongoing battles with the Trump administration.... Weissmann said in a statement, '... the hard truth is that we made mistakes. We could have done more. 'Where Law Ends' documents the choices we made, good and bad, for all to see and judge and learn from.'" Mrs. McC: November 3 is more than 6 weeks into fall. Try to get prepublication copies out to reporters before that, Andrew.
Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's a part I accidentally left out of my outtakes from Michael Shear's NYT interview of Elaine Duke (linked yesterday), former acting Homeland Security secretary. I should have highlighted it: "She said she was especially taken aback, during the response to Hurricane Maria's devastation of Puerto Rico, when she heard Mr. Trump raise the possibility of 'divesting' or 'selling' the island as it struggled to recover. 'The president's initial ideas were more of as a businessman, you know,' she recalled. 'Can we outsource the electricity? Can we can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?' (She said the idea of selling Puerto Rico was never seriously considered or discussed after Mr. Trump raised it.)" Island Swap: Buy Greenland (white people); sell Puerto Rico (browner people).
Trumpty-Dumpty's Wall Could Fall Down, Ctd.
Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Sunday criticized a privately built border wall in South Texas that's showing signs of erosion months after going up, saying it was 'only done to make me look bad,' even though the wall was built after a months-long campaign by his supporters.... Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon joined the group's board and Trump ally Kris Kobach became its general counsel.... [Mrs. McC: Betsy DeVos's crazy brother Erik Prince was on the group's board, too.] The company that built the private section in January, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, has since won a $1.3 billion border wall contract from the federal government, the largest award to date. The section in question is a roughly 3-mile (5-kilometer) fence of steel posts just 35 feet (10 meters) from the Rio Grande.... That's much closer to the river than the government ordinarily builds border barriers in South Texas because of concerns about erosion and flooding that could violate U.S. treaty obligations with Mexico.... Originally promoted by [Trump backers] We Build the Wall, the private section instead became a showcase for Fisher.... [Fisher CEO Tommy Fisher] ... promoted his company heavily on Fox News and conservative media. Another $400 million contract Fisher won last year was placed under review by the defense department's inspector general." Related ProPublica/Texas Tribune story linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump, the Man with the Perfect Memory and Unbelievable Cognitive Skills, seems to have forgotten that way last year he had "personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News...," according to a May 2019 report in the Washington Post. "In phone calls, White House meetings and conversations aboard Air Force One during the past several months, Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps.... The push for a specific company has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials." At that time, Fisher had already begun to construct the We Build the Wall section that is failing on purpose to make Trump look bad. Everything you need to know about the Trump presidency* is reflected in this story. With any luck, there will come a gusher in the Southwest on November 2, and the wall will fall down.
Another Ridiculous TrumperWhopper. Daniel Politi of Slate: Donald Trump "took to Twitter Sunday to defend his frequent trips to the golf course saying ... that his predecessor 'played more and much longer rounds.' And that was 'no problem' but when he decides to play, 'Fake News, CNN, and others' go to great lengths to get a picture and show people how the president is playing golf. 'Actually, I play VERY fast, get a lot of work done on the golf course, and also get a "tiny" bit of exercise.'... Trump went to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, for the second time this weekend on Sunday, marking the 276th time he's visited a golf course as president.... In his whole first term in office, Obama played 113 rounds of golf, according to Golf Digest.... Trump's claim that he plays golf 'VERY fast' is also a bit suspect considering reports that it took hours for aides to reach Trump when he was golfing two weeks ago.... Even before he launched his campaign, Trump was fond of using his Twitter account to criticize Obama for playing golf."
Mark Meadows, Boy Detective. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has told several White House staffers he's fed specific nuggets of information to suspected leakers to see if they pass them on to reporters -- a trap that would confirm his suspicions.... This hunt for leakers has put some White House staffers on edge, with multiple officials telling Axios that Meadows has been unusually vocal about his tactics. So far, he's caught only one person, for a minor leak.... Trump has made clear to Meadows that an important part of his job is to 'find the leakers' -- a wickedly difficult task that has plagued all three of Meadows' predecessors."
Mike Jones of USA Today: "Just less than two weeks after one of his most prominent corporate sponsors [FedEx] urged him to change the name of his football team, Washington owner Daniel Snyder plans to announce the retirement of the 'Redskins' nickname and reveal a new team name Monday morning, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA Today Sports.... The new name remains unknown, but Warriors, Red Wolves and Redtails have ranked among the post popular choices among fans on social media. Snyder has long ignored requests of Native American tribes and other organizations to change the name because some deem the term offensive, citing the fact that the dictionary classifies it as a racial slur." Mrs. McC: Great choices, fans. Why not Injuns or Wagon Burners?
Ben Strauss of the Washington Post: "ESPN suspended its top NBA reporter, Adrian Wojnarowski, after he sent a profane email to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), multiple people familiar with the situation said Sunday.... The suspension came after Hawley tweeted an image of an email from Wojnarowski on Friday in which the reporter responded to a news release from the senator's office with an expletive. Hawley's release had publicized a letter he wrote to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Hawley criticized the league for deciding to allow messages that promote social justice on its jerseys this summer but not allow messages that support law enforcement or are critical of China's Communist Party. In the email sent to Hawley's press office, Wojnarowski wrote, 'F--- You,' without censoring the expletive." Mrs. McC: Woj's brief note seems appropriate to me.
Kevin Blackstone of the Washington Post reminds us of "the most athletic activist feat during an era in which we have come to celebrate the notion of athlete activism[:]... Bree Newsome ... scal[ing] a 30-foot flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina State House and snatch[ing] from its truck and finial with full dishonor a Confederate flag that flapped there..., as a rebuttal to racial justice for more than half a century.... She was arrested after coming down, flag in hand. '[Physicality] was significant,' Newsome Bass [now married] said. 'Because people see me do this labor of climbing up the pole as symbolic of the struggle to dismantle a white supremacist system.' A few weeks later, South Carolina removed the flag and stuck it in a museum." Newsome, who was not an athlete, got a Greenpeace activist to teach her how to climb a flagpole. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Flossie Wong-Staal, a molecular virologist who led research that helped produce seminal findings about HIV -- its genetic structure, the insidious manner in which it invades the immune system, and ways of detecting and treating it, died July 8 at a hospital in La Jolla, Calif. She was 73. The cause was complications from pneumonia not related to the novel coronavirus, said her daughter Stephanie Staal."
AP: "The body of 'Glee' star Naya Rivera was found Monday at a Southern California lake, authorities said. Ventura County Sheriff's officials confirmed at an afternoon news conference that the body that search crews found floating in the northeast corner of Lake Piru earlier in the day was the 33-year-old Rivera. The discovery came five days after ... Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru, where her son was found July 8 asleep and alone on a rented pontoon boat, authorities said. Authorities said the following day that they believed Rivera had drowned, and they had shifted to working to find her body rather than find her alive." ~~~
~~~ AP: "'Glee' star Naya Rivera's 4-year-old son told investigators that his mother, whose body was found in a Southern California lake Monday, boosted him back on to the deck of their rented boat before he looked back and saw her disappearing under the water, authorities said. 'She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself,' Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a news conference."
AP: "Kelly Preston, who played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in 'Jerry Maguire' to Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Twins,' died Sunday, husband John Travolta said. She was 57. Travolta said in an Instagram post Sunday that his wife of 28 years died after a two-year battle with breast cancer." Update: Preston's New York Times obituary is here.
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Reader Comments (19)
Somehow I'm willing to grant Dr. Fauci a little space for an error or two, even a substantive one that doesn't depend on quoting him incompletely or out of context for its "proof."
Two reasons for that: Anyone who talks to the public about a new disease as much as he has been called on to do is bound to get something or even some things wrong....
...and our new national benchmark: When his "errors" approach 20,000, I'll begin to take assertions of his fallibility seriously.
I learned something from this one:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/opinion/roger-stone-trump-mueller.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
The Mueller investigation and the Nixon investigation did not have to follow the same rules.
The deck was stacked, or (pick your metaphor) Mueller's hands were tied from the beginning.
@Ken Winkes: Maybe more significantly, Mueller had none of the latitude Ken Starr had, for instance, when he went poking around in Monica Lewinsky's closet. Starr was operating under a broad independent counsel statute enacted post-Nixon (since expired), and Starr, as Trump would say, "could do whatever he wanted," subject only to review by a three-judge panel & not by President Clinton or by Clinton's DOJ.
Nixon, of course, did have the power to fire the special counsel. And he did.
Thanks, Bea. Forgot (maybe wished to) that never-ending Starr investigation of all things Clinton.
Here's another take (other than my own from yesterday) on Lindsey graciously handing Mueller a mike.
https://www.salon.com/2020/07/12/the-rats-are-leaving-the-sinking-ship-lindsey-graham-agrees-to-let-robert-mueller-testify_partner/
MONEY FOR SOMETHIN AND THE CHICKS NOT FREE
Jane Mayer once again exposes the raw side in this in- depth piece on how Trump has helped tycoons exploit the pandemic. It's a long report highlighting the secretive titan behind one of America's largest poultry companies and is one of Trump's tippy top donors who is "ruthlessly leveraging" the virus crisis and his vast fortune to strip workers of protection.
This is another example––there are so many–- of how Fatty has "used" his position to exploit and denigrate people and systems willy nilly without a great hue and cry ––he's been able to chop his way through sometimes undetected because he's put his own people in charge–-and in this way he has acted like a warrior––killing off his enemies and planting his own flag on those sullied soils.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/how-trump-is-helping-tycoons-exploit-the-pandemic
@PD Pepe: Yeah, I've been thinking of how fractured the Republican party is, especially when compared to Democrats. You would think that one bully could not get away with running the party, especially when the GOP effectively controlled the other branches, at least until the 2018 election.
To an extent, the confederate Supremes have maintained their independence from Trump, but Republicans in Congress? Wouldn't you think that after Trump had sunk a few of them -- Bob Corker & Jeff Flake -- that they would band together & marginalize Trump? Not just make him a one-term president* but draft bills that could pass with a veto-proof majority? It isn't remotely possible they like him; most were against him until they were for him. But, with rare exceptions like Mitt Romney and "concerned" Susan Collins, they're all puckering up a la Lindsey Graham. Why can't Republican senatos organize against a guy who will try to kill them in a tweet for even showing mild disagreement? They must not trust each other.
@Mrs McC: That's basically it, there's no trust among the senators or congressmen. No one believes that if they stand up during a speech and yell "YOU LIE!!" that any of their colleagues would holler "DAMN RIGHT!!" Instead there'd be crickets, followed by a physical move away from the apostate.
And as embarrassing and possibly damaging to their own careers as their silent alliance with the Pretender might be, Republican officeholders are finally getting all the grift they want.
McConnell and his wife sure are, and they only lead the pack.
Corrupt Republican officeholders have never had it so good.
File this under 'couldn't happen to a nicer guy'. Not. Brad Parscale: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/parscale-hits-a-rough-patch-as-trumps-campaign-manager/2020/07/12/4c53cd50-c1f8-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html. I expect this rodent, along with his kins man Rove, to be scurrying behind the scenes for a long time to come. This beacon of ethical and moral decrepitude is young enough to use his power for far too long.
PDPepe,
Thank you for posting this excellent - and infuriating - New Yorker piece.
(The workers were charged for their own *subpar* PPE!?!)
“Unconscionable” appears within: a perfect descriptive.
(I’ll toss in “criminal”, legally and otherwise.)
No surprise as our fearless leader* and comrades have no conscience.
Utterly revolting.
Better not vote for Biden if you don't want to be raped by Willie Horton again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAPMbU0VW_4
There will be nothing subtle in the reelection propaganda for the next four months.
Yikes, PD: Just finished the Jane Mayer piece-- a perfect hodge-podge of religious fervor and abuse, political crap and anti-immigrant sentiment/business over all. That guy and his sister are the perfect trumpies. "Successful" business owners. Anti-union thugs. Rich yahoos. Religious (and racial) bigots. Uncaring blobs of flesh.
Disgusting human beings.
Asserting His Freedumb of Choice (from above)
“A 30-year-old man who believed the coronavirus was a hoax and attended a 'Covid party' died after being infected . . . “.
He’d wanted “. . . to test whether the coronavirus was real . . . “.
And his family and friends may still believe Covid-45 is a hoax.
Just now breaking headline on the Washington Post,:
U.S. budget deficit shattered one-month record in June, as spending outpaced revenue by $864 billion
Economics and the stock market, I don't get it. I even hear we are in a recession. We're in the midst of a pandemic with still high unemployment, people struggle to pay rent, mortgages, and buy food, big name retailers are filing for bankruptcy, closing stores, malls are nearly empty, etc., etc. ... why in hell does the market continue to go up and up.
Manipulation and corruption come to mind.
@MAG: There are a number of reasons, but I think the main one is reflected in what I gather is the subject of that New Yorker article PD Pepe recommended: the rich are still rich, and they are getting richer, thanks to Trump. So here's the thing: the rich have to put all that extra cash somewhere, and they don't usually choose the mattress. And of course the markets' "customers" skew rich.
Not only that, some companies, as -- again -- I gather the New Yorker story posits, are profiting from the pandemic: Amazon & Netflix, ferinstance. And, you know, we all still need toilet paper!
Moreover, the markets are more interested in what they think companies will do in the future, not what they're doing right now. Tech companies are the big market movers these days, & traders seem bullish on them -- in the long run. In the short run, a lot of parents may have spent their last dimes on new computers for their children's online learning regimens. Around here, some school districts have contributed to home computer purchases for their students.
Also, traders seem to be stupid enough to believe Donald Trump & Larry Kudlow; at least, they respond positively to Trump's pronouncements. So as long as he keeps saying, "The virus will disappear" and "We're doing great getting out a vaccine," "Blah, blah," traders respond with optimism.
In addition, the markets seem to have some trust in help from the government: Fed manipulation, unemployment insurance, small biz loans, etc.
One thing to remember: a bull market does not necessarily mean the economy is healthy. It might just mean a sector of the economy has money to invest.
Smarter people than I can certainly come up with some more sophisticated -- and valid -- reasons.
Samuelson is often a bit anodyne and by my lights not smarter than Bea, but this from him in yesterday's WAPO on the stubbornly rising market:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-stock-market-and-economy-have-parted-ways-its-a-fomo-market-now/2020/07/12/c14246d8-c2bf-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html
So, DeVos's big plan is to over crowd the classrooms by sending as many kids to the few schools that fully open to in-person teaching this fall?
RAS,
Or as I put it in a comment to a WAPO column earlier today:
Countries that have plans in place for reopening schools have plans...and all those plans are based on the assumption of an ambient low rate of Covid infection.
Plans and good numbers.
The United States has neither--and it has an administration that doesn't have the will or capacity to provide a plan or to get the Covid infection numbers down to an acceptably low level before reopening schools-because it just doesn't care.
Talk of a vaccine is nice, but what I really need is a simple, cheap test, like the spit test outlined in a NYT Op-Ed a week or so ago. If my colleagues and I could test and "know" (say 95% reliable) that we weren't going to kill each other, we could get a lot of work done. But most of us are still staying home.
It's the not knowing, coupled with the monumental stupidity and arrogance of the people who are supposed to be in charge, that sucks the soul right outta me.