;)
The Commentariat -- July 14, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Dana Rubinstein of the New York Times: "Mondaire Jones, a progressive candidate supported by the institutional left, was declared the victor in a crowded Democratic House primary in the suburbs north of New York City, all but ensuring that he will join Congress next year as among its first openly gay African-American members. The race was not called by The Associated Press until Tuesday, three weeks after the primary, even though Mr. Jones had a commanding advantage after the machine ballot count: He had twice as many votes as his closest competitor, Adam Schleifer. Mr. Jones's support grew as Primary Day drew closer, as Black Lives Matters protests galvanized voters across the district and allowed candidates, for the first time since the pandemic, to campaign in the open air." A Hill story is here.
Monica Alba & Carol Lee of NBC News: "... Donald Trump and Republican officials are preparing for the possibility of a fully outdoor convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month as coronavirus cases in the state shatter records, according to two GOP officials involved in the planning. The president met with his top political advisers at the White House on Monday to discuss how several events, scheduled for six weeks from now, could move from an indoor venue to several outside ones. The Republican National Committee, or RNC, has already contracted with several open-air arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters to more safely bring together attendees and delegates, but it's unclear how many people total will be allowed to gather." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Should be fun. Huge crowds of old white folks yelling & sharing their infected spit on hot, humid August nights with thunderstorms (or hurricanes!) in the forecast.
John Kruzel of the Hill: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized on Tuesday for treatment for a possible infection after experiencing fever and chills, according to a Supreme Court spokeswoman. The 87-year-old justice also underwent a procedure Tuesday 'to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August,' spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg added. 'The Justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment,' Arberg said."
Trump Sticks up for White People, Part 1. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday asserted that 'more' white Americans die at the hands of police than Black Americans and criticized a reporter for asking why African Americans are still dying in law enforcement custody. 'So are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask,' Trump told CBS News' Catherine Herridge when asked about the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police. 'So are white people. More white people, by the way. More white people.' Police departments are not mandated to report statistics on police killings, however studies have shown that police killings disproportionately impact Black Americans. A Washington Post analysis updated earlier this year found that the rate at which black Americans are killed by law enforcement officers is over twice as high as the rate for their white counterparts. White Americans, who make up a larger share of the U.S. population, account for more deaths at the hands of police overall." ~~~
~~~ Grace Segers of CBS News: "One study published in 2018 found that Black men are roughly 3.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than White men." ~~~
~~~ Trump Sticks up for White People, Part 2. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday defended a St. Louis couple that went viral after they stood outside their home brandishing weapons as a group of protesters marched by their house. 'They were going to be beat up badly, if they were lucky. OK? If they were lucky,' Trump asserted in an interview at the White House with the conservative outlet Townhall. 'They were going to be beat up badly, and the house was going to be totally ransacked and probably burned down like they tried to burn down churches,' the president continued. 'These people were standing there, never used it, and they were legal, the weapons,' Trump said. 'And now I understand somebody local they want to prosecute these people. It's a disgrace.' Mark and Patricia McCloskey made headlines late last month after video footage surfaced of them pointing guns at an informal Black Lives Matter protest that passed through their neighborhood en route to the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson (D)." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's weird reverie is a textbook example of white racist fantasy. The racist sees some black people walk by, and he immediately imagines the black people are going to beat him up -- or worse -- then ransack & burn down his house. I don't need to tell you this is insane. The St. Louis protesters, some of whom were white, showed no indication they planned to pay any attention to the McCloseys; they were on their way to yell at the mayor. ~~~
~~~ Trump Sticks up for White People*, Part 3. CBS News: "In an interview with CBS News' Catherine Herridge, President Trump said he considers flying the Confederate flag a 'freedom of speech' issue. (Video.) *Assuming here that 99.9% of confederate flag lovers are white.
When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is "hoax." When I think about climate change, the word I think of is "jobs." -- Joe Biden, in a speech Tuesday ~~~
~~ Katie Glueck & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced on Tuesday a new plan to spend $2 trillion over four years to significantly escalate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity and building sectors, part of a suite of sweeping proposals designed to create economic opportunities and build infrastructure while also tackling climate change. In a speech in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden built on his plans, released last week, for reviving the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with a new focus on enhancing the nation's infrastructure and emphasizing the importance of putting the United States on a path to significantly cut fossil fuel emissions."
Sahil Kapur & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Facing blowback and lawsuits, the Trump administration is rescinding its directive blocking international students from staying in the United States while taking online-only classes. U.S. District Court Judge Allison Dale Burroughs in Massachusetts announced Tuesday that the government and plaintiffs had reached a resolution in a lawsuit brought by Harvard University and MIT. The government was to rescind its July 6 rule that said foreign students on F-1 and M-1 visas would need to take at least some courses in person in order to legally remain in the U.S. in the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic." A developing story @3:40 pm ET.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here: "On Monday, California, Florida and Texas recorded at least 30,000 new cases, 18 percent of the global total. France celebrated public health workers as heroes during Bastille Day, a day after granting them pay raises.... After months of equivocation over mandating face coverings to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain announced on Tuesday that people in England would be required to wear masks inside shops and supermarkets."
Lily Altavena of the Arizona Republic: "In a news conference Monday..., Donald Trump was asked about Kimberly Lopez Chavez Byrd, an Arizona teacher who died after teaching a summer school class. Trump responded by saying schools should reopen. Byrd's summer school class was virtual, but she and two other teachers in the Hayden-Winkelman School District shared a classroom while they taught. All three teachers contracted COVID-19. Byrd died after she was admitted to the hospital. In Monday's briefing, a reporter asked Trump, 'What do you tell parents, who look at this, who look at Arizona where a school teacher recently died teaching summer school, parents who are worried about the safety of their children in public schools?'... He responded, 'Schools should be opened. Schools should be opened. Those kids want to go to school. You're losing a lot of lives by keeping things closed. We saved millions of lives while we did the initial closure.'" Mrs. McC: I wonder if Melanie's "I Really Don't Care" jacket comes in extra-large?
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Monday criticized the U.S. coronavirus testing process, calling his family's difficulties in obtaining tests and delays in the results 'inexcusable' in the seventh month of the pandemic, splitting from his former boss' repeated boasts about testing. 'I know it isn't popular to talk about in some Republican circles, but we still have a testing problem in this country,' Mulvaney wrote in an op-ed for CNBC. Mulvaney, who served in Congress before leading the White House budget office and becoming chief of staff, said his son had recently been tested for the virus and had to wait up to a week for the results, and that his daughter was turned away from getting a test before she went to visit her grandparents."
Former CDC Directors Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher & Richard Besser in a Washington Post o-ed: "The four of us led the CDC over a period of more than 15 years, spanning Republican and Democratic administrations alike. We cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence.... Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency's recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation's pandemic response. On Sunday, Education Secretary characterized the CDC guidelines as an impediment to reopening schools quickly rather than what they are: the path to doing so safely.... Unfortunately..., sound science is being challenged with partisan potshots, sowing confusion and mistrust at a time when the American people need leadership, expertise and clarity. These efforts have even fueled a backlash against public health officials across the country: Public servants have been harassed, threatened and forced to resign when we need them most."
David Edwards of RawStory: "A school district in Missouri is requiring parents to sign a waiver in case children become infected with COVID-19 and die. The 'waiver of liability' from Hazelwood School District was shared on Tuesday by attorney Natasha Scruggs. 'I feel sick reading it,' Scruggs said. The document asks parents to acknowledge that COVID-19 is a public health crisis and to relinquish their rights to hold the district responsible even if a student's death is 'caused by the negligence of carelessness' of school staff." --s
Today in Bubonic Plague News. Jon Haworth of ABC News: "Public health officials have announced that a squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague. The town of Morrison, Colorado, in Jefferson County, which is just west of Denver, made the startling announcement saying that the squirrel is the first case of plague in the county.... It is possible for humans to be infected with the bubonic plague through bites from infected fleas and by direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals such as a cough or a bite."
Trump, GOP Welcome Crazy Terrorists. Matthew Rosenberg & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "More than two years after QAnon, which the F.B.I. has labeled a potential domestic terrorism threat, emerged from the troll-infested corners of the internet, the movement's supporters are morphing from keyboard warriors into political candidates. They have been urged on by Mr. Trump, whose own espousal of conspiracy theories and continual railing against the political establishment have cleared a path for QAnon candidates. And even as party leaders publicly distance themselves from the movement, they are quietly supporting some QAnon-linked candidates -- demonstrating the thin line they are trying to walk between radical elements among their base and the moderate voters they need to win over.... It is a development that threatens to further alienate the kinds of traditional Republican voters who typically care about lowering taxes, not chasing imaginary Satanists from the government."
Hailey Fuchs of the New York Times: "Hours after the Supreme Court rejected a last-minute legal-challenge on a 5-4 vote, the Justice Department put a 47-year-old man to death for his role in the 1996 murder of a family of three, the first federal execution in more than 17 years. The death row prisoner, Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, a former white supremacist who renounced his ties to that movement, was executed by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., the Bureau of Prisons said. He is the first of three federal death row inmates scheduled for execution this week." A CNN story is here.
Whitewashing Racism. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "Tucker Carlson took out the old Fox News playbook on Monday night: When bad news surfaces, attack the people who broke it, and brush aside the unflattering substance.... Instead of detailing what Neff had posted on AutoAdmit, Carlson euphemized those postings...: 'What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We don't endorse those words. They have no connection to the show....'... The notion that, somehow, the innermost thoughts of the show's top writer have 'no connection to the show' is like saying that pizza sauce has no connection to pizza.... The prevailing emotion from Carlson isn't regret or remorse. It's anger -- anger that he has lost his top writer to a mob of 'ghouls.'... Carlson has spent his entire career as a Fox News prime-time host -- nearly four years -- skewering those who call out President Trump for being, well, racist, sexist and other offensive things.... There was no way that he was going to use his own show to call out racism by its name."
~~~~~~~~~~
Trip Gabriel, et al., of the New York Times: "Three states with vastly different electoral profiles are holding primary elections on Tuesday: Alabama, Maine and Texas. The marquee contests include a Republican primary for Senate in Alabama in which President Trump is pursuing a personal vendetta; a Democratic primary for Senate in Maine whose winner will take on the only Republican from New England in Congress; and runoffs in two Texas House districts that are expected to be tossups in November[.] ~~~
~~~ Today is primary election day in Maine. Texas and Alabama are holding primary election runoffs today. The linked Ballotpedia page has details.
Elaina Plott of the New York Times takes a look at the Alabama GOP U.S. Senate runoff election between Jefferson Beauregard Sessions And Tommy Tuberville.
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
There's no body count high enough for the President to pay attention to science. -- Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Monday on MSNBC
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Shear & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "A day after President Trump’s press office tried to undermine the reputation of the nation's top infectious disease expert with an anonymously attributed list of what it said were his misjudgments in the early days of the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci returned to the White House on Monday.... Dr. Fauci -- who has not had direct contact with the president in more than five weeks even as the number of Americans with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has risen sharply in the Southwest -- slipped back into the West Wing to meet with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, while his allies denounced what they called a meanspirited and misguided effort by the White House to smear him." ~~~
~~~ Laurie McGinley & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "A White House effort to undermine Anthony S. Fauci has drawn rebukes from public health experts, scientists and mostly Democratic politicians, who argue it is dangerous for the Trump administration to disparage a highly respected government infectious-disease expert as the novel coronavirus continues to exact a heavy toll on the nation.... Joe Biden ... tweeted Monday that 'Donald Trump needs to spend less time playing golf and more time listening to experts like Dr. Fauci.'... 'It's shocking,' said Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges.... [MEANWHILE,] Top White House aide Dan Scavino, the White House social media director and deputy chief of staff for communications, on late Sunday shared a cartoon on his Facebook page mocking Fauci. It depicted Fauci as a faucet spewing cold water on the economy, with phrases written alongside, including 'schools stay closed this fall,' 'indefinite lockdown' and 'no NFL season.'" ~~~
~~~ 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?'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ "Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "With tweets, impromptu interviews and unscripted remarks, President Trump has increasingly undermined the public health message of his own government, adding a sense of confusion to what has been a disjointed and ineffective response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Public health experts say Trump's efforts to deflect blame for the surging virus have become yet another distraction making it harder to slow the spread of a covid-19.... 'When the president is calling the guidance wrong and endorsing the view that these public health experts are lying, it makes it incredibly difficult for the public to know what to do...,' said [Dr. Ben Sommers, a Harvard U. professor of public health]. 'It erodes the long-term ability of our government to provide one of its basic goals which is to protect the public safety.'... White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany used a news briefing Monday to defend ... criticisms of [Dr. Anthony] Fauci and reinforce the president's attacks on the government's health experts." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: BTW, Akhilleus provides a handy test in today's Comments which lists alternative sources of information on the coronavirus. In his subtle way, Akhilleus also hints at the best answer to to the test
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a dramatic rollback in the state's reopening plan, ordering a wide swath of businesses to end indoor operations as coronavirus case numbers continued to climb in the nation's largest state -- and well beyond. Restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and museums were told to shut down their indoor operations, while bars were closed even for outdoor service. In hard-hit counties, hair salons, malls and fitness centers were also shuttered.... School leaders in Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta said their districts will begin the year online, rather than in person. Oregon's governor banned gatherings of more than 10 people inside and ordered face coverings for those who venture out. The Chicago Marathon -- not planned until mid-October -- was canceled for only the second time in its history. Meanwhile, Miami was declared the latest epicenter of the epidemic,' and a senior medical official compared it to Wuhan at the height of China's struggles with the virus." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
Texas. 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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kenya Evelyn of the Guardian: "Black and Latino people in America represent nearly a third of all cases [of Covid-19] and have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as their White counterparts. Many health experts contend the data underscores how racial bias shapes not just policy, but also public behavior during health crises. Not only are Black and Latino Americans more likely to lack health insurance ;or live in areas without quality facilities, unconscious racial bias among medical professionals can also contribute to unequal health outcomes, with patients of color more likely to have their symptoms overlooked or pain disbelieved. Some experts point to people of color who later died of Covid-19 who were previously turned away as evidence of bias playing out in the pandemic." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This seems very likely to me. Years ago, studies showed this same sort of bias against women among medicos. Doctors were apt to attribute women's complaints about pain to hysterical hypochondria while they took men's complaints seriously. In addition, pharmaceutical trials were likely to be made only on men, so the effects of drugs on women were essentially unknown when the products went on the market.
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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Turns out Bob Mueller didn't much care for that stupid statement either: ~~~
~~~ Katelyn Polantz & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Former special counsel Robert Mueller chose to break his silence and defend his investigation this weekend after weeks of contemplating doing so, in part because an inflammatory and factually incorrect White House statement attacked his prosecution of ... Roger Stone, according to multiple sources familiar with the Mueller team.... Mueller has considered publicly defending his former office and their findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election for months -- especially after the Justice Department reversed his decision to prosecute former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the sources said.... The attacks by the White House justifying Stone's commutation on Friday finally pushed him to speak out and break away from his strict approach to stay above the political fray." ~~~
~~~ "That Would Be a Crime." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Attorney General William "Barr made his extraordinary intervention in the [Roger] Stone case in February, watering down a tough sentencing recommendation that Trump had criticized. The move filled out a picture of an attorney general repeatedly injecting himself in ways that protected Trump and his allies. But then Trump commuted Stone's sentence Friday, meaning the number of years Stone received didn't even wind up mattering. And The Washington Post and others are reporting that Trump did this despite the counsel of Barr, who earlier in the week labeled Stone's prosecution 'righteous.'... During his confirmation hearing last year..., Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) [asked Barr,] 'Do you believe a President could lawfully issue a pardon in exchange for the recipient's promise to not incriminate him?' Barr [answered,] 'No. That would be a crime.'... While Trump said he commuted Stone's sentence because the prosecution was unjust, Barr repeatedly affirmed in his ABC News interview that the prosecution was indeed appropriate and that Stone deserved his jail time."
David A. Fahrenthold & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: A deputy White House counsel allowed Donald Trump "a second 45-day extension to file his personal financial disclosure forms..., according to a letter released by the White House. The forms are supposed to detail Trump's income, debt, stock holdings and outstanding loans for 2019. They were originally due May 15, but Trump got an extension until the end of June. On June 29, Scott Gast, deputy counsel to the president, granted Trump a second extension, until Aug. 13, according to the letter. Federal law allows only two such extensions. Gast's letter said that the extension was given for 'good cause,' but did not specify what that cause was. A White House spokesperson said Trump 'has a complicated report, and he's been focused on addressing the coronavirus and other matters.' Trump appears to be the only president since 2001 to need an extension for his financial disclosure filing. For the public, Trump's filings have provided a valuable -- and rare -- insight into the president's ongoing partnerships, loans and income streams." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is ridiculous. (1) Trump doesn't prepare his own financial forms. (2) Trump has not been "addressing the coronavirus." He has been watching the teevee and tweeting the vile things the crazy people say. When he isn't riding a cart around one of his golf courses.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House is planning to quickly revisit its effort to obtain President Donald Trump's personal financial records, urging the Supreme Court on Monday night to take its final formal steps on the matter so lawmakers can reignite the issue in the lower courts. In a filing late Monday, the House's top lawyer, Douglas Letter, urged the justices to immediately effectuate their July 9 ruling on the House's subpoena for Trump's records. Once the ruling is in force, the House can return to the U.S. District Court judge who initially heard the case and ask for renewed consideration." --s
Ted Johnson of Deadline: "A New York Supreme Court judge has lifted a restraining order that prevented Mary Trump from publicizing her new tell-all book about her uncle ... Donald Trump, and his family. Robert Trump, the president's brother, had sought a court action to stop the publication of the book, Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. He claimed that Mary Trump was bound by a confidentiality agreement that was included in the 2001 settlement of the estate of Fred Trump Sr., the family patriarch. But Judge Hal Greenwald wrote that the confidentiality clause was too broad, concluding that it had 'too many words, with too many meanings. The cost of the litigation that was settled should have been finalized with more specifics, more clarity, if the current situation was even comprehended, at the time the Agreement was signed.'" The decision is here.
** Martyn Mclaughlin of The Scotsman: "In what would be one of the most ambitious and expensive foreign projects undertaken by Donald Trump's family business since he assumed the presidency, his company has commissioned a detailed masterplan to develop as many as 225 properties, as well as leisure facilities and shops, on an expanse of rolling farmland adjacent to Turnberry's lauded Ailsa course.... [T]he Trump Organisation has yet to formally submit a planning application.... Scotland on Sunday has obtained a series of documents ... spell[ing] out the company's grand ambitions for the 114 year old resort, arguably the most prestigious of all Trump's properties.... [The project, which is] far bolder and bigger in scale than anything it has previously proposed at Turnberry has sparked concerns and renewed questions about Trump's financing.... What is self-evident is that the Trump Organisation plans to spend considerably more money on an asset which has remained stubbornly in the red." --s
Washington Post: “Months of growing animosity between Beijing and Washington escalated again Monday, when China slapped sanctions on four U.S. officials -- including three Republican members of Congress -- and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared most of China's maritime claims in the South China Sea 'completely unlawful.'... Pompeo's remarks on the South China Sea came just hours after China announced sanctions on four U.S. officials, including prominent Republican senators Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.), for 'interfering in China's internal affairs/ through their condemnation of Beijing's human rights abuses in the country's Xinjiang region. The other Americans targeted are Sam Brownback, the Trump administration's ambassador for international religious freedom, and Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.)."
** All the Best People, Ctd. Patrick Tucker of Defense One: "The Pentagon's new 33-year-old head of research and engineering lacks a basic science degree but brings deep connections to Donald Trump and controversial Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel.... Defense officials announced Monday that Michael Kratsios, formerly the White House's chief technology officer, would serve as acting undersecretary for research and engineering, a post that oversees top-priority projects in hypersonics, quantum computing, microelectronics, and other fields.... Kratsios graduated from Princeton with a bachelor's degree in political science and a focus on ancient Greek democracy." --s
Elections 2020
Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: As new Covid-19 cases surge in Florida, top Republicans are not committed to attending the National Convention in Jacksonville. "The G.O.P., which moved the convention to Jacksonville from Charlotte, N.C., after balking at health precautions there, now finds itself locked into a state with a far bigger virus problem, and planning an event whose attendance is waning as the pandemic escalates. 'Everybody just assumes no one is going,' said Representative Darin LaHood of Illinois, an honorary state co-chairman for the Trump campaign.... Locally elected delegates and R.N.C. members, who were more inclined to go.... Last month the [Democratic] party moved its event to a smaller venue and instructed delegates to stay home from Milwaukee, as the party transitions to a virtual gathering."
Michael Blood of the AP: "More than 100,000 mail-in ballots were rejected by California election officials during the March presidential primary.... The California secretary of state's election data obtained by the AP showed 102,428 mail-in ballots were disqualified in the state's 58 counties, about 1.5% of the nearly 7 million mail-in ballots returned.... While polling places include workers who can assist people who have questions about filling out ballots, a voter doesn't have support at home and so problems can arise.... The most common problem, by far, in California was missing the deadline for the ballot to be mailed and arrive.... Statewide, 70,330 ballots missed those marks. Another 27,525 either didn't have a signature, or the signature didn't match the one on record for the voter."
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Benjamin Weiser & Nicole Hong of the New York Times: "When F.B.I. agents went to arrest Ghislaine Maxwell on the morning of July 2 on a remote property in New Hampshire, they broke through her locked gate, approached the front door and announced themselves, telling her to open the door, federal prosecutors said in newly filed court papers on Monday. Through a window, the agents saw her ... flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting the door behind her.... The agents forcibly entered and took Ms. Maxwell into custody. Prosecutors said that during a search of the house, investigators found a cellphone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk -- which they interpreted as 'a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection' by law enforcement.... After her arrest, a private security guard who worked on the property told the F.B.I. that Ms. Maxwell's brother had hired former British military members to protect her in New Hampshire, the prosecutors said in their filing Monday."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Tucker Takes Another Spontaneous "Long-Planned" Vacation. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The Fox News star Tucker Carlson said on Monday evening that he would leave on a vacation, starting immediately, days after a writer on his program, Blake Neff, resigned over racist, sexist and misogynist messages that Mr. Neff published pseudonymously on an online message board. Mr. Carlson told viewers that he would return to his show next week and described the vacation as 'long planned,' suggesting that his time off had been set before Mr. Neff was revealed on Friday as the author of the offensive posts. It was not the first time that Mr. Carlson has announced that he would take a break from the anchor chair in the immediate aftermath of a sensitive moment for his prime-time program. Last August, Mr. Carlson went on vacation two days after he likened white supremacy to a 'hoax,' saying it was 'actually not a real problem in America.'..." Carlson called Neff's writings "wrong," "but we should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man, that self-righteousness also has its costs." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Whether 'tis more ghoulish to declaim against those of darker complexion and of the fairer sex, or to decry such slings and arrow, that is the question. ~~~
~~~ David Bowder of the AP: "Carlson, who said the online commentary by Blake Neff had no connection to his show, said he would be taking the rest of the week off to go trout fishing." Mrs. McC: A word to the artful angler: the fish rots from the head, Tucker.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Hong Kong. Strangling Democracy. Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "China has declared primaries held by Hong Kong's pro-democratic parties on the weekend 'illegal' and the city's leader has announced an investigation, saying that the candidates' intention to vote against government legislation could break national security laws. The primary polls, while not a formal part of Hong Kong's election process, drew an estimated 600,000 people out to vote for democracy candidates ahead of the legislative council elections scheduled for September. The extraordinary turnout in the face of warnings by authorities was interpreted by observers as an act of opposition to the national security laws imposed by Beijing on 30 June." --s
North Korea. Fred Kaplan of Slate: "A little-noticed statement last week by the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un indicates that no more arms talks will be held anytime soon and even that the deal Kim offered at last year's summit with ... Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam -- to shut down one nuclear reactor in exchange for the lifting of all U.S. sanctions since 2016 -- is now off the table.... Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of the Workers' Party of Korea's Central Committee and a woman of steadily growing power who has spoken on her older brother's behalf several times in recent months, said on Friday that another summit with Trump would be 'unpractical' and 'not serve us at all.'" --s
Poland. 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%." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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So here we are in the middle of a deadly worldwide pandemic that’s infected millions of Americans and killed 140,000 in this country alone.
You need expert medical advice on how to protect yourself and your family and friends from this deadly infectious disease. Do you listen to:
A. A game show host who tells you its all a lie...
B. A third rate TV personality who weaseled his way into the White House who tells you to sacrifice your kids so he can be re-elected...
C. Ignorant dolts on state TV who can’t tell the difference between a scalpel and a steak knife...
D. Idiots who attend COVID parties to prove it’s harmless only to end up dead...
E. A self certified eye poker who tells you that thinking happy thoughts is the cure...
Or...
F. An expert in infectious diseases.
?
If you select anything other than F, you must be the person who consults the kid shining shoes at the bowling alley about the best retirement investment strategies.
Chuck fucking Woolery? Is this a joke? This shit gets stupider by the hour.
Gutless Coward, pt. 886
As Fatty has his goons attack the only person in this mendacious train wreck of an administration with concern for human life and the qualifications to comment knowledgeably about threats in that direction, Dr. Anthony Fauci, he himself shrugs his shoulders and whines that it’s not him doing it, that he likes Fauci, that there’s no concerted effort to undermine and sideline him. His blond bimbo liar of a “press secretary” tries to say so as well, and concluded, sneakily, that anyone suggesting that might be the case is lying.
These are assholes trying to get away, again, with cowardly donnie’s standard trick of saying “What you just saw with your own eyes never happened. You must be lying”.
If you want to be shut of the guy and his extremely qualified and absolutely vital advice in the midst of a raging pandemic, then fire him and retweet the blithering idiocy of some game show mook, please have the balls to just do it.
But cowardly donnie can’t do that. I suppose he thinks he’s really slick, like the time he muttered, out the side of his mouth, like a truculent ten year old, that paying no taxes makes him smart.
He always thinks he’s the smartest person in the room when he’s dumber (and less useful) than a chair leg.
And a lot more craven.
In a couple of days we’ll be treated to Mike Pompeo’s idea of what constitutes human rights, who gets ‘em, and who don’t.
This should be good.
“White, Christian Trump supporters, rights.”
“Everyone else, nada.”
Might as well task a dog with determining who gets the bone.
The story posted above about wholly-unqualified Michael Kratsios, now in charge of the Pentagon's most advanced projects, is one of the starkest examples (among many) demonstrating why every single country that wants to stunt America's standing in the world will do everything they can to support Drumpf's reelection.
Guaranteed Putin and Xi are laughing their asses off about this.
Imagine the eye rolls going on within the walls of the Pentagon as world-class experts discuss hypersonics, quantum computing, and microelectronics with a 33 year old BA student specialized in Greek democracy. Hopefully he just hides in his office and robo-signs every document that comes before him. That would be the best scenario.
Safari,
That story also caught my eye, not the young man's blank scientific slate so much as his undergraduate speciality and how that interest might have led him into the Pretender's orbit.
Greek democracy, huh?
Maybe there is a connection. According to Wikipedia, Athenian democracy, pretty much all of the democracy ancient Greece offered, looked like this:
"For a long time, democracy in Athens was a sort of elitist political system, for only wealthy men (read: owners of properties) who had served in the military. Later on, the right of vote was extended to all Athenian men above the age of 20, which amounted to about 10 percent of the population."
The democrach for me but not for thee of Ancient Greece does have a familiar ring.
HIDDEN FIGURES:
Andrew Wiessmann, a senior prosecutor in the Mueller probe, says in spite of the president's commutation, prosecutors can call Roger Stone before a grand jury––we can still get the truth from this guy. Since Barr wasn't keen on Trump's act, perhaps he might encourage this move?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/opinion/roger-stone-trump-grand-jury.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
One could, if one wished, to look at this Trump versus the Covid 19 as some kind of boxing contest. Fatty comes into the ring, arms swinging wildly, pounding his chest, and wearing his red MAG cap so he doesn't muss up his "Do." The unmasked crowd goes wild as they watch their beloved box the invisible opponent. At the end of the first round Fatty raises both arms, the bell rings and he's the champion––he's foiled the foe because he says so and the people roar and stamp their feet, thrilled at such a defeat. It won't matter that it's all smoke and mirrors because for so many that's the world they live in and even though half that crowd will get sick and many die, it still won't matter––like a religious
belief, it embeds itself.
Thanks to safari and Ken for bringing attention to the Michael Kratsio story–-somehow I missed it. If this were a film scenario we could have such fun with it; sadly, it's as ridiculous as it is dangerous in its consequences.
"Hopefully he just hides in his office and robo-signs every document that comes before him. That would be the best scenario."
As an undergrad, I earned a minor in anthropology. I am just thrilled to learn that qualifies me to be head of NASA. That's so cool because I always liked rocket ships.
P.S. I once lived in Orlando, and a la Sarah Palin, I could see NASA launches from my house. So overqualified.
I would so like to be at the hearing with Judge Berman Jackson to review that stupid statement.
Judge: "Can you please explain the first sentence of the fourth paragraph where the presidunce has written 'Not only was Mr. Stone charged by overzealous prosecutors pursing a case that never should have existed...'"
Counsel: "That means that the prosecutors' thought they had Stone in the bag."
Regarding the latest frighteningly unqualified promotion of a Fatty Myrmidon to an important position in the Pentagon, I think it’s a Delphic Oracle too far to attribute this guy’s interest in Ancient Greek history to his present position, even though I had a similar reaction to Ken’s on reading about his “qualifications”. Trump hates all forms of democracy he can’t jimmy. He knows as much about Athenian politics as he does nuclear physics.
The only qualification for being placed in important government positions is a slavish fealty to the Orange Menace, and a desire to rat out “traitors” to the great king, as well as a proclivity for fucking up government agencies deemed insufficiently loyal.
Still and all, it would be cause for mirth were it not the umpteenth example of this sort of rotten, solipsistic corruption.
Aeschylus might be able to devise an appropriate response. I’m too concerned with running these fuckers through.
I am as incensed as you all when Dumpiepants goes all wide-eyed innocent when asked if he likes Anthony Fauci-- why sure he does-- even though Fauci has made "great mistakes" and he can't imagine who is implying that Fauci isn't a great guy... What a bastard, the presidunce. Is there ANYTHING you could possibly say positively about him, except that he is positively the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, no exceptions...? Answering own question: no. I am including all the authoritarians/countries we traditionally dislike/deplore: N. Korea, Brazil, Venezuela, Phillippines, Turkey, Russia-- none of them are as dangerous as our own home-grown, disgusting terrorist/presidunce/wretched human being.
Here are some musings on Cancel Culture from Ross Douthat: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/opinion/cancel-culture-.html. I bring it up, in part because of AK's comment, "Chuck fucking Woolery?". According to Wiki: he's a multiply divorced guy, who breeds and "who volunteers in ministry". Cancel this guy. I got comic books with more intellectual scope than Woolery.
Why Douthat worries is because as a member of the pervasive species (white, christian, male with a soapbox) he is in decline. He's the guy to get cancelled. The contortions necessary for self-preservation are displayed daily by the GOP. I bring up Cancel Culture because I live in a county half the square miles of Massachusetts with a fraction of the population of Framingham. Lots of people act like my opinion about my home doesn't matter so much because half my county is owned by the federal government. I'm a resident, yet still cancelled, marginalized. The question with Cancel Culture is the degree of imposition of one set of views and the disqualification of another set of views based on what? Was it listening and reason, was one culture emotionally cancelled without patience for the other; was it intellectual arrogance like Ivy League know-it-all-ism? I think here of the Japanese respect for older people. They don't get cancelled like some much detritus. The GOP & Fox in the US are killing respect for older people that won't return anytime soon. As has been demonstrated clearly by the GOP and FOX cancellation without nuance, like recognizing statues of traitors or coersing subordinates into sexual affairs, like Orange Turd, really messes with a clear line between right and wrong. Most 9 year olds know lying is wrong; once they've become Fox-bots and GOP goobers they lose the lessons of their 9 year old selves. Then they deserve to be cancelled.
The Hazelwood School District waiver?
Sounds like a Pretender rally to me.
We have seen dozens (hundreds?) of times the phenomena today acted out by Mick Mulvaney. Conservative/GOP person only understands a problem exists when it manifests in his/her own family. Mick's boy has to wait a week for test results? Gosh, there is a problem in this country with testing.
These folks do have a hard time generalizing phenomena, until their personal ass gets bitten. It's kind of hard to govern with that handicap.
Patrick,
So true, but for Republicans the failure to generalize (for Mulvaney, anyway) a weakness more of heart than head.
Which made him a perfect Republican selection to lead the CFPB.
I think he made his money in the private sector practicing for the role.
@Patrick: Excellent point. The reporter refers to Mulvaney's personal experience with a system that didn't bow to his will as an "anecdote," which is correct. But it's an "anecdote" that tens of thousands of Americans -- myself included -- also have experienced in one form or the other. Anecdotes have particular value when they exemplify a broader situation.