The Commentariat -- July 25, 2021

David Montgomery in the Washington Post Magazine: "Progressives want a dramatic de-Trumpification of the Justice Department. But the attorney general [Merrick Garland] has a different theory of how to heal America.... He stands as a kind of radical institutionalist, a stickler for regular order, a true believer in the norms and processes put in place after Watergate that weathered nearly every storm until Trump.... He is leaving it to existing departmental structures -- mainly the inspector general's office -- to address problems on a case-by-case basis.... In [his] critics' view, the previous Justice Department wasn't normal, so deference to its debatable decisions amounts to a perversion of justice masquerading as institutionalism." MB: Quite a long piece & worth reading -- or at least scanning -- if you have a WashPo subscription.

Brianna Crummy of Politico: "Speaking in Phoenix [Saturday] at a Turning Point USA gathering, [Donald] Trump hailed what he called Arizona Senate Republicans' 'full forensic audit' of results in Maricopa County, while continuing to promulgate baseless conspiracy theories about the election he lost to Joe Biden.... 'This is only the beginning of the irregularities,' he insisted, reeling off a litany of polling grievances, none of which his team of lawyers was able to substantiate in court after the election.... At one point Trump falsely intimated he could return as president before the next presidential election. In lengthy diatribes on his loss, he blamed Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Vice President Mike Pence and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, while defending the actions of his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. 'Like it or not we are becoming a Communist county,' he said...."

Digby in Salon: Republicans' "anti-government [message] worked well for the wealthy benefactors who paid these politicians handsomely to keep their taxes low and regulations scarce. They also used that message to persuade voters that the government was trying to oppress them with everything from creeping communism to affirmative action and women's rights.... Over time they were able to demagogue the issue so thoroughly that average Republicans routinely voted against their own interests.... Fast forward to 2020 and the first global pandemic in a hundred years with an incompetent narcissist in charge. Between his ineptitude and self-serving desire to pretend that the crisis didn't exist and the years of mistrust in the government, the U.S. ended up with an epic disaster and half the population refusing to acknowledge it existed.... The problem is that the virus is spreading, restrictions have been lifted and the Republican base is refusing to save itself. The anti-government chickens have finally come home to roost --and they're killing Republicans."

Andrew Singleton of McSweeney's gets hold of a speech by an unnamed medieval landholder who warns of impending social upheaval: "You see, my fellow land-owning gentry, it seems that the invention of mechanized industry, the rise of 'capitalism,' and the impact of the recent plague have brought upon us a wave of moral degradation and irredeemable sloth -- specifically, nobody wants to be a serf anymore." Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Sarah Kaplan & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "This disastrous summer [of fire & floods] is yet another portent of what humanity faces in coming decades if the world does not take dramatic steps to protect ecosystems and curb use of fossil fuels, scientists say.... Scientists have repeatedly warned that the planet remains on track to exceed a critical threshold for warming within a decade, a change that will accelerate the loss of sea ice, extinction of species and a dramatic escalation of weather extremes. Yet experts and activists believe this moment also offers a rare opportunity to change course -- possibly the last such opportunity before many effects of climate change become irreversible."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times notices we are experiencing the apocalypse now.

A Montana Man Did What We All Want to Do. Sara Boboltz of the Huffington Post: "When a local fly fishing guide spotted noted vaccine skeptic Tucker Carlson at a sporting goods store in Livingston, Montana, he did not waste time. 'You are the worst human being known to mankind. I want you to know that,' Dan Bailey can be heard telling the Fox News host in a video posted to his Instagram page Friday night.... In his Instagram caption, Bailey wrote, 'This man has killed more people with vaccine misinformation, he has supported extreme racism, he is a fascist and does more to rip this country apart than anyone that calls themselves an American.'... [In the shaky video,] Carlson, in a plaid button-down and a gold watch, can be seen holding his hand up against Bailey's chest, making his trademark exaggerated facial expressions. He appears to grimace, and then, realizing he is being filmed, spreads his mouth into a grin and turns away." MB: Apparently a gold watch is part of a fly-fishing outfit.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "A conservative radio host in Tennessee who had expressed unwillingness to be vaccinated is now hospitalized with Covid pneumonia and urging his listeners to get the shots. Phil Valentine, 61, whose show airs on 99.7 WTN in Nashville, contracted the virus about a week ago, the station said in a statement on Friday." MB: Why do wingnuts have to get deathly ill before they become believers? Would they jump from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa before they believed in gravity?

Florida. Nada Hassanein of USA Today, republished in Yahoo! News: "Florida leads the nation in new [Covid-19] cases, recording more this week than California, Texas, New York and Illinois combined. And like elsewhere, the unvaccinated make up nearly all of the hospitalized and the dead." The story cites some Floridians' brilliant "reasons" for not getting vaccinated. The USA Today story is firewalled but is free on Yahoo! News.

Beyond the Beltway

Allan Smith & Jane Timm of NBC News: "Republicans seeking to change state voting laws in the face of opposition from Democratic governors or unwilling legislatures are zeroing in on another path -- enacting fresh restrictions via ballot initiatives. In Michigan and Pennsylvania, key battlegrounds that President Joe Biden flipped back blue in 2020, as well as in Massachusetts, Republicans are at the beginning stages of a lengthy process to put proposed limits directly to the voters. Voting rights advocates who connect the moves to the proliferation of restrictive voting laws advanced in states where the GOP enjoys total control say they fear those efforts will prove successful and spread to other states where such initiatives are legally possible."

Georgia Senate Race. Brian Slodysko of the AP: "At first glance, Herschel Walker has a coveted political profile for a potential Senate candidate in Georgia. He was a football hero at the University of Georgia before his long NFL career. He's a business owner whose chicken products are distributed across the U.S. And he's a Black conservative with backing from ... Donald Trump, a longtime friend. But an Associated Press review of hundreds of pages of public records tied to Walker's business ventures and his divorce, including many not previously reported, sheds new light on a turbulent personal history that could dog his Senate bid. The documents detail accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife's life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior."

Ohio Senate Race Brings Out the Stupid. Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Venture capitalist and Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance spoke on Friday about the 'cultural wars' being waged by the left and took aim at politicians without children who 'don't have a personal indirect stake' in improving the country.... He noted that potential future presidential candidates in the Democratic Party, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), all do not have children." MB: Harris has children, altho she is not their birth mother; Buttigieg & his husband have said they plan to have children; Booker & Ocasio-Cortez are not married, but there's no reason they couldn't have children in the future (AOC is 31 years old). These kinds of meaningless personal attacks really irritate me. Vance is married with children; his wife was a law clerk for John Roberts & Bart O'Kavanaugh. Vance wrote the best-selling "white-trash 'splainer" Hillybilly Elegy.

Oklahoma. Annie Gowen & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: When the Supreme Court decided last year "in McGirt v. Oklahoma ... that a large part of eastern Oklahoma is still Indian country..., [it also ruled that] prosecution of Native Americans for crimes in the expanded Indian country must be carried out in federal and tribal courts, rather than by state or local officials. It was celebrated across the country by Native Americans last July, who saw it as a historic affirmation of treaties signed with the U.S. government in the 1800s. But in the year since, the ruling has upended Oklahoma's criminal justice system, imperiled convictions in thousands of cases, sowed confusion for police and emergency responders and led to the direct release of more than 50 criminals convicted on charges including second-degree murder and child abuse.... And there may be wider impacts for the region, which covers 19 million acres in eastern Oklahoma, includes a portion of ... Tulsa, and is home to 1.8 million people.

Way Beyond

Hungary. Saskya Vandoorne, et al., of CNN: "Some 30,000 people have joined the annual Pride celebrations in Budapest on Saturday, organizers say, with attendees marching in colorful outfits across the Hungarian capital in support of inclusion and freedom. But this year, Pride is also a protest, as LGBTQ people and their allies rally against the country's increasingly hostile policy towards their communities -- punctuated by a new, homophobic law recently passed by Hungary's hardline government.... The new law, supported by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, bans all educational materials and programs for children that are considered to promote homosexuality and gender reassignment. Off the back of fierce international criticism, including a scolding assessment (and a push for its repeal) by the European Union, of which Hungary is a member, Orbán has proposed to hold a referendum that will ask the public if they support the 'promotion' of content related to sexual orientation to children."

Japan. The New York Times' live updates of the Olympic games Saturday are here. ~~~

~~~ Karen Mizoguchi of People: "For her first day of spectating at the pandemic-delayed Games, a mask-wearing Dr. [Jill] Biden, dressed in an official Team USA Ralph Lauren ensemble, cheered on the women's 3x3 basketball team for the sport's Olympic debut. The first lady, who was seated one row behind French President Emmanuel Macron, was seen jumping to her feet and clapping near the end of the game when Team USA defeated No. 1-ranked France 17-0.... Shortly after the conclusion of the game, Dr. Biden, who is on her first solo international outing, was seen at the aquatic center where she cheered on the U.S. swimmers during the evening preliminary heats and was seen waving and happily clapping as several Team USA athletes qualified."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bob Moses, a soft-spoken pioneer of the civil rights movement who faced relentless intimidation and brutal violence to register Black voters in Mississippi in the 1960s, and who later started a national organization devoted to teaching math as a means to a more equal society, died on Sunday at his home in Hollywood, Fla. He was 86." Moses' AP obituary is here.

New York Times: "Jackie Mason, whose staccato, arm-waving delivery and thick Yiddish accent kept the borscht belt style of comedy alive long after the Catskills resorts had shut their doors, and whose career reached new heights in the 1980s with a series of one-man shows on Broadway, died on Saturday in Manhattan."

Comments

[Procopius]

That speech "by a medieval landowner" is in modern English. I don't know when it's supposed to be set in, but the Black Death was in the 14th Century. I expect you and your regulars are smart enough to recognize that it's satire, and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, it says McSweeneys is a daily humor site. Frankly, I don't find that kind of thing funny. Sorry, I'll go back to lurking, but that kind of thing really angers me.

[Marie Burns]

@Procopius: You must think Reality Chex readers are alarmingly stupid or naive. Nobody who reads the post will think an actual "medieval landowner" wrote or spoke Singleton's post. It's obviously a riff on today's situation, and that isn't something you need to tell us. (BTW, if Singleton had written in actual Old or Middle English, only the few English language scholars among us would have understood it.)

You seem to be missing a funny bone. I cannot think why a little humor "angers" you, unless it's because for some reason the joke hits too close to home.

[PD Pepe]

GOD-LIKE FACES FACE FACEBOOK WITHOUT TOUCHING or How to make more money through Jesus:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/facebook-church.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[Ken Winkes]

I can understand the "not funny" reaction to the Singleton piece. I didn't think it was the highest of humor either.

What I don't understand is the anger Procopius expressed. For me, the reaction was more of a "meh."

But not understanding is not the same as not interested. The anger, in fact, intrigues me. It always does, whether it arises is in someone else or in me.

Interesting dinner table tableau the other night. We were eating with good friends and as it always does when we get together, politics came up. Specifically, the anti-vaxxers and the rising Covid infection rates among them.

One of our guests said very forcefully, surprisingly so. "I hope they die." Her husband responded with a hasty, "You don't mean that." He seemed mildly shocked.

She said, "Yes, I do." At the time she appeared to mean it.

I suspect we've all had the thought. If those anti-vaxxers die, they're getting only what they deserve, but while the thought is common, the feelings associated with that thought vary greatly from person to person and time to time. I know when I have those kinds of thoughts, I tend to shy away from them, as something unseemly.

I understand though why that delicacy could be seen by others as misplaced, more a sign of weakness than anything else.

It is the why of that variation in the degree of anger we feel to common circumstance that intrigues me.

As does the vast difference in our reactions to attempted humor.

[Forrest Morris]

A humorous Saturday for me. A chance to work in our own garden
for a change. I usually wear my raggeds whilst crawling around on
the ground or grass; the chore was trimming ivy in front of the porch.
A gentleman walks past me and up on the porch, rings the doorbell.
I ask if I can help him and he says he would like to speak to the
owner if the owner is home. I says that's me sir. Oh, sorry, my wife
wants to know if we can tour your garden and yes says I.
Normally I would give personal tours and answer questions, but
there was something about his superiority that turned me off right
away. No personal tour.
In the afternoon, a long black limo stops in front of the side garden
while I'm deadheading lilies. The back window goes down and
it's, guess who, Betsy. They must have seen the garden award
sign that the women's garden club gave us last week. I motioned
for them to take a tour, but the window went up and off they sped.
Was I wrong to motion with my middle finger?
What will today bring?

[Marie Burns]

@Forrest Morris: Oh, heavens to Betsy! What a great story. And so gracious of you to welcome Betsy with such an emphatic gesture.

[Ken Winkes]

Forrest,

Now THAT'S funny!

in the eye of this beholder.

Thanks.

[PD Pepe]

THAT Betsy??? holy cow, Forest, you be famous with the famous! Yes, a wonderful story.

Ken: your comments reflect the perfect example of a person who ponders the possibilities, who is thoughtful, who questions and reflects. who in a nutshell, THINKS! And I must confess the many times I've screamed at the TV pictures of Trump––"I hate you–-hate you–-I hope you die!"

"It is the why of that variation in the degree of anger we feel to common circumstance that intrigues me."

Me, too.

[citizen625]

What I take out of the "medieval landowner" story was straight out of grad school: our current pandemic mirroring prior pandemic effects on the food supply. These effects include wages to the lowest of the low status food supply workers increasing as the pandemic developed. Low status (food) workers deserve every single dime extra they can get from the landowners. The Reagan-rot has long past time come due to be readjusted to not fuck over kids and the young at the expense of the older, more savvy owners of capital. Stagnant minimum wages, expanding tuitions and the percentage paid by students, tax breaks for guys like Orange Turd and Bezos' vanity space shot, and last but not least the elimination of the defined benefit retirement programs in favor of 401k's thus putting most all younger retirees in the mercy of Wall Street fiduciary shenanigans all indicate the need for financial renewal of the current system. Procopius, remember to get angry at the right things: there is power in remembering to get pissed off and not pissed on.

[Marie Burns]

@citizen625: Quite right. There's a reason I put the link to Singleton's post next to digby's. They're both writing riffs on pieces of the same problem: the unholy alliance between the wealthy & Republican lawmakers. Krugman's column yesterday Friday would have fit right in, too.

[Procopius]

@Ken Winkes, @Marie Burns: I apologize for my foolish post objecting to a harmless bit of (intended) satire. I don't really know why I reacted so strongly, except possibly I thought the editor's description of it meant that it was a genuine 14th Century document. I'm a little slow in decoding what words mean, sometimes, and this was surely one of those times. I really feel embarrassed because I don't think the readers of this blog are stupid, although I have rather different political opinions from the ones I see posting (well, at least some of them). After I had posted my comment and looked at it, I suddenly realized how ridiculous it was, but I don't know how to delete a comment here once it's been sent. My bad. I'll try to maintain impulse control.

[Ken Winkes]

Thanks for the evening note, Procopius.

You are not the first to get hornswoggled by a tongue in someone's cheek. Have occasionally been taken in myself.

More to your point, tho' you may not share all my political opinions, I nonetheless value your large-mindedness...

Keep reading.