;)
The Commentariat -- July 26, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden has announced the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He has started transferring prisoners from Guantánamo Bay in hopes of eventually shutting down the prison. And on Monday, he will welcome Iraq's prime minister to the White House for an expected announcement that U.S. combat forces will leave that country within months. The moves reflect what is emerging as an unmistakable pillar of Biden's foreign policy: seeking to push America past the post-9/11 phase of its history, ending 20 years of relentless focus on the Middle East and terrorism rather than threats like China and cyberattacks. The United States needs to 'fight the battles for the next 20 years, not the last 20,' Biden has said."
Mariana Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "Democrats are seeking to elevate the role of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on the committee examining the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, scheduling her to deliver one of the two opening statements at the panel's first public hearing Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the decision. The move is intended to present the committee as a bipartisan effort following Republican leadership's decision not to participate in the panel.... During a closed-door meeting last week, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) proposed to [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and Cheney that having the Wyoming congresswoman speak after Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) would present a 'strong visual' for the committee's goals and intentions as it embarks on a months-long process to investigate the insurrection, according to a person familiar with the conversation, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Pundits have been talking about Nancy Pelosi's outsmarting Kevin McCarthy. Looks as though Liz Cheney outsmarted McCarthy, too -- not that outsmarting Kevin is all that difficult.
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Congressional investigators expanded their inquiry Monday of political interference at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under ... Donald Trump, citing newly obtained documents and additional reports of the administration's meddling in government scientists' work. The expanded investigation centers on efforts to blunt the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWRs), which offer public updates on scientists' findings. The reports had been considered sacrosanct for decades and untouchable by political appointees in the past, but Trump appointees pushed last year to edit the findings, worried that they undermined Trump's more optimistic spin on the coronavirus pandemic.... The subcommittee is requesting interviews with Anne Schuchat, a former CDC deputy director; Nancy Messonnier, a former senior official who held a variety of leadership roles at the CDC during the pandemic; and six current career staff members at the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services. The subcommittee also is requesting interviews with former Trump appointees Kyle McGowan, Amanda Campbell and Nina Witkofsky, who served as top political appointees at the CDC last year.
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Representative Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana and an outspoken coronavirus skeptic who has drafted legislation to make vaccine mandates a federal crime, announced this weekend that he, his wife and his son have Covid-19. The announcement on Facebook, which did not provide details on symptoms, raised many questions. Mr. Higgins said he and his wife had previously been infected with the coronavirus in January 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic.... He did not say whether he had gotten an antibody test to confirm a previous infection, nor has he said whether he has been vaccinated against the coronavirus.... Mr. Higgins also asserted, without proof, that the Chinese Communist Party created the novel coronavirus as a biological warfare agent, calling it 'weaponized.' Republicans have increasingly stated, with no evidence, that the coronavirus is human-made and leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China -- some say intentionally. Although President Biden has ordered an intelligence assessment of the theory, most scientists continue to believe that the virus emerged naturally from animals. A senior virologist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has strenuously denied the virus was created or leaked from her lab."
~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe the Republicans can't handle the truth, but we have a responsibility to seek it, to find it and in a way that maintains the confidence of the American people. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to George Stephanopolous, Sunday ~~~
~~~ Jessie Naranjo & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally tapped Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois -- a rare Donald Trump antagonist in his party -- to the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection as part of a boosted Republican presence." The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The House select committee envisioned to be the ultimate arbiter of what led ... Donald Trump's supporters to invade the U.S. Capitol in January is scheduled to begin its work this week under a cloud of controversy that threatens to compromise the investigation from the outset.... Nevertheless, on Tuesday, four police officers -- two from the Capitol's protection squad and two from D.C. police -- are set to provide the first public testimony before the select committee. They are expected to testify about their experiences of both physical and verbal abuse on Jan. 6, as they tried to protect the Capitol from a swelling horde of demonstrators determined to stop Congress's efforts to certify the 2020 electoral college results and declare Joe Biden the next president.... Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), said in an interview that the officers' testimony was 'a really important perspective to begin with ... to put to rest this fictional revisionist history,' a reference to efforts by Trump and other Republicans to characterize the Capitol riot as a 'normal tourist visit' from a 'loving crowd.'"
Trump Associates Spawned a Seedy Disinformation Industry. Max Fisher of the New York Times: There is now "a secretive industry that security analysts and American officials say is exploding in scale: disinformation for hire. Private firms, straddling traditional marketing and the shadow world of geopolitical influence operations, are selling services once conducted principally by intelligence agencies. They sow discord, meddle in elections, seed false narratives and push viral conspiracies, mostly on social media. And they offer clients ... deniability.... Most [disinformation social media posts] trace to back-alley firms whose legitimate services resemble those of a bottom-rate marketer or email spammer.... For-hire disinformation, though only sometimes effective, is growing more sophisticated as practitioners iterate and learn.... The [Cambridge Analytica scandal, tied to Trump's 2016 campaign,] ... taught a generation of consultants and opportunists that there was big money in social media marketing for political causes, all disguised as organic activity."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Fox News hosts on Sunday promoted the idea that 'childless' Americans should not be allowed to participate in society by voting. The idea was recently floated by Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance." The hosts seemed to agree that the proposal wasn't "feasible" but that it was morally correct because only people with children are "optimistic" & have a stake in the future of the country. MB: Here's hoping even some elderly Foxbots find this thesis massively offensive.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.
Madeline Holcombe of CNN: "Less than half of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19 -- and with cases on the rise, experts are urging a return to precautions reminiscent of the earlier days of the pandemic. 'What I would say bluntly is: If you are not vaccinated right now in the United States, you should not go into a bar, you should probably not eat at a restaurant. You are at great risk of becoming infected,' CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. In 48 states, the rate of new Covid-19 cases in the past week jumped by at least 10% compared to the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In 34 of those states, the rate of new cases increased by more than 50%."
Connor O'Brien of Politico: "Anthony Fauci ... on Sunday said more leaders in areas that are lagging in vaccination against the coronavirus should 'speak out' to persuade people to get inoculated as the Delta variant surges."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.
Beyond the Beltway
Michigan. AP: “Elected officials in a conservative Michigan county who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal COVID-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism. Shiawassee County commissioners acted after the prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported.... The commissioners, all Republicans, voted on July 15 to award themselves $65,000 as part of a plan to give $557,000 to 250 county employees as 'hazard pay' for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.... The commissioners awarded money to other elected officials, including the prosecutor, the sheriff and the county clerk, all Republicans. They, too, said they would give it back."; MB: It's nice to see that it isn't only bigwig Republicans who are corrupt. Right down to rural county commissioners, Republican officials are horrified that the feds might give "those people" financial help but they're perfectly willing to put your tax dollars in their own pockets.
Way Beyond
Afghanistan. Susannah George of the Washington Post: "Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have hit record highs as U.S. forces are withdrawing from the country, a U.N. mission reported Monday. The mission warned the conflict is likely to become more deadly as fighting draws closer to urban areas. Nearly 800 civilians were killed and more than 1,600 wounded between May and June, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said. The figures are the highest recorded during those two months since the mission began keeping track in 2009."
Tunisia. Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the country's prime minister and froze parliament for 30 days on Sunday, posing a major test to the young democracy and escalating a political crisis that has built for months. Opponents condemned the move as an attempted coup. Saied announced that he was firing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and that he and a new prime minister, to be named in the coming hours, would take up executive authority. Under Tunisia's 2014 constitution, executive power is shared by the president, prime minister and the parliament. Saied also suspended lawmakers' parliamentary immunity." The Guardian's story is here.
Japan. The New York Times' live updates of Olympics events Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates Sunday are here. The AP's main page has a section on the Olympics.
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Reader Comments (7)
So "childless" Americans have no business voting says Fox.
We all know that lots of Foxbots wouldn't be able to vote if
we only had an IQ requirement.
Actually, the way things are going regarding the covid variant in
R territory, there may be less of them to vote by the mid-terms.
A perfect opportunity to get my Rent-A-Kid business off the ground.
Play ball!
Yawn…stretch…make tea…check out what has the whack jobs in a tizzy this week. Could it be…deaths from the Trump viruses delta variant, piling up the bodies of red state morons who believe the lies spread by Fox, Newsmax, etc.? No? We’ll maybe it’s the fact that voting rights are rapidly being diminished to the point of “No voting unless you’re a white confederate”? Oh, never mind. Scratch that. World peace? Children in America going hungry? Climate change? The impending end of the universe, in a few billion years? Badly colorized old B&W movies? That lost Twinkie they just found under the couch cushions?
No?
What then?
Oh, the fact that a baseball team is changing its name. To quote Kurtz, from “Heart of Darkness”, “The horror! The horror!”
The Cleveland Indians organization, after years of complaints about their team name, along with an incredibly racist mascot, a stupidly grinning red guy named Chief Wahoo with a feather sticking out of his head, has decided that it was time for a new name, the Cleveland Guardians. This decision comes in the wake of the Washington Redskins changing their name to the Washington Football Team (which I think is actually pretty cool). The Atlanta Braves, another team name adopted because of the idea that native Americans were deadly, tomahawk wielding savages, may soon follow suit.
All of which leaves confederates beside themselves over the fact that they can’t blithely ignore blatant racism anymore. Well, they’ll still have no problem with racism since white supremacy is the tent pole of the GQP. But the fact that other white people are moving away from racial stereotypes is pissing them off no end.
Among the Incensed is Tailgunner Ted Cruz, who wonders why Major League Baseball “hates Indians”.
He was suitably roasted on Twitter as twitterers wonder what the fuck he does all day, while taxpayers pay his way. It ain’t policy or anything remotely connected to Texas. One wag wondered whether the Cleveland name change was up there with a so-called senator shuffling off to Cabo during a crisis in his home state.
Then there are the wingnut “intellectuals” who are saying that it’s actually racist NOT to continue to maintain racist stereotypes. Seriously. One idiot asks why it’s okay for Notre Dame to call their team the Fighting Irish but not okay to keep Chief Wahoo on the warpath.
Oh…kaaay. First, moron, the Notre Dame name was picked by Irish Catholics. And if their mascot was an ignorant, woozy mick, I’d be pretty unhappy about it too. I don’t think the early Cleveland baseball owners consulted local tribal leaders (the ones left alive) about the name and the stupid looking mascot.
Whatever. Oh, and tbe Racist in Chief demands an investigation. Because of course he does.
So this is what’s going on in the spider-filled cranial cavities on the right.
Same as always.
Three strikes…yer OUT!
https://www.rawstory.com/ted-cruz-cleveland-guardians/?cx_testId=7&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s
Forrest, I can only hope for fewer intellectually aberrant voters. When Murdoch and his posse pay their fair share in taxes, maybe I'll listen. Actually, all they want as political policy is subservience to their order; that is all their blather about voting is all about.
Re: childless voters…
Guess all those righty-right incels are shit out of luck.
Virus’, not viruses. Sheesh.
Hmmmm––childless voters–-would that have something to do with the anti-abortion Cri de Coeur? Getting ready to use that as a "talking point?"
Yesterday I was rereading a piece by Sam Tanenhaus from 2017 on the "Tabloid Presidency" and the influence of Steve Bannon on Mr. big stuff. I am still intrigued with the history of that presidency–-the enormous scams and deceits right from the beginning. Here's Sam on Bannon:
"Bannon was able to manage Trump the candidate when other, more seasoned operatives could not because Bannon is Trump's unlikely spiritual twin, his bookish doppleganger, unkempt in cargo shorts."
and this:
"Bannon's talent [referring to his Hollywood film foray] like Trump's is finding and picking up the strains of hidden grievance: against "media elites", feminists, civil rights activists, left wing professors and––above all immigrants.'"
So now we add to the list––-Bannon and his buddy are gone but their songs linger on–––"childless people" and put that in the pot with the insurrection as a holiday outing for patriots and we gots more insanity couched as mere disagreement.
So much to look forward for or to or something.