;)
The Commentariat -- July 7, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Oops, Forgot. New Jersey & Delaware hold primary elections today.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.
Collin Binkley of NBC New York: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday launched an all-out effort to reopen schools this fall.... 'We're very much gong to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.' Trump did not immediately explain how he would pressure governors, but he repeated an earlier claim that Democrats want to keep schools closed for political reasons and not health reasons. He made the same claim Monday on Twitter, saying, 'They think it will help them in November. Wrong, the people get it!'" Mrs. McC: Every governor knows that at least part of that pressure will be Trump's writing nasty tweets about them or, for any Republican governors up for re-election, withholding or withdrawing his endorsement. To hell with the health & safety of students, teachers & family members.
Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned Tuesday the U.S. should not fall into 'false complacency' because COVID-19 death rates have dropped, noting the virus can cause other severe health outcomes.... While the infections have surged in the South and West, with several states seeing single-day highs in recent days, death rates have not increased. That could be because younger adults are making up a higher percentage of new cases compared to the early days of the epidemic. Experts anticipate deaths, a lagging indicator in an outbreak, will rise as people generally don&'t die until weeks after they become sick."
Emily Rauhala, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has sent a letter to the United Nations withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a dramatic move that could reshape public health diplomacy. The notice of withdrawal was delivered to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... It is not clear whether the president can pull the United States out of the organization and withdraw funding without Congress." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I think a lot of people figured that no matter how crass Trump was, he would try to do the right thing in a crisis. Well, the joke's on them. The coronavirus crisis has exposed a landslide of purposeful errors, not the least of which has been having the unmitigated gall to to continue the prosecute the suit against the Affordable Care Act & withdrawing from the WHO instead of forcing reforms.
Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: "President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, who has railed against social distancing measures and repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus as the epidemic in his country became the second-worst in the world, said Tuesday that he, too, has been infected. Critics at home and abroad have called Mr. Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic cavalier and reckless, allowing the virus to surge across Brazil, Latin America's largest nation. At one point he dismissed it as 'a measly cold,' and when asked in late April about the rising death toll, he replied: 'So what? Sorry, but what do you want me to do?' As the caseload has skyrocketed, Mr. Bolsonaro has attended mass rallies in his support, shunned masks, insisted that the virus poses no threat to healthy people, championed unproven remedies and shuffled through health ministers who disagreed with him. Brazil now has more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and more than 65,000 deaths -- more than any country except the United States. Speaking to journalists outside the presidential palace in Brasília shortly after noon on Tuesday, Mr. Bolsonaro, said he had taken a test on Monday after experiencing fatigue, muscle pain and a fever. He said he was feeling 'very well,' which he credited to having taken hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug he has endorsed but which studies show does not ward off the virus." Includes a photo of Bolsonaro with his arm around U.S. Ambassador Todd Chapman at a July 4th shindig at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. Sweet! ~~~
~~~ A CNN story is here.
Dan Merica, et al., of CNN: "Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, one of the top prospects to be ... Joe Biden's running mate, said Monday that she has tested positive for Covid-19. 'COVID-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive,' the mayor said on Twitter. She told CNN's Chris Cuomo that she received the news that both she and her husband were positive just before 6 p.m. ET on Monday. She said they decided to get tested because her husband had been sleeping more than normal since last Thursday."
Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Mary L. Trump, President Trump's niece, plans to publish a tell-all family memoir next week, describing how a decades long history of darkness, dysfunction and brutality turned her uncle into a reckless leader who, according to her publisher, Simon & Schuster, 'now threatens the world's health, economic security and social fabric.' The book ... depicts a multigenerational saga of greed, betrayal and internecine tension and seeks to explain ... President Trump's ... 'twisted behaviors' -- attributes like seeing other people in 'monetary terms' and practicing 'cheating as a way of life.'... As a high school student in Queens, Ms. Trump writes, Donald Trump paid someone to take a precollegiate test, the SAT, on his behalf. The high score the proxy earned ... helped the young Mr. Trump to later gain admittance as an undergraduate to the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton business school." Mrs. McC: Mary Trump writes that Donald's sister Maryanne did his homework for him. ~~~
~~~ Shane Harris & Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "A tell-all book by President Trump's niece describes a family riven by a series of traumas, exacerbated by a daunting patriarch who 'destroyed' Donald Trump by short-circuiting his 'ability to develop and experience the entire spectrum of human emotion,' according to a copy of the forthcoming memoir obtained by The Washington Post." ~~~
~~~ Lachlan Cartwright, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Mary Trump's book ... paints her uncle the president in a horrifying light and reveals explosive details about his character and disparaging comments made by his sister, retired federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry.... 'He's a clown,' Maryanne allegedly confided in her niece. 'This will never happen again.'... In one particularly disturbing scene from a trip to Mar-a-Lago, Mary recounts how when she was 29 and wearing a bathing suit and a pair of shorts to lunch at the resort, her uncle looked up at her and remarked, 'Holy shit, Mary. You're stacked.'... [At a White House dinner,] Mary recounts how Donald gestured towards Eric Trump's wife, his daughter-in-law. 'Lara, there,' he said. 'I barely even knew who the fuck she was, honestly, but then she gave a great speech during the campaign in Georgia supporting me.' The couple had been together for eight years." A CNN story is here.
Quint Forgey of Politico: "Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday conceded that if November's general election becomes a 'referendum' on ... Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent will face 'real headwinds' in his race against former Vice President Joe Biden. 'If the president can go back to drawing those contrasts between him and Joe Biden -- that becomes a race between Trump and Biden -- I think the president does extraordinarily well,' Mulvaney told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo.... But 'if it ends up being a popularity contest or, worse, a referendum on President Trump, I think he's got some real headwinds to face,' Mulvaney, who now serves as the U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland, said."
Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "When Jeffrey Epstein moved his money, Deutsche Bank didn't ask many questions. In a $150 million settlement to be announced on Tuesday, the New York Department of Financial Services said that Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, engaged in suspicious transactions for years, even though Deutsche Bank had deemed him a 'high risk' client from the moment he became a customer in summer 2013."
~~~~~~~~~~
A Few Words (But Far Too Many) from the Racist-in-Chief:
"Trump Defends Confederate Flag in Latest Race-Based Appeal to White Voters." Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump mounted an explicit defense of the Confederate flag on Monday, suggesting that NASCAR had made a mistake in banning it from its auto racing events, while falsely accusing a top Black driver, Darrell Wallace Jr., of perpetrating a hoax involving a noose found in his garage.... Mr. Trump has increasingly used racist language and references to portray himself as a protector of the history of the American South.... 'Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!' Mr. Trump posted on Twitter on Monday." Here's an AP story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "After multiple attempts to explain why President Trump appeared to defend the Confederate flag while attacking the only top black driver in NASCAR on Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany settled on arguing that Trump was speaking only in the abstract. 'The president has made clear he was not taking a position one way or the other in that tweet,' McEnany said Monday when asked for an unequivocal stance on the Confederate flag.... [The] pro-Confederacy tweet ... became the latest example of his willingness to push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination as part of his reelection pitch." ~~~
They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now! -- Donald Trump, in a second, purposely racist tweet Monday
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump wrote about half-a-dozen tweets Monday about the "China Virus," (or what we would call the coronavirus) including one in which he asserted that "China has caused great damage to the United States and the rest of the World!" ~~~
~~~ Trump also spit out a couple of tweets boasting about his ill-conceived, illegally-financed border wall. ~~~
~~~ But, Happily, Trump Is Protecting Brazilian Jesus! Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "In a round of new digital ads, the Trump re-elect[ion campaign] asks people to support the president as he stands up to the angry mobs trying to tear down iconic memorials. In one specific ad, the endangered statue that the campaign spotlights happens to be the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 'The President wants to know who stood with him against the Radical Left,' declared dozens of ads run over the weekend on pages for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The ads featured a graphic with an image of the Christ the Redeemer statue above the text, 'WE WILL PROTECT THIS.' The photo appears to have come from an online database of free stock images.... There's no indication that the 125-foot sculpture, which sits at the peak of Corcovado mountain overlooking Rio, is at risk of vandalism or removal. It's also not clear how Trump or Pence might go about protecting it if it were threatened...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This was my first thought, which Markay expresses half-way through his post: "It was not immediately clear whether the Trump campaign was aware that the image it chose for its Facebook ads ... showed a statue in another country." I would just assume Trump's campaign staff & ad people are as culturally-aware as is Trump himself & they had no idea other countries had big ole statues of Jesus, too, the famous Rio statue being among them. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has decided to pivot heavily to culture-war bluster and hard-right posturing. A major part of that pivot appears to be turning his anger on people who don't like the same statues he does and comparing those enemies to Nazi 'fascists.' Shockingly, there are some in Trump's political orbit who aren't convinced this tactic will move voters as much as the president seems to think it will.... 'The question now is, Is the statue shit going to work?' said a senior Trump campaign adviser, adding that current polling was 'inconclusive' at best." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Although I doubt it, maybe Trump's sharing his racist sentiments many times a day would be a little more tolerable if he were not also weaving them into cruel, unnecessary, anti-American policies attacking young Latinos: ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump is expected to refile paperwork this week to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that offers protections for thousands of young immigrants, according to multiple people familiar with the planning.... If the Trump administration files this week, the new DACA policy will coincide with an official visit from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, the country of origin for a majority of DACA recipients. The decision to refile on DACA was widely expected after the Supreme Court ruled last month that the administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating the program as required by federal law. But the court made clear Trump had the authority to rescind the program, essentially forcing the president to try again or risk the appearance of backing down. 'We have to refile,' Trump told Fox News days after the ruling."
"The Handmaidens of White Supremacy." Dana Milbank of the Washington Post queries 11 senators in competitive races this year to comment on some of Donald Trump's recent blatantly racist remarks. Most refused to respond, and a few evaded an answer. None criticized Trump, though Lindsey "Graham's campaign directed me to his radio interview Monday with Fox News's Brian Kilmeade, in which Graham disagreed with Trump's NASCAR tweet but said Trump isn't racist. 'You can be dark as coal or an albino.... He's an equal-opportunity basher and praiser.'" Mrs. McC: Lindsey's response sounds quite color-conscious.
Trump Finds a New Excuse to Deport Pesky Foreigners. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The government announced Monday that international students will not be allowed to stay in the country if the institution in which they're enrolled is holding online-only courses this fall, and those failing to comply with the rules will risk deportation. The news comes as some colleges and universities, including Harvard, have announced they plan to hold online-only courses this fall as the United States struggles to get the coronavirus pandemic under control." Mrs. McC: But what if the student is from Norway?
Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "A career CIA officer explained in rare public remarks on Monday what she's learned about adapting intelligence briefings to the unique style of a particular 'customer' -- in her case..., Donald Trump. Beth Sanner, a senior official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who also serves as Trump's primary intelligence briefer, never mentioned the president by name during an event hosted by the non-profit Intelligence & National Security Alliance on Monday. But the unusual core challenge of her job -- delivering intelligence to Donald J. Trump -- was unavoidable as she discussed her own briefing techniques in detail, explaining that while she strives to be competent and fearless, she also tries not to be off-putting and aims to tailor briefings to a customer's particular style." Mrs. McC: Worth reading both the print & between the lines.
** Mr. Trudeau Regrets. Rob Gillis of the AP: Canada's "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned down a White House invitation to celebrate the new regional free trade agreement in Washington with ... Donald Trump and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Trump and López Obrador are due to meet Wednesday [in] Washington, but Trudeau spokesperson Chantal Gagnon said Monday that while Canada wishes the U.S. and Mexico well, Trudeau won't be there.... A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted by name, said Trudeau had multiple conflicts related to the start of Parliament and coronavirus regulations which require Canadians who travel abroad to quarantine for 14 days on return. The official said Trudeau has asked to speak with Trump by phone." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Fox "News" Regrets. That it aired a posed photo of Jeffrey Epstein with Melania & Ghislane Maxwell, but cropped Donald Trump from the photo. Mrs. McC: Yeah, I'll bet they "mistakenly eliminated" Trump's image. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Book Report. Another Tome by an Awful Human Being about an Awful Human Being. Lachlan Cartwright & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "According to people familiar with the project, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff -- who was previously seen by the first lady as a loyal confidante and helped plan ... Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration in Washington, D.C. -- will release a tell-all, Melania and Me, on Sept. 1. People with knowledge of the project say the content of the book is largely negative and that the manuscript heavily trashes the first lady.... After playing a vital role in plotting Trump's inaugural festivities, Wolkoff landed the gig of senior adviser to the first lady. However, shortly after the start of the Trump era, the noted New York socialite had a dramatic falling-out with Melania Trump, triggered by news that Wolkoff's own firm snagged a cool $26 million from the Trump inaugural committee to help plan the events."
Many Readers Suspended in Breathless Anticipation. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The publisher of a tell-all book written by ... Donald Trump's niece Mary is planning to rush the book out next Tuesday despite ongoing litigation aimed at bottling up the insider account of life in the Trump family. Simon & Schuster announced Monday that 'due to high demand and extraordinary interest' the firm is moving up the book's publication date by two weeks, to July 14 from July 28."
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here.
Joshua Partlow & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The pandemic map of the United States burned bright red Monday, with the number of new coronavirus infections during the first six days of July nearing 300,000 as more states and cities moved to reimpose shutdown orders. After an Independence Day weekend that attracted large crowds to fireworks displays and produced scenes of Americans drinking and partying without masks, health officials warned of hospitals running out of space and infection spreading rampantly. The United States is 'still knee deep in the first wave' of the pandemic, Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday[.] Fauci noted that while Europe managed to drive infections down -- and now is dealing with little blips as it reopens -- U.S. communities 'never came down to baseline and now are surging back up,' he said in an interview conducted on Twitter and Facebook with his boss, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins."
Sarah Mervosh & Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Lines for coronavirus tests have stretched around city blocks and tests ran out altogether in at least one site on Monday, new evidence that the country is still struggling to create a sufficient testing system months into its battle with Covid-19.... In the early months of the nation's outbreak, testing posed a significant problem, as supplies fell far short and officials raced to understand how to best handle the virus. Since then, the United States has vastly ramped up its testing capability.... But in recent weeks, as cases have surged in many states, the demand for testing has soared, surpassing capacity and creating a new testing crisis. In many cities, officials said a combination of factors was now fueling the problem: a shortage of certain supplies, backlogs at laboratories that process the tests, and skyrocketing growth of the virus as cases climb in almost 40 states and the nation approaches a grim new milestone of three million total cases. Fast, widely available testing is crucial to controlling the virus over the long term in the United States, experts say...."
Florida. Ryan McKinnon of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, in the Tallahassee Democrat: "Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an emergency order Monday, requiring all schools to open in the fall and laying out the requirements districts must meet to offer any sort of non-traditional remote instruction in addition to their in-person option.... Local health officials can override the commissioner's directive if it is not safe to open schools, due to COVID-19, but Monday's announcement makes it clear that districts have to prepare to open their doors to all students in August. And while health officials could deem schools unsafe, as long as there are not widespread shutdowns, it could be a tough call to single out schools."
Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "A backlog of eviction cases is beginning to move through the court system as millions of Americans who had counted on federal aid and eviction moratoriums to stay in their homes now fear being thrown out. A crisis among renters is expected to deepen this month as the enhanced unemployment benefits that have kept many afloat run out at the end of July and the $1,200-per-adult stimulus payment that had supported households earlier in the crisis becomes a distant memory. Meanwhile, enforcement of federal moratoriums on some types of evictions is uneven, with experts warning that judges' efforts to limit access to courtrooms or hold hearings online because of covid-19 could increasingly leave elderly or poor renters at a disadvantage. Of the 110 million Americans living in rental households, 20 percent are at risk of eviction by Sept. 30, according to an analysis by the Covid-19 Eviction Defense Project, a Colorado-based community group. African American and Hispanic renters are expected to be hardest hit."
Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "The federal government will pay the vaccine maker Novavax $1.6 billion to expedite the development of 100 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by the beginning of next year, the company said on Tuesday.... In doing so, the government has placed a significant bet on Novavax, a company based in Maryland that has never brought a product to market.... The U.S. investment comes after an international group, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, awarded up to $388 million to Novavax in May to make its coronavirus vaccine available globally."
Jonathan O'Connell & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "The Small Business Administration released information Monday about nearly 700,000 loans issued as part of the federal $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program since its launch in early April. The disclosure includes the names of 660,000 small businesses and nonprofit organizations that received at least $150,000 in funding, the most detailed yet on one of the largest economic stimulus packages created by the federal government. The data shows [show!] the government issued $521 billion in loans, with an average loan size of $107,000." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been substantially updated. New Lede: "Data released Monday by the Small Business Administration shows that businesses owned by members of Congress and the law practice that represented President Trump were among the hundreds of thousands of firms that received aid from the agency. As part of its $660 billion small-business relief program, the SBA also handed out loans to private schools catering to elite clientele, firms owned by foreign companies and large chains backed by well-heeled Wall Street firms. Nearly 90,000 companies in the program took the aid without promising on their applications they would rehire workers or create jobs." ~~~
~~~ Update. Jeanna Smialek, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration, under pressure to reveal which companies received loans from a $660 billion program intended to keep small businesses afloat, on Monday released data showing that restaurants, medical offices and car dealerships ranked high among the top loan recipients. The detailed information was confined to companies that received loans of more than $150,000. The administration said 86.5 percent of the loans were for less than that amount, so the snapshot captured only one sliver of businesses that tapped funds.... Sprinkled among the beneficiaries were businesses that are likely to attract scrutiny, including a fancy sushi restaurant at the Trump International Hotel in Washington; Kanye West's company, Yeezy; and President Trump's longtime personal lawyer [Marc Kasowitz]. Washington lobbying shops, high-priced law firms and special-interest groups also received big loans, according to the administration, the latest indication of how of the government's centerpiece effort to shore up mom-and-pop shops set off a race by organizations far afield from Main Street to secure federal money." ~~~
~~~ Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Among the entities cashing six to seven-figure checks from the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program in recent months were a fiscal responsibility advocacy organization run by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, a high-powered consulting firm run by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the nonprofit headed by former Trump campaign official David Bossie, and a political strategy firm linked to two alumni of the Obama White House who've turned anti-Trump podcasting into a lucrative enterprise. Businesses tied to the president's son-in-law [Jared Kushner] as well as members of Congress got taxpayer funds. As did the elite D.C.-area schools where both ... Donald Trump and President Barack Obama enrolled their children...." An AP story is here.
Katherine Butler of the Guardian: "The coronavirus crisis has caused a dramatic deterioration in the European public perception of the US, extensive new polling reveals.... Negative attitudes of the US were most marked in Denmark (71%) Portugal (70%), France (68%), Germany (65%) and Spain (64%).... In an analysis of the data, the policy experts Susi Dennison and Pawel Zerka say that trust in the US is 'broken' as a result of its handling of the health crisis and that support for the transatlantic alliance has been 'hollowed out'." --s
Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "When did America start losing its war against the coronavirus?... I'd suggest that the turning point was way back on April 17, the day that Donald Trump tweeted 'LIBERATE MINNESOTA,' followed by 'LIBERATE MICHIGAN' and 'LIBERATE VIRGINIA.' In so doing, he effectively declared White House support for protesters demanding an end to the lockdowns governors had instituted to bring Covid-19 under control.... The rush to reopen in Sunbelt states was less a response to popular demand than a case of Republican governors following Trump's lead.... Trump's willingness to trade deaths for jobs and political gain has backfired.... We lost [the war against the coronavirus] because Trump and those around him decided that it was in their political interests to let the virus run wild."
Candace Buckner of the Washington Post: Christmas City Spirits of Bethlehem, Pa., in early March "suspended production of all drinkable alcohol and produced approximately 800 gallons of hand sanitizer for organizations, charities and workers risking their lives to combat the [corona]virus. According to the Distilled Spirits Council, 831 distilleries across the nation have made hand sanitizer for local communities. Only one distillery, however, has the distinction of producing it strictly for donation. Not a single one of the 4,000 four-ounce bottles of Christmas City Spirits' hand sanitizer, aptly named 'Corona Bullet,' was sold for profit." Definitely a feel-good story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
BBC: "Zoonotic diseases - which jump from animals to humans - are increasing and will continue to do so without action to protect wildlife and preserve the environment, UN experts have warned. They blame the rise in diseases such as Covid-19 on high demand for animal protein, unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change.... But that jump is not automatic. It is driven, according to the report by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Livestock Research Institute, by the degradation of our natural environment - for example through land degradation, wildlife exploitation, resource extraction and climate change. This alters the way animals and humans interact." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That is, Trump's anti-environmental, anti-science policies may have contributed as much as China did to the transfer of the coronavirus from rodents to humans.
The Bubonic Plague Makes a Comeback! Gerry Shih of the Washington Post: "Chinese public health authorities are taking precautions to prevent a bubonic plague outbreak in a remote northern region after a herder contracted the disease, although the risk of large-scale infections is low with the availability of modern medicine."
Nothing to See Here, Folks. FCCED: "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in the final stages of resolving its biggest legal threat in a decade after tussling with the government on one critical issue: a potential guilty plea for the first time in Goldman's history. To avert such a penalty over its work for a Malaysian sovereign fund, Goldman has appealed to the Justice Department's highest ranks. Attorney General William Barr began overseeing the case after obtaining a waiver because his former law firm represents Goldman. The department's No. 2 official has also been directly involved.... John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York, that's handling the case, declined to comment." --s
Elections 2020
Yasmeen Abutaleb & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The Trump and Biden presidential campaigns now see the coronavirus response as the preeminent force shaping the results of November's election.... Advisers to ... Joe Biden see the covid-19 crisis as perhaps the clearest way yet to contrast the former vice president with President Trump, using the stumbling response and renewed surge in cases as ways to paint Trump as uninformed, incapable of empathy and concerned only about his own political standing.... Trump's advisers, by contrast, are seeking ways to reframe his response to the coronavirus -- even as the president himself largely seeks to avoid the topic because he views it as a political loser.... The goal is to convince Americans that they can live with the virus.... White House officials also hope Americans will grow numb to the escalating death toll and learn to accept tens of thousands of new cases a day...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: How uplifting a campaign message is this?: "Get out and get sick, people. It's 'totally harmless'!"
Senator Grassley Regrets. Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register: "Citing concerns about the coronavirus, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley [R-Cranky] said he will not attend this year's Republican National Convention, marking the first time he has sat out a convention since he was elected to the U.S. Senate 40 years ago. 'I'm not going to go. And I'm not going to go because of the virus situation,' Grassley[, who is 86,] said Monday morning on a conference call with reporters."
Utah Gubernatorial Race. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah won last week's Republican primary for governor, according to results released on Monday. He defeated Jon Huntsman Jr., who served as governor from 2005 to 2009 before stepping down to become President Barack Obama's ambassador to China. The Associated Press called the race on Monday evening, and Mr. Cox said on Twitter that Mr. Huntsman had called him to concede. Mr. Cox is expected to win the governorship in November over the Democratic nominee, Chris Peterson.... Mr. Huntsman's campaign was interrupted last month when he tested positive for the coronavirus. He has since recovered. To some extent, Mr. Huntsman's loss was surprising given his political history: He was one of the most popular governors in the country when he left office. But he is also a moderate Republican...." An AP story is here.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "States can require members of the Electoral College to cast their votes for the presidential candidates they had pledged to support, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday. In curbing the independence of electors, the court limited one potential source of uncertainty in the 2020 presidential election." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Nicolas Stephanopoulos in Slate: "Powerhouse right-wing lawyers ... have ... opened a troubling new front in the voting wars. They now claim that it's unconstitutional for states to make it easier to vote while the pandemic rages. Relaxations of voting rules supposedly give rise to fraudulent votes that impermissibly dilute the ballots cast by law-abiding citizens. This novel argument should -- but probably won't -- be laughed out of court.... [P]laintiffs don't complain that it's too hard for them to vote. Instead, their grievance is that, while they can vote without hindrance, their ballots may be diluted by fraudulent votes cast by other people. The prevention of fraud thus becomes a sword in these cases, not a shield -- a reason to strike down a state policy, not to uphold it." --s
Rogue Nation. Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters: "The January U.S. drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and nine other people represented a violation of international law, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Monday." --s
AP: "A federal appeals court on Monday blocked a key U.S. policy to deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country without first seeking protection there, dealing it a second blow in less than a week. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling has no immediate impact because a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in Washington last week knocked down the policy on procedural grounds. The three-judge appeals panel in San Francisco found procedural errors as well as substantive reasons to block the policy while litigation continues. The panel said it does 'virtually nothing' to prevent asylum-seekers from being sent to unsafe countries, a violation of international treaty obligations."
Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge ruled Monday that the Dakota Access Pipeline must be shut down by Aug. 5, saying federal officials failed to do a complete analysis of its environmental impacts. The decision marks the second setback for President Trump's infrastructure push in just two days, underscoring the extent to which long-standing environmental laws represent an obstacle to his quest to expand domestic oil and gas production. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg wrote that the federal government had not met all the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, a 50-year-old-law that the Trump administration is seeking to weaken.... The Dakota Access Pipeline, which opened in 2017, carries about half a million barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota's Bakken shale basin to Illinois. The ruling means the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must conduct a more thorough analysis of how a leak in the Dakota pipeline could affect Lake Oahe, which collects water from the Missouri River and lies half a mile from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation." A Bismarck Tribune story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jonathan Ellis of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "A Sioux Falls man who used his connections in the conservative movement to help his Russian girlfriend gain political access was sentenced Monday to serve seven years in federal prison. Paul Erickson was not charged with any wrongdoing involving his efforts to help Maria Butina make inroads with political contacts. Instead, he was accused of defrauding investors in various schemes over the last 20 years. Butina, a young woman who portrayed herself as a gun rights activist, was deported last fall after serving time for failing to register as a foreign agent. Her role in his downfall did not come up Monday."
Beyond the Beltway
New York. Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "When Amy Cooper, a white woman, called 911 from an isolated patch in Central Park where she was standing with her unleashed dog on Memorial Day, she said an 'African-American man' was threatening her life, emphasizing his race to the operator. Moments before Ms. Cooper made the call, the man, Christian Cooper, an avid bird-watcher, had asked her to leash her dog, and she had refused. On Monday, Ms. Cooper was charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, the latest fallout from an encounter that resonated across the country and provoked intense discussions about how Black people are harmed when sham reports to the police are made about them by white people.... The pending criminal charge against Ms. Cooper appears to be among the first that a white person in the United States has faced for wrongfully calling the police to make a complaint about a Black person." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps the weirdest thing was that Amy knew the "threatening African-American man" was calming standing there videotaping her making the false charge to the 911 operator. She was effectively giving evidence against herself.
Way Beyond
Panama. Sofia Menchu & Elida Moreno of Reuters: "U.S. prosecutors have charged two sons [Luis Enrique Martinelli, 38, and Ricardo Alberto Martinelli, 40] of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli in connection with bribery and money laundering linked to Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, according to a federal complaint unsealed on Monday.... Odebrecht has been at the center of a far-reaching Latin American corruption scandal uncovered in 2014, in which the company paid more than $700 million in bribes to government officials in various countries." --s
** U.K. Elizabeth Piper & Andy Bruce of Reuters: "Britain imposed sanctions on 25 Russians and 20 Saudis on Monday as part of post-Brexit measures foreign minister Dominic Raab said were aimed at stopping the laundering of 'blood money'. After leaving the European Union in January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to forge a new independent role for Britain in foreign and trade affairs and this was the first time London could impose asset freezes and visa bans independently."
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Reader Comments (16)
Mentioned yesterday that in an attempt keep up with the unraveling Pretender, Republican arguments are now frequently downright hysterical in both sense of that word.
Greg Sergeant agrees:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/06/twisted-revealing-gop-attack-joe-biden/
Make that "Sargent," and don't blame spell check or arthritic fingers.
As funny (as in stoopid funny) as it is that Fatty and the halfpence are set to go to the mattresses for a statue 4,800 miles away, in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY!!!, it’s more than a little unsettling that not a single one of their fellow clown car passengers recognized one of the most famous images in the world. It’s as if they picked a shot of the Arc de Triomphe and presented it as a site in Tuscaloosa. Maybe Fatty thought it was a statue of General Jesus who commanded Confederate troops at Bull Run.
More like Bull Shit.
The whole place has to be crammed full of complete fucking morons, overseen by moron number one. I thought he went to the best school in the history of the world that accepted only geniuses (stable or un).
And not for nothin’ but idiots whose general knowledge of the world ranks somewhere between first and second grade, shouldn’t be trusted to run a donut shop, never mind a country.
Mortification is unbeknownst to these clowns, apparently.
Reguarding the image of Rio, Maybe they were thinking of this statue in Arkansas.
https://www.innoftheozarks.com/resourcefiles/mainimages/great-passion-play-christ-of-the-ozarks-statue-of-arkansas-top.jpg
Then again, probably not.
@AK: Boy, oh, boy, I needed a laugh like this today. and yes, what do we expect from this historical genius who thinks old Freddy Douglass is living somewhere in the South going around making those rousing speeches, or Andrew Jackson was pissed about the Civil War. Poor sod–-he's slowly unraveling leaving unseemly threads that we dread to tread on. Bastard!
More on the deep Bolsanaro-Pretender spiritual/ideological connection?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
My nasty side kinda hopes so...
@Akhilleus: If the Ark de Trump isn't in Tuscaloosa -- as you claim without evidence -- it should be. Also, you spell funny.
Marie,
It’s very likely that Republican elephants would flock to Alabammy (there’s that spelling problem again) to see the Ark of the Trumpenant, trumpeting maga, maga, maga, as they go, brandishing their fearsome anti-American tusks along three way. They should be careful, however, because as that great African explorer, Captain Spaulding, once reminded listeners, those anatomical weapons could be removed quite easily in Alabama, where the Tuscaloosa.
How’s that for a tortured joke?
@Akhilleus: Very punny.
And he told that joke in his pajamas
Maybe Trump and Pence will ask Soros about organizing a caravan of scary foreigners to go down to Rio to protect the Christ statue.
WHAT MARY KNEW:
Good for her–-must have been so therapeutic for her to get all that family fun off her chest––the one her Uncle said was "stacked." Let's see what kind of rabble rousing will ensue from you know who.
"She lifts her face, her look is one of sober triumph,
There is a thin sharp light, like the edge of an old knife."
Wolf Hall
Apologies if already posted. Sometimes late to the party.
Youtube Concert For Ringo’s B-Day / Tonight 8PM EST
Looks like 80’s the new 50.
Perhaps with $$$ and a little help from yer friends?
T Bone Burnett • Sir Paul • Willie Nelson • Sheryl Crow • Keb Mo
Michael McDonald • Elvis Costello • Jeff Bridges • And More
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqESxycliXwDheOseXqmq8w
A ROUGH, VERY ROUGH, COMPARISON:
US vs Canada
Free Enterprise vs Socialist Health Systems.
Covid-19 deaths/100k population-US-40, Can- 23.5
% of deaths in long term care- US-43%, Can-81%
Covid-19 deaths/100K excluding those in LTC: US-22.9, Can-4.5%
Socialism is far better than Capitalism in keeping the general population healthy (Can deaths 1/5 of US) but when old more enter long term care facilities under socialism and, at least in Can, are left with minimal care to die. The army medical corpsmen sent in to replace careworkers published their observations which horrified the nation so hopefully the situation will change in time for the next pandemic...or the second wave of this one.
Thanks, Cowichan, for the numbers and analysis.
More numbers: Rt has us at 43 states in the red. Only seven to go to reach perfection.
@Ken, my and PD's state continues to have the lowest Rt rate. Today, our governor, Ned Lamont, delayed moving to Phase 3 re-opening because to the status of other states. I'm in no rush to go to bars and restaurants sitting asshole to elbow. Everyone is still wearing masks and keeping their space without fear of being shamed. I certainly won't be lowering my guard anytime soon.