;)
The Commentariat -- July 8, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of coronoavirus developments Wednesday are here: "Hours after President Trump assailed guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reopening schools, Vice President Mike Pence, appearing with the White House coronavirus task force, announced..., 'Well the president said today, we just don't want the guidance to be too tough.... That's the reason why next week, the C.D.C. is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward.'... Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director, said Wednesday that the agency's guidance should not be used to justify keeping schools closed.... Mr. Trump's threat comes as scientists grapple with rising concerns about transmission of the coronavirus in indoor spaces. Most public schools are poorly ventilated and don't have the funding to update their filtration systems.... Mr. Trump's funding threat carries real weight. When it passed its $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus law, Congress gave enormous latitude to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to decide how to parcel out tens of millions of dollars in relief to school districts." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here.
Susan Svrluga & Nick Anderson of the Washington Post: "Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration Wednesday over an order that would require international students to take classes in person this fall, despite rising coronavirus caseloads that are complicating efforts by colleges and universities to offer in-person learning. The lawsuit represented a swift response to an unexpected order issued this week by the federal government, as universities rush to protect the status of thousands of international students. It also represents a new battle line in the war between Trump and education leaders over how to safely reopen schools in the midst of his reelection bid."
Another TrumperWhopper. Ben Gittleson of ABC News: "As of Tuesday, the United States had the ninth-worst mortality rate in the world, with 39.82 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University.... The U.S. finds itself on a shortlist of countries that have the most coronavirus deaths proportional to both its total population and to its confirmed cases. In absolute terms, the United States also has the greatest number of overall deaths from coronavirus, with nearly twice as many as Brazil, which ranks second, according to Johns Hopkins.... Donald Trump and his White House have repeatedly claimed this week, falsely, that the United States has the lowest novel coronavirus mortality rate in the world.... Trump tweeted Monday that 'we now have the lowest Fatality (Mortality) Rate in the World' and that the coronavirus mortality rate in the United States was 'just about the LOWEST IN THE WORLD.' He tweeted on Tuesday, 'We have the lowest Mortality Rate in the World' and said 'The Fake News should be reporting these most important of facts, but they don't!'... Trump repeated his claim about the U.S. mortality rate at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, saying it was 'the lowest anywhere in the world.'... Trump's series of tweets on the matter -- and his press secretary's insistence to reporters -- reflected an attempt to explain his comment during a speech over the weekend that 99% of coronavirus cases are 'harmless,' which received significant blowback."
John Cruzel of the Hill: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a pair of Los Angeles-area Catholic schools are immune from discrimination suits brought by two former teachers in a decision that expands the scope of First Amendment safeguards for religious employers. DEVELOPING" More on this later. Apparently the vote was 7-2, with Justices Ginsburg & Sotomayor dissenting. The Washington Post's brief breaking story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Trump administration regulation that lets employers with religious or moral objections limit women's access to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. As a consequence of the ruling, about 70,000 to 126,000 women could lose contraceptive coverage from their employers, according to government estimates. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissenting." ~~~
~~~ Adam Liptak: "The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that federal employment discrimination laws do not apply to teachers whose duties include instruction in religion at schools run by churches. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor in dissent.
Ryan Goodman of Just Security: "First, President Trump decided not to confront Putin about supplying arms to the [Taliban]. Second, during the very times in which U.S. military officials publicly raised concerns about the program's threat to US forces, Trump undercut them. He embraced Putin, overtly and repeatedly, including at the historic summit in Helsinki. Third, behind the scenes, Trump directed the CIA to share intelligence information on counterterrorism with the Kremlin despite no discernible reward, former intelligence officials who served in the Trump administration told Just Security." Emphasis original.
Missy Ryan & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "An Army officer who played a high-profile role in President Trump's impeachment proceedings is retiring from the military over alleged 'bullying' and 'retaliation' by the president, his lawyer said Wednesday. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served as a national security aide at the White House until earlier this year and was up for promotion to colonel, will leave the military instead, his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement. 'Through a campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation, the president of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. Between protecting his promotion or the promotion of his fellow soldiers,' Pressman said. 'LTC Vindman's patriotism has cost him his career.'" CNN's story is here.
Go to School & Get Sick, You Ungrateful Brats! Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off federal funding for schools if they do not resume in-person learning this fall and criticized a top government health agency for being too tough with its guidelines to aid that process.... Trump said he disagreed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 'on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!'"
Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Amy Kennedy planted a flag Tuesday for her family's political dynasty along the Jersey Shore, winning a heavily contested Democratic primary against an establishment favorite to advance to a general election race against an ex-Democrat [-- Jeff Van Drew --] who pledged his loyalty to President Trump rather than vote to impeach him. Shortly after the polls closed, Kennedy, the wife of former congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), received a concession call from Brigid Callahan Harrison, a college professor and political commentator who had the support of most local party chairs, according to a senior Kennedy campaign adviser. With 30 percent of the votes in, Kennedy led 55 percent to 32 percent over Harrison, according to the Associated Press, which projected Kennedy as the winner."
Mixed Messaging? Nah. Totally Conflicting Messages. Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "While ... Donald Trump has continuously railed against voting by mail, a Republican National Committee robocall in April voiced by his daughter-in-law Lara Trump said voting by mail could be done 'safely and securely.' The call was sent in support of Republican Mike Garcia in California's 25th US House District special election, the race for the seat previously held by Democratic Rep. Katie Hill. California's election was done almost entirely by mail after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in March that required every voter to be mailed a ballot. It was one of three RNC robocalls identified by CNN's KFile in which Lara Trump and the President's son Donald Trump Jr. urged voters to vote by mail in special elections since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic[.]"
~~~~~~~~~~
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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 him 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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Peter Baker & Erica Green of the New York Times: "President Trump demanded on Tuesday that schools reopen physically in the fall, pressing his drive to get the country moving again even as the coronavirus pandemic surged through much of the United States and threatened to overwhelm some health care facilities. In a daylong series of conference calls and public events at the White House, the president, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other senior officials opened a concerted campaign to lean on governors, mayors and others to resume classes in person months after more than 50 million children were abruptly ejected from school buildings in March.... But they offered no concrete proposals or new financial assistance to states and localities struggling to restructure academic settings, staffs and programs that were never intended to keep children six feet apart or cope with the requirements of combating a virus that has killed more than 130,000 Americans." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So what we have here is a couple of villainous, ultra-rich heirs & private-school aficionados dictating that poor public schools open up & expose millions of children, educators and their families to a deadly illness. Seems like the premise of a horror movie. ~~~
~~~ Miriam Jordan, et al., of the New York Times: "A directive by the Trump administration that would strip international college students of their U.S. visas if their coursework was entirely online prompted widespread confusion on Tuesday as students scrambled to clarify their statuses and universities reassessed their fall reopening policies amid the coronavirus pandemic. The White House measure, announced on Monday, was seen as an effort to pressure universities into reopening their gates and abandoning the cautious approaches that many have announced they would adopt to reduce Covid-19 transmission." Mrs. McC: Huh. I saw the new policy as a way of getting rid of foreigners. I guess it's an either/or with no downside for Trump: force schools to re-open or deport foreigners.
Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci ... 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. 'It's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death,' Fauci said Tuesday during a livestreamed press conference hosted by Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.)... 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It does seem that Fauci has slipped his leash. To appear at the press conference of a Democratic Senator where he repudiates Trump's "false narrative," without naming Trump, has to be heresy at the Unholy Church of the Lord Donald.
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ 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.
Georgia (USA). Dan Merica, et al., of CNN: "Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, one of the top prospects to be presumptive Democratic presidential nominee 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Brazil. 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! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sweden. A Cautionary Tale. Peter Goodman of the New York Times: "... Sweden has captured international attention by conducting an unorthodox, open-air experiment. It has allowed the world to examine what happens in a pandemic when a government allows life to carry on largely unhindered. This is what has happened: Not only have thousands more people died than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden's economy has fared little better.... Sweden's grim result -- more death, and nearly equal economic damage -- suggests that the supposed choice between lives and paychecks is a false one: A failure to impose social distancing can cost lives and jobs at the same time.... Per million people, Sweden has suffered 40 percent more deaths than the United States, 12 times more than Norway, seven times more than Finland and six times more than Denmark." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I do recall reading the headlines & ledes by various confederate writers exclaiming upon how smart Sweden was. As Goodman writes, making an essential -- and simple -- point that Donald Trump is too dense to grasp: "It is simplistic to portray government actions such as quarantines as the cause of economic damage. The real culprit is the virus itself."
Ian Sample of the Guardian: "Doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by coronavirus, as they emerge in mildly affected or recovering patients, scientists have warned. Neurologists are on Wednesday publishing details of more than 40 UK Covid-19 patients whose complications ranged from brain inflammation and delirium to nerve damage and stroke. In some cases, the neurological problem was the patient's first and main symptom." --s
There Was a Crooked Man
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 names the person who took Donald's SATs & writes that Donald's sister Maryanne did his homework for him. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Haberman & Feuer, in a second story: "President Trump's niece describes him in a much-awaited tell-all book as a child in an adult’s body, someone psychologically brutalized and damaged by his 'sociopath' father and who developed defenses of anger and distrust to mask his own chronic insecurities." Mrs. McC: I got a kick out of this: "Ms. Trump recalled that [Donald & Ivana Trump] once gave her[, as a holiday gift,] a package of underpants, as well as a cracker and caviar set that no longer included the caviar."
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." (Also linked yesterday.)
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. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "In what reads like a scene out of [the film] Spotlight, Mary Trump tells the story for the first time of how she secretly gave the New York Times much of the source material for its 14,000 word investigation of how 'President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents.'" Swan describes and cites some of the story. Mrs. McC: Rachel Maddow read it aloud during an extended Maddow "Storytime." Tuesday's show is not up on her website as of midnight ET, but the Storytime segments should be up soon, and they're worth hearing.
All the Best Swamp Creatures. Theodoric Meyer & Debra Kahn of Politico: "[A]t least 82 former Trump administration officials who have registered as lobbyists, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosure filings. Many more former administration officials have gone to work at lobbying firms or in government affairs roles in corporate America but have not registered as lobbyists.... Some former administration officials decamped for K Street so quickly that they've already returned to the government.... Trump has also hired a large number of former lobbyists to serve in his administration -- including the current Defense, Energy, Labor and Interior secretaries; the acting Homeland Security secretary; the EPA administrator; and the U.S. trade representative -- and some of them have already gone back to K Street." --s
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Chinese agents have been pursuing hundreds of Chinese nationals living in the US [often coerced by thinly veiled threats against their families back in China] in an effort to force their return, as part of a global campaign against the country's diaspora, known as Operation Fox Hunt, the FBI director [Christopher Wray] has said.... Fox Hunt was launched six years ago by President Xi Jinping, ostensibly to pursue corrupt officials and business executives who had fled abroad.... Wray said the operation's principal aim now was to suppress dissent among the diaspora.... Wray portrayed China as an aggressive rival with little or no regard for international or national laws. He said that nearly half the FBI's 5,000 active counter-intelligence cases were China-related." --s
Luis Martinez of ABC News: "The top U.S. general in the Middle East said Tuesday he was aware of the intelligence of a Russian bounty program targeting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but ... he said he did not believe it was tied to actual U.S. military deaths on the battlefield. 'I found it very worrisome, I just didn't find that there was a causative link there,' Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said in an interview with a small number of reporters. "The intel ... case wasn't proved to me -- it wasn't proved enough that I'd take it to a court of law -- and you know that's often true in battlefield intelligence,' said McKenzie.... 'Over the past several years, the Taliban have done their level best to carry out operations against us, so nothing is practically changed on the ground in terms of force protection, because we have a very high force protection standard now...,' said McKenzie."
Presidential Race
Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Joe Biden has won the Democratic presidential primaries in New Jersey and his home state of Delaware, NBC News projects. The pair of wins Tuesday night allows Biden, who is already the presumptive Democratic nominee, to build on the delegate haul he's already amassed heading into next month's scaled-down Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. Biden officially became the party's presumptive nominee last month when he exceeded the 1,991 pledged delegates needed to do so. Both states are conducting their primaries almost entirely by mail, due to the coronavirus pandemic. And in New Jersey, where politics watchers were closely following several congressional primaries, election officials cautioned that results were not likely to be known for several days, because ballots can be postmarked as late at 8:00 p.m. ET Tuesday."
** Tom Friedman of the New York Times is right: "First, Biden should declare that he will take part in a [presidential] debate only if Trump releases his tax returns for 2016 through 2018. Biden has already done so, and they are on his website.... No more gifting Trump something he can attack while hiding his own questionable finances. And second, Biden should insist that a real-time fact-checking team approved by both candidates be hired by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates -- and that 10 minutes before the scheduled conclusion of the debate this team report on any misleading statements, phony numbers or outright lies either candidate had uttered. That way no one in that massive television audience can go away easily misled. Debates always have ground rules. Why can't telling the truth and equal transparency on taxes be conditions for this one?" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Biden has released his tax returns every year at least back till 2009 (and probably earlier years, too). As I recall, Joe & Jill Bidens' tax returns appeared on the White House website every year Joe Biden was veep. So Trump should be required to release those years, too.
Chris, the Cowardly Guv. Ryan Nobles & Donald Judd of CNN: "New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu assured reporters Tuesday that ... Donald Trump's upcoming rally in the state could be pulled off safely and without a mandatory mask order.... Sununu also said that while he plans to greet the President at some point during his visit to the state, it was unlikely he'd attend Saturday's rally in person, citing health concerns. 'I'm going to go and greet the President as the governor,' he said. 'I will not be in the crowd of thousands of people..., if that's your question specifically. I try to -- unfortunately, you know, I have to be extra cautious as the governor, I try to be extra cautious for myself, my family.' The governor said that while he would wear a mask and hopes others -- including the President -- wear one, he was not going force rally organizers or attendees to put them on." Mrs. McC: You know what, Chris? Some of those Trumpbots attending the rally you didn't have the guts to prohibit are going to come breathe on you anyway. Even in New England, there's no such thing as a "moderate Republican" officeholder; the few who falsely claim the "moderate" mantle are cowards who cave to the nutjobs while expressing meaningless "concern."
The Senators Regret. Jacob Knutson of Axios: "At least five GOP senators have said they will not attend next month's Republican National Convention in Jacksonville either due to coronavirus concerns or political reasons." They are Chuck Grassley (Iowa) (Trump could make me sick), Mitt Romney (Utah) (Looking forward to Trump's seeing how it feels to lose to a Democrat), Susan Collins (Maine) (I'm concerned), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) (Eeew!) & Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) (I'm retiring -- don't have to go). ~~~
~~~ Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: Susan Collins is facing "the toughest re-election race of her career -- and one that could determine whether Republicans retain control of the Senate in November.... She refused to say whether she would vote for Mr. Trump in November, and said she would not attack the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.... 'I do not campaign against my colleagues in the Senate,' she added..." Cochrane describes Collin's challenges in Maine's Senate race.
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Backfire. Amy Gardner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump's relentless attacks on the security of mail voting are driving suspicion among GOP voters toward absentee ballots -- a dynamic alarming Republican strategists, who say it could undercut their own candidates, including Trump himself. In several primaries this spring, Democratic voters have embraced mail ballots in far larger numbers than Republicans during a campaign season defined by the coronavirus pandemic. And when they urge their supporters to vote by mail, GOP campaigns around the country are hearing from more and more Republican voters who say they do not trust absentee ballots, according to multiple strategists. In one particularly vivid example, a group of Michigan voters held a public burning of their absentee ballot applications last month."
AND Kanye West is planning a delusional run for president -- this year. Randall Lane of Forbes has the story. Mrs. McC: Contributor Hattie mentioned this several days ago, so -- I don't know -- maybe she's Kanye's campaign manager. He could do worse. (And if Kanye chooses Elon Musk for the job, as he's hinted, he would do worse.)
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suffered a fall at a Maryland country club last month that required an overnight stay in the hospital, a Supreme Court spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday night.The 65-year-old chief justice was taken by ambulance to a hospital after the June 21 incident at the Chevy Chase Club, which was serious enough to require sutures. He stayed at the hospital overnight for observation and was released the next morning. Roberts has twice experienced seizures, in 1993 and in 2007, but Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said doctors ruled out that possibility in the latest incident. Doctors believe he was dehydrated, she said. Roberts did not publicly disclose the matter, and the court's confirmation came in response to an inquiry from The Washington Post, which received a tip." A Politico story is here. Mrs. McC: Could explain a couple of seemingly-moderate rulings Roberts made recently, so maybe Republicans will try to impeach him as unfit.
Capitalists Are Awesome, Too. Mike Isaac & Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's two top executives, met with civil rights groups on Tuesday in an attempt to mollify them over how the social network treats hate speech on its site. But Mr. Zuckerberg ... and Ms. Sandberg ... failed to win its critics over. For more than an hour over Zoom, the duo, along with other Facebook executives, discussed the company's handling of hate speech with representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Color of Change and other groups. Those organizations have recently helped push hundreds of companies, such as Unilever and Best Buy, to pause their advertising on Facebook to protest its handling of toxic speech and misinformation." A CNN story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You know, Zuck, civil rights leaders have been hearing B.S. from smoother guys than you forevah. The notion that you could snow them was ludicrous from the git-go.
Oh, Dear. Hand-wringing in the Ivory Tower. Jennifer Schuessler & Elizabeth Harris of the New York Times: An open letter titled 'A Letter on Justice and Open Debate,' and signed by 153 prominent artists and intellectuals..., began with an acknowledgment of 'powerful protests for racial and social justice' before pivoting to a warning against an 'intolerant climate' engulfing the culture.... The letter, which was published by Harper's Magazine and will also appear in several leading international publications, surfaces a debate that has been going on privately in newsrooms, universities and publishing houses that have been navigating demands for diversity and inclusion, while also asking which demands -- and the social media dynamics that propel them -- go too far.... And on social media, the reaction was swift, with some heaping ridicule on the letter's signatories...." Thanks to Hattie for the link. ~~~
~~~ AND on That Note. David Waldstein of the New York Times: "Hasbro, which owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, said Tuesday night the players association had 'agreed to remove all slurs from their word list for Scrabble tournament play, which is managed solely by NASPA and available only to members.' John Chew, the chief executive of the association, seemed to agree. He had asked the organization's 12-person advisory board to vote on the matter in the coming days, but the statement from Hasbro was presented as a fait accompli.... The game that Hasbro sells in retail stores has not included slurs in its dictionary since 1994." ~~~
~~~ AND While We're at It. CNN: "... some ... [everyday words & phrases] are directly rooted in the nation's history with chattel slavery. Others now evoke racist notions about Black people.... America's reckoning with systemic racism is now forcing a more critical look at the language we use." Mrs. McC: I would disagree with some of what CNN is suggesting perhaps should be taboo. At some point a remark like, "I painted all the walls Sherwin Williams 'pure white'" will be deemed evidence of racism, no matter who says it.
Way Beyond the Beltway
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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. Hannah Devlin of the Guardian: "An arrogant culture in which serious medical complications were dismissed as 'women's problems' contributed to a string of healthcare scandals over several decades, an inquiry ordered by the government has found. The review of vaginal mesh, hormonal pregnancy tests and an anti-epilepsy medicine that harmed unborn babies paints a damning picture of a medical establishment that failed to acknowledge problems even in the face of mounting safety concerns, leading to avoidable harm to patients. Instead, women routinely had symptoms attributed to psychological issues or it being 'that time of life', with 'anything and everything women suffer perceived as a natural precursor to, part of, or a post-symptomatic phase of, the menopause', the inquiry heard." --s
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Reader Comments (31)
Artists and Writers Warn of an ‘Intolerant Climate’. Reaction is Swift.
“An open letter published by Harpers, signed by luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Wynton Marsalis, argued for openness to ‘opposing views’. The debate began immediately.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/arts/harpers-letter.amp.html
Hattie,
An open letter advocating a free and open exchange of opinions, and it gets blowback? I don’t get it.
I get that the dominant positions on the right are too often put forward as if they were handed down from god, with little or no factual (or moral) basis. This is some deplorable shit. But once lefties start tearing down people who don’t toe the line, where’s the difference? Even if their positions have merit (and obviously, things like racial and economic equality are incontestable), the chilling effect that comes along with stifling other opinions (and I’m not talking here about the KKK babble spouted by Fatty and his white supremacist horde) can be just as damaging to a free society as the authoritarian rabble rousing on the right.
The topic deserves a lot more time than I can give it right now, but at the very least, it’s a discussion worth having.
And by the way, reading the article, I see that some signatories have already gotten cold feet because of the virulent reaction from some corners. That alone seems to indicate a problem.
Just sayin’.
Thanks for the link.
Akhilleus,
Re: “ . . . I’m not talking here about the KKK babble spouted by Fatty and his white supremacist horde) can be just as damaging to a free society as the authoritarian rabble rousing on the right.“
Well stated. And totally with you. I consider this expansive and key. Been having difficulty finding the words, but yours have offered a path. (This Night Owl’s drifted into New Normal Insomnia with scehdule-less days bleeding into eaxh other. I’m wide awake with exhaustion at 3:00 AM. LOL)
Healrh & Safety to All
Really Laughing Out Loud Now
Just checked the above to see if my post came through.
And noticed the typos.
Looks (to me) like someone intoxicated typed that.
Yet how would I know since I don’t drink?
These days I so wish that I did.
With his push to open schools this Fall regardless of C-19 Trump is ignoring an ancient survival law: Never get between Mama Bear and her cubs. About the only way to mess this up more would be to decree that child care centers must open up as well.
The how free should free speech be conumdrum has baffled folks far more capable of sound argument than I, but I'll go with my memory of J. S. Mill (under the likely influence of Adam Smith) with an attached Ken Caveat...
No doubt some of the loudest advocates of free speech are those given to abusing the privilege. Annoying little shits, they are.
Still. I'd let the marketplace decide. The market is admittedly messy; and our economic system allows much of it to be controlled by market manipulators whose only care is themselves, but eventually the market must acknowledge reality. Even when it deliberately creates is own self-serving exclusionary bubbles, reality has a way of breaching the barriers. The current Covid reality, for instance, is hard to keep at bay no matter how often the Pretender says or tweets his essential dumbness.
Freedom is worth some mess. And an aside: Mess (think "War and Peace") is sometimes entertaining.
That said, the Caveat, which comes in two parts. "Caveat Emptor" is good advice in any market. Therefore, since the fundamental reality humans face is that we are one species inhabiting one planet and there ain't no other, any statement or notion that has the intent or likely effect of harming either people or the planet invites and demands, loud excoriation and/or massive, organized boycotts.
Just apply the old "what if we had a war and nobody came?" to the market, and let it decide.
It shouldn't be lost in the "Donald Drumpf is a psychopath" family feud playing out across the media right now, that *somehow* and for *some reason* his little brother Robert emerged from ICU care for something apparently pretty serious, for the sole purpose of lawyering up and hassling Mary Trump with lawsuits in multiole courtrooms.
Any of you think he just shot out of his hospital bed, shook off the gown, and marched to the courthouse out of his own volition?
Observing the psychopathic behavior of the family criminal entreprise the last few years, I'm willing to bet someone got sent to his bedside with a few colored threats of their own, sent by the White House via Trump Tower.
Bobby Lee,
Under the baleful influence of the fat little king (does his influence come in any flavors other than baleful?), those centers you mention would be “child care-less” centers.
The idea that this murderous thug would place children and their entire families (not to mention school staff) directly in harm’s way so that he can pretend things are normal as he attempts to steal another election seems too much even for him. But then nothing is too much for this despicable charlatan. And leave us not forget the equally despicable, obsequious invertebrates in Congress who lap his shit-coated boots.
The Scrabble Dictionary has been cleared of slurs for over a decade?
Croppy, Paddy and Mick are all just A-OK with Scrabble. I guess those aren't slurs after all.
Whatta bunch of pommy bastids.
Forgot to add that if we limit it to speech and not executive action undertaken and supported by a minority, the "cancel culture" can also be seen as an expression of the market's magic... In other words, not all and not always "bad."
@Ken Winkes: One trouble with your capitalistic theory of speech is that there is not one single "marketplace"; rather, there are hundreds. Or thousands. Even within one admittedly rich language -- English.
Every individual who goes about in society must navigate a variety of these marketplaces. And he often has to decide almost instantaneously what a new market will bear. I'm sure you would not use the same language in chatting with me that you would use in speaking to a nun. I know I nearly always modify my language for the listener, even when I "modify" in a way meant to shock. An eight-year-old has already figured out that he must use different language in speaking to his grandmother than he uses in goofing with his friends. That is, individuals adapt to a variety of markets.
In the U.S., there is no commonly-accepted language even within subsets of the culture. Matt Taibbi, a well-established journalist, would go stark-staring mad in a week if he accepted a prestigious job at the NYT.
While it is necessary to accommodate some restrictive markets at some times -- like when I edited all the bad words out of my dashed-off letter to Chris Sununu the other day -- adherence to the most acceptable denominator is not only an exercise in self-censorship, I think it can inhibit creativity (although I suppose finding a synonym for "fuckface" is its own form of creativity).
As Cowichan pointed out in yesterday's thread (and as perhaps Paul Krugman did recently), capitalism has a lot of shortcomings. When it comes to modeling creative expression, I don't know that it works at all.
Pick a topic, any topic, and the Orange Menace, given the choice between going for the good or grabbing for the evil, will ALWAYS choose evil. Sometimes mind-blowingly stoopid evil.
In the middle of a worldwide pandemic that shows no signs of abating and requires a unified, consistent approach from all parties, nations, businesses, and individuals if we are to have any chance of getting past this thing, he dumps out of the WHO. He blames the “China flu”, he tells people to just live with it, he threatens children, he tweets out dangerous bullshit that is exactly the opposite of the right thing to do.
Pick any other topic. Racial inequality? Pointy white hood. Economic inequality? He’s all in on helping billionaires and taking money away from those who need it most. Education? He’s for ignorance. Patriotism (the real kind, not the GOP phony kind)? He picks treason. Truth? Lies. Decency? Depravity. Kindness? Vicious inhumanity.
Picture the country as a lifeboat. Fatty is drilling holes in the bottom of the boat to make sure that no one else can displace him as captain, even though his seamanship is non-existent, he can’t read a map, he’s constantly insisting we row backwards, his dead reckoning skills are all dead and no reckoning, and into the bargain he constantly brags that he is the greatest navigator in the history of the world.
What’s worse?
40% of the passengers are cheering him on.
Fuck me.
@Bobby Lee makes a really good point. One problem may be how that point plays out.
Say you're an upper-class Mama living in a tony burb & you decide it's not safe to send your kids to school even though the local school board has reopened little Teddy's school. Do you think social services or some other constabulary will come after you? Maybe. But probably not.
Now, let's say you're a poor Mama with exactly the same health concerns for your child. Will the police refrain from locking you up & taking away your children? Maybe. But probably not.
Point taken, Bea, but would add that those various "markets" you mention also compete, with the ultimate metaphorical market arbiter is the one you've selected: Reality.
I'll go with that even if it requires I reluctantly conclude the Universe is run by some kind of Capitalist.
"modeling creative expression"
I don't know about capitalism, but commercialism and materialism are too darn creative in language expression. I have to help my granddaughters (1st and 4th grade) navigate spelling in English, which is hard enough given the polyglot origins of our many-exceptions language. But add to that EZpass, KwikiMart, RiteAid, etc. and it is just not fair. My 4th grade GD does really well now that she is reading a lot, but in the beginning she was highly phonetic and the red marks correcting her spelling made her papers look like the bloody field at Little Bighorn. And after learning that spelling and phonetics are two different things, learning that ad writers and sign painters confuse things even further is confusing.
But they are really smart and will figure it out. As Bea sez, different strokes for different folks.
Before I ventured on to R.C. this morning I read the NYT's story that Hattie linked here. So many of my favorite people signed the letter and like Akhilleus I was puzzled by the blowback. But then I remembered some years back when Fordham had scheduled Bush's "mushroom cloud" gal, Condi Rice, for a speaking engagement and was going to present her with some kind of honorary thingy. A huge protest ensued and Fordham cancelled the engagement. I said at the time I would have been among the protestors. Later I came to a different mindset, although not about the honorary whatchamacallit, but because I changed my mind about campus speakers being able to spout whatever they wanted and take the blowbacks, if any. There is a limit to this freedom, I reckon––a David Duke would have trouble even getting on the stage at Berkley but how about a Tom Cotton or a Steve Miller? Dare I even mention our Commander in Chiefy????
Marie's "In the U.S., there is no commonly-accepted language even within subsets of the culture. Matt Taibbi, a well-established journalist, would go stark-staring mad in a week if he accepted a prestigious job at the NYT." I second that! I have ––I hope–-always been aware of my audience after having made some serious errors in that department.
Patrick,
Yes, those kids are clever.
My six year old grandson just told his four-year old brother:
"Just listen to my rules. If that rule doesn't work, I'll think of another one."
He'll do all right, too.
@Bea
See from link on the Supremes' latest decision that they (all but two anyway) would like to see as many competing markets as possible, too, some where discrimination is OK.
Reminds me of a situation here in Washington where large gatherings (greater than 10?) are still verboten but a local wedding venue is operating legally because the owners have one of those mail order minister certificates and can themselves perform the ceremony, qualifying gatherings of more than a hundred for the legal religious exception.
@Ken Winkes: I don't think "capitalism" or the "free market" is a "system" as much as it is part of a complex, ever-changing "system" that incorporates competing -- or in a well-oiled system, cooperating -- elements: (2) the people, who are both consumers and workers, and (3) the government. (3) includes all three branches of government, whose function is to regulate capitalists & arbitrate the relationships among the markets (domestic & international) and all other elements of this web, as well as to actually provide goods & services that the markets are not well-equipped to supply.
As Cowichan pointed out, capitalists don't do a very good job of providing health care. This isn't just true of insurers but also of healthcare providers. Capitalists are geared to serve not their "customers" or their workers but their own bottom lines, with the objective to profit their stockholders, other investors & their top execs. Good luck if you're sick & need costly medical treatment or if you're a nurse. That's why government programs have the capacity (if they don't always realize that capacity) to do a better job than do equally-competent businesspeople. On the other hand, capitalists are probably far better innovators than are bureaucrats (on the whole), so a well-functioning system will incorporate and take advantage of capitalists' innovations, while also looking out for workers who perform the work & make the products & for healthcare consumers who need the care.
What democracy is supposed to do is to effect a balance among the various elements of the "system" so that every element of the system benefits & functions at near-optimal levels. In a well-functioning system, everyone who is part of it recognizes these competing interests and, however reluctantly, is willing to accommodate the other elements in order for the whole to work.
This is of course way too much for someone like Donald Trump -- who sees only winners and losers -- to understand and navigate.
Good article posted by Hattie. Central to the "intolerant climate" is the ability to listen. The word "listen" is not used in the NYTimes article. Older people like to be listened to almost more than toddlers. This article makes me think about who gets to be on top of the soapbox? NFL team owners think they should be on top just like their Orange Stooge. Emily VanDerWerff thinks she has a place at the top. If you can't imagine it, it is much less lightly to become true. If VanderWerff thinks she has been harmed or marginalized by another's writings, that is her truth. Who am I to cast her truth? BLM and so much of this moment in history is about reclaiming narrative. Facebook and all those types are about monetizing someone else's truth and pretending concern.
Listening, and in particular listening to younger people, is an essential skill particularly when one realizes that the percentage of people younger than oneself get larger daily.
I never thought I would be saying this but one could say that a British rock band envisioned MOOM, or a reasonable facsimile of him, as the theme of one of there songs. What?
Well, in early May while my wife was at work, during lock-down, doing her "essential" duties I was at home sewing masks. Since we don't have a TV to provide background noise I decided to crank up the Klipsches and listen to some music that I recorded onto cassette tapes (remember them?). For some reason the first one I selected was an album called "How Dare You" by 10CC, released in 1976.
10CC was a lesser known band than, say, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. They had some commercial success in the US but not as much as they did in the UK. Regardless, I liked their stuff, finding their songs interesting musically and lyrically, somewhat quirky with sometimes silly tongue-twister lyrics that seemed to tell little stories.
Anyway, the third track begins with a drum playing a march cadence with words chanting:
"I want to be a bus,
I want to be a big bus,
I want to bus the world around,
I want to be the biggest bus,
That ever bussed the world around"
Then the lyrics and tone change to be more sing-songy for a couple of verses, before switching back again to a march/chant about going to a rally. Then back to child-like voices, with a little Latin thrown in. "Delapsus resurgam. When I fall I shall rise."
When I got to the end I thought to myself that this is odd. I'm not getting it right. So I looked up the lyrics. I came to find out that I got it wrong all these years. Instead of "bus", it was "boss", putting things into a completely different context.
I re-listened to the song while I read the lyrics. By the I got to the end, again, I thought "This could be about Trump!". The changeovers in music and lyrics seemed like a conflict between his out wannabe dictator versus his inner whiny baby self. It fit perfectly with what we've long said here on RC and with what Mary Trump is now coming out with.
I was further surprised to find a video of the song set to a montage of images of MOOM and a variety of political cartoons, one of which Bea uses fairly often. The person who put it together did so 4 years before I made the connection, and 6 months before the election. How prescient.
What's the name of the song? "I Wanna Rule The World".
If you want to sing along, the lyrics are here. An interesting documentary about 10CC is here.
Enjoy!
Between today's SC festerings and the news just now that Colonel Vindman plans to retire, and Rachel's show last night on Mary's book, I feel totally unmoored. There is a full half of the 'Merkin People that is mean, unbalanced, traitorous, selfish and dangerous for the rest of us. I seriously am contemplating moving cocktail hour to 10am and extending through dinner. No-Pence is on the teevee right now sounding all "reasonable" about opening schools regardless of the danger and stupidity. How has it all become the free-for-all circus of fools in just four short years? (Answer, it's been longer than that-- let's not forget Saint Ronnie leading to Poisonous Shrub and through to today...) I am having a super hard time even functioning today, but luckily, I really don't need to get anything done, unlike my younger counterparts. Last night's paper had a letter from a woman declaring she won't wear a mask, nor will her children, they WILL attend school, and she wants to sue the governor and the whatever-the-health-department lady's title is... Freedumbs... The health dept. lady is trans, and last week had to contend with a local politician refusing to take orders "from a guy in a dress..." Gaacchh.
We have never seen this level of irresponsibility on the federal level, and it is so scary. Thank goodness for sensible state people. Pass the mint and keep the mojitos coming...
Bea,
Again, all true, and very well said.
Was using "markets" and "capitalism" with their implied competitive consumer choice elements perhaps too loosely, as more metaphor than technical descriptors.
In that sense, our established economic system might "compete" with a well-run democratically oriented government. At least, that would be my ideal, not the co-opted by capital government we now have.
Maybe November will provide a course correction.
Right now, I'm off to ride bikes with the young grandchildren on a very nice morning here in northwest Washington. That's my morning choice.
Also on the "Mama bear and the cubs" theme, Trump may find out that it is possible for him to poll even lower with women.
Bobby Lee,
Trump doesn’t give a shit about women, unless they’re “stacked” or 15 yrs old and handed off by the likes of his good buddy, child raper Epstein.
@AK Truth that, but he does care about votes and I hope he can count the ones he gets this Fall on his fingers.
Watching the Corona Virus update this afternoon starring Mikey and Betsy was like listening to two love birds extolling the joy of feathering their nest in hurricane season. Such rubbish! Children, according to them, are suffering terribly and need to be back in school pronto! Mikey even mentioned that churches need to get back in session, by god, how do we even thrive without those sermons and singing–-we, like the poor children, are on the brink of destruction. Once we open schools and churches–-like a miracle–- we will be on our way to normalcy. And while they spoke MSNBC showed the rate of deaths and new cases.
@Unwashed: What a kick! your discovery was terrific! Never encountered 10CC ( do you know why that name?) but enjoyed your take on it all and liked their piece. "Bus" becomes "Boss" when we clean out our ears.
One of the more depressing things I have thought about recently is that if I were to want to move to a first-world country after the election, I would be unable to do so, since all the good countries wisely have decided that us Merkins just aren’t worth the trouble.
The Second Wave
“Come on in, the water is fine.”
By John Cuneo
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/bonus-daily-cartoon-second-wave
@PD, I blame my misunderstanding bus v. boss on my lifetime of unilateral hearing. For years I thought Carole King was singing about Jasmine only to find out that it was Jazzmen. Talk about phonetic spelling/interpretation. It helps to read the lyrics, not just listen.
Regarding their name, rumor has it that 10 cc's (2 tsp.) is the average volume of male ejaculate. I know - Yuck! and TMI!
@unwashed: Well now, don't that jest perk up yore ears––lordy, makes a gentle woman like me blush profusely while loving every minute. By the way–– Carole King would hoot at your misunderstanding––that's so funny.
@PD, don't forget that it was the 70's. Another group that you may have heard of, Steely Dan, was supposedly named after "a 'revolutionary' steam-powered dildo mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch." Funny to read in the Wiki post that one of the members co-wrote Carole King's "Jazzman", not "Jazzmen" as I thought.