The Commentariat -- June 1, 2021
Marie: If you missed it, see also yesterday's Scam Alert at the top of the May 31 page. Plus: I wrote to a friend about the scam because I thought it was so odd. Apparently not. She wrote back, "The Gift Card scam is a multi-million dollar scam, that tends to target the elderly. Some people have lost their life's savings. Another one is that someone you are related to or know is in jail, stranded somewhere or in some kind of trouble (like jail) and needs you to wire them money."
Calvin Woodward of the AP: "President Joe Biden honored America's war dead at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the hallowed burial ground and extolling the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy, 'the soul of America.' Biden invoked the iconic battles of history and joined them to the present as he implored Americans to rise above the divisions straining the union, which he described in stark terms. The president was joined Monday by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff in a somber ceremony at the Virginia cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is dedicated to deceased service members whose remains have not been identified. His face tight with emotion, Biden walked up to the wreath, cupping it in his hands in silent reflection, then making the sign of the cross. His eyes were wet." ~~~
The soul of America is animated by the perennial battle between our worse instincts, which we've seen of late, and our better angels. Between 'me first' and 'we the people.' Between greed and generosity, cruelty and kindness, captivity and freedom.... Democracy itself is in peril, here at home and around the world. What we do now, what we do now, how we honor the memory of the fallen, will determine whether democracy will long endure. -- Joe Biden, Memorial Day address ~~~
~~~ Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "President Biden said how America honors the memory of its fallen service members 'will determine whether democracy will long endure' in a Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery.... Mr. Biden emphasized America is an 'idea' dependent on a commitment to freedom and justice in each generation." ~~~
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "Finance ministers from Group of Seven nations meeting in London on Friday are expected to back President Biden's call for a global minimum tax on corporate profits, giving him an early win in a grueling diplomatic campaign that is just beginning. The new minimum tax, one half of a two-pronged global reform effort, is designed to halt a cycle of corporate tax-cutting that has sapped government revenue around the globe. As part of a package deal, negotiators are also wrestling with European demands to tax American technology giants such as Google and Facebook, which earn substantial revenue in countries where they have little physical presence. Biden catalyzed the global tax debate this month by lowering to 15 percent from 21 percent his proposed worldwide minimum. If he can secure agreement from the world's leading democracies -- en route to a broader global consensus later this year -- it could eventually produce the most significant global tax shift in decades."
What I Saw at the QAnon "Conference." David Gilbert of Vice: "QAnon's biggest celebrities threw a three-day conference in Dallas over the weekend -- and it did not disappoint. Whether you wanted to hear a former US Army general [-- Michael Flynn --] calling for a military coup or Roger Stone's social media advisor [Jason Sullivan] calling for Hillary Clinton's execution, there was something for everyone.... A sitting Congressman [-- Louie Gohmert (R-Texas --] appeared on stage and literally embraced QAnon influencers. Dozens of members of a shadowy militia provided protection -- some with their own pugs in tow. And then there was Kraken-lawyer Sidney Powell trying to sing the national anthem."
Seth Borenstein of the AP: "More than one-third of the world's heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change. But scientists say that's only a sliver of climate's overall toll -- even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought -- and the heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures. Dozens of researchers who looked at heat deaths in 732 cities around the globe from 1991 to 2018 calculated that 37% were caused by higher temperatures from human-caused warming, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
I Ain't Working Here No More. Micheline Maynard in a Washington Post op-ed: "... upward of 1 million [open jobs in the restaurant business] are going begging, leading to a bitter debate over the reasons. Business owners point to the extra $300 a week in jobless benefits that are part of the American Rescue Plan for a covid-ravaged economy.... People forget that restaurants were scrambling to find workers long before the pandemic.... But what if a substantial number of those not going back to restaurant work simply realized ... that working in many restaurants ... is kind of awful?... [Many laid-off restaurants workers] find themselves welcome in ... many places where, unlike many restaurants, the pay and hours may be steadier and even come with benefits."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Oklahoma. DeNeen Brown of the Washington Post: "On the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, survivors and descendants gathered Monday at Standpipe Hill, where Black World War I veterans fought fiercely in a battle to hold off a White mob descending on the all-Black neighborhood of Greenwood.... Tulsa spent much of the past century denying and dismissing the racial terror that unfolded here. Now the city is finally acknowledging the history and its lasting scars, even as it resists calls for reparations for the survivors and descendants. Over the past three days, crowds of Black and White people have flocked to Greenwood for peaceful demonstrations, parades, concerts and panel discussions about the race massacre. Hundreds were expected to gather late Monday evening for a candlelight vigil, and President Biden is scheduled to visit Tulsa on Tuesday, when the city resumes excavation of a mass grave in Oaklawn Cemetery that may be connected to the rampage." An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "... the burning of 'Black Wall Street' in Tulsa a century ago ... was part of a long and shameful pattern in which White mobs used murderous violence to erase African American prosperity.... It happened in two dozen cities across the country in 1919, during what came to be known as the 'Red Summer.'... Perhaps the worst of the 1919 riots was in Chicago.... Whites rioted and set fires throughout heavily African American neighborhoods on the city's South Side. In the end, 38 people were killed and more than 500 injured, most of them Black.... The aftermath of the riots saw the codification of Jim Crow laws and the intensification of unwritten practices such as redlining, intended to keep Black Americans 'in their place.'... There are those who deny that anything called 'systemic racism' is a feature of the American landscape. They should be aware that history tells a very different story."
Texas. Hey, U.S. Senate: The Eyes of Texas Are upon You. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Texas Democrats who defeated a Republican effort to pass a suite of new voting restrictions with a dramatic, late-night walkout from the state House chamber on Sunday have a message for President Biden and his allies in Congress: If we can protect voting rights, you can too. The surprise move by roughly 60 Democratic lawmakers headed off the expected passage of S.B. 7, a voting measure that would have been one of the most stringent in the nation, denying Republicans a required quorum and forcing them to abruptly adjourn without taking a vote. The coordinated walkout just after 10:30 p.m. Central time jolted the national debate about voting rights, putting the spotlight on Democratic-backed federal legislation that has been stalled in the Senate all spring, even as state Republicans move to enact new voting rules.... Much of the pressure to secure voting rights nationally falls primarily on ... Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)...." ~~~
~~~ King Greg. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: &"Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he would veto the section of the state budget that funds the Legislature hours after a Democratic walkout killed his priority elections bill. 'No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities,' Abbott said in a tweet. 'Stay tuned.'... 'This would eliminate the branch of government that represents the people and basically create a monarchy,' state Rep. Donna Howard of Austin tweeted."
Way Beyond
Russia. Vladimir Isachenkov of the AP: "Russia's military will form 20 new units in the country's west this year to counter what it claims is a growing threat from NATO, the defense minister [Sergei Shoigu] said Monday.... He added the military units in Western Russia have commissioned about 2,000 new pieces of weaponry this year."
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Reader Comments (12)
Scams. Another one, which I get via e-mail weekly, is "Congratulations, you're the winner! All you have to do is pay
the shipping charges. Give us a credit card number for the
shipping charges."
I never get far enough to find out what I've won since I delete
after "give us a credit card number."
You can tell by the e-mail address that most of these come
from Eastern Europe and you can't reply to tell them to f___ off.
Guess it's easier than working.
Yesterday we honored our military, our fallen ones who gave their lives in protecting our country. But within the military lurks a pathogen that has continued to infect: sexual assault. Some in congress have tried to change the system–-reporting assaults outside the chain of command but that has not happened and during the last hearing on this some years ago had the military brass assure us they would handle this: they failed. Here is a video describing the situation we are still facing today and again urging congress to pass what they should have passed years ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/opinion/sexual-assault-military-ernst-gillibrand.html
Hey, I got one-a them scam emails a couple-a weeks ago. This guy wrote:
“Dear American Patriot. I used to have a wonderful job, but because of the pandemic and a bunch of cheating liars, I lost it. I’m now stuck living in a hovel in Florida, no AC, no fridge, and hay for our beds. My poor children play barefoot in mosquito and alligator infested swamps and my poor wife makes do with a single dirty dress we bought at K-Mart with our last $5. Please help if you can. Send anything. I was on the verge of doing great things, and if I get back to my old job, I’ll repay every $1,000 you send us, with interest. You might even get to be ambassador to Luxembourg.
Yours in Christ,
John Barron
I sent him a plugged nickel and told him if he gets back his old job, I wanna be a Supreme Court justice.
The Vice article on QAnon's Conference would be funny if it weren't for the realization that large groups of deluded people can gather to propagate their delusions, and have enough cash to bid $8K for a Flynn Slugger. Although, bidding is not the same as paying.
Anyway ... the Q people may have been duped in their choice of flag display on the stage. In several photos, there is a US flag with a yellow fringe, on a pole stand. That is the type of flag that is issued, as personal equipment, to each general officer in the Army for display in his/her office, and the flag the Army uses for ceremonial display (but, not for flying on a flagpole). That flag is also used in other USG offices.
A small percentage of our compatriots believes that such a flag is "unconstitutional" and a signifier of martial law (or "admiralty law", which is executive code-based rather than legislated or precedent-based) being in effect for the location in which it is displayed. A random example of the logic is here:
https://www.change.org/p/we-the-people-endorsement-of-martial-law-flag-1-year-imprisonment-for-all-judges-that-fly-a-gold-fringe-flag
If the Q people were really aware of the REAL big plot against the people, they would know not to display that flag of traitors (here I feel compelled to identify this is sarcasm; you never know how things get read in blog comments). But, maybe they know, and its a secret message to the cognoscenti that we are ALREADY under martial law? But it's a secret martial law to be revealed only after the Parousia and the visible restoration of King Donald? Or (fill in your speculative fantasy here).
Is that like double-secret probation? Which makes Trump America’s Dean Wormer.
Patrick's commentary was eye-opening. I just started writing a murder mystery in which the detective is, oddly enough, a good deal like me. The reason for modeling the detective on myself is that it saves my having to make up one more character; I've already invented myself.
But it dawned on me, in reading Patrick's dissertation, that a QAnon believer is a lot like a detective. The detective assumes that everybody (including the obvious red herrings) is lying (or at the very least, holding back vital information). And that's just like QAnonners -- they think everyone is lying to them, and they, like detectives, not only have to decipher the lies, they must figure out what the lies "really" mean. So if Joe Biden says he's going to Delaware for the weekend, that means he's going to the basement of the Comet Ping Pong pizza place.
For the detective, of course, real clues can be hard to come by, but she also knows that apparent clues can be deceiving; for the QAnonist, clues are everywhere -- to the point that they have driven him nuts. The detective sifts & winnows; the QAnonny accepts every piece of information as either a lie or a clue -- or both.
I can see already that I'm going to have to make a "murder board" just to keep track of my characters and their tall tales, and what -- eventually -- the detective figures out they were actually up to. I'll bet those QAnoninnies have their own basements full of murder boards, with notes like "Delaware = Comet Ping Pong."
I think I feel sorry for the Q people; life is hard for all of us, but it's harder for them.
Quoting George Higgins on life being hard:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1194-this-life-s-hard-but-it-s-harder-if-you-re-stupid
Flynn called for a coup at that Qamoron shindig? Isn’t that treason?
Never mind. Rhetorical question.
MB: Are you actually writing a murder mystery? If so–-will we get free copies? Is the detective in your tale, since it's based on you, BE a female instead of a "Shucks, only the facts" tall, lanky, James Comey kind of guy?
And @Ak: I didn't realize your "scam" comment was fake until the signature of John Barron–-Fatty's fake name. It's been a long day–-the brain gets mighty muddled.
Times is hard–--thanks Patrick.
Marie,
Good luck with your sleuthing tale. And remember, you can get as crazy as you want as long you explain it all in the end, because, as Sherlock Holmes once said, “ Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
The problem with the GQP and their Qamoron pals is that they don’t bother separating the impossible from the improbable. They go directly to batshit crazy and see no need to worry about explanations. As Lewis Black once pointed out, winger logic doesn’t require, um, logic: “Mother Teresa had a mustache. Hitler had a mustache. Mother Teresa is Hitler!”
Yeah, and like that.
So, the Orange Menace thinks that he'll be reinstalled into the highest office by August. I hope he's in jail be then.
@PD Pepe: Yes, I'm actually doing it. The reason I'm telling quite a few people about it is strictly motivational. My theory is that if I say I'm writing a novel, I'll embarrass myself into actually doing it.
I'm doing it the easy way, too. First, I'm starting with something that's not very serious. True, a mystery novel has all the elements of a "serious" novel, AND it's harder to plot. As Akhilleus writes, the author has to explain everything in the end. This, too, is less true for a "real" novel.
But a "serious" novel has to reveal a "serious" thing about the protagonist. A crime novel can do that, too, but the subject of the novel, the anti-hero, is largely unknown throughout the story; it isn't until the end that you find out, with certainty, what makes him/her tick. I am going to try to get into the psychology of some of my major subjects; they won't be as sketchy as the characters in a lot of mystery stories, and they aren't "types." BUT the author/detective is always outside & detached from the subjects of the novel; those who are guilty of "something," even if it's not the murder itself are trying to hide, rather than reveal their inner selves. In a "serious" novel, the point is usually to expose the inner selves of the characters, whereas in a mystery novel, the characters aim to hide those inner selves. A serious novel is about revelation, a mystery story is all about deflection. However, a good murder mystery, I think, isn't all about alibis but about what elements of the characters' psyches could make them capable of murder. The detective/author has to peel off the layers to get there.
Anyway, I'm devoting no less than half-an-hour a day to this little endeavor. So far, I've discovered that the best way to get started every day is to know in advance some approximation of the next first sentence I'm going to type. And that sentence has to be strong enough to impel me into what comes next. And next.
Also, no freebies.