;)
The Commentariat -- June 29, 2021
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
New York. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "A new tally of votes in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary suggested that the race between Eric Adams, the primary night leader, and his two closest rivals had tightened significantly, plunging the closely watched contest into a period of fresh uncertainty. A week after Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, notched a substantial lead among those who voted in person last Tuesday or during the early voting period, a preliminary counting of ranked-choice preferences released on Tuesday showed him ahead by a much narrower margin in the city's first ranked-choice mayoral election. According to Tuesday's unofficial tally, Mr. Adams leads Kathryn Garcia by just 15,908 votes, a margin of less than two percentage points, in the final round. Maya Wiley, who came in second place in the initial vote count, was in third place after the elimination rounds were completed."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Kate Bennett of CNN: "It is back en vogue for the first lady to be back in Vogue. After a four year hiatus of first ladies gracing the cover of the fashion magazine, Jill Biden is on the August issue, which goes on sale on July 20.... A first lady in the pages of Vogue, or on the cover, has -- for the last several decades -- become an American publishing tradition; almost every modern first lady has been photographed for the magazine. The exception was Melania Trump, whose tenure in the White House was tied to the controversies of ... Donald Trump. There have been conflicting arguments as to which side -- Trump's or Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour's -- was responsible for keeping Trump, a former model, from being featured. Neither spoke of it publicly, but Wintour was vocal about her thoughts on Donald Trump, using her editorial note in the March 2020 issue of Vogue to endorse Biden for president, pointing to the 45th President's 'dishonesty,' and 'shocking lack of empathy.'" MB: This ironic in that Melanie was the only First Lady who ever worked as a model, and no one doubts she would have made for a glamorous Vogue cover.
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "The House is poised to vote Tuesday on legislation to remove statues of Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol and replace the bust of Roger B. Taney, the U.S. chief justice who wrote the Supreme Court decision that said people of African descent are not U.S. citizens. A similar bill passed the House last year on a 305-to-113 vote but did not advance in the Senate, then controlled by Republicans. Upon reintroducing the bill this year, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) pointed to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, during which some supporters of ... Donald Trump carried Confederate flags. 'There are still vestiges that remain in this sacred building that glorify people and a movement that embraced that flag and sought to divide and destroy our great country,' Clyburn said. 'This legislation will remove these commemorations from places of honor....' The legislation would replace the bust of Taney ... with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black member of the Supreme Court.... The legislation faces challenges in the evenly divided Senate where it would have to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold."
Paul Gosar Is Even Worse Than You Thought. Aiden McLaughlin of Mediaite: "Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is holding a fundraiser with Nick Fuentes, an online commentator who has achieved a following as an open anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, and white supremacist. A flyer posted to a Telegram account linked to Fuentes promoted a July fundraiser with the ardently pro-Trump congressman.... Fuentes is a virulent anti-Semite who has denied the Holocaust, defended racial segregation and called for the killing of 'globalists at CNN'. He also spoke at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.... 'Not sure why anyone is freaking out,' [Gosar] said [in a tweet]."
** Because Everything They Did Was Corrupt. Desmond Butler of the Washington Post: "In February 2017, weeks after ... Donald Trump selected him to be agriculture secretary, [Sonny] Perdue's company bought a small grain plant in South Carolina from one of the biggest agricultural corporations in America. Had anyone noticed, it would have prompted questions ahead of his confirmation, a period when most nominees lie low and avoid potential controversy. The former governor of Georgia did not disclose the deal -- there was no legal requirement to do so. An examination of public records ... has found that the agricultural company, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), sold the land at a small fraction of its estimated value just as it stood to benefit from a friendly secretary of agriculture.... Danny Brown, the former president of [Perdue's former company] AGrowStar, confirmed negotiations began in late 2015. But Brown said ADM wanted $4 million for the plant -- 16 times what Perdue's company ultimately paid for it.... 'This stinks to high heaven,' said Julie O'Sullivan, a Georgetown University law professor and former federal prosecutor. 'It deserves a prosecutor's attention.'..." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Both Perdue & ADM have histories of participating in shady transactions, as Butler reports. And, yes, while he was Ag Secretary, Perdue helped out ADM. A lot. Sometimes at your expense. In a picture accompanying the article, Sonny is pictured laughing with some ADM employees at an ag show. I'd like to see the big grin wiped off his face -- and his big ass tightly encased in an orange jumpsuit.
Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "United Airlines announced a deal Tuesday for its largest airplane order amid a continuing rebound in air travel: 270 new aircraft, including 200 Boeing 737 Max jets and 70 A321neos built by Airbus. The order is a boost for Boeing's 737 Max aircraft and the largest since the Federal Aviation Administration certified they were safe after they were grounded following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. At the end of March, Southwest Airlines announced it would order 100 Max jets. With its latest order, United expects to add more than 500 new aircraft to its fleet in the coming years, with 40 expected to arrive in 2022; 138 in 2023 and as many as 350 in 2024. While airlines have struggled during the pandemic, passenger counts have risen significantly in recent weeks as coronavirus caseloads fall and Americans spend more time traveling."
Arizona Backfire. Marc Caputo of Politico: "When Arizona Republicans first pushed for a partisan audit of the 2020 presidential ballots cast in the Phoenix metropolitan area, they argued that they needed to know if any irregularities or fraud caused President Trump to lose this rapidly evolving swing state. But the audit itself could be damaging Republican prospects, according to a new Bendixen & Amandi International poll, which shows roughly half of Arizona voters oppose the recount effort. In addition, a narrow majority favors President Biden in a 2024 rematch against Trump. The news isn't entirely promising for Democrats, however: A majority of voters don't think Biden should run for a second term.
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Myah Ward of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Monday pitched the bipartisan infrastructure deal as one 'American people can be proud of,' while cautioning that there was a lot of work ahead to finish the final product. 'This deal is the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure in nearly a century,' Biden wrote in an op-ed on Yahoo News. 'Economists of all stripes agree that it would create good jobs and dramatically strengthen our economy in the long run.'... But the president said Monday that he intended to go further and pass [climate & other] initiatives in the reconciliation bill, while touting that this initial deal was a 'crucial step forward' in clean energy investment."
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday introduced legislation that would create a select committee to probe the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, with an aide suggesting the speaker may include a Republican among her appointees. The House Rules Committee considered the legislation Monday night. The House will hold a procedural vote on the measure Tuesday, and a vote on the legislation itself is expected Wednesday.... According to the legislation, Pelosi would have the power to appoint eight members to the panel, while five members would be selected 'after consultation with' House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McCarthy last week declined to say whether he plans to appoint members to the committee -- and notably did not commit to refrain from choosing lawmakers who have made comments minimizing the events of Jan. 6. The chair of the panel would have subpoena power...." An AP story is here.
In yesterday's Comments, contributor Patrick highlighted an interview in Salon by Paul Rosenberg of Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist who has founded "her own super PAC -- Strike PAC -- to do the kind of messaging her research suggests is key to winning elections with today's electorate." Here's one of her ads: ~~~
Robert Barnes & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday revived a lawsuit that alleges St. Louis police used excessive force in subduing a man who died while handcuffed and shackled in his cell. In an unsigned opinion, the court threw out a lower-court ruling in favor of the officers, which dismissed the suit filed by the man's parents. Six officers kept Nicholas Gilbert in a prone position for 15 minutes after he had been handcuffed and placed in leg irons.... The Supreme Court said it was unclear whether the lower court carefully considered all relevant circumstances, including that Gilbert was already handcuffed and shackled when officers kept him in a prone position." Alito, Thomas & Gorsuch dissented from the decision.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a legal battle over the rights of transgender students, handing a victory to Gavin Grimm over the Virginia school board that denied him the right to use the boys' restroom. As is its custom, the court did not say why it was rejecting the appeal of the Gloucester County school district. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would have accepted the case. The court's decision not to take up the case does not establish a national precedent. In a 2-to-1 decision last August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the school board had practiced sex-based discrimination and violated the 14th Amendment by prohibiting Grimm, a transgender student, from using the bathroom that aligned with his gender identity. His high school offered a single-stall restroom as an alternative."
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "In a stunning setback to regulators' efforts to break up Facebook, a federal judge on Monday threw out antitrust lawsuits brought against the company by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states. The judge, James E. Boasberg for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said the case from the states needed to be dismissed because too much time had elapsed since the alleged offenses took place. The states, led by Letitia James, the New York attorney general, accused Facebook in December of buying up nascent competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp -- deals made in 2012 and 2014 -- to cement its monopoly over social networking. In a separate, 53-page opinion, he said the complaint by the Federal Trade Commission, also filed in December, failed to provide enough facts to back its claims that Facebook had a monopoly over personal social networking.... The judge said the F.T.C. could try again within 30 days with more detail, but he suggested that the agency faced steep challenges." Boasberg is an Obama appointee.
Betsy Swan of Politico: "Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has indicated he does not currently plan to charge the Trump Organization with crimes related to allegations of 'hush money' payments and real estate value manipulations, according to a personal lawyer for Donald Trump. Ronald Fischetti, a New York attorney who represents the former president, said on Monday that in a meeting last week, he asked Vance's team for details on charges they were considering. According to Fischetti, members of Vance's team said they were considering bringing charges against the Trump Organization and its individual employees related to alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate benefits and perks. It has been widely reported that those perks included cars and apartments and appear to only involve a small number of executives.... Fischetti also said that Vance's team told him they will not bring charges against Trump himself when the first indictment comes down." MB: If this is correct, the charges that might come down this week are those designed to flip certain Trump Org executives. ~~~
~~~ Tom Hays & Jim Mustian of the AP: "'There is no indictment coming down this week against the former president,' Fischetti said in a telephone interview Monday. 'I can't say he's out of the woods yet completely.'" ~~~
~~~ David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for the Trump Organization met with New York prosecutors on Monday to argue that ... Donald Trump's company should not be criminally charged over its business dealings, according to three people familiar with the meeting. Previously, the prosecutors -- working for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) -- had set Monday as the last day for the Trump Organization's lawyers to make their case.... No charges were announced on Monday."
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Excerpts from three upcoming books revealed previously unknown efforts by ... Donald Trump to abuse the powers of his office to overturn the 2020 election, deploy the military against racial justice protests and prosecute his political opponents. The excerpts also shed new light on Trump's increasingly unstable mindset in his final year. They portrayed a president who was obsessed with self-serving conspiracy theories and surrounded by aides who knew he was delusional but were too afraid to tell him the truth. Here's a breakdown of the latest bombshells from the three books.... [MB: The only one of the three not previously linked here:] A new book from controversial journalist Michael Wolff includes details of what unfolded inside the White House while the Capitol was overrun.... Trump's senior advisers ... knew Trump was experiencing 'derangement,' but were too scared to tell him that his dreams of overturning the election were hopeless, Wolff reported. The book says Trump's staff begged and pleaded with him to publicly disavow the violence at the Capitol. He waited for hours, and his daughter Ivanka Trump even allegedly said the attack was only 'an optics issue.'" ~~~
~~~ Edward Helmore of the Guardian has more on Wolff's book. "On 6 January..., Trump spoke to supporters outside the White House, telling them: 'We're going to walk down [to the Capitol to protest] -- and I'll be there with you.'... 'I didn't mean it literally,' Trump reportedly [later told his chief-of-staff Mark Meadows]. Trump is also reported to have expressed 'puzzlement' about the supporters who broke into the Capitol.... Wolff says Trump was confused by 'who these people were with their low-rent "trailer camp" bearing and their "get-ups", once joking that he should have invested in a chain of tattoo parlors and shaking his head about "the great unwashed".' [According to Wolff, Trump told Meadows,] '...This looks terrible. This is really bad. Who are these people? These aren't our people, these idiots with these outfits. They look like Democrats.']" MB: This looks to me like an attempt to rehabilitate Trump, and it sounds, from this report, as if Meadows was Wolff's source, so it would be he who was trying to do the rehabilitating. But I doubt Trump's "trailer-trash" fans, many of whom will garner felony records & go to jail for their efforts, will be pleased by his supposed opinion of them.
Guardian: "Barack Obama said on Monday that ... Donald Trump violated a 'core tenet' of democracy when he made up a 'bunch of hooey' about last year's election and refused to concede he lost. Speaking at his first virtual fundraiser since the 2020 election, the former Democratic president said former Republican president's claims undermined the legitimacy of US elections and helped lead to other anti-democratic measures such as efforts to suppress the vote.... 'Here's the bottom line. If we don't stop these kinds of efforts now, what we are going to see is more and more contested elections ... We are going to see a further de-legitimizing of our democracy,' he said, as well as 'a breakdown of the basic agreement that has held this magnificent democratic experiment together all these years'."
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Having gone to extraordinary lengths to help Donald Trump corrupt the presidency, William P. Barr is working overtime to launder his post-Trump reputation. But the former attorney general's latest cleanup exercise may end up showing that the stain of his corruption is even darker than we thought -- in a way that soils other Republicans as well.... In early November, Barr had taken the extraordinary step of authorizing U.S. attorneys to open election fraud investigations. The move attracted scalding criticism -- the department had long refrained from such investigations until results are certified, to avoid this very sort of politicization.... [Mitch] McConnell looks even worse.... McConnell asked Barr to use the department for the purpose of managing a GOP political problem and that McConnell spent weeks refusing to acknowledge Trump's loss while knowing this was hurting the country." ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "This is a central story of the Trump era, that his putative allies were almost never interested in challenging him and his dishonesty. And on voter fraud, that pattern began before he was even president [in 2016].... Trump's attorney general, William P. Barr, played his part ably.... 'There's so many occasions for fraud there that cannot be policed,' Barr said in an interview with NPR. '... But one of the things I mentioned was the possibility of counterfeiting' of ballots.... The moral of Barr's face-saving interview with Karl isn't that he did his best, it's that he didn't.... The GOP let Trump make false and ridiculous claims about fraud for five years.... Trump repeated the same [fake fraud] claims in a statement bashing Barr that was released Sunday evening." ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Monday lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky.), incensed by a forthcoming book that reports McConnell urged former Attorney General William Barr to push back on Trump's falsehoods after November's election.... 'Had Mitch McConnell fought for the Presidency like he should have, there would right now be Presidential Vetoes on all of the phased Legislation that he has proven to be incapable of stopping,' Trump said in a Monday statement, reiterating his belief that Republicans lost both Senate runoff races in Georgia in January because of McConnell." MB: Love those childish capitalizations.
The Right Wing Goes All in on Ignorance. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Closed-mindedness and ignorance have become core conservative values, and those who reject these values are the enemy, no matter what they may have done to serve the country.... The current obsession with critical race theory is a cynical attempt to change the subject away from the Biden administration's highly popular policy initiatives, while pandering to the white rage that Republicans deny exists. But it's only one of multiple subjects on which willful ignorance has become a litmus test for anyone hoping to succeed in Republican politics.... Right-wingers have gone all in on ignorance, so they were bound to come into conflict with every institution -- including the U.S. military -- that is trying to cultivate knowledge." ~~~
~~~ Let's Scare All the White People. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Republicans' hissy fit over critical race theory is nothing more than an attempt to rally the party's overwhelmingly White base by denying documented history and uncomfortable truth.... It is all about alarming White voters into believing that they are somehow threatened if our educational system makes any meaningful attempt to teach the facts of the nation's long struggle with race. The Republican state legislators falling over themselves to decide how history can and cannot be taught in schools -- and blowhards such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who warn that children are being taught 'every White person is a racist' -- know exactly what they're doing.... The flap over critical race theory is just another scam from a party that believes in nothing except the unprincipled pursuit of power."
Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "Leaked membership data from the neo-Confederate Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization has revealed that the organization's members include serving military officers, elected officials, public employees, and a national security expert whose CV boasts of 'Department of Defense Secret Security Clearance'. But alongside these members are others who participated in and committed acts of violence at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and others who hold overlapping membership in violent neo-Confederate groups such as the League of the South (LoS). The group, organized as a federation of state chapters, has recently made news for increasingly aggressive campaigns against the removal of Confederate monuments. This has included legal action against states and cities, the flying of giant Confederate battle flags near public roadways, and Confederate flag flyovers at Nascar races."
U.S. "Conservatives" Are Especially Dangerous. Cameron Easley of the Morning Consult: "The Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol gave the country a striking wake-up call to the alarming rise in undemocratic behavior on the right side of the political aisle, and new global Morning Consult research underscores the prevalence of authoritarian attitudes among U.S. conservatives.... A scale measuring propensity toward right-wing authoritarian tendencies found right-leaning Americans scored higher than their counterparts in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. [Twenty-six percent] of the U.S. population qualified as highly right-wing authoritarian, Morning Consult research found, twice the share of the No. 2 countries, Canada and Australia. The beliefs that voter fraud decided the 2020 election, that Capitol rioters were doing more to protect than undermine the government and that masks and vaccines are not pivotal to stopping COVID-19 were similarly prevalent among right-leaning Americans and those that scored high for right-wing authoritarianism." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday I watched a rerun of a Rick Steves travel show about fun sites to visit in the former Yugoslavia, a cobbled-together country held together for 40 years or so by dictator Josip Broz Tito, and which fell apart -- after Tito's death -- in a horrible ethnic war in the 1980s and early 1990s. Even in some of the larger cities, the bullet holes on buildings are still visible. It could happen here. ~~~
~~~ Later, I read Tim Egan of the New York Times: "The United States is becoming a mean country.... Tribalism, and the corrosive hatreds that go with it, has always been just below the surface in the risky experiment of our multiethnic democracy. Of late, it has surfaced in many of our daily interactions -- and accounts for much of the meanness of this moment.... In mean America, in January, nearly three in 10 people surveyed expressed support for politically motivated violence, if necessary.... The underlying theme of all this meanness is intolerance.... There's an old saying, attributed to the Sioux: A people without history is like wind on the buffalo grass. What may be worse are a people without a heart, unable to see half their countrymen and countrywomen as anything but the enemy."
Mark Mazzetti & Adam Goldman of the New York Times (June 25): "Operatives infiltrated progressive groups across the West to try to manipulate politics and reshape the national electoral map. They targeted moderate Republicans, too -- anyone seen as threats hard-line conservatives.... Using large campaign donations and cover stories, the operatives aimed to gather dirt that could sabotage the reputations of people and organizations considered threats to a hard-right agenda advanced by ... Donald J. Trump. At the center of the scheme was an unusual cast: a former British spy connected to the security contractor Erik Prince, a wealthy heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune and undercover operatives.... Sometimes, their tactics were bumbling and amateurish. But the operation's use of spycraft to manipulate the politics of several states over years greatly exceeds the tactics of more traditional political dirty tricks operations."
Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Around the world, in countries with paltry building codes, little enforcement of existing rules and the proliferation of informal housing, tragedies like Thursday's building collapse in Florida -- where scores of people are still missing -- have taken a heavy toll.... The disaster in Surfside shocked many Americans who are unaccustomed to such events. 'These buildings do not fall down like this in First World countries,' Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said on Thursday after the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building. 'This is a Third World event, and we need to understand why this happened.'" Berger lists a lot of building collapses in other countries. MB: My first thought, upon hearing of the Surfside collapse was, "We're a third-world country now." Several years back, my husband and I seriously considered buying a penthouse apartment in a Naples, Florida, highrise. Had we bought it, I'd be living there now. Just thinking about that makes me feel anxious.
YouTube Moderators Must Be Super-Stupid. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "YouTube reinstated the channel Right Wing Watch on Monday, saying it 'mistakenly' suspended the account, which focuses on monitoring conservative groups and figures. 'Right Wing Watch's YouTube channel was mistakenly suspended, but upon further review, has now been reinstated,' a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. Right Wing Watch tweeted screenshots Monday from YouTube messages notifying the group that its channel had been suspended over community guideline violations and that an appeal to the suspension had been denied.<"
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Apoorva Mandavilli, et al., of the New York Times: "Three scientific studies released on Monday offered fresh evidence that widely used vaccines will continue to protect people against the coronavirus for long periods, possibly for years, and can be adapted to fortify the immune system still further if needed. Most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, one study found, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms -- which is not guaranteed. Mix-and-match vaccination shows promise, a second study found, and booster shots of one widely used vaccine, if they are required, greatly enhance immunity, according to a third report."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. When the Circus Comes to Town ... It's Costly. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Arizona's Maricopa County announced Monday that it will replace voting equipment that was turned over to a private contractor for a Republican-commissioned review of the 2020 presidential election, concerned that the process compromised the security of the machines. Officials from Maricopa, the state's largest county and home to Phoenix, provided no estimates of the costs involved but have previously said that the machines cost millions to acquire. 'The voters of Maricopa County can rest assured, the County will never use equipment that could pose a risk to free and fair elections,' the county said in a statement. 'As a result, the County will not use the subpoenaed equipment in any future elections.' The announcement probably reflects an added cost to taxpayers for a controversial review that has been embraced by supporters of ... Donald Trump.... In May, all seven of the county's elected officials -- including five Republicans -- joined in a scathing letter to the state Senate denouncing the audit as a sham.... Noting the tactics used by organizers of the review, such as hunting for bamboo in ballot paper, they added, 'Your "audit," which you once said was intended to increase voters' confidence in our electoral processhas devolved into a circus.'"
Wisconsin. David Siders of Politico: "Just as the [Wisconsin] state party gathered this past weekend, Trump issued a statement tearing into the state Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, and two other Republican lawmakers for doing too little to promote his election conspiracies.But ... when Vos and Devin LeMahieu, the state's Senate majority leader, took the stage on Saturday in front of some of the party's most fervent pro-Trump activists, it was as though Trump had said nothing at all.... Convention-goers dismissed an effort to censure [Vos].... There were signs [Trump's] comments were dismissed with a roll of the eyes.... Trump remains wildly popular among Wisconsin Republicans.... ... In his statement issued the night before Vos spoke, Trump, seeking to stoke grassroots outrage, accused Vos, LeMahieu and state Sen. Chris Kapenga of 'working hard to cover up election corruption ... actively trying to prevent a Forensic Audit.'... One delegate deleted Trump's statement from his phone, saying he wished Trump would 'shut up, and I'm a big Trump supporter.'"
News Ledes
The New York Times' live updates of developments in the condo collapse near Miami Beach, Florida, are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.
Axios: "The extraordinary heat wave that's stifling the Pacific Northwest reached its peak in many areas on Monday. Seattle smashed its all-time high-temperature record, set just the day before, by 4°F.... A highly unusual weather pattern that statistically has less than a 1-in-several-thousand-year chance of occurring is in place over the Pacific Northwest, with arecord -strong high-pressure area aloft -- colloquially known as a 'heat dome' -- sitting over Washington state and British Columbia. This heat dome is yielding temperatures 25-50°F above average across multiple states and British Columbia.... The heat was so severe Monday that pavement buckled across the Seattle and Portland metro areas." ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "Canada broke a national heat record on Sunday when the temperature in a small town in British Columbia reached almost 116 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking an 84-year-old record by nearly 3 degrees, with dangerously hot weather expected to continue for several more days.... David Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada, a government agency, said the early timing of this [weather event], its intensity and its duration, could all be attributable to rising global temperatures."
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Reader Comments (14)
In yesterday's comments, there was a discussion about the phrase "people of color." Back in 1988, William Safire--one of the best writers the New York Times ever had--devoted one of his "On Language" pieces to the phrase. It has a long history, back to at least the late 1700s. Notably, Martin Luther King Jr. used a similar phrase in his 1963 speech in DC: "citizens of color."
I recommend the whole essay: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/magazine/on-language-people-of-color.html
@Elizabeth: Thank you. I think you have to have a subscription to the Times to read articles from the archives, but for those with subscriptions, this is a good one to read. At the end of the essay, Safire reminds readers that the term "people of color" includes everyone who isn't identified as white.
As a person of whiteness, I try to use whatever term is au courant among the particular ethnic group being discussed. So in the past, I've used black, Black, Afro-American and African-American to describe Black people who live in and/or are citizens of the U.S. It's been a very long time since I used the word "Negro," but I probably did in the late 1950s and early '60s. When the ethnicity of a person is not germane, I don't mention it at all.
Remember when Crayola had a "flesh"-color crayon in a pack of 16? Not any more.
On a personal note, I spoke to Safire a number of times. The extent of my "conversation" with him was, "How do you do, Mr. Safire? I'll get my husband now." (When we lived in Manhattan, Safire used to phone my husband when he was dealing with an Italianate or Latinate term.)
Bill (dis)Barr shows his true colors, that of a feckless, sleazy, opportunistic hack. So now he sez “Oh, all that crap about stolen elections? That was wrong.” But when he was in a position to do something about it, he jumped feet first into the fetid swamp of Trumpish lies and dangerous, manufactured outrage.
Now, however, he wants to try to erase his past bad acts and treasonous behavior, such as turning the DOJ into the personal law firm of an unfit, bellowing bully. He had his chance to be a stand up guy. He sat down. Only now he realizes he sat on a moral whoopee cushion and can’t abide the idea that he will be painted with the same brush as the thugs and liars and creepy Proud Boy douchebags.
You almost have to have more respect for the Trumpy morons who will never turn tail. At least they’re consistent. But a two-faced vulture like Barr who knew better but didn’t care and who, now that the wind is blowing from a different direction, tries to present himself as an upstanding citizen and a beacon of sage perspicacity, deserves no quarter from any side.
Fuck you, Barr, as self-serving a hack as any of the long line of pompous, preening, egocentric fascists and pocket stuffing motherfuckers who saw their chance working for a tyrannical crime boss to piss on the Constitution and realize longstanding dreams of personal ambition at the expense of decency, morality, the rule of law, and the essence of the United States of America.
Traitors don’t get to say “Oops, my bad.” Or “Sorrrrry…I really didn’t mean it.”
Do not pass Go, do not collect $100, go straight to hell, you son of a bitch.
Elizabeth: that was me... I think it is used as a catch-all phrase to cover everyone who isn't "White" and I understand its use in that sense, but it still gives me the willy-wobbles. Thanks for the article-- I will try to read it today.
This assumed "rehab" of the reputation of Chunk of Malice Barr is also an incoherent mess. He's not rehabilitation-ready. Never will be. The thing that gives me more pause is the attempted whitewashing of McConnell. He is clever and quick enough to fool everyone on the right, and he will never be made to pay for his treachery. As for the Monster of Orange, I am not pinning any hopes on the state of New York. If they are limiting their attention to "merely" tax evasion, then he will skate a he always has. There are so many horrible things he has done, he should be brought down like the crime boss he is, on his many and varied sins. And the corrupt scumbag he is. So many people to despise, so few opportunities to succeed in rightful ways. I am not looking at seeing the OM dressed in O, in spite of all the books coming out. Hasn't worked yet. And no one's ploughed under the wretches in Congress--
Elizabeth,
I was never a fan of Safire’s politics, but I did enjoy his “On Language” columns. His facility with words, that gave us such memorable (and pretty funny, considering the speaker) lines as “nattering nabobs of negativity” imbued those pieces with a nice combination of the theoretical and pragmatic powers of language. I don’t recall that particular column, but I’ll check it out.
Thanks for the reference, Elizabeth. I'll stand by my comment from yesterday and stick with "people of color," though when you think about it, that term pretty much includes all of us fleshy beings...
The main problem is that we (some more than others) feel the need to make any distinction at all on the basis of color...
Said some version of this on Krugman last night before heading to our sweaty bed.
All on the button but for one large caveat.
In a larger sense, the Right has not politicized everything; that's not where they go wrong.
In fact, if we grant politics to be the process by which communities, small and large, from families to nations, act to distribute resources, everything we do is already political: Not just material resources and its stand-in, money, but all knowledge and the entire array of moral and psychological qualities like honesty, tolerance, empathy and integrity in which we choose to live.
The Right didn't make all those things political because they already are.
The Right didn't create politics. Their politics are just nasty, selfish, inhumane and wrong.
"The moral is that neither he (Barr) nor other voices of authority leveraged their power when it would have made a difference", https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/28/bill-barr-wants-his-legacy-be-his-mumbled-opposition-trump-fraud-not-his-shouted-agreement/. When it comes to McGahn and Barr and their machinations and reputations, I am reminded of the two of them being minor leaguers (with a fleeting moment in the limelight) sort of like the more capable Boies and Olson going on to burnish their reputations by advancing gay marriage. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gaymarriage-california-court/bush-v-gore-lawyers-take-on-gay-marriage-ban-idUSTRE54Q4DG20090527.
I recommend the Strike Pac videos. The images with Nazis, Insurrectionists, and Republicans is perfect. I've said for years that the little dog pooh bags should have Nazi and Conferate flags on each side. I'm sure the Snowflakes would howl.
Thanks for recommending the good in William Safire's work. My English Comp teacher always had us read Safire and Russel Baker.
@Ken–-like your last sentences–-and I must ask how you are dealing with that heat wave? Al Gore warned us years ( how many?) ago that this would happen to states otherwise tepid during this time of year––that we were going to experience horrific changes throughout the states as time goes by.
As for Safire: I had a few written exchanges with him--a very clever fellow but he was a staunch Republican down to his knobby knees–-therefore my admiration was limited.
Last night watched "The People vs Agent Orange," an Independent Lens production that exposes the fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the lasting devastation on humans and the environment in Vietnam and IN THIS COUNTRY! I hadn't realized the extent this poisonous herbicide had been sprayed in the U.S.
This is a chilling story featuring two women, one Vietnamese, one American, activists who take on the fight against this poison.
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-people-vs-agent-orange-szhodb/
And I'm wondering–-would this be just another piece of history for those of the "America the Be-ut-tiful" crowd who want to whitewash our history, who want to stifle the truth, who want to lie. If you love your country you strive to make it better, not try to cover up its horrors.
I just finished reading the Safire: I couldn't help thinking about all those drops of whiteness in our "people of color"––-so that this definition hangs limply by a thin thread of DNA. I also felt anger knowing how we tend to differentiate human beings and the damage that has been done because of it. The term--" Superior Race" is still front and center in this year of 2021. Power––it's alive and well.
While we were considering fancy words, George Conway was writing one in the final para of his current piece on lawyers saving the republic:
"anathematic" , as an adjective.
I suppose such a word exists, but if just plain old "anathema" is good enough for centuries worth of popes, it should be good enough for George.
I do not give my imprimatur to this usage and encourage all to eschew it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/28/george-conway-trump-barr-lawyers/
@Patrick: It turns out "anathematic" is a word. I can work out its meaning when I see it written, but I don't think I'd know what it meant -- unless the context helped a lot -- if I heard someone say it. Rather -- since the emphasis is on the "the" (third syllable) -- I would probably think it meant something like "not thematic."
Patrick,
I didn't like "anathematic" either. (Neither does my new computer.)
It was the only notable thing about an essay that itself was a bit anodyne. By highlighting a few things the Pretender's lawyers did right, Conway avoided the big question: Why had they been willing to associate themselves with him at all?
Kinda like being a passenger in a car whose driver has been breaking the speed limit for most of a long trip, putting thousands of other drivers at risk, killing some along the way, then objecting when the idiot at the wheel kicks it up to 120-- and feeling virtuous about it.
I read in our morning paper that Toomey was the speaker at at the Chamber of Commerce dinner last night. He said all the predictable things. Not defending his vote for impeachment. Says Biden and his whole administration is in "overreach" mode. And a few other things. I always remember that he is a toady and an a**hole, despite his vote to impeach. (And he skipped out on a vote for the 1/6 commission.)
He can't be trusted and is always on the side of money and corporate this and that. Glad to see him go but there will be other Toomeys waiting in line to take his spot.
And don't forget: those that did/do know the evil being done by Orange Monster are just as guilty. Think of those who could have helped by speaking out, like Barr and McGann, who chose not to. And don't forget Flynn: he was apparently Q-ing before Q was in the public eye and discourse. He has made big bucks off everything and some say he IS Q. And Bolton. He chose to be silent also and in recent days has blathered against OM. They should all drown in the swamp of their own making.
Thanks for discussion on Saffire. I loved him too, in high school-- until I knew about his politics.
Apologies for doing this to friends, but......
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-biden-energy-secretary-climate-change-surfside-building-collapse
And there you have it. The Right's go-to nostrum: Outrage.