;)
The Commentariat -- May 22, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Oh Lordy, let this be the last time we even think of accessing Santorum.com. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "CNN has terminated its contract with senior political commentator Rick Santorum after racist, inaccurate remarks he made about Native Americans.... Santorum, a former Republican senator and two-time failed GOP presidential candidate, sparked outrage last month after claiming there was 'nothing' in America before white colonizers arrived and that Native people haven't contributed much to American culture, anyway."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "Vaccinations in many American prisons, jails and detention centers are lagging far behind the United States as a whole, prompting public health officials to worry that these settings will remain fertile ground for frequent, fast-spreading coronavirus outbreaks for a long time to come. Nationally, more than 60 percent of people ages 18 or older have received at least one dose of vaccine so far. But only about 40 percent of federal prison inmates, and half of those in the largest state prison systems, have done so. And in immigration detention centers, the figure is just 20 percent.... Many inmates say they mistrust both the vaccine and the prison authorities who try to persuade them to get inoculated. Beyond that, some prison vaccination efforts have been hampered by mistakes."
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Ben Leonard of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday delivered a thinly veiled swipe at ... Donald Trump for giving Kim Jong Un 'all that he's looking for' in the previous administration's dealings with North Korea. Speaking at a White House press conference alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Biden said any meeting with the reclusive North Korean leader would come with preconditions, including setting parameters for further discussions on North Korea's nuclear arsenal and deescalation. 'What I would not do is ... do what had been done in the recent past,' Biden said. 'I would not give him all that he's looking for, international recognition as legitimate and ... give them what allowed him to move in a direction of appearing to be more ... serious about what he wasn't at all serious about.'... Biden also announced Friday that he was appointing Sung Kim to be a special envoy to North Korea.... In the press conference, Biden also pledged some 550,000 South Korean soldiers who are in 'close contact' with American military members would get Covid-19 vaccinations."
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "A retired Army officer became one of the most decorated soldiers in U.S. military history on Friday, receiving the Medal of Honor from President Biden at the White House more than 70 years after leading soldiers through a fierce attack during the Korean War. Col. Ralph Puckett Jr., 94, stood in a dress uniform as Biden draped the medal around his neck. He had entered the ceremony in a wheelchair, and a walker was nearby, but set both aside to receive the nation's highest award for valor in combat. Biden, awarding his first Medal of Honor as president, recounted how Puckett braved enemy fire repeatedly as his soldiers took control of Hill 205, frozen high ground about 60 miles from the Chinese border.... South Korean President Moon Jae-in was among the dignitaries attending, becoming what is believed to be the first head of state to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony." White House video of the ceremony is here.
He Did It His Way. David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "One outcome of the [Israeli] war is that the United States is back as a mediator in the 'peace process' business. [President] Biden put it simply in a statement on Thursday announcing the cease-fire: 'I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.' He characterized his approach as 'quiet and relentless diplomacy.'... [Biden] seemed this week to have learned something from his sometimes overeager predecessors, operating mostly in private and resisting demands for bluster."
Biden Posts "Help Wanted" Signs. Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... a $1.5 trillion preliminary budget the White House released in April ... directs billions of dollars into hiring to help curb climate change, restore enforcement of environmental and workplace laws, and expand safety net programs in housing, education, public health and veterans' health. President Biden vowed during his campaign to restore faith in a federal bureaucracy his predecessor villainized as an unaccountable 'deep state' -- and with debate stirring in Congress on $6 trillion in spending proposed by the White House, that shift now involves persuading Americans to embrace a bigger government.... Even in just a single term, Trump succeeded in his goal of cleaving and disrupting the federal government. Some programs that are crucial to Biden's agenda are so short-staffed that his administration can't yet fully implement his policies, among them enforcement of fair-housing and workplace safety laws. A number of decisions by the Trump administration, including the relocation of key economic research and land management offices, are proving hard to reverse."
Jim Acosta of CNN: "A top aide to Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida says he spoke with both the Capitol Police and the FBI on the morning of January 6 after overhearing a man in tactical gear talk about storming the FBI building just hours before the deadly insurrection. Alex Ferro, chief of staff to the Florida GOP congressman, says he heard the comments as he and Gimenez were standing inside the lobby of the Hyatt Regency near Capitol Hill."
David Fahrenthold & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 this spring for rooms that Trump's own protective detail used while guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago Club, according to federal spending records.... While he was president, Trump's properties charged the U.S. government more than $2.5 million, often so that Secret Service agents could use rooms near him.... Trump's decision to charge the Secret Service rent appears unusual -- both for a sitting president and now for a former one.... The closest parallel to Trump was ... Joe Biden. While he was protected as vice president, Biden charged the Secret Service $2,200 per month to use a cottage on his property in Delaware. In total, Biden received $171,600 between 2011 and 2017. Biden has not charged the Secret Service rent since becoming president in January, a White House spokesman said. Historians said they were surprised Trump was still charging the Secret Service, considering that ex-presidents are entitled to an array of other taxpayer-funded benefits, including paid staff and a $219,000-per-year pension." (Also linked yesterday.)
Barbara McQuade in a USA Today op-ed: "New York Attorney General Letitia James's investigation into the Trump Organization ... is no longer 'purely civil' but is also being conducted in 'a criminal capacity,' and she is now working along with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.... Tuesday's news ... is a game changer for Trump and his business.... First, launching a criminal investigation indicates that James has found factual predication of criminal intent.... Second, announcing that the investigation is criminal in nature suggests that James's office believes they have evidence sufficient to meet that higher standard [of proof required in criminal cases]. And finally..., a criminal case ... can result not only in fines and restitution for the corporate entity, but also prison sentences for individuals involved in wrongdoing.... These business frauds are the ones that should concern Trump the most. That's because they are what prosecutors refer to as 'paper' cases, meaning they are built not on eyewitness testimony but on documents."
Steve Beynon of Military.com: Ted Cruz's complaint about the "woke" U.S. military -- as compared to masculine Russian army -- "were met with scorn from many in the military and veteran community. Some bashed him for seeming to attack a female soldier even as the Defense Department faces a pervasive sexual assault crisis and tries to make the military more welcoming to women.... Cruz and other Republicans have made recent efforts to turn military issues into a cultural fight. Last month, he wrote a letter to the Pentagon slamming the military for 'being mobilized against the speech of American citizens or in the service of left wing political causes.'"
Margie Takes the GOP's Whiney "Culture" to a New Low. Ryan Nobles of CNN: "Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, during an interview on a conservative podcast this week, compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to continue to require members of the House to wear masks on the chamber floor to steps the Nazis took to control the Jewish population during the Holocaust. Greene, in a conversation with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody..., attacked Pelosi and accused her of being a hypocrite for asking GOP members to prove they have all been vaccinated before allowing members to be in the House chamber without a mask. 'You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,' Greene said. 'And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.' Jewish groups were quick to condemn Greene's remarks."
Paula Reid, et al., of CNN: "Federal authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz have secured the cooperation of the congressman's ex-girlfriend, according to people familiar with the matter. The woman, a former Capitol Hill staffer, is seen as a critical witness, as she has been linked to Gaetz as far back as the summer of 2017, a period of time that has emerged as a key window of scrutiny for investigators. She can also help investigators understand the relevance of hundreds of transactions they have obtained records of, including those involving alleged payments for sex, the sources said."
Knocking Up a 14-Year-Old Is Totally "Romeo & Juliet." Michael Cummo of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle: "U.S. House candidate Anthony Bouchard [R] had a relationship with and impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18, he told the Star-Tribune late Thursday, hours after he disclosed the relationship in a Facebook Live video to his supporters. Bouchard, who did not specify the girl's age in the video, said he went public with the information to get ahead of the story after learning that people were investigating it in opposition to his candidacy. A Wyoming state senator since 2017, Bouchard has risen in prominence since announcing he would challenge Rep. Liz Cheney following her vote to impeach ... Donald Trump. 'So, bottom line, it's a story when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant,' he said in the Facebook Live video. 'You've heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it's like the Romeo and Juliet story.'" MB: The star-crossed lovers married in Florida and divorced three years later. The young woman committed suicide at age 20. No Romeo in sight. Have at it, Will Shakespeare. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "This repugnant man [Bouchard] has the audacity to claim that his history is being used in dirty politics and the media swamp to undermine his candidacy.... Statutory rape is apparently now part of the GOP platform."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Folkenflik of NPR: "The New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital -- known for slashing its newspapers' budgets to extract escalated profits -- won shareholder approval Friday for its $633 million bid to acquire the Tribune Publishing newspaper chain. The purchase represents the culmination of Alden's years-long drive to take over the company and its storied titles -- including the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, New York Daily News and major metro papers from Hartford, Conn., to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Alden's reputation as a 'vulture' fund had set off a frantic effort by union members in Tribune Publishing newsrooms." ~~~
~~~ If You're So Rich, Why Don't You Own a Newspaper? Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "It didn't have to turn out this way. Local investors -- especially in a prosperous town like Chicago -- could have stepped forward to block a hedge fund from gaining control of several of the nation's top daily newspapers.... this outcome[, said Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of Harvard's Nieman Foundation and a former top editor of the Chicago Tribune] 'represents a failure of civic leadership' in many communities, but particularly Chicago.... 'We're slowly replacing a functional press with PR spam, hedge fund dudebros, trolling substack opinion columnists, foreign and domestic disinformation, brand-slathered teen influencers, and hugely consolidated dumpster fires like Sinclair Broadcasting,' tweeted the tech journalist Karl Bode...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What Sullivan doesn't say is that local moguls prefer sports vanity projects. They don't invest in journalists; they prefer to bask in their glory in plush, hermetically-sealed box seats at football & baseball games. (These "prestige" boxes, BTW, are usually partially paid for with local tax dollars.) Another reason I despise professional sports.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Deaths from Covid-19 and Covid-related causes are likely to be two to three times the number that countries have recorded in their official data, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Some six to eight million people may have now died from Covid-19 or its effects since the start of the pandemic, compared with 3.4 million deaths recorded in countries' official reporting, Dr. Samira Asma, assistant director of the W.H.O.'s data division, told reporters." (Also linked yesterday.)
Another Reason to Get Vaccinated: It's Way Cheaper to Stay Healthy. Sarah Kliff of the New York Times: "Americans with other serious illnesses regularly face exorbitant and confusing bills after treatment, but things were supposed to be different for coronavirus patients. Many large health plans wrote special rules, waiving co-payments and deductibles for coronavirus hospitalizations. When doctors and hospitals accepted bailout funds, Congress barred them from 'balance-billing' patients -- the practice of seeking additional payment beyond what the insurer has paid. Interviews with more than a dozen patients suggest those efforts have fallen short. Some with private insurance are bearing the costs of their coronavirus treatments, and the bills can stretch into the tens of thousands of dollars."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "Billions of dollars in Covid aid cushioned financial losses caused by the pandemic at some of the nation's largest hospital chains. But those bailouts also helped sustain the big chains' spending sprees as they expanded even more by scooping up weakened competitors and doctors' practices. More consolidation by several major hospital systems enhanced their market prowess in many regions of the United States, even as rural hospitals and underserved communities were overwhelmed with Covid patients and struggled to stay afloat. The buying spree is likely to prompt further debate and scrutiny of the Provider Relief Fund, a package of $178 billion in congressional aid that drew sharp criticism early on for allocating so much to the wealthiest hospital systems, and that had no limits on mergers and acquisitions. The Biden administration is now weighing which hospitals and health providers will get the remaining $25 billion."
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A Georgia state judge on Friday ordered Fulton County to allow a group of local voters to inspect all 147,000 mail-in ballots cast in the 2020 election in response to a lawsuit alleging that officials accepted thousands of counterfeit ballots.... Superior Court Judge Brian Amero ruled on Friday that the nine plaintiffs and their experts could examine copies of the ballots but never touch the originals, which will remain in the possession of Fulton election officials.... The decision marks the latest instance of a local government being forced to undergo a third-party inspection of its election practices amid baseless accusations promoted by ... Donald Trump that fraud flipped the 2020 contest for President Biden."
New York. Michael Balsamo of the AP: "The two Bureau of Prisons workers tasked with guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself in a New York jail have admitted they falsified records, but they will skirt any time behind bars under a deal with federal prosecutors, authorities said Friday.... [They] would instead be subjected to supervised release, would be required to complete 100 hours of community service and would be required to fully cooperate with an ongoing probe by the Justice Department's inspector general, it says."
Ore-Ida Potatoheads, Ctd. I'd Rather Be in Idaho. Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "A majority of residents in five eastern [Oregon] counties said in nonbinding votes that they would like to leave Oregon and join with their more like-minded conservative neighbors further east in Idaho.... Voters in two other counties, Union and Jefferson, voted last fall to address the question of a border change, a process that will begin with public meetings in the counties, with one set for June.... The odds against success are long. Oregon's Legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, who also control every statewide office, would have to go along with it, as would Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature -- not to mention the U.S. Congress." ~~~
~~~ Because Bundy for Governor! Audrey Dutton of the Idaho Capital Sun: "He's banned from the Idaho Capitol building, but that didn't stop Ammon Bundy from taking the first step toward running for Idaho governor. Bundy, who lives in Emmett, filed paperwork Friday to appoint a treasurer to a campaign for governor. The anti-government activist appeared to have appointed himself as treasurer, but according to a Secretary of State Office tweet, a treasurer must be a registered Idaho voter. According to the office, Bundy will either need to become a registered voter and refile the paperwork or name a new treasurer and refile.... During the past year, police arrested Bundy multiple times in Boise, with most of those arrests occurring at the Idaho Capitol. He was handcuffed and wheeled out of the Capitol on an office chair after refusing to leave in August. He was banned from the building for a year, but returned, which led to arrests for trespassing. Bundy returned again last month and was arrested twice in one day."
Way Beyond
Israel. Shira Rubin, et al., of the Washington Post: "As a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants held into Friday evening, attention shifted from the 11-day conflict to the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, potential political fallout for Israel's embattled prime minister and renewed tensions in Jerusalem.... As bulldozers pushed sand into shell and missile craters, some Gazans returned to their devastated neighborhoods for the first time since the start of the confrontation. They assessed the destruction while celebrating what many characterized as a victory of endurance over a more powerful foe.... Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 'riots' broke out Friday afternoon, following prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, involving hundreds of Palestinians who 'threw rocks and petrol bombs at police officers.' He said they were then dispersed by Israeli police and that 16 of the demonstrators were arrested."
U.K. Doha Madani of NBC News: "Princes William and Harry pressed for higher standards in the news media following a BBC investigation that found the journalist Martin Bashir used "'deceitful behavior' to secure a landmark interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. William, Duke of Cambridge, said, '... what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived.'... Harry, Duke of Sussex, went a step further and explicitly blamed the media for his mother's death. Many have attributed the paparazzi following her for contributing to the car crash that killed her in Paris." Related stories linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.)
Way, Way Beyond
Harry Reid writes a New York Times op-ed about UFOs. He says he doesn't know much, but unless you're one of the select few with the proper security clearance, Harry knows more than you do.
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Reader Comments (8)
Matt and Majorie off on a spree surprising no one in their demented glee! And I got to thinking: What is it going to take to take them down? For Matt, his goose might be cooked forthwith considering his "pay for sex" fiasco but Majorie–––does she actually have to brandish a knife or gun in the halls of congress while chasing AOC? The filth that flows from this gal's mouth is causing great consternation but little else. She's like a hot wire–-one spark lights up the media but her party continues to indulge her.
Here is a list of individuals expelled, censored, or reprimanded in the U.S. House of Representatives. Will MTG be added along with her best Bud?
https://history.house.gov/Institution/Discipline/Expulsion-Censure-Reprimand/
LOCAL STORY:
Amazon has temporarily shut down a new warehouse construction site in Windsor, CT. after a seventh noose was found hanging over a beam; a series of incidents local police called "potential" hate crimes. Yup–- I reckon we could call it that! Reminds me of when Obama became president and police in Greenwich, Ct. found two dead skunks hung from two separate trees and the police captain said he couldn't figure out why someone would do that? Lots of "potential" somethings going on but we just can't put our fingers on it.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-nooses-amazon-warehouse-connecticut_n_60a7ea10e4b019ef10d9fa8e
I never thought it could happen: In defense of Liz Cheney, can you imagine engaging daily with co-workers who call chasing, impregnating, and then the suicide at 20 of your baby mama "a Romeo and Juliet story"? What a fuckin' workplace hell that must be...Oh, that's the House of Representatives the Republicans have built.
If you haven't already followed the link above to Ammo n Bundy & Friends' activities in Idaho, do so. These guys are entering the capitol building in session "with intent", and some are armed. These mopes need a long haul in the hoosegow but, hey, it's Idaho the northwest bastion of good ol' boy idiots.
I have not seen reports of this in my local media ... and I live in the center of the world mediaplex! Waazzup?
Some of the folks in E. Oregon want to take their counties to Idaho, which they see as more akin to their particular brand of freeedommmm. There has been an endemic desire in E Washington for decades, to create "Cascadia" as an independent entity mostly including Washington, Idaho, Oregon. A better name might be "Caldera" since the area is due for a dirt adjustment on the scale of the San Andreas Fault -- could be tomorrow, could be 10,000 years.
Maybe we could help create a sort of reverse Switzerland and encourage all the Patriot Proud Boi types to move there, and then blow the bridges. Canada would not be amused but, hey, they can send their PBs there too.
Would the price of potatoes go up or down? Hard to tell.
@Patrick
Years ago I read that the state with the highest proportion of millionaires, that is back in the day when a million meant much more than it does today, was that same Idaho.
Though places like Idaho and eastern Oregon and my own state of WA may seem backward to those coastal elites that some of us proudly are, they are in fact not so much poor or ignorant as bastions of white privilege, having taken advantage of the vast resources those wild western lands offered (once they got those pesky Natives out of the way) and all the federal "reclamation" projects bought and paid for by others.
Their politics are smart and selfish, I'd say. Or naturally enough, Republican.
Maybe the last four years were just a way for Trump to get into the Guinness World Records book for most lawsuits in one lifetime. He came into office with 3500-4000 lawsuits he was involved in and the number continues to tick up. Here's another one:
"The Chinese American Civil Rights Coalition has sued former President Donald Trump for his attacks on China and his Asian slurs, accusing him of sparking a spike in violence against Asian Americans.
“Defendant’s extreme and outrageous conduct indeed has caused members of the Plaintiff organization, and to a large extent Asian Americans, emotional distress, and resulted in an unmistakable rising up trend of racial violence against Chinese Americans and Asian Americans from New York to California,” said the federal suit, filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York by the nonprofit civil rights group.
It seeks $1 for each American of Asian or Pacific Island heritage, which would amount to about $22.9 million in damages."
Wanna get away?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/climbing-guide-says-coronavirus-outbreak-mount-everest-has-infected-least-n1268239
I guess you can't.
@Ken Winkes: Wasn't it just yesterday I suggested a vacci-cation to Outer Mongolia? It could be fun, and your vacay slide shows will impress everyone. Chances are, none of your friends has been on a yakursion. Not sure about that Russian vaccine, tho.