The Ledes

Friday, October 11, 2024

Washington Post: “Floridians began returning to damaged and waterlogged homes on Thursday after Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction and grief across the state, the second massive storm to strike Florida in as many weeks. At least 14 storm-related deaths were attributed to the hurricane, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. The deadly tornadoes, rising waters, torrential rain and punishing winds battered the state from coast to coast as Milton churned eastward before heading out to sea early Thursday.”

Washington Post: “Twelve people were rescued from an inactive Colorado gold mine after they were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours following an elevator malfunction. One person was killed in the accident, which happened about 500 feet underground at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colo., Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at a Thursday news conference. The site is a tourist attraction. Eleven other people aboard the elevator at the time, including two children, were rescued shortly after the mechanical malfunction, which Mikesell said 'created a severe danger for the participants.' He said four suffered minor injuries.... Twelve others in a separate group remained trapped in a mine shaft 1,000 feet underground for several hours after the incident, before they were rescued Thursday evening, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said.”

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The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Saturday
May232020

The Commentariat -- May 24, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here.

Justin Wise of the Hill: "Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn on Sunday warned that the U.S. has to yet to contain the novel coronavirus, as states gradually reopen and people flock to parks and beaches during Memorial Day weekend.... 'It is up to every individual to protect themselves and their community,' he [said]. 'Social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks protect us all.'" ~~~

~~~ Adam Kelsey of ABC News: "As Americans continue to emerge from quarantines and stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, ... Donald Trump declared this week that 'we are not closing our country' if the United States is hit by a second wave of infections. But in an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday..., [Dr. Deborah Birx] said it is 'difficult to tell' whether such a step may be necessary." ~~~

~~~ Eleanor Mueller of Politico: "Places of worship 'may not be safe for those with preexisting conditions' despite orders from President Donald Trump that they be allowed to reopen immediately, White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx said Sunday. 'Although it may be safe for some to go to churches and social distance, it may not be safe for those with pre-existing conditions," Birx told Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'That's why in "phase one" and "phase two," we've asked for those individuals with vulnerabilities to really ensure that they are protected and sheltering in place while we open up America.'" Mrs. McC: Doctor Debbie is still trying to find a balance between reality & trumpity. It's not working very well.

Arkansas. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) defended the steps his state has taken to reopen even as it saw its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases Thursday. 'We have to manage the risk,' Hutchinson said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'We take the virus very seriously, it's a risk, it causes death, but you can't cloister yourself at home, that is just contrary to the American spirit.'" Mrs. McC: Huh. Apparently a shrug qualified as a defense.

North Carolina. Jordan Green in the Raw Story: "The husband of the woman who leads the Reopen NC movement says people should be willing to kill, if necessary, to resist the 'New World Order' and emergency orders imposed by state government to contain the coronavirus pandemic.... [Adam] Smith said in ... videos [he posted to Facebook] that he feels called by God and by his understanding of the Constitution to prepare for a violent showdown.... Ashley Smith, the cofounder of Reopen NC and the movement's most visible leader, is organizing simultaneous rallies in five cities -- Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville and Wilmington -- on Monday to commemorate Memorial Day and protest Gov. Roy Cooper's [D] handling of the coronavirus response. The rallies have attracted considerable support from Republican politicians...."

Senate Race. Alabama. Trump Projects Again. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Trump said in a new interview that Jeff Sessions wasn't 'mentally qualified' to be attorney general, and was a 'disaster' while in office."

Back to Fox "News"? Thibault Larger of Politico: "Richard Grenell will step down as U.S. ambassador to Berlin in a few weeks, according to a report from German outlet Die Welt based on information from the German Press Agency.... Donald Trump in February called Grenell back to Washington to take over as head of U.S. intelligence on an interim basis, replacing former acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Grenell's term as Trump's top intelligence official is coming to an end. Last week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe to succeed Grenell in the job. In early March, the Daily Wire reported that Grenell had informed the White House that he did not wish to return to Berlin once his interim role in Washington was over."

Zen Soo of the AP: "Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in a popular shopping district Sunday, as thousands took to the streets to march against China's move to impose national security legislation on the city. Pro-democracy supporters have sharply criticized a proposal, set to be approved by China's rubber-stamp parliament this week, that would ban secessionist and subversive activity, as well as foreign interference, in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The pro-democracy camp says the proposal goes against the 'one country, two systems' framework that promises Hong Kong freedoms not found in mainland China." ~~~

~~~ Jacob Knutson of Axios: "White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' Sunday that the U.S. government will likely impose economic sanctions on Hong Kong and China if Beijing moves ahead with a proposed national security law for Hong Kong that could constrain the special region's autonomy."

New York Times Editors: There are "10 United States military installations across the South that were named for Confederate Army officers during the first half of the 20th century.... The namings reflect a federal embrace of white supremacy that found its most poisonous expression in military installations where black servicemen were deliberately placed under the command of white Southerners.... As the military opened more and more such bases across the country, the history notes, it 'actually spread federally sponsored segregation into areas where it had never before existed with the force of law.' In other words, the base names were part of a broad federal sellout to white supremacy that poisoned the whole of the United States.... Bases named for men who sought to destroy the Union in the name of racial injustice are an insult to the ideals servicemen and women are sworn to uphold -- and an embarrassing artifact of the time when the military itself embraced anti-American values. It is long past time for those bases to be renamed."

Déjà vu< All Over Again. Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Pennsylvania could determine the presidency. But it might not be clear for days who won the state on Nov. 3. Election officials throughout the critical battleground, which is implementing no-excuse mail-in voting for the first time ever amid a pandemic, say they are unlikely to finish counting those ballots the night of the general election.... Less than two weeks away from the state's [June 2] primary, some election officials in the state said they lack the needed funding and staff to handle the massive influx of mail-in ballots they've received for that race. They also said the fact that they legally can't start counting those ballots until the morning of Election Day is complicating matters. In addition to delaying a final tally, the chaos and confusion could sow distrust ahead of the general election and give fodder to those seeking to discredit its results." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The odds are high that we won't know the presidential (and many other) election results the day after the election. And if you think the Florida vote count in 2000 was crooked (it was), we ain't seen nothin' like what we can expect from Trump & his team of rabid acolytes (Supremes included) during the time between the polls' closing & results being announced.

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ For a readable version, here's a pdf via the NYT. ~~~

~~~ John Grippe of the New York Times: "Instead of the articles, photographs or graphics that normally appear on the front page of The New York Times, on Sunday, there is just a list: a long, solemn list of people whose lives were lost to the coronavirus pandemic."

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** The Big Grift, Ctd. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: "Many Americans understand that Trump bungled the public health response to the coronavirus, but polls suggest that they don't appreciate the degree to which Trump and Congress also bungled the economic response -- or manipulated it to benefit those who least need help.... While ... Trump and his allies in Congress seek to tighten access to food stamps, they are showing compassion for one group: zillionaires. Their economic rescue package quietly allocated $135 billion ... for the likes of wealthy real estate developers. [The average benefit to these developers is $1.6 million.] My Times colleague Jesse Drucker notes that Trump himself, along with ... Jared Kushner, may benefit financially from this provision.... A single mom juggling two jobs gets a maximum $1,200 stimulus check -- and then pays taxes so that a real estate mogul can receive $1.6 million.... The fine print was mysteriously slipped into the March economic relief package, even though it has nothing to do with the coronavirus and offers retroactive tax breaks for periods long before Covid-19 arrived. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, both Democrats, have asked the Trump administration for any communications that illuminate how this provision sneaked into the 880-page bill.... The House of Representatives is trying to repeal the Zillionaire Giveaway, but Trump and his congressional allies are resisting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The federal government needs to get its s@#t together. -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, in a tweet March 14 ~~~

~~~ ** Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the final days before the United States faced a full-blown epidemic, President Trump made a last-ditch attempt to prevent people infected with the coronavirus from reaching the country. 'To keep new cases from entering our shores,' Trump said in an Oval Office address on March 11, 'we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.'... Harrowing scenes of interminable lines and unmasked faces crammed in confined spaces [at airports] spread across social media. The images showed how a policy intended to block the pathogen's entry into the United States instead delivered one final viral infusion. As those exposed travelers fanned out into U.S. cities and suburbs, they became part of an influx from Europe that went unchecked for weeks and helped to seal the country's coronavirus fate. Epidemiologists contend the U.S. outbreak was driven overwhelmingly by viral strains from Europe rather than China.... The travel mayhem was triggered by many of the same problems that plagued the U.S. response to the pandemic from the outset: Early warnings were missed or ignored. Coordination was chaotic or nonexistent. Key agencies fumbled their assignments. Trump's errant statements undermined his administration's plans and endangered the public." This is a damning report of how Trump & his administration, which should have known better after the chaos caused by his Muslim ban, exacerbated the coronavirus pandemic. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Debbie Donnie. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Of all of the times that White House coronavirus task force member Deborah Birx has said things clearly intended for President Trump's benefit, few were as transparent as her comments on Friday afternoon. She was walking through the improvements in the rate of spread of the coronavirus, drawing attention to regions still at risk. 'I'm going to call your attention to the top three states, the top three states with the largest percent,' she said -- 'and this is so you can all make your decisions about going outside, and social distancing, potentially playing golf if you're very careful and you don't touch the flags and all of those issues.... A bit later, she ... [said,] 'So we're asking continuously for you all to be outside. To enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. To play golf.'... A few seconds later: 'Please, as you go out this weekend to understand, you can go out, you can be outside...,' she said.... And lo, a report from the White House press pool on Saturday morning: 'President Trump is returning to the golf course on this pleasant, sunny Saturday,' it read." Mrs. McC: Okay, she added, as afterthoughts, you could play tennis or go to the beach. And go ahead, take a hike, Tony Fauci. A less caustic CNN story about Trump's golf outing is here. ~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "... Donald Trump, who in 2014 attacked Barack Obama for golfing during an Ebola outbreak that ultimately took the lives of two Americans, hit the links on Saturday as the number America deaths attributed to coronavirus neared 100,000.... Trump traveled Saturday by motorcade from Washington, DC, to Sterling, Virginia, locales in which stay-at-home orders leave golf off limits to regular residents. It was his first golf outing since March 8, but also his 250th as president. As he often does, Trump played at one of his own courses, a practice that helps promote his floundering hospitality business and forces the Secret Service to spend taxpayer funds at Trump properties."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times unmasks the MOOM: "... Trump is afraid his followers will think he's a wimp if he wears [a mask], that he's conceding the danger of a pandemic many in MAGA-land think is exaggerated or some sort of hoax. The mask should be a medical signal, not a political one. But Trump rejects the mask because of a misbegotten image of masculinity and power. In denying the mask, he denies reality, science and the fact that the country is in a crouch.... Even as Trump tries to paint Joe Biden as gaga, he is doing something truly gaga: He is running the government that is responding to the worst pandemic in a century at the same time he is the leader of the resistance to his own government, urging people and states to open up whenever they see fit, recommending Clorox injections, stifling Dr. Fauci, refusing to wear the mask." Mrs. McC: One of Dowd's better columns, IMO.

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "A vaccine developed in China appears to be safe and may protect people from the new coronavirus, researchers reported on Friday. The early-stage trial, published in the Lancet, was conducted by researchers at several laboratories and included 108 participants aged 18 to 60. Those who received a single dose of the vaccine produced certain immune cells, called T cells, within two weeks." However, the report lists numerous caveats that suggest the initial trial indicates the vaccine may be of limited value, especially to the most at-risk populations.

Florida. Langston Taylor of the Tampa Bay Times: "Going further than previous comments that led to her ouster this week, a former data manager for Florida's Department of Health said Friday that a top official directed her to change data to downplay the threat of COVID-19 in rural counties leading up to the reopening of the state. In text messages to the Tampa Bay Times, Rebekah Jones said the Deputy Secretary for Health, Dr. Shamarial Roberson, directed her to 'manipulate' data used in the state's plan to lift stay-at-home orders. That reopening plan was first presented by Gov. Ron DeSantis during an April 29 news conference. Jones said the manipulated data was included in that presentation."

Florida Man. Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "A Florida man who spat and coughed on a police officer after claiming to have COVID-19 was indicted on federal terrorism charges. A federal grand jury in Tampa returned the indictment Wednesday against James Jamal Curry, 31, for committing a biological weapon hoax, a local CBS affiliate in Miami reported." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Alana Wise of NPR: "Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday said President Trump had directly threatened the health and safety of her state's residents through his coronavirus response, including his recent refusals wear a mask in public and defense of those protesting stay-at-home orders. 'He has risked the health, safety and welfare of everyone who lives in this state, and I will not remain silent and just twiddle my thumbs as I see him do that,' Nessel told NPR's All Things Considered. His choice not to wear a mask, she said, 'sends the worst possible message at the worst possible time.'... Trump, who traveled to Michigan Thursday, called Nessel 'The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan,' in a tweet after she, on CNN, compared the president to a 'petulant child' for not wearing a mask during most of his visit this week to a Ford Motor Co. plant.'" Mrs. McC: Nessel was on CNN Saturday night, too. She said Trump "comes up with 'policies' at 2 am after getting a text message from Sean Hannity or something." (Slight paraphrase.) Of course I liked her immediately.

Minnesota. Kaelan Deese of the Hill: "A reporter was allegedly harassed for wearing a mask outside an Albany, Minn., tavern's reopening that turned into a protest following a judge's move to impose a restraining order keeping the bar shut.... In video footage captured from the event, two women appeared to be chanting, 'Take it off!' at [KARE 11 reporter Lou] Raguse, referring to a mask he was wearing. Sounds of coughing could be heard as protesters followed him while he walked away from the scene.... The reopening of the tavern was intended to be a celebration before Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit and requested an injunction by Stearns County Judge William Cashman to stop its reopening. The gathering of 200 people outside the tavern quickly became a protest of the judge's order. Reopening the tavern would have directly violated Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's 'Stay Safe Minnesota' order...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Missouri. Contact Tracing. Faith Karimi of CNN: "Two Missouri hairstylists potentially exposed 140 clients to coronavirus when they worked for up to eight days this month while symptomatic, health officials said. The Springfield-Greene Health Department announced Saturday that a second hairstylist tested positive for coronavirus, and may have exposed 56 clients at the same Great Clips salon. A day earlier, it had said another hairstylist with coronavirus at the same salon potentially exposed 84 customers and seven coworkers."

North Dakota. GOP Governor: Wear a Mask! Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: North Dakota's Republican governor "Doug Burgum on Friday offered a plea to stop the madness. Burgum suggested the debate over masks was being needlessly politicized and that those who are bucking federal health officials' guidance should rethink their posture. 'I would really love to see in North Dakota that we could just skip this thing that other parts of the nation are going through where they're trading a divide -- either it's ideological or political or something -- around masks versus no mask,' Burgum said. 'This is a, I would say, senseless dividing line, and I would ask people to try to dial up your empathy and your understanding.... If someone is wearing a mask, they're not doing it to represent what political party they're in or what candidates they support,' Burgum said, before his voice began breaking. 'They might be doing it because they've got a 5-year-old child who's been going through cancer treatments. They might have vulnerable adults in their life who currently have covid, and they're fighting.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A TPM story is here.

Pride in the Time of Coronavirus. A Semicentennial. JD Shadel in the Washington Post: "... this June ... will mark a half-century since activists assembled for the first-ever gay-pride marches through the streets of New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.... Because of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 475 Pride events have been canceled or postponed. Now, to go on at all, Trans Pride Seattle and dozens of other celebrations are scrambling to digitize.... 'The idea of a year without Pride was unacceptable,' said Cathy Renna, communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force and an organizer for the most ambitious online project of all, a sweeping broadcast called Global Pride... slated for July 27.... So far, about 350 Prides have indicated their desire to participate, allowing organizers to spotlight queer hot spots.... The event will feature political speakers, musical performances, celebrity cameos, stories from locals and possibly, to encourage engagement, at-home videos shared by participants."

New Zealand. Damien Cave of the New York Times: "Pandemics are often described as crises of communication, when leaders must persuade entire populations to suspend their lives because of an invisible threat. Watching [New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda] Ardern on Facebook, her favored conduit, is a lesson in rhetorical blending: epidemiology brightened with empathy, law leavened with mom jokes. And it has been strikingly effective." Here's how Ardern coaxed New Zealanders to adhere to a severe, country-wide lockdown:

~~~ AND, BTW, here's how Donald Trump encouraged Americans to face the disease:


The Judge Gets a Lawyer. Carol Leonnig & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The federal judge who refused a Justice Department request to immediately drop the prosecution of former Trump adviser Michael Flynn has hired a high-profile trial lawyer to argue his reasons for investigating whether dismissing the case is legally or ethically appropriate. In a rare step that adds to this criminal case's already unusual path, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has retained Beth Wilkinson to represent him in defending his decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person familiar with the hire who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is now examining the judge's actions and the larger case against Flynn after lawyers for President Trump's former national security adviser asked the court to force Sullivan to toss Flynn's guilty plea." A Law & Crime story is here.

Space Farce. Bryan Bender of Politico: "The United States Space Force..., the newest branch of the American military, first championed by ... Donald Trump two years ago, tried to generate some serious headlines this month with its first recruiting commercial, an otherworldly 30-second spot summoning volunteers 'to plan for the possible while it's still impossible.' Instead, it was ambushed by the trailer for Steve Carell's much-awaited Netflix series 'Space Force,' which came out just hours earlier.... In a country stuck at home watching TV, starved for new content, the absurd comedy is one of the more exciting cultural events of the season, a 'The Office'-style lampooning stuffed with big names -- Carell, Lisa Kudrow, John Malkovich, Jane Lynch, Noah Emmerich and Jimmy O. Yang.... It's fair to say that the first new military branch in 73 years is at serious risk of being eclipsed entirely by a workplace parody.... The show is already the watercooler chatter of the year among Pentagon brass and at the far-flung bases where the real Space Force is being carved out of the Air Force." ~~~

Elections 2020

Washington Post Editors: "Out of Ukraine this week came audio recordings that have every appearance of a Kremlin scheme to tar ... Joe Biden. The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., who welcomed Russian aid against Hillary Clinton in 2016, tweeted them out and implied they were damning -- though in fact there is absolutely nothing damning about them. Meanwhile, Republican congressional leaders did their part to advance the myth that Mr. Biden's activities in Ukraine were scandalous. The recordings came from Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker connected to the Russian intelligence services. Mr. Derkach said they show that Mr. Biden in 2015 pressured then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to help Burisma, [a Ukrainian company that employed Biden's son as a board member].... In fact, nowhere in the highly edited audio files does Mr. Biden discuss Burisma or his son.... Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, this week led his panel to authorize a subpoena of records related to Burisma and Hunter Biden, and he has said he wants to release a report on the matter before the election.... It is perverse that Mr. Johnson and the Trump camp seek to warp that good turn into an election-year liability for Mr. Biden. Their apparent lack of concern about the prospect of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with malign foreign actors is even more disgraceful."

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose full-throated opposition to high-dollar fund-raising events was a central tenet of her presidential campaign, has agreed to host such a gathering of donors for Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee, who is considering her to be his running mate.The online event is set to take place on June 15, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.... During her presidential run, Ms. Warren explicitly vowed not to attend private fund-raisers or dial up rich donors.... Ms. Warren built a network of high-dollar donors as a senator from Massachusetts and previously attended fund-raising events, building up her own campaign war chest before she entered the Democratic presidential race."

No, These Worrywarts Aren't Nuts. Trump Is. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "A group of worst-case scenario planners -- mostly Democrats, but also some anti-Trump Republicans -- have been gaming out how to respond to various doomsday options for the 2020 presidential election.... The [doomsday-planners'] anxiety has intensified in recent weeks as the president continues to attack the integrity of mail voting and insinuate that the election system is rigged, while his Republican allies ramp up efforts to control who can vote and how.... [Joe] Biden ... has suggested more than once that Mr. Trump might try to disrupt or delay the election.... Marc Elias..., who leads the Democratic National Committee's legal efforts to fight voter suppression efforts..., [believes the biggest] threat ... is the possibility that the Trump administration could act in October to make it harder for people to vote in urban centers in battleground states -- possibilities, he said, that include declaring a state of emergency, deploying the National Guard or forbidding gatherings of more than 10 people." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Hey, don't give Trump any ideas. You can bet he, Javanka, Karl Rove & maybe others already are gaming out ways to "win" if Trump loses.

Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "The coronavirus pandemic is rapidly transforming this year's elections, changing the way tens of millions of people cast ballots and putting thousands of election officials at the center of a pitched political fight as they rush to adapt with limited time and funding. In a watershed moment for American voting, nearly 30 states have changed rules or practices for this year's primaries or the general election in response to the public health threat posed by covid-19, according to a tally by The Washington Post. The new policies affect roughly 86.6 million registered voters -- including more than 40 million people who now have the temporary right to cast an absentee ballot because of the virus.... The largely bipartisan wave of change has been hit by political turbulence as President Trump raises unfounded doubts about the security of voting by mail and threatens to punish states where Democratic leaders are facilitating it." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If we had a decent Supreme Court, which we don't, it would take up one of these suits wending its way through the courts & tell Donald Trump to STFU & get the hell out of the way. ~~~

~~~ News Flash: Darryl Issa Is Still a Jerk. Jeremy White of Politico: "Republican congressional candidate Darrell Issa and a conservative group [Judicial Watch] are suing to block California's move to an all-mail November election. They are legally challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom's directive that elections officials mail every registered voter a ballot for the November election, making California the first state to switch to vote by mail due to coronavirus concerns. Newsom called the move a necessary response to the pandemic since voters at crowded vote centers could be exposed if they cast in-person ballots." Issa is the Republicans' nominee in California's 50th Congressional district. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

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Reader Comments (3)

Hear ye, hear ye, saith the Heathen at the Helm: go forth unto the houses of the Lord, gather together in large masses today, Sunday, I think it is, and some other memorial remembrance for our service people called the military, the greatest in the world, no other country has our kind of military––so get out, play a lot of golf especially at my places, I'm playing today by the way, eat at restaurants, drink a lot at bars, all helping this thriving economy, no country has our economy, I can tell you that, and as I said, go to church or wherever you people go and pray a lot––I, myself don't attend a church mainly because I'm the chosen one, I don't have to. What was that? Don't I care about more people being exposed to this virus? What a nasty question! You people are a disaster! No more questions––fake news, all fake! Now–– I'm off to meet the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz––I have my own Yellow brick road, my own Straw guy, my own Tin man, my own everything, I don't need to waste my time.... (slowly the Space Force gathers him up into the clouds and out of our lives for good and in the distance we hear trumpets––sounds like a celebration of sorts).

The nature of honor, the price of loyalty, the ways that a person's actions are a matter of character. Something to mull over on a day like this.

May 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

This year -- more than perhaps any other -- it is beyond unfortunate that we can't elect a president of the planet. And the only candidate would of course be Jacinda Ardern.

May 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterNJC

This is the holiday to remember those of us who carried duty and love of country all the way to the other side. No matter where or when they fell, they did not die in vain. America is still here.

For now.

May 24, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee
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