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The Commentariat -- Nov. 20, 2020
Two More Months!
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech applied Friday for emergency authorization of their coronavirus vaccine, a landmark moment and a signal that a powerful tool to help control the pandemic could begin to be available by late December. The U.S. race to develop a vaccine has set scientific speed records since it launched in January, and the submission of a first application to regulators cements that. Now, that effort will move to its next, deliberative phase -- a weeks-long process in which career scientists at the FDA to scrutinize the data and determine whether the vaccine is safe and effective to be used in a broad population." Politico's story is here.
Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday announced two major actions aimed at lowering the price of prescription drugs, as he seeks to make a mark on the issue in the final months of his administration. One rule announced Friday would lower drug prices in Medicare Part B to match the lower prices paid in other wealthy countries, a proposal known as 'most favored nation.' The second action would eliminate the rebates that drugmakers pay to 'middlemen' known as pharmacy benefit managers, in a bid to simplify the drug pricing system and pass the discounts on to consumers instead. Trump touted the moves while speaking in the White House briefing room on Friday, one of few public appearances by the president since his electoral defeat earlier this month. The president took no questions during the appearance as he continues to contest election results showing a win for President-elect Joe Biden.... The future of Trump's moves also could depend on whether the Biden administration decides to keep them, which Trump seemed to acknowledge.... 'I hope they have the courage to keep it,' Trump said."
The New York Times' live election updates Friday are here: "Georgia's top election official will certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory in the state on Friday, dealing a blow to President Trump's Hail-Mary bid to overturn the vote in a half-dozen battleground states and with it the national election that Mr. Biden won decisively. The Georgia certification will be an early milestone in the state-by-state process of finalizing Mr. Biden's victory in the coming days, a process that appears set to unfold as Mr. Trump continues to deny his defeat and cry fraud and his campaign and its surrogates inundate the courts with largely baseless lawsuits that have so far been unsuccessful.... [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger is expected to formally certify the state's presidential election results before noon Eastern time, ensuring that Mr. Biden receives Georgia's 16 electoral votes.... The Trump campaign has one more bite at Georgia's results: State law allows the loser of an election to request a recount done by high-speed scanning machines if the winner is ahead by than half a percentage point, as is the case here, with Mr. Biden ahead by 0.25 percent. Mr. Trump will have two business days to request the recount." ~~~
~~~ Update from the Washington Post's live election updates Friday. Free to non-subscribers: "Despite an earlier announcement, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said the office is still completing its certification. The office issued a correction, reversing an earlier announcement that had declared the certification was complete. Raffensperger said he expects certification to be completed later Friday. ~~~
~~~ Update Update: "On Friday afternoon, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) certified the state's general election results, including Biden as the winner of the state's presidential vote. The secretary of state's office had erroneously sent an alert earlier in the day saying the vote had been certified."
Boris Tries to Keep the U.K. Relevant. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson rolled out ambitious, back-to-back initiatives on military spending and climate change this week, which have little in common except that both are likely to please a very important new person in Mr. Johnson's life: President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. The prime minister, whom President Trump has embraced as a like-minded populist, is eager to show he can work with the incoming president as well as he did with the outgoing one. Building more warships and phasing out new gas- and diesel-powered cars within a decade demonstrates to Mr. Biden that Britain can be a useful and relevant partner, even if it no longer belongs to the European Union. That is important, analysts said, because Brexit will deprive Britain of what had historically been one of its greatest assets to the United States: serving as an Anglophone bridge to the leaders of continental Europe."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Maps tracking new coronavirus infections in the continental United States were bathed in a sea of red on Friday morning, with every state showing the virus spreading with worrying speed and health care workers bracing for more trying days ahead. More than 250,000 people have died in the United States, a number that grew by another 1,962 on Thursday. The Covid Tracking Project reported that more than 80,000 people were in the hospital, the highest number since the pandemic began.... As the picture across the country grew more dire, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people against traveling and visiting family for the Thanksgiving holiday, the White House coronavirus task force appeared in public for the first time in months, along with Vice President Mike Pence, who said the country was in fine shape.... More than 187,000 cases were announced nationwide on Thursday, another single-day record, and daily tallies have been rising in 47 states, according to a New York Times database."
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on Friday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, roughly a week after he started self-quarantining. Scott, in a statement, said that after getting multiple negative results, a test that he took on Tuesday came back positive on Friday morning.... Scott announced on Saturday that he was going to self-quarantine after being exposed to an individual in Florida the previous day who subsequently tested positive...."
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Michael Crowley & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "In his sharpest condemnation yet of President Trump's efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 election, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Thursday that Mr. Trump's refusal to authorize an orderly transition ensured that he would be remembered as 'one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history.' 'It's hard to fathom how this man thinks,' Mr. Biden said in response to a question about the president's extraordinary interventions in Michigan's election certification process. 'I'm confident he knows he hasn't won, and is not going to win, and we're going to be sworn in on Jan. 20.' But Mr. Biden warned that as a result of Mr. Trump's actions, 'incredibly damaging messages are being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions.... It sends a horrible message about who we are as a country.'"...
Bart Jansen of USA Today: "President-elect Joe Biden said after meeting online with governors of both parties that there was consensus about working jointly to distribute a potential vaccine for the coronavirus pandemic and provide economic relief to cities, states and tribal governments. 'It's going to take time. It's going to take coordination,' Biden told bipartisan members of the National Governors Association from The Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware. 'It's going to the federal government and state governments working hand in glove, working together.'... Biden promised to provide federal funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard, to assist states in their response.... Biden said he's been hindered in coordinating a response to the pandemic because the Trump administration hasn't formally allowed him access to government agencies during the transition. He said projections are for a total of 400,000 deaths by February without changes in the response. 'There is no excuse not to share the data and let us begin to plan,' Biden said. 'If we don't have access to all this data, it's going to put us behind the eight-ball by a matter of a month or more.'"
Georgia. AP & Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "A hand tally of the presidential race in Georgia is complete, and the results affirm Democrat Joe Biden's lead over Republican ... Donald Trump. The hand recount of nearly 5 million votes stemmed from an audit required by a new state law and wasn't in response to any suspected problems with the state's results or an official recount request. The state has until Friday to certify the results that have been certified and submitted by the counties. Once the state certifies the election results, the losing campaign has two business days to request a recount if the margin remains within 0.5%. That recount would be done using scanners that read and tally the votes and would be paid for by the counties, Gabriel Sterling, who oversees Georgia's voting systems, said.... Going into the hand tally, Biden led Trump by a margin of about 14,000 votes. Previously uncounted ballots discovered in four counties during the hand count will reduce that margin to about 12,800, Sterling said." ~~~
~~~ Matt Johnson of WSB-TV Atlanta: "Georgia's election audit and hand re-count is done and the Secretary of State says there is almost no difference between the results. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office released the results of the audit by the state Thursday night that reaffirmed President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia in November's election.... '... The audit has aligned very close to what we had in election night reporting,' Raffensperger said. 'It's so close, it's not a thimble full of difference.'"
Clown Car on the Road to Sedition
Michael Martina, et al., of Reuters: "... Donald Trump's strategy for retaining power despite losing the U.S. election is focused increasingly on persuading Republican legislators to intervene on his behalf in battleground states Democrat Joe Biden won, three people familiar with the effort said. Having so far faced a string of losses in legal cases challenging the Nov. 3 results, Trump's lawyers are seeking to enlist fellow Republicans who control legislatures in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which went for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020, the sources said.... Trump's lawyers are seeking to take the power of appointing electors away from the governors and secretaries of state and give it to friendly state lawmakers from his party, saying the U.S. Constitution gives legislatures the ultimate authority.... A senior Trump campaign official told Reuters its plan is to cast enough doubt on vote-counting in big, Democratic cities that Republican lawmakers will have little choice but to intercede.... Asked at a news conference on Thursday about Trump's outreach to Michigan officials, Biden called it 'outrageous' and added it was the latest evidence that Trump is among the 'most irresponsible presidents in American history.... Most of the Republicans I've spoken to, including some governors, think this is debilitating. It sends a horrible message about who we are as a country,' he said." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday accelerated his efforts to interfere in the nation's electoral process, taking the extraordinary step of ... inviting [top Michigan legislators] to the White House on Friday for discussions as the state prepares to certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. the winner there.... The president has also asked aides what Republican officials he could call in other battleground states in his effort to prevent the certification of results that would formalize his loss to Mr. Biden, several advisers said. Trump allies appear to be pursuing a highly dubious legal theory that if the results are not certified, Republican legislatures could intervene and appoint pro-Trump electors in states Mr. Biden won.... Many states are now poised to certify their election vote totals; crucially, six key states that Mr. Biden won -- Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin -- have deadlines between Friday and Dec. 1 to certify his victories. Facing those deadlines, the president has grown more strident with his false messages about a stolen election in a last-ditch bid to do nothing less than disenfranchise the legally registered votes of entire states and cities.... The Republican effort to undo the popular vote is all but certain to fail, as even many Trump allies concede, and it has already suffered near-total defeats in courts in multiple states...." ~~~
~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump is using the power of his office to try to reverse the results of the election, orchestrating a far-reaching pressure campaign to persuade Republican officials in Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere to overturn the will of voters in what critics decried Thursday as an unprecedented subversion of democracy. After courts rejected the Trump campaign's baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, the president is now trying to remain in power with a wholesale assault on the integrity of the vote by spreading misinformation and trying to persuade loyal Republicans to manipulate the electoral system on his behalf. In an extraordinary news conference Thursday at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Trump's attorneys claimed without evidence there was a centralized conspiracy with roots in Venezuela to rig the U.S. presidential election. They alleged voter fraud in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and other cities whose municipal governments are controlled by Democrats and where President-elect Joe Biden won by large margins." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: At least Trump is being consistent in his belief that all Black people know each other, hang out together, and are criminals. (You may remember back in 2017 when he asked White House reporter April Ryan, who is black, to set up a meeting between the Congressional Black Caucus and him. "Are they friends of yours?" he asked, possibly rhetorically.) Now his theory of the case is that the mostly-African-American mayors all know each other -- they probably do -- and have conspired to defeat him by fraudulent means -- they have not. ~~~
~~~ Gene Robinson of the Washington Post: "President Trump is trying to cling to power by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Black voters. His desperate legal maneuvering is straight out of the old racist Jim Crow playbook -- and the vast majority of elected Republicans, to their eternal shame, are going along with him -- whether actively or passively. In Wisconsin, Trump's campaign has paid for recounts in just two counties, one of which is Milwaukee County. In Michigan, Trump personally called two Republican officials who now want to decertify the vote in Wayne County, which includes Detroit. In Pennsylvania, Trump's legal team has challenged vote-counting procedures and made unsupported allegations of fraud in two cities: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In Georgia, the Trump team filed a lawsuit targeting absentee ballots in Savannah, and another suit took aim at the state's ballot-curing process. The pattern is obvious and appalling: Trump and the Republicans are trying to invalidate votes in cities with large African American populations -- cities that happen to have voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden. In effect, Trump is arguing that Black people have no right to vote him out of office." ~~~
~~~ "Sins" of the Predecessors. Dana Bash & Gloria Borger of CNN: "... Donald Trump told an ally that he knows he lost, but that he is delaying the transition process and is aggressively trying to sow doubt about the election results in order to get back at Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his own election in 2016, especially with the Russia investigation, a source familiar with the President's thinking told CNN on Thursday. The President's refusal to concede, as CNN has previously reported, stems in part from his perceived grievance that Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama undermined his own presidency by saying Russia interfered in the 2016 election and could have impacted the outcome, people around him have said. Trump continues to hold a grudge against those who he claims undercut his election by pointing to Russian interference efforts, and he has suggested it is fair game to not recognize Joe Biden as the President-elect, even though Clinton conceded on election night in 2016 and the Trump transition was able to begin immediately." Mrs. McC: Perfectly reasonable to let an unjustified personal grudge rend asunder a nation. ~~~
~~~ Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has invited the leaders of Michigan's Republican-controlled state legislature to meet him in Washington on Friday, according to a person familiar with those plans, as the president and his allies continue an extraordinary campaign to overturn the results of an election he lost. Trump's campaign has suffered defeats in courtrooms across the country in its efforts to allege irregularities with the ballot-counting process, and has failed to muster any evidence of the widespread fraud that the president continues to claim tainted the 2020 election.... At present, [Trump] trails President-Elect Joe Biden in the state by 157,000 votes. Earlier this week, the state's Republican Senate majority leader said an effort to have legislators throw out election results was 'not going to happen.' But the president now appears to be using the full weight of his office to challenge the election results, as he and his allies reach out personally to state and local officials in an intensifying effort to halt the certification of the vote in key battleground states." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Ed White, et al., of the AP: "Two people ... told The Associated Press that Trump invited [Michigan] Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield. They agreed to go, according to a state official.... Trump's campaign is openly floating the notion of trying to get friendly state legislatures to appoint electors who would overturn the will of the voters. The Michigan Legislature would be called to select electors if Trump succeeds in convincing the state's board of canvassers not to certify Biden's victory in the state. Both Shirkey and Chatfield have indicated they will not try to overturn Biden's win.... Asked at a Lansing news conference about the plan for legislative leaders to visit Trump, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, 'I hope they wear masks, and I hope they stay safe.... All the meetings in the world, though, can't take away from the fact that Joe Biden won Michigan by over 150,000 votes,' Whitmer added. 'That's 14 times the margin that Donald Trump won by in 2016.... So we will be sending a slate of electors that reflects the will of the people of Michigan at the end of this process.'" ~~~
~~~ Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has mounted an all-out assault on the election result in Michigan.... On Tuesday night, Trump placed phone calls to two Republican members of a county-level vote certification board the night before the pair tried to reverse their previous endorsement of a large chunk of the vote in Michigan. The news emerged as Republican lawmakers in Michigan prepared to fly to Washington on Friday to meet with Trump at his request, the Washington Post first reported." ~~~
~~~ Colleen Long, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump and his allies are taking increasingly frantic steps to subvert the results of the 2020 election, including summoning state legislators to the White House as part of a longshot bid to overturn Joe Biden's victory.... there is great concern that Trump's effort is doing real damage to public faith in the integrity of U.S. elections.... The president's constant barrage of baseless claims, his work to personally sway local officials who certify votes and his allies' refusal to admit he lost is likely to have a lasting negative impact on the country. Legions of his supporters don't believe he lost." ~~~
~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election are unprecedented in American history and an even more audacious use of brute political force to gain the White House than when Congress gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency during Reconstruction. Mr. Trump's chances of succeeding are somewhere between remote and impossible, and a sign of his desperation after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won by nearly six million popular votes and counting, as well as a clear Electoral College margin. Yet the fact that Mr. Trump is even trying has set off widespread alarms, not least in Mr. Biden's camp." ~~~
~~~ From the New York Times' live election updates Thursday: Mitt Stands Alone. "In the strongest criticism of President Trump by a fellow high-ranking Republican so far, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah on Thursday night excoriated the president on Twitter for his continuing and overwhelmingly unsuccessful efforts to overturn his election defeat earlier this month to Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said that the president had exhausted his legal challenges in several battleground states and had resorted to trying to defy the will of the voters. His rebuke of Mr. Trump came on the same day that the president invited Republican state leaders in Michigan to the White House to discuss their efforts to stop the certification of the election results in the state. 'Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the president has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election,' Mr. Romney wrote. 'It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president.'"
~~~ Kevin Brueninger & Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Thursday dropped an election-related lawsuit in Michigan, the latest development in the multi-state effort to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's projected electoral victory. In a court filing, a lawyer for the Trump campaign said the lawsuit, which had sought to stop the certification of ballots in Wayne County, Michigan, was being withdrawn because the county's board of canvassers 'met and declined to certify the results of the presidential election.' But that statement is false: The board voted to certify the results, after an outcry over Republican members who initially voted not to certify. Those two GOP members now say they want to rescind their votes. But state officials say that is not possible, and that the certification is official.... David Fink, a lawyer for the city of Detroit in the lawsuit, told CNBC, 'They can put whatever spin they want on it. They dismissed the case because they were going to lose.'... A similar federal lawsuit challenging the vote counting in Wayne County, which was filed by two women ... was voluntarily dismissed by those plaintiffs on Thursday, according to court records." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: There's a kicker. All Michigan counties' certified results now go to a state board of canvassers, which is to meet on Monday to finalize & certify the state's vote counts. This board also is comprised of two Democrats & two Republicans. Here's where that stands as of Thursday evening: Andrew Prokof of Vox: "... it is highly likely that Republicans on that board are facing pressure to go along with Trump's wishes as well. One Republican on the board, Aaron Van Langevelde, is a lawyer for Michigan state House Republicans. He does not appear to have commented on the process. The second Republican, Norm Shinkle, has been more loquacious. In fact, Shinkle's wife is a witness in a federal lawsuit the Trump campaign filed alleging improper election practices in Detroit. 'She saw a lot of strange things going on,' Shinkle told Jonathan Oosting of Bridge Michigan last week. But he stressed he would 'hear both sides before I make a decision.'" According to the NYT report by Haberman & others, linked above, "Shinkle said he had not made up his mind as to how he would vote, especially given the questions in Wayne County. He said he was being deluged with calls about his upcoming vote." So not very reassuring. Also not reassuring: Trump's summons to Michigan's two state legislative leaders. Do we really expect these relatively insignificant guys to take a stand in the iconic Oval Office against the infamous POUTUS whom they probably adore & admire? As Jeff Timmer, a former Republican member of Michigan's state board of canvassers, told Rachel Maddow, these two fellows could not even stand up to a rag-tag gang of armed insurgents who took over the state's capitol building.
~~~ Trump's "Elite Strike Farce Team" Holds a Briefing. Quint Forgey & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... the madcap news conference by ... Donald Trump's attorneys on Thursday afternoon was more campaign farce than cogent legal argument, as Rudy Giuliani offered several conspiracy theories and a litany of false claims that he pledged would reverse the outcome of the 2020 White House race.... The former New York mayor and his colleagues spun a web of mistruths that made mention of the Clinton Foundation, liberal megadonor George Soros and the late Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez.... Giuliani said [Joe Biden had perpetrated a] scheme ... 'specifically focused on big cities' with a 'long history of corruption,' all of which were controlled by 'Democrat bosses.' Mail-in ballots 'are particularly prone to fraud,' he falsely claimed, and the lack of security protocols in some states meant that votes could have been cast by 'a dead person' or even 'Mickey Mouse.'... And although [Jenna] Ellis described their remarks as merely an 'opening statement' on behalf of the campaign, the discursive briefing -- during which streams of what appeared to be hair dye dripped down both sides of Giuliani's face -- betrayed almost immediately the desperation of Trump's flailing effort to undermine President-elect Joe Biden's victory.... Trump campaign officials looked on aghast as the circus-like affair unfolded." Mrs. McC: AND Rudy invoked "My Cousin Vinny." ~~~
~~~ The Big Drip. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Speaking from the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington, Mr. Giuliani grew increasingly agitated as he expanded on the debunked allegations of widespread voter fraud that he has pursued since the election was called for Joseph R. Biden Jr. earlier this month. About 40 minutes into his statement, his sweat began to drip in color. By the time Mr. Giuliani began to take questions from reporters, the dark rivulets of liquid streaking down his face had become impossible to ignore, even as he pleaded with those present not to make light of his claims, for which he has yet to present evidence.... Several Manhattan hairdressers said that what was dripping down the face of the president's lawyer was likely not hair dye.... Mirko Vergani of the Drawing Room, a salon in downtown Manhattan, said it was far more likely that Mr. Giuliani had used mascara or a touch-up pen to make sure his sideburns matched the rest.... Mr. Giuliani did not immediately return a request for comment." ~~~
~~~ Nomaan Merchant of the AP: Trump's "attorneys have repeatedly made elementary errors in those high-profile cases: misspelling 'poll watcher' as 'pole watcher,' forgetting the name of the presiding judge during a hearing, inadvertently filing a Michigan lawsuit before an obscure court in Washington and having to refile complaints after erasing entire arguments they're using to challenge results. 'The sloppiness just serves to underscore the lack of seriousness with which these claims are being brought,' said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine.... 'I've never seen an election lawyer handle a case as poorly as Giuliani has,' Hasen said. 'The idea that the lawyer arguing the most important case in Pennsylvania would not understand what it means to apply the standard of strict scrutiny [-- a judicial standard taught in law school --] in a constitutional case is mind-boggling.'... 'It's kind of a fallacy to say, well, Trump might be doing better if he had better lawyers,' Hasen said. 'Part of the reason he doesn't have good lawyers is he doesn't have good claims to bring.'" ~~~
~~~ Re: the "pole watchers," yesterday Akhilleus reckoned "... this was a holdover from [Rudy's] last trip (the night before?) to a strip club to watch the pole dancers." Mrs. McC: Still, it is hard to figure how a team bringing an election fraud case would not know how to spell "poll," when "polls," not "poles," were at issue. I remind you here that Giuliani was once the associate attorney general -- the third-highest job at DOJ -- & the U.S. attorney at SDNY, a job he sought because he's a showman & he liked to litigate. He may be rusty, but he's not a novice. He may not have "My Cousin Vinny"'s skills, but he has a lot more experience than the fictional Vinny did.
~~~ Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "State judges in Arizona and Pennsylvania and a federal judge in Georgia rejected election-related lawsuits Thursday from Republicans and the Trump campaign.... One of the judges, a Trump appointee in Georgia, called the attempt by Republican-allied lawyers to block election results 'quite striking,' refusing their attempt to stop Biden's win there.In Arizona, a state judge declined to audit votes in the state and delay the finalization of results, saying the lawsuit couldn't be retooled and brought again. And in Pennsylvania, a state judge ordered the counting of more than ... 2,000 [absentee] ballots the Trump campaign wanted to exclude.... Losses for the Trump campaign have piled up on other recent days, including when nine cases from the Trump campaign or his allies were either denied or pulled last Friday, and when Trump-supporting voters dropped four lawsuits pushing fraud claims earlier this week. Despite pledges by Trump campaign attorneys ... to continue the fight, nearly no viable post-election cases remain for the Trump campaign that could deprive Biden of the electoral votes to become president. Legal analysts have widely said Trump's bids in court to change the election results will all fail."
Sabotage! Rachel Siegel & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he would not extend most of the emergency lending programs run in tandem with the Federal Reserve, a move the central bank immediately criticized, citing the fragile recovery. The Fed's exceedingly rare public response reflected a government divided on how to act as the pandemic surges across the nation, threatening a new wave of shutdowns and marking an inflection point of the economic recovery. In a letter to Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell, Mnuchin not only said that several of the programs would wind down at the end of the year, but he also requested that unspent money allocated to the Fed under the first stimulus effort, the Cares Act, be reallocated by Congress. However, the Treasury Department does not have the sole authority to reallocate the funds and would need to secure Fed agreement.... Democrats swiftly criticized Mnuchin's decision as a politically motivated attempt to hurt the economy President-elect Joe Biden is set to inherit."
As the Screws Turn. Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: “Two separate New York State fraud investigations into President Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The inquiries -- a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil one by the state attorney general, Letitia James -- are being conducted independently. But both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks for records related to the fees, the people said.... The development follows a recent New York Times examination of more than two decades of Mr. Trump's tax records, which found that he had paid little or no federal income taxes in most years.... Among the revelations was that Mr. Trump reduced his taxable income by deducting about $26 million in fees to unidentified consultants.... Some of those fees appear to have been paid to Ms. Trump, The Times found." ~~~
~~~ Matthew Choi of Politico: "Ivanka Trump on Thursday called New York state investigations into her father's business dealings 'harassment,' seeming to confirm that the probes now include tax write-offs that appear to involve her. 'This is harassment pure and simple,' she wrote on Twitter, linking to a New York Times report of recent subpoenas on the Trump Organization. 'This "inquiry" by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there's nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless."
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "... the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended against traveling or gathering for [Thanksgiving], urging Americans to consider celebrating in their own households instead. In the agency's first news briefing in months, officials said they were alarmed to see 1 million new cases reported across the United States within the past week. As the nation's death toll since the start of the pandemic reached 250,000, officials spoke of the risks in stark terms, warning that as friends and relatives get together over the holidays, they could inadvertently bring the coronavirus with them. Tragedy could follow, they said. 'At the individual household level, what's at stake is basically the increased chance of one of your loved ones becoming sick and then being hospitalized and dying,' said Henry Walke, the CDC's covid-19 incident manager." The story is free to non-subscribers.
Anne Gearan & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Trump will be remembered as one of the nation's most reckless leaders for holding up cooperation on the deadly coronavirus pandemic after losing his bid for reelection, President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday. At the White House, Vice President Pence tried to apply a veneer of calm to a tumultuous outgoing administration as he and federal health officials held what has become a rare public discussion of the federal government's efforts to address the pandemic. In Wilmington and in Washington on Thursday, the two events provided a split screen of sorts illuminating the challenges confronting the incoming administration on the most immediate crisis it faces. The events also showed the extent to which the Trump administration is ignoring the reality that in just two months there will be a change of power at the White House.... Pence and public health officials ... They urged the country to continue mitigation measures such as wearing masks and social distancing -- even as Pence did not wear a face covering at the White House podium. ~~~
~~~ "But in a private telephone briefing with both Republican and Democratic senators earlier Thursday, the leaders of Operation Warp Speed -- the Trump administration's primary vaccine apparatus -- said they had not been asked to brief Biden officials on their efforts, according to multiple officials directly familiar with the call. The officials -- Gustave Perna and Moncef Slaoui -- indicated they would communicate with the Biden team if asked, noting they would indeed want the new administration to be prepared, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private call." Mrs. McC: Looks like a crack in castle wall. Biden should walk on through.
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This video is a kick. An older man, "the raccoon whisperer", in Nova Scotia feeds a "herd" of raccoons from a bench on his porch. They're all very polite and the portliest raccoons I've ever seen. It made the rounds on twitter yesterday and apparently, the man has a UTube channel. It gave me such enjoyment and a break from Trump et al and the attempted coup.
https://bit.ly/3fhzfDw
Talking about taking breaks: Yesterday I mentioned "The Bird Cage" in regards to drag queens; this morning I give you "Death in Venice"–-Morte a Venezia–– the stunning film by Visconti with gorgeous Mahler and starring Dirk Bogarde whose last scene is haunting–-black dye rivulets stream down his face as he reaches out one last time for a love he will never have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36QBU474nqM
Rudy, of course, is no Bogarde but the display yesterday of him being out of control in his incessant yapping with those self same rivulets of black dye streaming down his face was reminiscent of the Venice scene except here––now–-Rudy's display was grotesque! And the media is happy to keep showing the enlarged photos of that distorted face. And I wonder–-will that make a dent in the mindset of a man clearly on the brink of madness?
The other "break" comes again from Brian Williams who ended his program with scenes from areas in Ireland where Biden posters are displayed, American flags flying, the Irish welcome their own Biden boy back in the fold. I had forgotten about his Irish heritage. How many of us share that bit of the blarney? Marie, Ak, Ken, Me––maybe Patrick? Anyway, it was good to see another country show such affection.
@Anon: That video is fascinating–-I loved watching it. The "feeder" is a man who has found his purpose and obviously relishes being the Daddy to all those raccoons and pet cats.
"They all love me cuz I got the food."
Reminds me of my brother whose love for animals surpassed, I think, any love for the human kind. I once asked him why has always had so many dogs:
"They love me unconditionally –-and they don't talk back."
Judging by the comments at Esquire and HuffPo, a lot of the trumpies are giving up or have become tired of being slammed for whatever they say every day. But not enough of them. The facts about the people"certifying" the election are pretty damning. Someone named Shinkle's wife saw "bad things?" These are people who have nothing to lose by sticking with the presidunce in this quest to become a banana republic by January. I am not expecting good things when these yahoos meet dumpster in the Oval.
Our Thanksgiving gathering is cancelled and the baby grands are not coming from Chicago. Husband says Rachel Maddow almost lost her partner from Covid-- I was watching something else when she came on for the first time in weeks. I hope you all are planning to have the loneliest holiday ever-- it's just a couple of holidays and we can all make it through. I don't know how it is that people don't understand the dangers. But I am giving up trying to understand. Those that don't, are either doomed or lucky. Not my business. There has been enough info out there, regardless of Fatso. Stupid reigns and nature interferes.
Still Putin’s Puppet
Vladimir Putin and his hackers may not have been able to provide Donaldavich Trumpskyev with the kind of assistance that put his treasonous ass in the White House four years ago, but he’s still toiling away for the Kremlin. Getting a bobble head doll elected as an American president was unquestionably the biggest coup in the career of a former KGB agent, but it was likely a happy accident (aided immeasurably by Comey and a gullible, pliable press). The central goal of Russian hackers was, and is, the same as it’s been since Krushchev was finding new uses for shoes: undermining western democracy, and most especially through attacks on the legitimacy of democratic states, particularly the US.
Back in Nikita’s day, and through most of Putin’s murderous career, this was a hands-on affair carried out by agents, moles, or American traitors. But now it can all be done by remote control, and American traitors don’t cost the Russians much more than a few cases of vodka and some computers for their hackers. They certainly don’t have to pay American traitors like they used to. Traitors like Trump, Graham, and McConnell, as well as everyone at the RNC, from Ronna McDaniel all the way down to the kid who makes copies of R plans to ratfuck democracy on their own, come dirt cheap. Accent on both dirt and cheap.
But the goal remains the same. Undermine democracy and democratic institutions and ideals. To that end, no five thousand Soviet/Russian agents, moles, and American traitors have come within the distance of the Trans Siberian railway to the biggest puppet they’ve ever had.
Trump, and his enablers and spineless, treasonous confederate lackeys are paying dividends that no Russian spy master could ever have hoped to enjoy.
And they don’t even have to pay him. Wind him up and let him piss on American Ideals.
And even if he’s on the way out (but maybe not), he will still be Putin’s puppet. A traitor like no other.
@Jeanne: Yes, I'm spending Thanksgiving alone. Friends invited me a month ago to join them, and I turned them down. They have a big do that's lots of fun, but it wouldn't be so much fun if it killed me. I was planning to invite a single lady I know for a lonely meal of "traditional" turkey breast, as she is quite careful & also had turned down an invitation to her family's big dinner. I hedged, just in case, and that turned out to be a good thing, because her schoolteacher daughter, who visits her often, was just quarantined for Covid. So it's going to be an even lonelier, but healthier Thanksgiving dinner. I'm planning to get out the good china & crystal, polish the sterling, turn on the classical music station and not cry in my champagne. Could be worse.
(In fact, it has been worse. The first Thanksgiving I was here in New Hampshire, the power went off during a wet snowstorm the Wednesday before the holiday, and it stayed off for four days. I didn't have a generator then, so Thanksgiving dinner was hummus on crackers! It never occurred to me to go out and buy a ready-made meal, which I could have done, but as I had no way to reheat it, it would have been, well, cold turkey. Guess I could have bought a Sterno burner [I did buy one later], but apparently I wasn't thinking too clearly.)
@Akhilleus: Since I've been around & old enough to know what was going on, the most extraordinary, calamatous moments in American history have been JFK's assassination, Nixon's conspiracy & now Trump's. These events do sort of testify to a version of the madman theory of history inasmuch as they all were provoked by madmen: Oswald, Nixon & Trump.
What's also notable is the diminishing capacity of Republican party leaders to resist the insanity. None supported Oswald, only some supported Nixon, and now almost all are supporting Trump. Our democracy hangs by a thread under Republican "leadership."
~Marie: thanks so much for putting on the Obama/Kimmel video––twas delightful!
As for the lonely Thanksgiving day: Have spent a few of those myself-and I pretended it was just another day and deliberately had something "not Turkey and the works" for the main meal. You, on the other hand, will get out the best china and go for it and I cheer you on and like many of us not being with our family will feel a sadness for the lack but the fact we are doing this for the best of all reasons should give us some sense of comfort. And since you are having champagne, have more than a few in those best crystals and have yourself a whirl around the rooms––dancing enhances, so they say.
Thanksgiving traditions at our house will still be observed. The Macy’s Parade provides a festive background noise in the morning, and even though our little man is getting too old to be beside himself at the sight of Buzz Lightyear flying over Fifth Ave., we all still enjoy it as emblematic of the day.
But the biggest family viewing of the day, that brings the Thanksgiving prep (mostly) to a standstill, is the National Dog Show (no, Trump won’t win this one either; too mangy) hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia.
The comments here range from “Whoa, imagine having to brush that fur everyday” to “Is that really a dog?” But the highlights, as always, are the pithy and knowledgeable comments from hosts and dog lovers John O’ Hurley, David Frei, and the inestimable, always enjoyable Mary Carillo, who is just as at home getting doggie licks backstage as she is coming up with brilliant, unexpected commentary at Wimbledon or the Olympics.
My all-time favorite sports comment is still her observation that the men’s double luge event in the Winter Olympics, at which two guys jump on a sled and rocket down an ice chute at upwards of 80 mph, looked like “a bar bet gone bad”.
Next day, the Christmas lights go up on the front porch and holiday festivities proceed apace. And this year we (well, most of us) have a lot to be thankful for. Soon, as one wag put it recently, Trump will just be another loonie ranting on Twitter.
Well, at least husband and daughter and I are here-- and Thanksgiving is a huge turkey mess when done up right, although I think we may pass on that-- good suggestions to use the best plates and not forget the dog show-- Stay safe on the weekend, everyone. I just watched Rachel's tale on youtube-- wow. Her tale will mean nothing to the bigots and trumpies (the same??) but maybe it will save some confused people.
The actor Edward Norton, who studied history at Yale, and whose dad was a federal prosecutor, has an interesting theory about the Orange Menace’s latest attacks on democracy.
In a nutshell, his suggestion is that Trump is betting that he can work out a deal that will free him from the myriad of dangerous lawsuits hanging over his head by trading his agreement to concede for a blanket get out of jail deal. This seems to have some validity, but my guess is that Trump will pardon himself and his whole nasty crime family.
This still leaves state prosecutions in New York, but maybe he’s hoping his deal making skills are more magical than mythical (they’re not; never were). In any event, as Norton puts it, Fatty doesn’t have the cards to bluff his way out of this. We need to call his bluff. As they say at the table, put up or shut up.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EdwardNorton/status/1329728889296355328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1329728889296355328%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F
@Akhilleus: Well, I don't have a degree from Yale or a father who was a federal prosecutor (and I sure as hell am not the actor Edward Norton is), but I thought of that long ago. However, as you say, "Fatty doesn't have the cards." He lost the election BY A LOT, as Trump would tweet, and he's going to have to vacate & face the music; in this case, a duet performed by the popular stars Cyrus & Letitia.
President Obama suggested that if Trump refused to leave the building, no doubt Biden could send in a team of SEALs to wrench him out of the attic closet & escort him to the gates. I hope they wear body-cams.
I see where the half-pence emerged from his hidey hole to give a grateful nation his personal update on the coronavirus on a day in which another record was set for infections and where, in places like Texas, they’re rolling out mobile morgues because there’s nowhere else to put all bodies.
His assessment? We’re doing great! Just great. No problem.
Yeah. Little mikey was the guy consoling survivors of the Johnstown Flood who lived three miles inland by telling them that they now owned riverfront property. Oh, there were bodies and dead animals and the odd sofa in the yard, but hey, riverfront property, right? Pretty good, huh?
Can it please be January 20th?