;)
The Commentariat -- November 14, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Bob Christie & Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "Republican leaders in four critical states won by President-elect Joe Biden say they won't participate in a legally dubious scheme to flip their state's electors to vote for ... Donald Trump. Their comments effectively shut down a half-baked plot some Republicans floated as a last chance to keep Trump in the White House. State GOP lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have all said they would not intervene in the selection of electors, who ultimately cast the votes that secure a candidate's victory. Such a move would violate state law and a vote of the people, several noted.... Still, it has been promoted by Trump allies, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and is an example of misleading information and false claims fueling skepticism among Trump supporters about the integrity of the vote. The theory is rooted in the fact that the U.S. Constitution grants state legislatures the power to decide how electors are chosen. Each state already has passed laws that delegate this power to voters and appoint electors for whichever candidate wins the state on Election Day."
Doing His Best Nero Imitation, Trump Golfs While Americans Die. The New York Times' live post-election updates are here: "President Trump in his motorcade drove by hundreds of his supporters who showed up in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for demonstrations protesting the outcome of the 2020 election.... The president drove by in the motorcade on his way to his private golf club in Sterling, Va., and was greeted, according to a pool report, by applause and cheers. People who watched him go by carried signs reading 'Best prez ever' and 'Stop the steal.'" Washington Post reporters have a story here.
Josh Kovensky of TPM: "The official in charge of the Trump administration's bid to speed up vaccine development wants permission from the White House to begin briefing the Biden transition, the Financial Times reported. Moncef Slaoui heads Operation Warp Speed, the joint Health and Human Services-Department of Defense program to spur the creation of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Slaoui told the newspaper that he would need approval from the Trump administration before he could reach out to the transition team led by President-elect Joe Biden. 'I hope nothing interferes with [Operation Warp Speed]. It is a matter of life and death for thousands of people,' he said. The FT reported that, when asked if the vaccine program's success was contingent on access to the Biden team, Slaoui replied: 'I would assume, yes.'"
Minnesota. Selfish, Irresponsible Bastards. Minneapolis Star Tribune: “A day after it was revealed that GOP state Sen. Dave Senjem tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a Nov. 5 party caucus, news broke that Republican senators and staffers were informed in a Tuesday memo that 'a number of [GOP Senate] members and staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19.' DFLers [Democrats] were not informed of the rash of cases on the other side of the aisle."
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The Presidency, Ctd.
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. demanded on Friday that President Trump do more to confront the coronavirus infections exploding across the country, calling the federal response 'woefully lacking' even as Mr. Trump broke a 10-day silence on the pandemic to threaten to withhold a vaccine from New York. In a blistering statement, Mr. Biden said that the recent surge, which is killing more than 1,000 Americans and hospitalizing almost 70,000 every day, required a 'robust and immediate federal response.... I will not be president until next year,' Mr. Biden said. 'The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now. Urgent action is needed today, now, by the current administration -- starting with an acknowledgment of how serious the current situation is.' Mr. Biden released his statement less than an hour before the president appeared in the Rose Garden at the White House, where he announced no new measures to slow the virus's long-anticipated autumn surge, which he hardly acknowledged." More on the Trumpidemic linked below.
Simon Lewis of Reuters: "U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will be briefed by national security experts next week, Biden transition official Jen Psaki said on Friday, amid concerns that being out of the loop due to delays to the transition could be a national security risk.... Psaki did not name the national security experts who would be briefing the former vice president.... Psaki called on the [GSA]'s Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, to sign off on the transition, but said Biden's team was still hoping it would not have to take legal action to make it happen."
Christopher Cadelago, et al., of Politico: "President-elect Joe Biden's return to 'normalcy' will include restoring the daily press briefing -- and at least two women are under consideration to lead the new post-Trump show, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Kate Bedingfield is seen as having the inside track to become either White House communications director or press secretary. Symone Sanders could be offered the role of incoming press secretary, or slot into another position before winding up 'at the podium' down the line, Biden aides and other people in and around the transition said."
Matthew Green & Kate Abnett of Reuters: "French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday welcomed the prospect of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden rejoining the Paris climate accord, saying countries now had a chance to 'make our planet great again'.... In 2017, Macron launched an initiative called 'Make our planet great again' which offered U.S. climate scientists multi-year grants to relocate and conduct climate research in France.... Biden has pledged to convene world leaders for climate talks within his first 100 days in office. Already, climate change has been a featured topic in his first calls with U.S. allies and Pope Francis since being elected." --s
CNN has called Georgia for Joe Biden & North Carolina for the other guy: ~~~
~~~ Gregory Krieg of CNN: "Joe Biden will win Georgia, CNN projected Friday, striking at the heart of what has been a Republican presidential stronghold for nearly three decades. The former vice president is the first Democratic nominee to triumph in Georgia since Bill Clinton did it in 1992. Biden's victory adds 16 electoral votes to his tally, bringing him to 306 -- matching ... Donald Trump's 2016 total. With CNN's projection that Trump will win North Carolina, the final tally is 306-232. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post has now also called Georgia & North Carolina. So has NBC News. Also too CBS News. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In 2016, Trump called his win over Clinton by exactly the same number -- 306 - 232 -- a MASSIVE Electoral College landslide victory! So Congratulations, Mr. President-elect on your MASSIVE landslide victory! Biden, BTW, has already bested Trump in the popular vote by more than 5.3 million votes and counting, while Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 2.9 million votes.
The Farce, Ctd.
Susan Rice, in a New York Times op-ed: "In the week since Joe Biden's victory became clear, President Trump and his administration have taken no steps toward starting the process of transition. The risks to our national security are mounting.... The Biden-Harris agency review teams are constituted but have been denied access to every element of the executive branch. Vital exchanges of information and expertise that would help combat Covid-19 and jump-start the economy remain stalled.... Without access to critical threat information, no incoming team can counter what it can't see coming.... Tragically, but not surprisingly, Mr. Trump appears determined to take a final wrecking ball to our democracy and national security on his inevitable way out the door." Rice's description of the Obama-Trump transition is illuminating. The Trumpies didn't want to know what they didn't know. Mrs. McC: Trump must have heard half of the famous line from Thomas Gray's baleful poem "Igorance is bliss" ... and gone with it.
Here's what passes for a Trump concession speech: ... hopefully the, the, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be, I guess time will tell.... -- Donald Trump, during Friday's White House misinformation briefing
“Donald Trump v. USA.” Marc Caputo of Politico: "Lawsuits in Arizona and Nevada were dropped. A Georgia challenge was quickly rejected for lack of evidence. [Donald Trump's] Pennsylvania legal team just threw in the towel. The president's legal machine -- the one papering swing states with lawsuits and affidavits in support of Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud -- is slowly grinding to a halt after suffering a slew of legal defeats and setbacks.... One hapless Michigan lawyer ... filed an election challenge Thursday evening in a federal claims court in Washington, D.C., the wrong venue, and bizarrely titled it, 'Donald Trump v. USA,' as if the president was suing the nation." The report is a catalog of pathetic Trumpian misfires. ~~~
~~~ And there's stuff like this: Brendan Keefe of WXIA-TV Atlanta: "11Alive confirmed that two of the four Georgia voters the president's campaign accused of fraudulently voting while 'dead' are alive." ~~~
~~~ Biggest Loser Keeps on Losing. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "President Trump suffered multiple legal setbacks in three key swing states on Friday, choking off many of his last-ditch efforts to use the courts to delay or block President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory. In quick succession, Mr. Trump was handed defeats in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan, where a state judge in Detroit rejected an unusual Republican attempt to halt the certification of the vote in Wayne County pending an audit of the count.... [Despite the losses, Trump] posted on Twitter on Friday evening that he would win in Pennsylvania, making a baseless assertion about vote counting in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh."
Pennsylvania. Maryclaire Dale & Mark Scolforo of the AP: "... a federal appeals court rejected an effort to block about 9,300 mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day in Pennsylvania. The judges noted the 'vast disruption' and 'unprecedented challenges' facing the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic as they upheld the three-day extension. Chief U.S. Circuit Judge D. Brooks Smith said the panel kept in mind 'a proposition indisputable in our democratic process: that the lawfully cast vote of every citizen must count.' The ruling involves a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to accept mail-in ballots through Friday, Nov. 6, citing the pandemic and concerns about postal service delays. Republicans have also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue. However, there are not enough late-arriving ballots to change the results in Pennsylvania, given President-elect Joe Biden's lead." Mrs. McC: Smith is a Reagan & Bush I appointee.
Michigan. Judge Dismisses Suit Targeting Black People's Votes. Olivia Rubin of ABC News: "A Michigan judge has denied a petition to block the certification of the 2020 election results in the heavily Democratic county that is home to Detroit, another legal setback for the Trump campaign, which has similar cases in several states. The Michigan lawsuit, brought by two Republican poll challengers who leveled unfounded allegations of fraud -- not the campaign itself -- had also sought an independent audit of the election, which the judge also rejected. The campaign did, however, attach this entire lawsuit as evidence of fraud in its own lawsuit filed in the state this week.... Chief Judge Timothy M. Kenny described the plaintiff's 'interpretation' of events on Election Day as 'incorrect and not credible.... In a not-so-subtle slap on the wrist, Kenny suggested the challengers should have attended the training session in October, so they could have known what they were witnessing during the counting process was standard practice."
Arizona. Another One Bites the Dust. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "The Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit on Friday in Arizona seeking a review of ballots cast in the state's biggest county in the presidential race just hours after multiple outlets projected President-elect \Joe Biden to carry the state. The campaign, which filed the complaint Saturday, said in a new filing that it would no longer seek a court order for a review of presidential votes over its allegation that poll workers had mishandled ballots rejected by tabulation machines. 'Since the close of yesterday's hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors,' Trump campaign lawyers wrote Friday in the filing." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times: "Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, the law firm leading the Trump campaign's efforts to cast doubt on the presidential election results in Pennsylvania, abruptly withdrew from a federal lawsuit that it filed days earlier on behalf of President Trump.... The law firm on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Trump campaign. The suit, which is pending, alleged that there were 'irregularities' in the presidential vote across the state, which President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won by more than 50,000 votes. The Democratic National Committee has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Previously, Porter Wright had filed a number of other actions in Pennsylvania courts challenging aspects of the state's voting process. It isn't clear if the firm will continue to represent Mr. Trump's campaign on those cases." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently these lawyers are averse to losing their licenses to practice or being fined for bringing frivolous suits.
Career Prosecutors Blast Barr. Katie Benner & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Career Justice Department prosecutors pushed back this week against a memo by Attorney General William P. Barr that opened the door to politically charged election fraud investigations, saying in a pair of messages that Mr. Barr thrust the department into politics and falsely overstated the threat of voter fraud.The protests were the latest rebuke of Mr. Barr by his own employees, who have in recent months begun criticizing his leadership both privately and publicly.... On Friday, 16 federal prosecutors across the country who were assigned to monitor elections for signs of fraud wrote to Mr. Barr that they had found no evidence of 'substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities.' They also asked him to rescind the memo, saying it thrust the department into partisan politics and was unnecessary because no one has identified any legitimate suspicions of mass voter fraud. The memo 'is not based in fact,' the monitors wrote."
~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell called the pair of letters "the most audacious act of insubordination in the history of the Justice Department" (slight paraphrase). The authors are not U.S. attorneys but assistant U.S. attorneys.
Does This Orange Jumpsuit Go with My Hair? William Rashbaum & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "President Trump lost more than an election last week. When he leaves the White House in January, he will also lose the constitutional protection from prosecution afforded to a sitting president. After Jan. 20, Mr. Trump ... will be more vulnerable than ever to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the president's family business and its practices, as well as his taxes. The two-year inquiry, the only known active criminal investigation of Mr. Trump, has been stalled since last fall, when the president sued to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other records, a bitter dispute that for the second time is before the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling is expected soon.... [Trump's] pardon power does not extend to state crimes, like the possible violations under investigation by [the Manhattan DA's] office.... In addition to [the DA's] inquiry, Mr. Trump also faces continuing scrutiny by New York State's attorney general -- who he has also claimed has targeted him out of partisan rancor." (Also linked yesterday.)
Really? Steven Nelson of the New York Post: "Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf is defying President Trump's order to terminate election cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, multiple sources tell The Post. The White House on Wednesday evening instructed Wolf to fire Krebs after Krebs openly dismissed claims of voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election. 'He gave us a bunch of reasons why he didn't want to do it and he said no,' a senior White House official told The Post about Wolf's refusal.... Foes [of Krebs] claim he's close to former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor, who recently outed himself as 'Anonymous.'"
Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "A new senior adviser at the Pentagon repeatedly said the United States' support for Israel was the result of 'Israeli lobby' money and accused prominent officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of becoming 'very very rich,' from their support for Israel. Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who was appointed as senior adviser to newly installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller this week, made the comments in two media appearances in 2012 and 2019. 'You have to look at the people that donate to those individuals,' Macgregor said in a September 2019 interview when asked if then-national security adviser John Bolton and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wanted war with Iran. 'Mr. Bolton has become very, very rich and is in the position he's in because of his unconditional support for the Israeli lobby. He is their man on the ground, in the White House.... The same thing is largely true for Mr. Pompeo, he has aspirations to be president,' he added. 'He has his hands out for money from the Israeli lobby, the Saudis and others.'...Macgregor was nominated to become the US ambassador to Germany this summer, but his nomination stalled in the Senate Foreign Relations committee after CNN's KFile reported he disparaged immigrants and refugees, called for martial law and lethal force at the US-Mexico border, and attacked Germany's military power and culture. He also has been a vocal opponent of the US military's presence in Afghanistan." Bolton called Macgregor an anti-Semite.
Rob Kuznia, et al., of CNN: "... Stop the Steal has swept across inboxes, Facebook pages and Twitter like an out-of-control virus, spreading misinformation and violent rhetoric -- and spilling into real life, like the protest planned for DC this weekend. But while Stop the Steal may sound like a new 2020 political slogan to many..., it has been in the works for years. Its origin traces to Roger Stone.... Stone's political action committee launched a 'Stop the Steal' website in 2016 to fundraise ahead of that election, asking for $10,000 donations by saying, 'If this election is close, THEY WILL STEAL IT.'... [Also,] a Stop the Steal Facebook group was managed by a loose coalition of right wing operatives, some of whom have worked with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. The group amassed hundreds of thousands of followers in little more than a day before Facebook shut it down on November 5 -- the day after it was launched. Also on November 5, Bannon started his own 'Stop the Steal' Facebook group; he changed the name to 'Own Your Vote' the following day." ~~~
Katie Paul of Reuters: "Facebook FB.O Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an all-staff meeting on Thursday that former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon had not violated enough of the company's policies to justify his suspension when he urged the beheading of two senior U.S. officials [including Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray], according to a recording heard by Reuters." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Because inciting acts of terrorism against public officials -- including brutal murders -- is not so bad if white people do it.
Tommy Tuberville Is Dumber than a Rock, Plans to Break Law, Too. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "In his first big interview as a senator-elect, Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, misidentified the three branches of the federal government, claimed erroneously that World War II was a battle against socialism and wrongly asserted that former Vice President Al Gore was president-elect for 30 days.... 'Our government wasn't set up for one group to have all three branches of government -- wasn't set up that way,' Mr. Tuberville said. 'You know, the House, the Senate, and the executive.'... Mr. Tuberville said[,] 'I tell people, my dad fought 76 years ago in Europe to free Europe of socialism.' World War II was a global battle against fascism. Mr. Tuberville also said he planned to use his Senate office to raise money for two Republican senators in Georgia who are facing runoff elections that will determine control of the chamber. Senate ethics rules bar the use of official resources for campaign purposes." (Also linked yesterday.)
New Congressmen Are Dumber than Rocks. Say Her Name. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Representative-elect Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, said Friday that several of her Republican colleagues mistakenly called her Breonna Taylor due to a face mask she was wearing during the new House members orientation. Bush said some of those Republican colleagues appeared to be unfamiliar with Taylor, whose killing by police during a botched drug raid in Kentucky sparked massive protests across the country this past summer. 'It's Day One, so I'm wearing my "Breonna Taylor" mask. A few of my Republican colleagues have called me Breonna, assuming that's my name. It hurts. But I'm glad they'll come to know her name & story because of my presence here. Breonna must be central to our work in Congress,' Bush said in a tweet."
** Florida. Glenn Milberg of Local 10 News: "Why would candidates for Florida Senate seats do no campaigning, no fundraising, have no issue platforms, nor make any effort to get votes? Local 10 News has found evidence to suggest three such candidates in three Florida Senate district races, two of them in Miami Dade County, were shill candidates whose presence in the races were meant to syphon votes from Democratic candidates. Comparisons of the no-party candidates' public campaign records show similarities and connections that suggest they are all linked by funding from the same dark money donors, and part of an elaborate scheme to upset voting patterns. In one of those races, District 37, a recount is underway because the spread between the Democratic and Republican candidates is only 31 votes. The third party candidate received more than 6300 votes." --s
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Governors and public health officials across the United States are pleading with Americans to change their behavior and prepare for a long winter as the country shatters record after record on coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Both records fell yet again Friday, as more than 181,100 new cases were reported nationwide. It was only eight days ago that the U.S. reported its first 100,000-case day. Now the seven-day average of new daily cases is more than 140,000. Sixteen states also set single-day case records on Friday, and 30 states added more cases in the last week than in any other seven-day period. In a reversal, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, which has critically understaffed hospitals and the highest rates of new cases and deaths per person in the nation, announced several measures late Friday, including a mask mandate, a limit on indoor dining of 50 percent capacity or 150 people and a suspension of high school winter sports and extracurricular activities until Dec. 14." Emphasis added.
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "... recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now ... [are] hewing more closely to scientific evidence, often contradicting the positions of the Trump administration. In scientific briefs published on Tuesday, the C.D.C. described the benefits of masks to wearers, not just to those around them. Agency researchers also urged people to celebrate Thanksgiving only with others in their households or, failing that, to wear a mask with two or more layers.... The guidance was only the latest in a series of newly assertive bulletins from the C.D.C. In recent weeks, agency officials have issued strict requirements for cruise lines; updated the science on coronavirus infections in children; re-evaluated the risk from airborne virus indoors; and released recommendations for labs investigating viral reinfections in patients."
Zeke Miller, et al., of the New York Times: "Gliding over significant challenges still to come..., Donald Trump on Friday offered a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus as he delivered his first public remarks since his defeat by President-elect Joe Biden. He still did not concede the election. Trump spoke from the the Rose Garden as the nation sets records for confirmed cases of COVID-19, and as hospitalizations near critical levels and fatalities climb to the highest levels since the spring. He said a vaccine would ship in 'a matter of weeks' to vulnerable populations, though the Food and Drug Administration has not yet been asked to grant the necessary emergency approvals.... In fact, there's no guarantee that Pfizer's shot, the front-runner, will get rapid authorization for emergency use. Even if it does, there's no information yet indicating if the vaccine works in older adults or just younger, healthier adults. Nor does Pfizer have a large commercial stockpile already poised to ship; initial batches of shots would be small and targeted to certain still-to-be-determined populations. Trump took no questions Friday from reporters. He hasn't answered questions since before Election Day." ~~~
~~~ Hope Yen, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump on Friday wrongly claimed full credit for Pfizer Inc.'s announcement that its COVID-19 vaccine was robustly successful and suggested without evidence that a separate state review will cause a protracted delay for New York residents waiting for a vaccine." The authors lay out the facts. ~~~
~~~ Dareh Gregorian, et al., of NBC News: "Trump -- snapping the longest stretch of silence in his presidency -- began his remarks [Friday] in the White House Rose Garden by touting the effectiveness of Operation Warp Speed, his administration's initiative to spur production of a vaccine, before taking aim at his home state. 'As soon as April the vaccine will be available to the entire general population, with the exception of places like New York State, where for political reasons the governor decided to say -- and I don't think it's good politically, I think it's very bad from a health standpoint -- but he wants to take his time on the vaccine,' Trump said. He was referring to comments [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo made in September, where he said he planned to have a panel of experts review a vaccine because he was concerned that Trump was trying to rush one out ahead of the presidential election.... 'I hope he doesn't handle this as badly as he's handled the nursing homes. But we're ready to provide it as soon as they let us know that they'll actually use it,' Trump said.... Asked about Trump's comments, Cuomo told MSNBC, 'None of what he said is true.'"
Trump Sickens His Security Details. Carol Leonnig & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing. The spread of the coronavirus -- which has sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency's core security team -- is believed to be partly linked to a series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the people.... Trump went on a travel blitz in the final stretch of the campaign, making five campaign stops on each of the last two days. On Nov. 2, Trump's campaign schedule required five separate groups of Secret Service officers -- each numbering 20 to several dozen -- ... to screen spectators and secure the perimeter around the president's events. President-elect Joe Biden made two campaign stops that day that also required Secret Service protection, but in smaller numbers. The agency is also examining whether some portion of the current infections are not travel-related..., but instead trace back to ... the White House." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Turns out Trump isn't shooting people on Fifth Avenue in plain sight; he's figuratively doing it all over the country, including in the White House. These officers may have signed up to "take a bullet for the president," but surely they never anticipated the bullet would come from Trump's own gun.
Annie Gowan & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "As coronavirus cases grow across the United States -- up 70 percent on average in the past two weeks, with an average of 130,000 cases per day nationally -- the situation is particularly acute now in the Upper Midwest and Plains states, with North and South Dakota leading the nation in new cases and deaths per capita over the past week, according to Washington Post data. Experts say that cases are surging in the region as the weather has turned colder and more people are forced inside -- into more poorly ventilated indoor spaces where transmission thrives -- with the virus arriving even in remote areas in largely conservative states where Republican leaders have resisted mask mandates or business closures, asking their residents to rely instead on personal responsibility.... Doctors and health-care providers across the Upper Midwest grappling with rising caseloads and staff shortages continue to urge leaders in their states to do more to stem the tide of the virus, as many in these hardy, wind-swept states where independence is prized still refuse to wear masks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Sam Metz of the AP: "Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 as the virus surges to record levels in the state and across the U.S.The 66-year-old Democrat is the fifth governor to report testing positive for the coronavirus this year..... Sisolak's announcement comes on a day that Nevada reported 1,857 additional coronavirus cases, the highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic."
Guardian: "Al-Qaida's second-in-command was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States, the New York Times has reported, citing intelligence officials. Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in Tehran, the NYT reported. He was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.... It was unclear what, if any, role the United States had in the killing.... Iran's foreign ministry [denied the report saying] in a statement that there were no al Qaeda 'terrorists' on Iranian soil.... Masri was killed along with his daughter, the widow of Osama bin Laden's son Hamza bin Laden, the Times reported." --s The New York Times story is here.
Time-out for a Feel-good Story. Courtney Kube of NBC News: "When a bystander collapsed at the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday, a nurse happened to be nearby and rushed to his aid. She ... was the wife of the nation's top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley.... 'When I first got there, he was breathing in a very erratic way that he wasn't really taking air into his lungs as he should have been,' [Hollyanne Milley] said. 'And then he stopped breathing.' The man had no pulse. Milley said she directed someone to call 911 and started chest compressions. 'I did about two cycles of CPR, and then he just took a big, deep breath and kind of groaned a little bit and then started moving around.'... Milley spoke with him the next morning and said he was doing very well. She said the man, a veteran who asked to remain anonymous, has since been discharged [from a local hospital]." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
U.K. Peter Walker, et al. of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has ordered Dominic Cummings to leave Downing Street with immediate effect, in a dramatic end to a tumultuous era which leaves a void at the heart of Downing Street. Cummings and his ally Lee Cain -- both ardent Brexiters blamed by MPs for a macho culture and a series of communications crises -- were asked to step down on Friday instead of staying in place until Christmas. One source said the prime minister told Cummings to go following accusations he had briefed against Johnson." --s
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Reader Comments (17)
So it took a bit longer than I expected (too many poopy diapers to change), but the fat baby took full credit for the Pfizer vaccine announced a few days ago. They had no connection to Fatty’s “Operation Go like Hell and Don’t Bother With the Testing Crap” vaccine thingy, but when did little things like facts ever stop Trump from beating his chest about shit he had nothing to do with?
Also, a weird observation. Since the fat baby has been pooping his pants over Fox and threatening some sort of typically risible retaliation, I’ve been reading, once again, that his new favorite no-fact Nazi propaganda outlet is OANN, which I guess means One America News Network. Hmmm...So what sort of things do they get up to over at Fatty’s chosen sewer spigot? Then I realized that OANN is an anagram for Onan. Yup. So that’s what they do there.
Makes sense.
Everyone sort of just kind of assumes that T**** will secure the Republican base and then bode his time in some tower screaming into the ethers in his new role as GOP kingmaker.
This assumption doesn't seem to take into account the gargantuan level of narcissism he is inflicted with. As we see in his waning days, anyone who mentions the name 'president-elect' is banished forever. The demands for loyalty that he must be afforded are not sustainable post his presidency. As soon as McConnell and the other enablers move on and start working with Biden, they, too, will become heretics to the Family.
The threat to outfox Fox presents another, not so unlikely, scenario. Given the insane grifter level of this family, I would not be at all surprised if they take their loyal followers, shit-rakers, racists and assholes and try to set up their own political party. Probably named the Trump Cult Coalition, it would steer about 35% of the country into a new death cult party, presenting a terrible menace to our collective body politic, but effectively serving up a death knell to the Republican Party as their base would abandon their cuck and RINO representatives.
Who knows what happens in the next couple years with the GOP, but the common perception that Trump stays loyal to the GOP doesn't seem to follow precedent. Either they stay 100% Drumpy through Biden's presidency, or he'll tear the whole party to shreds.
I'm at a loss to understand trio's reasoning. On the one hand he claims to have won the 2020 election and on the other hand he wants to run in 2024. Which is it you idiot? Actually I think the 2024 promise to the droolers is just another money making scam, which is about the only thing this crime family knows, and they aren't even top notch scammers.
He's too insecure to run again and lose, especially if he were running against someone like Kamala Harris. Imagine the tantrums at losing to a woman or a black woman or black man. He'd never come out of hiding.
Damned spell check! I did not type trios, it was trump.
"The historic question that must be addressed is: Who is the aberration? Biden and perhaps most of his voters believe that the answer could not be more obvious. It is Trump. But this has been shown to be the wrong answer. The dominant power in the land, the undead Republican Party, has made majority rule aberrant, a notion that transgresses the new norms it has created. From the perspective of this system, it is Biden, and his criminal voters, who are the deviant ones. This is the irony: Trump, the purest of political opportunists, driven only by his own instincts and interests, has entrenched an anti-democratic culture that, unless it is uprooted, will thrive in the long term. It is there in his court appointments, in his creation of a solid minority of at least 45 percent animated by resentment and revenge, but above all in his unabashed demonstration of the relatively unbounded possibilities of an American autocracy. As a devout Catholic, Joe Biden believes in the afterlife. But he needs to confront an afterlife that is not in the next world but in this one—the long posterity of Donald Trump." Fintan O'Toole
There must be something in that water bottle that Zuckerberg sucks on while holding forth on what should or should not be allowed on his "the world will unite" site. Threatening beheading is just another way of saying "rejection"????
Safari,
Agreed. Now that the base of the Republican Party has been purifed and filtered by the melding of the old party's subtler memes of freedom to be as racist, greedy and selfish as one wants to the much crasser versions of the same impulses that Trumpism has offered and countenanced, I also can't see the Party of Reagan lasting much longer.
Since we're speculating, I'm thinking that since the only pure political instincts the Pretender possesses and communicates, his genuine greed and racism, and since he will no longer be in a position to deliver on his promises to the one-issue voters, the anti-abortion and gun-lovers for instance, his appeal will necessarily diminish and his base will shrink to arrant racists, maybe half of the present party. Call them the rump Republicans.
The others? Possessers of great wealth who don't want to share it and the general run of capitalist and religious ideologues whose beliefs about how how the world works fit present realities less well every day, and who, having lost their racist base, will be increasingly isolated as the tide of changing demographics overwhelms them.
Don't know exactly how and where the Republican schisms will occur and don't know if the Pretender--he does have those lawsuits and debts to deal with--or some successort will lead the way into its no-exit boxed canyon but like you think some kind of reckoning is in the works for the one-time Party of Lincoln....
@Forest: Those spellcheckers! probably hadn't had their Cheerios this morning or maybe they meant:
TINY RED INGRATE OUTED SOON
I was going to comment on Zuckerberg, but not being a Facebook subscriber (actually, the only reason I established an account some years ago was because the comments to Charlie Pierce's politics blog were on Facebook; now they have reverted to placement just under the blog--)I don't actually know much about Facebook. I don't have "friends" and I delete "notifications" when they appear. But it is super hard to imagine what might be more violent and revengeful that Bannon could say about adversaries than offering to behead them and put the heads on a pike. Zuckerberg is as clueless as any other "genius" about what constitutes decency or civilization, or is required by society to live among other humans. I guess he (or the guys he stole his product from) aren't expected to be anything but pleasantly eccentric? I am glad on an hourly basis that I am not "on Facebook." It seems that, like everything else, there is no bottom line drawn. I think we are at the center of the earth by now and no one stands up and says that these people are scum-sucking jackals that don't deserve any consideration of their degenerate utterances. Bannon is mostly fecal matter. I wish the media would ignore him.
We shouldn't call him POTUS anymore. It should now be
POUTUS, and Melanie would be FLOUTUS.
I saw the POUTUS label on a Jimmy Kimmel video this morning. Very appropriate.
@Forrest Morris: I guess that's "President* Of Undermining The United States." Or "Pompous Oaf Undoing The United States." Or "Porcine Old Ugly Turd Urging Sedition." It works.
Hey, isn’t today the Million Maga Moron March in support of the fat whiny baby traitor? Hooo-Weee, better git out the way DCers, here they come all...hundred of them. No, wait, fifty, sixty, seventy five, oh there’s another ten idiots...we make it maybe a couple hundred. So that’s only off by four zeros. Close enough for wingnut math.
The Proudflesh Boys are there with their official SS uniforms only slightly stained by beer and powder burns.
Back to mom and dad’s basement, boys, to jerk off to your Soldier of Fortune magazine collection and YouTube videos of racist slobs drooling down their chins.
That Donald, he sure knows how to pick ‘em.
“Porcine ugly turd” works for me.
Mrs. Bea certainly has a way with words. Love it!
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to fb…I love it.
My Asian “friends” treat me to an almost endless stream of images of art. My Japanese friend sends along beautiful pictures of the countryside, and, his being an elderly potter like myself, shares meditative photos of his morning and afternoon macha, with tea bowls and side treats. Several fb groups I’ve joined pass along beautiful, inspiring, and humbling images of pottery from around the world. Some sites share pictures of incredible architecture and ancient ruins that I never knew existed.
I have obviously and naively assumed that this was how fb was to be used and enjoyed.
“Somehow” I’ve avoided the bile and depraved atmosphere so many complain about concerning fb.
That said, as a vet, I understand the necessity to “KNOW THE ENEMY”, but that information is available to me nearly everywhere else. It is also effective to NOT “feed the enemy”.
(insert a happy-face emoji here)
@ Forrest Morris Why not just refer to them as "The Flatulances"?
@asa watcher: Obviously, you & your friends are using Facebook as it should be used. Congratulations for accepting an unexpected invitation to a social medium & applying it to a higher purpose.