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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The Commentariat -- October 17, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Res ipsa loquitur:

Samantha Schmidt, et al., of the Washington Post: "Wearing costumes and carrying signs, thousands of people gathered for the Women's March in downtown Washington and cities across the country Saturday to protest the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett and to build momentum to vote President Trump out of the White House."

Helaine Olen of the Washington Post outlines Trump's long con, & comes up with what she thinks is the explanation for the popularity of "outlandish conspiracies such as QAnon.... As crazy as it is, it's less embarrassing than admitting you are just another patsy in Trump's lifelong con." Mrs. McC: Maybe she's right: delusion begets more delusion. IOW, Trump is bad for everybody's mental health, not just normally-sensible people's.

Christina Maxouris & Jason Hanna of CNN: "Ten states reported their highest single-day tallies of new Covid-19 infections Friday, and the country reported its highest one-day total since July, as experts say a dangerous fall surge of coronavirus infections is well underway."

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump berated Sen. Ben Sasse (R) after audio leaked this week of the Nebraska lawmaker leveling harsh criticism against the president in a town hall with constituents. ['Blah-blah.'...] Given Nebraska's solid red tint, Sasse is not expected to be punished at the ballot box this year over his criticism."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

"What the Hell Is Wrong with This Guy?' Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tore into President Trump on Friday over his response to a foiled plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), accusing him of stoking tensions across the country. Biden said the plot by a militia group to kidnap Whitmer, which the FBI foiled earlier this month, is 'the sort of behavior you might expect from ISIS [that] should shock the conscience of every American.... But all President Trump does is fan the flames of hatred and division of this country,' he said at a rally in Southfield, Mich. Biden, at another campaign event later that day in Detroit, also noted that Trump continued attacking Whitmer on the day the plot was revealed, with the president taking shots at the governor's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying she did a 'terrible job' and 'locked down her state for everyone.... What the hell is wrong with this guy?' Biden asked."

Michael Grynbaum & John Koblin of the New York Times: "Television ratings matter to President Trump. So these numbers may sting. In a victory that few in the TV and political arenas predicted, Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s town hall-style forum on ABC on Thursday night drew a larger audience than President Trump's competing event on NBC, according to Nielsen. Mr. Biden's town-hall meeting, which aired on a single network, was seen by an average of 15.1 million viewers, compared with 13.5 million for Mr. Trump even though the president monopolized three networks -- NBC, MSNBC and CNBC -- simultaneously.... The numbers were a bracing outcome for the president, whose aides had been promising a decisive ratings win over his Democratic rival. 'We're going to have a much bigger audience than Joe for next Thursday,' Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump's campaign, told Fox News last week." ~~~

~~~ Trump Whines about Town Hall. Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "... Donald Trump cranked up the sarcasm on Friday as he swiped at NBC's Savannah Guthrie during the prior night's town hall special in Miami. 'Another evening in paradise, I call it,' Trump said at an unrelated event in Fort Myers, Fla.... 'I had someone [NBC host Savannah Guthrie] going totally crazy last night.' Guthrie piqued Trump on multiple occasions during the town hall event, including pressing him on the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory ... which Trump refused to disavow even though it has been deemed a domestic terrorism threat by the FBI.... Guthrie also challenged Trump on retweeting a separate bizarre theory that Osama bin Laden is still alive and that Joe Biden secretly had members of SEAL Team Six killed after the president said it was intended as food for thought. 'That was an opinion of somebody and that was a retweet,' Trump said. [']I'll put it out there. People can decide for themselves[.]' 'You're the president. You're not like, someone's crazy uncle who can retweet whatever,' Guthrie shot back.... Trump also lashed out at George Stephanopoulos, who moderated a dueling town hall with Joe Biden... for not pressing the Democratic nominee about allegations against his son Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: When you live in Crazyland, you just can't understand why fake stories made up by the Kremlin or right-wing Norwegian wackos (his Nobel Peace Prize nomination) don't get more respect. ~~~

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Friday slammed President Trump for refusing to denounce QAnon.... 'The president's unwillingness to denounce an absurd and dangerous conspiracy theory last night continues an alarming pattern: politicians and parties refuse to forcefully and convincingly repudiate groups like antifa, white supremacists and conspiracy peddlers,' Romney said in a statement tweeted Friday afternoon. 'Similarly troubling is their silence regarding anti-vaxxers, militias and anarchists,' he added. 'Rather than expel the rabid fringes and the extremes, they have coddled or adopted them, eagerly trading their principles for the hope of electoral victories.'"

Say What? Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday vowed to shield America's senior citizens from the coronavirus and directed them to stay home amid the pandemic, addressing a crowd of elderly supporters at an indoor event where mask-wearing was sporadic and not mandated. 'Stay. If you feel good, if you feel safe -- because it's going to be gone -- stay where you are,' Trump said in his speech in Fort Myers, Fla. 'Don't leave. Don't say, "Oh gee, I have to get out. The president said, let's get out." Stay where you are.'... The more cautious remarks from the president contradicted the tone Trump has struck at campaign rallies and other official events, where he regularly downplays the threat of the pandemic and urges Americans to restart their daily lives with little regard for the highly contagious disease."

** The New York Times is featuring an extraordinary Sunday Review making "The Case Against Donald Trump." The Editors' cover essay begins, "Donald Trump's re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II. Mr. Trump's ruinous tenure already has gravely damaged the United States at home and around the world. He has abused the power of his office and denied the legitimacy of his political opponents, shattering the norms that have bound the nation together for generations. He has subsumed the public interest to the profitability of his business and political interests. He has shown a breathtaking disregard for the lives and liberties of Americans. He is a man unworthy of the office he holds." The linked page has links to "a series of essays focused on the Trump administration's rampant corruption, celebrations of violence, gross negligence with the public's health and incompetent statecraft. A selection of iconic images highlights the president's record on issues like climate, immigration, women's rights and race." It appears there will be more to the section than the articles & essays linked here Friday. Mrs. McC: I don't have to tell you this is a unique journalistic response to any president's tenure. What a shame Trump can't read. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Jake Tapper of CNN: "Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that ... Donald Trump 'is the most flawed person' he's ever known. 'The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else...,' the retired Marine general has told friends.... The reporting comes from a new CNN special scheduled to air Sunday night, 'The Insiders: A Warning from Former Trump Officials,' in which former senior administration officials -- including former national security adviser John Bolton, former Health and Human Services scientist Rick Bright and former Department of Homeland Security general counsel John Mitnick -- explain why they think the President is unfit for office. Kelly's sentiments about the President's transactional nature and dishonesty have been shared by other former members of the Trump administration who also appear in the special." Mrs. McC: That's saying something, because Kelly himself is pretty "flawed."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Turns out Donald Trump has far closer ties to QAnon that I surmised. Knows nothing about it? Hell, he's funding it, & QAnon nuts share attorneys with Trump's family: ~~~

~~~ Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Senior lawyers for the Trump campaign set up a small law firm last year that is working for Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican House candidate in Georgia with a history of promoting QAnon, a pro-Trump conspiracy theory. While federal filings show that the firm, Elections L.L.C., principally collects fees from the president's campaign and the Republican National Committee, it also does work for a number of congressional candidates, and none more so than Ms. Greene, underscoring the connections between QAnon and Mr. Trump and his inner circle. The latest example came Thursday night, when President Trump repeatedly declined to disavow QAnon at a televised town hall." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Backfire! Trump Has a Rudy Problem. Eric Tucker of the AP: "A New York tabloid's puzzling account about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden's son has raised some red flags. One of the biggest involves the source of the emails: Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani has traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens, developing relationships with shadowy figures, including a Ukrainian lawmaker who U.S. officials have described as a Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee.... The FBI [is] investigating whether the emails are part of a foreign influence operation. The emails have surfaced as U.S. officials have been warning that Russia, which backed Trump's 2016 campaign through hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign, is interfering again this year. The latest episode with Giuliani underscores the risk he poses to a White House that spent years confronted by a federal investigation into whether Trump associates had coordinated with Russia."

Dan Diamond of Politico: "The health department's top lawyer is warning in an internal memo that ... Donald Trump's plan to give seniors $200 discount cards to buy prescription drugs could violate election law, according to three officials with knowledge of those legal concerns. The lawyer's objection, coupled with his advice to seek approval from the Department of Justice, is a significant blow to Trump's hope to promote the hastily devised plan before Election Day. Robert Charrow, a political appointee who serves as the Health and Human Services department's general counsel, warned in the memo that the plan's timing and design could invite legal challenges.... 'This plan is quickly becoming radioactive,' said one official briefed on the proposal.... Congressional Democrats this week requested that a watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, begin an immediate review of the drug-discount card plan."

This Country Is Teeming with Armed Nuts. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "With the approaching election ratcheting up tensions in recent months, armed groups that assembled via a few clicks on the keyboard have become both more visible and more widespread. Some especially violent groups were rooted in longstanding anti-government extremism, like the 14 men charged with various crimes in Michigan this month.... Starting in April, demonstrations against coronavirus lockdowns prompted makeshift vigilante groups to move offline and into the real world. That trickle become a torrent amid the nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis -- with some armed groups claiming to protect the protesters while others sought to check them." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Georgia Senate Race. "Otherizing" a Woman of Color. Matthew Choi of Politico: "Republican Sen. David Perdue mocked Sen. Kamala Harris on Friday, derisively mispronouncing the Democratic vice presidential candidate's name during a campaign rally in Georgia. 'Kamala? Kamala? Kamala-mala-mala? I don't know. Whatever,' Perdue (R-Ga.) said at a rally in Macon, just before ... Donald Trump was set to take the stage. Mispronouncing Harris' first name has become a common attack within the Trump camp. The president routinely does so in a mocking way during his political rallies, even though he has correctly said it in less rowdy settings. Perdue and Harris (D-Calif.) have served together in the Senate since 2017. Harris, who is the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, is the first woman of color nominated to a major political party ticket." ~~~

     ~~~ Mary Kornfield of the Washington Post: "'This kind of vile, race-baiting trash talk is what President Trump has unleashed from sitting Republican members in the Senate,' ... Jon Ossoff[, who is the Democratic nominee for Perdue's seat,] said in an interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC.... 'Sen. David Perdue has served in the Senate alongside vice-presidential nominee and Senator Kamala Harris since 2017. He knows her name and he knows how to say it, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Helen Kalla wrote in a statement. 'His disgusting performance today is nothing more than a desperate dog whistle from a losing politician who was already caught running anti-Semitic ads against Jon Ossoff,' Kalla wrote, alluding to a previous Perdue ad that depicted Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff with a longer and thinner nose, which the Jewish candidate alleged played on anti-Semitic tropes."

Iowa Senate Race. Joni Doesn't Know Beans about Beans. Donna Provencher of the American Independent: "In her third and last debate with the Democratic challenger for her Senate seat, Theresa Greenfield, on Thursday night, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) bungled a softball question on the break-even price of soybeans, a major Iowa crop. Moderator Ron Steele first asked Greenfield about the break-even price of corn, which she correctly answered as approximately $3.68 a bushel. He then turned to Ernst, a self-styled agricultural expert who grew up on a farm raising soybeans, and asked her about the break-even price of soybeans. Ernst changed the subject to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, but Steele [asked her again].... Ernst hesitated, then told him he had asked about the break-even price for corn.... Ignoring the question, Ernst told him the break-even price of corn was 'about $5.50.' When pressed by Steele, she continued talking about corn, criticizing Greenfield's answer to the question. She never did answer the question about the break-even price of soybeans. Ernst sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which authorizes most farming and conservation programs.... It was an odd gaffe for a senator who has frequently leveraged the fact that she grew up on a farm raising soybeans."

Massachusetts Senate Primary Race. AP: "U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III's campaign improperly spent $1.5 million earmarked for the general election during the Massachusetts congressman's failed bid to capture the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat, he said Friday. Kennedy said in a statement to The Boston Globe that he did not know about the improper spending before the Sept. 1 primary election, and has since reimbursed the campaign with ... $1.5 million of his own money. He and his campaign self-reported the violation to the Federal Election Commission last week, he said."


Dan Alexander of Forbes: "Lots of people believe the president owes $400 million, especially after Trump seemed to agree with that figure on national television Thursday night. In reality, however, he owes more than $1 billion. The loans are spread out over more than a dozen different assets -- ;hotels, buildings, mansions and golf courses. Most are listed on the financial disclosure report Trump files annually with the federal government. Two, which add up to an estimated $447 million, are not. It is important to note, as Trump did Thursday night, that he also has significant assets. Forbes values them at $3.66 billion, enough to make his net worth an estimated $2.5 billion. He is not broke, despite what many critics claim."

This Was Friday at Noonish ET. Thomas Fuller & Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has rejected California's request for disaster relief aid for six major wildfires that scorched more than 1.8 million acres in land, destroyed thousands of structures and caused at least three deaths last month. The rejection of aid late Thursday, a rare move in cases of disasters on the scale of California's fires, escalated a long-running feud between the Trump administration and California on the issues of climate change and forest management.... 'Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen,' Mr. Trump tweeted in January 2019. 'Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money.' Mr. Trump's threat at the time alarmed both Republicans and Democrats in the state. And wildfire experts say Mr. Trump's analysis is problematic because most of California's forests are on land owned by the federal government and their maintenance largely falls under the responsibility of his administration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Gee, This Story Has Been Updated. New Lede: "President Trump reversed himself on Friday, approving a package of wildfire disaster relief for California hours after officials from his administration had explained why the state should not receive the aid. The abrupt turnaround came after the president spoke with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and Representative Kevin McCarthy, a Republican and the House minority leader, with the White House saying the men 'presented a convincing case' for the state receiving the aid. The disaster relief aid covers six major wildfires that scorched more than 1.8 million acres, destroyed thousands of structures and caused at least three deaths last month." An AP story is here. Mrs. McC: Apparently somebody convinced the Meanest Man Alive that less than three weeks before an election is not the best time to deny a standard federal disaster relief package.

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Facing the prospect that President Trump could lose his re-election bid, his cabinet is scrambling to enact regulatory changes affecting millions of Americans in a blitz so rushed it may leave some changes vulnerable to court challenges. The effort is evident in a broad range of federal agencies and encompasses proposals like easing limits on how many hours some truckers can spend behind the wheel, giving the government more freedom to collect biometric data and setting federal standards for when workers can be classified as independent contractors rather than employees. In the bid to lock in new rules before Jan. 20, Mr. Trump's team is limiting or sidestepping requirements for public comment on some of the changes and swatting aside critics who say the administration has failed to carry out sufficiently rigorous analysis. Some cases, like a new rule to allow railroads to move highly flammable liquefied natural gas on freight trains, have led to warnings of public safety threats."

Well, Of Course It Will. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review President Trump's attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants when calculating how congressional seats are apportioned among the states. The unprecedented proposal could have the effect of shifting both political power and billions of dollars in federal funds away from urban states with large immigrant populations and toward rural and more Republican interests. A three-judge panel in New York said Trump's July 21 memorandum on the matter was 'an unlawful exercise of the authority granted to' him by Congress. It blocked the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau from including information about the number of undocumented immigrants -- it is unclear how those numbers would be generated -- in their reports to the president after this year's census is completed."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge rebuked the Justice Department and the White House Counsel's Office on Friday for dismissing without explanation President Trump's 'emphatic and unambiguous' tweets ordering the declassification of all documents in the government's probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election. 'I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax,' the president tweeted Oct. 6. 'Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!' Trump's blanket statement came the day after he returned to the White House from three days of treatment for the novel coronavirus at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.... The tweet has since created a headache for government lawyers in pending open-records lawsuits filed by news organizations seeking fuller disclosure of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report and investigative materials. Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer maintained in a court filing Tuesday that the White House Counsel's Office informed the Justice Department that notwithstanding the president's statement, 'there is no order requiring wholesale declassification or disclosure of documents at issue.' At Friday's hearing, however, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court in D.C. expressed bafflement at the claim that President Trump's words were not to be believed." ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge demanded on Friday that the White House counsel's office confirm directly with ... Donald Trump whether he stands by a series public statements he made declaring that he'd declassified all information related to the probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.... 'I think the American public has a right to rely upon what the president says about what his intent is,' said [Judge Reggie] Walton, an appointee of President George W. Bush. 'It seems to me that when a president makes an unambiguous statement of what his intent is, I can't rely upon White House counsel saying, "Well, that was not his intent." Maybe White House counsel talked to the president. Maybe they didn't, but I can't tell.' The 25-minute telephone hearing include the kinds of exchanges between judges and government lawyers that would have been considered stunning under any other president, but have become commonplace under Trump. Walton said, in essence, that he did not trust that the White House counsel's office was accurately relaying the president's view."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here: "For the first time since late July, the tally of newly reported coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 64,000 on Thursday and Friday. In 44 states and the District of Columbia, caseloads are higher than they were one month ago, and many of the new infections are being reported in rural areas with limited hospital capacity. More than 8,000,000 cases have been reported nationwide since February, and at least 216,000 people in the United States have died of covid-19...."

"A Self-Inflicted Defeat." Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "There won't be a coronavirus vaccine ready before Election Day, despite ... Donald Trump's repeated promises and vaccine makers' breakneck speed. The president's last best hope for meeting that deadline fizzled Friday as Pfizer announced that it would not seek emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration before the third week of November. The company is the only frontrunner in the vaccine race that has said it could have proof its vaccine works by Nov. 3. For Trump, the failure to meet that deadline is a self-inflicted defeat. The Election Day target was always an artificial one, created by a president who for months has touted it on the campaign trail and press briefing stage. When his administration's top scientists disputed the timeline, Trump accused them of slowing down progress for political reasons."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Nick Perry of the AP: "New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a second term in office Saturday in an election landslide of historic proportions. With most votes counted, Ardern's liberal Labour Party was winning 49% of the vote compared to 27% for its main challenger, the conservative National Party. Labour was on target to win an outright majority of the seats in Parliament, something that hasn't happened since New Zealand implemented a proportional voting system 24 years ago. Typically, parties must form alliances to govern, but this time Ardern and Labour can go it alone. In a victory speech in front of hundreds of cheering supporters in Auckland, Ardern said her party had gotten more support from New Zealanders that at any time in at least 50 years.... Her popularity soared earlier this year after she led a successful effort to stamp out the coronavirus. There is currently no community spread of the virus in the nation of 5 million and people are no longer required to wear masks or social distance."

News Ledes

NPR: "Bernard Cohen, who as a young lawyer successfully argued the Supreme Court case that struck down Virginia's ban on interracial marriages, has died at age 86.... Cohen was an attorney in Alexandria, Va., just a few years out of law school when the American Civil Liberties Union, where he was a volunteer, asked if he would take on the case of Richard and Mildred Loving."

New York Times: "Rhonda Fleming, the red-haired actress and sex symbol in Hollywood westerns, film noir and adventure movies of the 1940s and '50s, died on Wednesday at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 97."

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Reader Comments (20)

Don't usually tune into CNN, but might make an exception:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/16/politics/donald-trump-criticism-from-former-administration-officials/index.html

Sounds like a heady evening entertainment featuring rats and sinking ships.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Speaking of rats deserting a foundering, burning garbage scow emitting noxious fumes and spilling all manner of horribly toxic Trump-mung into the water, not a single one of these rats, including mincing rodents like the suddenly rational seeming Ben Sasse, should be allowed to re-enter the society of decent, responsible women and men.

Every one of these traitors deserves perdition and should be tarred and feathered and scarlet lettered for their complicity with a treasonous administration. And the Rat? Mittens now says something, something, Trump not nice. Yes, that’s all very well, Rombot, but you have a chance to stanch the bleeding by refusing to vote for Fatty’s latest Supreme Court choice to rocket the country into a future controlled by an increasingly vituperative, ignorant, and shrinking minority. And what did you do? “I’ll vote ‘Aye’, Mr. President, sir, great leader of our party of sycophantic traitors! Can I spit shine your shoes while I’m down here at your feet, pleeeese?” Words don’t matter if your actions say the opposite. Rat bastards, all of them.

All these weasels are looking to hop aboard the CYA train before it leaves the station so’s they can salvage some kind of future after the Fatty garbage scow heads for Davy Jones’ locker. None should be allowed to board that train.

To paraphrase Robert Johnson, they should all be singing “When the train left the station, it had two lights on behind, the red light was my future, the blue light was my mind.”

Off with their heads.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Soooo...in the interest of sanity (the polar opposite of Hannity), I didn’t watch a nanosecond of the Trumpish Land of Terror show. I did watch a sane, decent, obviously well informed Joe Biden talk in clear sentences (no sputtering, no drooling) about important real world problems and how they might be fixed.

It was a true, blessed relief. I wasn’t prepared for how good that felt.

But, like people who go on YouTube to watch videos of bloody highway crashes and people falling to their death from burning apartment houses, or idiots who jump out of safari vehicles to pet the cute lion cubs only to be mauled by an annoyed mother lion, I had to watch at least a few clips of the Fatty Debacle.

Jeeeesuz.

The difference in worlds inhabited by the two candidates couldn’t have been more brilliantly limned. Black Nightmare Volcano Planet vs. the Blue Earth.

And then I remembered the immense sense of relief and hope for the country’s future I felt when a bumbling, mean spirited, incurious chimp (the Decider) who couldn’t say ‘good morning’ without garbling either or both words, was miraculously replaced by a smart, decent, thoughtful, forthright President (Obama) who could speak in complete sentences not restricted to monosyllabic mutterings.

It was like going from trying to translate an eye chart to reading a page of Plato.

I look forward (with the full understanding that we could all be ratfucked again by election stealing thugs) to not having to translate an eye chart written in some prehistoric script used by a murderous, club wielding society of sociopaths as volcanoes spewed fire down their saber tooth skivvies.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Florida election officials at the county levels will not be purging the rolls of felons who may still have unpaid fees. There is insufficient time left before the election to complete the task.

On another note, Trump nearly sprained his wrist patting himself on the back over governor Ron DeSantis. Saying that he was responsible for the governors political rise. He then said (jokingly?) that he'd find a way to fire DeSantis if he lost Florida.

As if we needed another reason to boot Trump!

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

Good riddance?

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-suggests-he-may-leave-country-biden-election-2020-10

Probably has Rudy looking carefully at extradition laws for the best bolt hole.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Found this one interesting, though it would seem the many flaws in the whole Originalism thing would be glaringly obvious:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/originalism-constitution-founders-barrett/2020/10/16/1906922e-0f33-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html

Made this comment:

"Of course, the men who crafted the Constitution were not Originalists. They were the originators. Well, kinda.

They were educated men who eagerly borrowed from many other thinkers of their day and long before. Tthey knew and acknowledged they were usihg other people's ideas and adapting them to their own circumstances and vision of an ideal government.

Nor were they stupid enough to believe they had successfully hit that high mark.

The U. S. Constitution was a brilliant document, in many ways ahead of its time, and we should be proud of it. But only for what it is.

It is not Holy Scripture. It is not Revelation. It was not written by God but by men.

Originalism is not a legal argument.

It is a psychological stance exhibited by True Believers, and True Believers might make great executioners but they are sure to be poor judges."

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Last night I watched Pete Souza's documentary "The Way I See It" and the way I saw it and felt it was something like having a warm soothing bath after being out in a cold bitter ice storm for an eternity. Pete managed to capture Obama's essence by being that fly on the wall that sees all but is unseen. We get to experience once again how a real president operates, we feel once again the joy and love within the family Obama, and we are acutely aware of how Trump lacks even the smallest of attributes–-bonding with those that serve him. Obama's empathic nature was so clearly portrayed in this film and you knew by his words and tears after the Sandy Hook shootings how deeply he felt for these families and how this broke his heart. We also saw how a president agonizes over decisions of war and peace, spends hours alone contemplating.

And Pete–- who wasn't one wit political as a young man but having "shot" a few presidents and especially working for eight years in the Obama era essentially "growing up" in a sense with the family he has become deeply disturbed by what he sees in the Trump administration. Hence–-he is speaking out wherever and whenever he can.

And I ––I was back in a safe happy place for just a moment––in morning's light it still lingers but the feeling has faded already.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@Ken Winkes: Good point. By definition, the founders weren't originalists at all. They were creating a unique, new structure for government. Yes, they were borrowing from their readings of older, theoretical texts & from their own experiences & observations, but they were putting these older ideas together in a brand-new format. They were following the dictum, as the modernist poet T.S. Eliot prescribed as the rule of poetry, "Make it new!"

And that brings us to the meanings of the language of the Constitution that Rakove addresses. You only have to look at a few entries in the Oxford Dictionary to discover that the meanings of words & phrases change over time, & they've changed a lot since 1787. Hell, even the spelling has changed. Is Amy going to insist that we start spelling "Pennsylvania" as it appears in the Constitution: "Penfylvania"? The changing meaning of words & phrases is a real problem for conservatives, who can't abide change in any form. There they stand, having their tiny-tot tantrums, insisting that X means X & not X.2.

October 17, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@PD Pepe: I watched most of the Pete Souza special, too, and I found that it reinforced what we've been saying here for years & what the NYT editors have put together in their weekend special section: that Donald Trump is an aberration, one that must be stopped. He isn't just The Worst President* Ever. He may be the @RealDonaldTrump, but he's not the @RealPresident. He's what Ken Winkes calls a Pretender. He's a hoax. A Fake President*. Pete Souza, who witnessed a real President, up-close & personal, just could not get over the jarring contrast between a close approximation of what should be and what is.

October 17, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Glad many saw, and but for the jarring contrast between then and now, enjoyed the Souza presentation last night. My wife and I did.

Interesting (the Pretender must be sooo pissed) that programs like this one and the upcoming CNN special are being aired just prior to the election, and they're not costing Biden a dime.

I don't think they are accidents. Rather, instances of the vast left wing conspiracy...or maybe just the media correctly reading the tea leaves and concluding the nation is very tired of this clown who has sullied the highest office in the land for nearly four years with his corruption, stupidity, venality.

And in their greedy hearts the media moguls who make these decisions likely think continued loyalty to the Pretender is bad for business,

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

I saw Chris Christie (ICU-NJ) on the tv yesterday, saying that a week in intensive care persuaded him that wearing a mask would have been a good idea. He said you should wear one, learn from him.

Such a trait of the "conservative" personality -- a thing (here, covid prophylaxis) is not a problem, or not worth the effort of government/society's time and money, until it directly affects you or your immediate family. Then its really important and we should all do something about it. And it is so simple ... just wear the mask.

We are surrounded by idiots.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

So Drumpf says he might leave the country if he loses (probably to one without an extradition agreement). Hell, I've got enough frequent-flyer miles I'll offer free one-way tickets for him and his entire family.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

I think his brain left the country a looooong time ago!

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

Unwashed,

Save your FF miles. Fat Traitor Boy and his do-nothing brood of chiselers will squeeze his getaway airfare out of taxpayers, one last big mooch before he finds a good hidey hole from which to avoid the coming tsunami of lawsuits and indictments.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Forrest,

The brain, such as it is, is still here. It’s in a Petri dish in a sub-basement of the Heritage Foundation where (oxymoron alert) confederate scientists are trying to figure out how to clone it for implantation into future Trump Monsters.

They almost had it all!! Heil Trump!

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I doubt that Heritage wants DiJiT brain 2.0, after their current experienc with Abby Something-or-other. (Abby Normal?) What they want is a homunculus that will sign whatever is put in front of it, without pretensions of its own. Like a Pence?

And also a conservative Senate and House and a compliant SC.

I mean, the donors are paying a lot for this stuff, they don't want another loose cannon like we have now.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Daughter and I watched the whole Pete doc-- it was so soothing. I get Instagrams from Pete every day-- he has a photo appropriate to counter whatever Fatstuff does or says. It was a mission with Pete-- he stated that he could not NOT speak up as things have progressed so horribly with this "administration." You could feel the love coming from everyone in the past administration-- so different from now. I'm sure Fatpants (AKA Mullethead--) is eating his own shorts that there is so much material and so many people coming out against him. Not Mittster-- he had one moment in the sun, now blabs and then votes with whatever keeps him in the lege. The mental health pros are going to be super busy for the next four years, trying to keep the people who signed on to the Death Ship from being nutsy. I suspect they will utterly fail, and the thieving rabble will be with us for a while. I will hope that we will soon see the last of the so-called presidunce, his family, his "cabinet", and the nasties in the lege, both houses. I plan to celebrate if I never have to see Moscow Mitch ever again. That skeletal face and toothless mouth laughing was so scary. What a disgrace to blameless turtles everywhere. And yes, I wish every one of them the worst fortune possible.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

We should not be overly confident here. The avalanche of crap pummeling the Orange Monster, and Biden’s startling poll numbers, combined with one October surprise after another blowing up in Fatty’s pancaked face might make it seem as if the allies are motoring up the mountain roads littered with the stained underpants of departing winger rats, to Berchtesgaden, and supreme victory, but short of a Dresden-like firebombing, there is no—as in zero—guarantee that Republican/Trump chicanery won’t survive the onslaught and steal another four year Reich for the Fat Führer.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Smokey has something to say

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

I so agree, AK. I can HOPE all I want that my flag (NOPE with a yellow swoosh on top of it--) will be true, but I am not holding my breath. We were so burned in 2016. From the other room, I hear that grating whiney voice declaiming from wherever he is late this afternoon. All those morons cheering make me sick to my stomach. Must stop and leave the house. You know, I begin to doubt he even had the trump plague at all...could be a gigantic lie... At any rate, if the swamp gas doesn't get him, he may live forever, our bad luck.

October 17, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne
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