;)
The Commentariat -- October 21, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: A reader sent me this copy of an e-mail he received from a trusted person. I trust the reader, so I feel fairly confident this is a copy of an e-mail a registered Florida Democrat received. I blocked out the recipient's name in two places, & someone else redacted what also apparently is identifying information. As you can tell, the e-mail is pretty creepy: ~~~
It's a Miracle! Pretty Much. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions in remarks made in a documentary that premiered on Wednesday, a significant break from his predecessors that staked out new ground for the church in its recognition of gay people. The remarks, coming from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had the potential to shift debates about the legal status of same-sex couples in nations around the globe and unsettle bishops worried that the unions threaten traditional marriage. 'What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,' Francis said, reiterating his view that gay people are children of God. 'I stood up for that.' Many gay Catholics and their allies outside the church vigorously welcomed the pope's remarks, even as they said they understood Francis's opposition to gay marriage within the church remained absolute." The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I realize that many people will see this as half- or less-than-half measure, but I'm sure many more are asking, "Is the Pope Catholic?" I think it's a big step toward marriage equality worldwide. Meanwhile, Ken W. is wondering, "What will Amy think?" Good question. Her crummy little church club or sect or whatever it is must be whirling like dervishes.
Jan Hoffman & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and face penalties of roughly $8.3 billion, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for a settlement of thousands of lawsuits brought against the company for its role in the opioids epidemic. The company's owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, will pay $225 million in civil penalties. Federal prosecutors said the settlement did not preclude criminal charges against Purdue executives or individual Sacklers. Wednesday's announcement does not conclude the extensive litigation against Purdue, but it does represent a significant advance in the long legal march by states, cities and counties to compel the most prominent defendant in the opioid epidemic to help pay for the public health crisis that has resulted in the deaths of more than 450,000 Americans since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here.
Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday downplayed chances of Congress passing a big new economic stimulus bill before the election, even as Democrats voted to block a slimmed-down GOP relief measure in the Senate. The vote in the Senate was 51-44, well short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to advance the approximately $500 billion measure. It was the same outcome as last month, when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to advance a nearly identical bill in the Senate. McConnell and Senate GOP leaders largely oppose a giant new spending bill in the range of $2 trillion which President Trump has been demanding and Pelosi has been negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin."
Pay No Attention to Donald Trump. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a pair of tweets ... Donald Trump issued earlier this month that appeared to call for the declassification of all documents related to the probe of Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election won't trigger any further release of information to the public. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton lamented the president's sweeping language, but said a clarification White House chief of staff Mark Meadows submitted to the court Tuesday amounted to a retraction of the tweets."
Mrs. McCrabbie: I thought I could get through my fake life as a fake person without linking to anything about Borat. Well, thanks to Rudy, that was a false assumption: ~~~
~~~ Catherine Shoard of the Guardian: "The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to Borat. In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat's daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.... Even before he reaches into his trousers, Giuliani does not appear to acquit himself especially impressively during the encounter. Flattered and flirtatious, he drinks scotch, coughs, fails to socially distance and claims Trump's speedy actions in the spring saved a million Americans from dying of Covid. He also agrees -- in theory at least - to eat a bat with his interviewer." There's more. Mrs. McC: This must be a bit of a relief for Jeff Toobin, if being on a par with Rudy can be a relief to anyone.
~~~~~~~~~
Presidential Race, Etc.
Holly Otterbein of Politico: "On Wednesday, [President] Obama will hold a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, and he will talk directly to Black voters -- and Black men specifically -- according to the Biden campaign. The former president is also expected to discuss the importance of making a plan to vote early.... In a presidential election that has seen both candidates lavish attention onto [Pennsylvania], making nonstop visits and pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising here, the rally serves an important purpose beyond ginning up enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket. It's an implicit reminder that, of the three Rust Belt states that flipped to Donald Trump in 2016 -- the other two being Michigan and Wisconsin --- Pennsylvania remains the biggest and most critical to Biden's chances of victory."
Another Trumpertantrum. Michael Grynbaum & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump abruptly cut off an interview with the '60 Minutes' star Lesley Stahl at the White House on Tuesday and then taunted her on Twitter, posting a short behind-the-scenes video of her at the taping and noting that she had not been wearing a mask in the clip. Mr. Trump then threatened to post his interview with Ms. Stahl ahead of its intended broadcast time on Sunday evening, calling it 'FAKE and BIASED.' The spectacle of a president, two weeks from Election Day, picking a fight with the nation's most popular television news program began on Tuesday after Mr. Trump grew irritated with Ms. Stahl's questions, according to two people familiar with the circumstances of the taping.... [Apparently, the taping ran long.] So Mr. Trump cut the interview short and then declined to participate in a 'walk and talk' segment with Ms. Stahl and Vice President Mike Pence, the people said." Politico's story is here. CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Once again, Trump couldn't hack a woman's questioning him. He already has complained about Thursday's debate moderator Kristen Welker. Let's see if the Little King can make it through the debate without insulting her or walking out. ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two days before their final televised faceoff, President Trump on Tuesday attacked the upcoming debate as yet another campaign event that would be 'a stacked deck' against him, while Joe Biden's camp hunkered down and strategized over Trump's expected attacks on his family.... Biden held no public appearances for a second straight day, while Trump tried out lines of attack and in essence held his debate prep in public. In a phone interview broadcast on 'Fox & Friends,' Trump lashed out at the moderator of Thursday's event, NBC's Kristen Welker, as 'totally partisan' and sought to portray the debate topics and rules as unfair."
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "It's a perverse paradox of the 2020 election. On one front after another, President Trump has been extraordinarily brazen about his efforts to corrupt the election on his own behalf. And it's precisely because of this shamelessness that his schemes keep imploding on him.... It's obvious that [Trump] equates his naked displays of corruption with shows of strength." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump's Closing Argument: Fauci Is Auditioning for CNN! Asawin Suebsaeng & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "In the final two weeks of his re-election campaign..., Donald Trump has turned much of his attention to venting his anger and insecurities at one of his administration’s top public-health officials and coronavirus task force members, Dr. Anthony Fauci. In recent months, Trump has routinely gossiped with close associates and advisers that Fauci is behaving like a member of anti-MAGA 'resistance' commentators. In the past few weeks, the president has told multiple people that he believes Fauci is angling to earn the media's adulation and that it at times appears to him that the famous infectious disease expert is 'audition[ing]' or 'trying to get a job at CNN,' according to two sources...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's attacks on Fauci are deeply weird, particularly during the last days of a political campaign. Trump is supposed to be selling voters on why he deserves a second term. (Never mind that he has not even developed a second-term agenda.) Instead, he's whining & griping about all the people who are mean to him: Fauci, Bill Barr, Kirsten Welker, Lesley Stahl, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, etc. As one teevee pundit pointed out: in 2016, Trump ran on white people's grievances; in 2020, he's running on his own grievances.
Tech Companies v. Trump & Russians. David Sanger & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Over the past two weeks, United States Cyber Command and a group of companies led by Microsoft have engaged in an aggressive campaign against a suspected Russian network that they feared could hold election systems hostage come November. Then, on Monday, the Justice Department indicted members of the same elite Russian military unit that hacked the 2016 election for hacking the French elections, cutting power to Ukraine and sabotaging the opening ceremony at the 2018 Olympics. And in Silicon Valley, tech giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google have been sending out statements every few days advertising how many foreign influence operations they have blocked, all while banning forms of disinformation in ways they never imagined even a year ago. It is all intended to send a clear message that whatever Russia is up to in the last weeks before Election Day, it is no hoax.... But behind the scenes is a careful dance by members of the Trump administration to counter the president's own disinformation campaign.... So while President Trump continues to dismiss the idea of Russian intervention, a combination of administration and industry officials are pushing a different narrative...."
Kate Bennett of CNN: "Melania Trump is canceling her first campaign appearance in months because she is not feeling well as she continues to recover from Covid-19. She had been set to join ... Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, but she has decided not to go.'Mrs. Trump continues to feel better every day following her recovery from Covid-19, but with a lingering cough, and out of an abundance of caution, she will not be traveling today,' said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's chief of staff." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Chris Wray Won't Pull a Comey October Surprise. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The FBI notified Congress late Tuesday that it has 'nothing to add at this time' to a statement made by President Trump's director of national intelligence [John Ratcliffe] disputing the idea that Russia orchestrated the discovery of a computer that may have belonged to Joe Biden's son. FBI Assistant Director Jill C. Tyson sent the letter to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a Trump ally and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, in response to his demand for more information about the computer following a series of reports by the New York Post detailing its purported contents.... The letter notes that the FBI faced a severe backlash for its handling of the 2016 investigations surrounding then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and makes clear it is seeking to avoid the kind of criticism heaped upon it by the Justice Department's inspector general, among others, for the FBI's decision to notify Congress less than two weeks before Election Day that it had reopened an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. The letter notes that, in keeping with long-standing Justice Department policy, 'the FBI can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation of persons or entities under investigation, including to Members of Congress.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There's no way to know at this point who benefits from the FBI's restraint. If Ratcliffe is right (zero guarantee of that), then Biden benefits. But if the FBI is finding that "Hunter"'s hard drive has Russian fingerprints all over it, then Trump benefits. ~~~
~~~ Rudy Says Facts Don't Matter. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Appearing on AM1100 The Flag, a North Dakota radio show..., [Rudy Giuliani] grumbled about social media companies initially restricting access to the Post stories, saying it 'reminds me of the communist[s] and the Nazis.' From there, he said the story should be spread regardless of its accuracy. 'They've set up an Iron Curtain so you can't get out the New York Post story which I happened to know is 100 percent accurate,' Giuliani declared. 'But even if it isn't accurate, the American people are entitled to know it.'" Mrs. McC: I suppose it would be useless to try to explain to Rudy that Nazis & communists ran their governments while social media companies are private entities not required to guarantee the right to spread false stories.
Mike McIntire, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump and his allies have tried to paint the Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr., as soft on China, in part by pointing to his son's business dealings there. Senate Republicans produced a report asserting, among other things, that Mr. Biden's son Hunter 'opened a bank account' with a Chinese businessman... But Mr. Trump's own business history is filled with overseas financial deals, and some have involved the Chinese state. He spent a decade unsuccessfully pursuing projects in China, operating an office there during his first run for president and forging a partnership with a major government-controlled company. And it turns out that China is one of only three foreign nations -- the others are Britain and Ireland -- where Mr. Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president's tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times. The foreign accounts do not show up on Mr. Trump's public financial disclosures, where he must list personal assets, because they are held under corporate names.... The Chinese account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., which the tax records show paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015.... In 2017, the company reported an unusually large spike in revenue -- some $17.5 million, more than the previous five years' combined. It was accompanied by a $15.1 million withdrawal by Mr. Trump from the company's capital account." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Once again Donald the Perverse is falsely accusing an opponent of doing something he actually has done. That 2017 influx of cash & $15MM withdrawal in the first year of Trump's presidency* looks mighty suspicious. ~~~
~~~ Besides, Dean Obeiedallah of the Daily Beast points out "There's already a corrupt presidential kid. It's Ivanka.... As documented by the non-partisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), Ivanka's unethical conduct dates back to early 2017 and ranges from her receiving trademarks from the Chinese government while her father was in talks with the Chinese president to a complaint filed by CREW in January 2019 with the Department of Justice to assess if Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner violated federal law by profiting from a tax program they had championed.... [And] 'just last month CREW flagged that Ivanka -- who purportedly closed her business in 2018 to avoid further conflicts of interest -- was somehow still reporting income ... of as much as a million dollars a year ... from her company in 2019." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I doubt anybody knows how much Kushner has benefited from his White House job, whatever it is, since he may have been pulling in favors from an array of foreign governments.
Jacob Bogage & Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "Key swing states that may well decide the presidential race are recording some of the nation's most erratic mail service as record numbers of Americans are relying on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver their ballots, agency data shows.... The slowdowns, which have raised alarms and suspicions among voters, postal workers and voting experts, have particular implications for states with strict voter deadlines. Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, for example, do not accept ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if postmarked before. Of the states that do, there is generally a short qualifying window: In North Carolina, where polls have President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in a dead heat, postmarked ballots must arrive within three days of the election.... In Detroit, where Democrats are relying on heavy turnout to carry the rest of Michigan, only 70.9 percent of first-class mail was on time the week that ended Oct. 9, compared with 92.2 percent at the start of the year."
Florida & Alaska. Curt Devine, et al., of CNN: "Elections officials in Florida and Alaska contacted law enforcement Tuesday after registered voters reported receiving threatening emails that said, 'Vote for Trump or else!' The emails came from an address that appeared to be affiliated with a far-right group, though an analyst who reviewed one email obtained by CNN said it had been sent using foreign internet infrastructure. The identity of the person or group behind the messages was unknown, said TJ Pyche, a spokesperson for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections in Florida. Pyche said his office 'got flooded with phone calls and emails' from dozens of voters about the messages Tuesday and immediately reached out to local, state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI.... A spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Elections, Tiffany Montemayor said the state is aware of Alaskans receiving similar emails and said, "We've forwarded that information to the appropriate federal agencies for their review." ~~~
~~~ Florida. Ana Ceballos & Carli Teproff of the Miami Herald: "A string of voter intimidation emails that were purportedly sent by the Proud Boys, a self-described militia group, were reported to state and federal law enforcement officials on Tuesday morning, according to Alachua Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton. Alachua County officials were made aware of the emails on Tuesday morning. In one of the emails, the sender told a voter to 'vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,' according to a copy obtained by the Miami Herald.... The email shows a sender with the address, info@officialproudboys.com. But officials have not pointed to any evidence that the email came from the far-right group." --s ~~~
~~~ Beth Reinhard & Laurie Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's [R] administration delivered last-minute guidance to local election officials recommending measures that voting rights advocates say could intimidate or confuse voters, the latest salvo in a pitched battle over who is able to cast ballots in a state crucial to President Trump's reelection. In a notice sent to local election officials last week, Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews urged them to remove from the voter rolls people with felony convictions who still owe court fines and fees, a move that local officials said is impossible to accomplish before Election Day. A second memo from Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee's general counsel recommended that election staff or law enforcement guard all mail ballot drop boxes, a step that local election officials say is not required under the law.... There is no simple, streamlined process for formerly incarcerated people to figure out if they still owe fines. Some may be fearful to vote, unsure if they are breaking the law, advocates said." ~~~
~~~ Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "Slightly more registered Republicans than Democrats voted on the first day of early voting in Florida on Monday, according to statewide turnout numbers published Tuesday, bucking the trend so far in other battlegrounds where Democrats have logged a sizable early-voting advantage. Roughly 339,152 voted in person across the state, exceeding the vote count four years ago, when about 290,000 cast ballots on the first day of in-person voting, according to the Florida Department of State. About 43 percent of Monday's voters are registered Republicans, while 42 percent are Democrats and the rest are third-party or unaffiliated. As in other states, Democrats retain a distinct advantage among the 2.7 million Floridians who have mailed in their ballots so far; the breakdown among those voters is 49 percent Democratic and 30 percent Republican, according to the state figures." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
North Carolina. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A bitterly divided federal appeals court has denied an attempt by Republicans to block an agreement by North Carolina state officials allowing absentee ballots in next month's election to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received up to nine days later. The Tar Heel State typically counts absentee ballots that arrive up to three days after the election, but last month the State Board of Elections agreed to extend that window to nine days due to the increased ballot requests related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as well concerns about mail delays due to recent Postal Service changes. In a ruling released Tuesday night, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 12-3 to deny an emergency stay that GOP legislative leaders sought to reimpose the ordinary, three-days-after-Election-Day rule. The Richmond-based appeals court issued no majority opinion explaining its decision, but backers and opponents of the ruling filed 45 pages of opinions jousting and wrangling over the legal issues, often in a vitriolic tone not commonly seen in such courts."
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
Sarah Mervosh & Lucy Tompkins of the New York Times: "After weeks of warnings that cases were again on the rise, a third surge of coronavirus infection has firmly taken hold in the United States. The nation is averaging 59,000 new cases a day, the most since the beginning of August, and the country is on pace to record the most new daily cases of the entire pandemic in the coming days. But if earlier surges were defined by acute and concentrated outbreaks -- in the Northeast this spring, and in the South during the summer -- the virus is now simmering at a worrisome level across nearly the entire country.... The latest wave threatens to be the worst of the pandemic yet, coming as cooler weather is forcing people indoors and as many Americans report feeling exhausted by months of restrictions.... The rising case count has so far not translated to increased deaths: About 700 people are dying on average each day, a high but steady rate."
Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "The coronavirus pandemic has left about 299,000 more people dead in the United States than would be expected in a typical year, two-thirds of them from covid-19 and the rest from other causes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. The CDC said the novel coronavirus, which causes covid-19, has taken a disproportionate toll on Latinos and Blacks, as previous analyses have noted. But the CDC also found, surprisingly, that it has struck 25- to 44-year-olds very hard: Their 'excess death' rate is up 26.5 percent over previous years, the largest change for any age group." The article is free to non-subscribers.
Sarah Paynter of Yahoo! News: "A third of hotels in the U.S. could go under due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study. Some 33% of hotel owners expect to hand the keys back to their lender or enter a forced sale situation, according to a September 7 survey of 103 hotels by the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA)." --s
Katie Thomas & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "The chief executive of Pfizer said on Friday that the company would not apply for emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine before the third week of November, ruling out President Trump's assertion that a vaccine would be ready before Election Day on Nov. 3. In a statement posted to the company website, the chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, said that although Pfizer could have preliminary numbers by the end of October about whether the vaccine works, it would still need to collect safety and manufacturing data that will stretch the timeline to at least the third week of November." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sheila Kaplan, et al., of the New York Times: "... close enough to the election to make his firing unlikely, [Commissioner] Dr. [Stephen] Hahn seems to be trying to save the F.D.A. from the fate of its sister agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose scientists have been stripped of much of their authority and independence in responding to the pandemic." This is after having made a series of missteps at the White House's behest, including authorizing "hydroxychloroquine for hospitalized Covid-19 patients despite a lack of evidence, only to reverse the decision once the drug was tied to severe side effects.... In late August, on the eve of the Republican convention, Dr. Hahn ... greatly exaggerated the benefits of [plasma] treatment, angering the scientific community. He publicly corrected the record.... The plasma debacle seems to have been a turning point for Dr. Hahn...."
Emily Cochcrane & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, privately told Republican senators on Tuesday that he had warned the White House not to strike a pre-election deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a new round of stimulus, moving to head off an agreement that President Trump has demanded but most in his party oppose. Mr. McConnell's remarks, confirmed by four Republicans familiar with them, threw cold water on Mr. Trump's increasingly urgent push to enact a new round of pandemic aid before Election Day. They came just as Ms. Pelosi offered an upbeat assessment of her negotiations with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, telling Democrats that their latest conversation had yielded 'common ground as we move closer to an agreement.'... The developments on Capitol Hill amounted to an extraordinary scene two weeks before the election, in which a badly weakened president -- once the object of unwavering loyalty from congressional Republicans, who rarely broke with him on any major policy issue -- was throwing concessions at Democrats to cement a deal that his own party was resisting." A New York Times item is here. A related Politico story is here.
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google over allegations that its search and advertising empire violated federal antitrust laws, launching what is likely to be a lengthy, bruising legal war between Washington and Silicon Valley that could have vast implications for the entire tech industry. The federal government's landmark lawsuit caps off a roughly year-long investigation, which found Google wielded its digital dominance to the detriment of corporate rivals and consumers. The complaint contends that Google relied on a mix of special agreements and other problematic business practices to secure an insurmountable lead in online search, capturing the market for nearly 90 percent of all queries in the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Julia Ainsley & Jacob Soboroff of NBC News: "Lawyers appointed by a federal judge to identify migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration say that they have yet to track down the parents of 545 children and that about two-thirds of those parents were deported to Central America without their children, according to a filing Tuesday from the American Civil Liberties Union.... Many of the more than 1,000 parents separated from their children under the pilot ['zero tolerance'] program had already been deported before a federal judge in California ordered that they be found." Mrs. McC: Anyone could have predicted this would happen. Many of the children probably are preliterate; their parents may be illiterate and/or in hiding since they left their homes because they were in some danger.
Jake Tapper of CNN: "Senior officials throughout various departments and agencies of the Trump administration tell CNN they are alarmed at White House pressure to grant what would essentially be a no-bid contract to lease the Department of Defense's mid-band spectrum -- premium real estate for the booming and lucrative 5G market -- to Rivada Networks, a company in which prominent Republicans and supporters of ... Donald Trump have investments. The pressure campaign to fast track Rivada's 'Request for Proposal' (RFP) by using authorities that would preclude a competitive bidding process intensified in September, and has been led by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was acting at Trump's behest, sources with knowledge tell CNN."
Cash for Trump Voters. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "At a campaign rally in Wisconsin last week, President Trump ... said -- not for the first time -- [China] is 'paying us billions and billions of dollars a year. I charge them billions, they never paid 10 cents. I gave $28 billion to the farmers, many of them right here, $28 billion, $12 billion and $16 billion, two years.' The first part of this isn't true. Trump imposed tariffs on products coming from China, a tax paid largely by American consumers. The second part, though, is true: This tax was then redistributed to farmers who had been targeted by reciprocal tariffs from China.... New data indicates that 91 percent of the money disbursed through the program went to places that supported Trump four years ago. Only 9 percent went to places that had voted for Hillary Clinton. What's more, counties that flipped from blue to red in 2016 received an average of nearly $3 million more than ones that backed the Republican presidential candidate in both 2012 and 2016." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm not sure how many votes Trump is buying. Though I'm sure plenty of small farmers received subsidies, surely the biggest haul went to big agribusiness. Yes, some of that money would "trickle down" to hired hands, but they wouldn't necessarily grasp they had found work because of a Trump tariff.
Schumer Gives Feinstein a Talking-to. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that he has had a 'serious talk' with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) after some liberal groups criticized her handling of last week's Supreme Court confirmation hearings and requested she step aside as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Schumer, who has also faced doubts about his strategic moves from the most liberal activists, declined to say what steps he would take but acknowledged the problem had prompted a discussion about Feinstein holding such an important post.... As the hearings [for Judge Amy Barrett] ended Thursday, Feinstein credited Republicans for holding a hearing with decorum and even hugged Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), the chair who had previously pledged to never consider a Supreme Court nominee in an election year." ~~~
~~~ Michelle Smith & Michael Biesecker of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served for nearly three years on the board of private Christian schools that effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren't welcome in the classroom. The policies that discriminated against LGBTQ people and their children were in place for years at Trinity Schools Inc., both before Barrett joined the board in 2015 and during the time she served. The three schools, in Indiana, Minnesota and Virginia, are affiliated with People of Praise, an insular community rooted in its own interpretation of the Bible, of which Barrett and her husband have been longtime members. At least three of the couple's seven children have attended the Trinity School at Greenlawn, in South Bend, Indiana." --s
Will Wright of the New York Times: "A Kentucky judge on Tuesday granted grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case permission to speak publicly, a rare move that immediately led one juror to assert that prosecutors had not given the panel the opportunity to bring homicide charges in the case.... 'The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them,' the anonymous juror said. 'The grand jury never heard about those laws. Self-defense or justification was never explained either. Questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick.'"
** Fiona Harvey of the Guardian: "Air pollution last year caused the premature death of nearly half a million babies in their first month of life, with most of the infants being in the developing world, data shows. Exposure to airborne pollutants is harmful also for babies in the womb. It can cause a premature birth or& low birth weight. Both of these factors are associated with higher infant mortality." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd like to hear from anti-abortion people about this since they are apt to be climate change deniers. If they're against abortion, why are they okay with pollution?
the new game is to replace every new yorker cartoon caption with "Jeffrey Toobin took his dick out on a Zoom call." pic.twitter.com/NkuxsTJtxs
— Ryan 'Follow @SecretBase' Simmons (@rysimmons) October 19, 2020
~~~ There are some winners on Ryan's Twitter page.
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Reader Comments (20)
Given the spectacular meltdowns lately, and the raft of swings and misses on the part of the Orange Menace, it’s tempting to say “Adios, motherfucker”, but this is Trump. And the ratfucking, election rigging, vote suppressing Republican Party. Add to that his Russian pals. Qanon and white supremacist gun knobbers sure to be hectoring voters, and there’s no way you’d bet this thing on a money line.
Fatty’s October Surprises have been more like the mystery meat you’d get for dinner in college the day after Parents’ Weekend was over. Not memorable, but not deadly either.
Still, the biggest October Surprise, and the little king’s hole card is Holy Mother Judge Amy. This whole thing might be decided, effectively, by one person. If your attempts to rig the game fall short and it comes down to a judgment call, what’s better than having the person making that call in your pocket?
The fate of the nation is hanging in the balance and Sister Mary Elephant is ready, waiting, and eager to stand on the scale.
Interesting decision from the Kentucky judge.
Sounds like the Kentucky AG (the Pretender suckup) gave the grand jury a one-handed choice--and hid the real one behind his back....
What price a soul?
Another gift from Putin to his best bud?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/europe/russia-nuclear-arsenal-us-treaty-intl/index.html
Maybe one of the reasons the Pretender's handlers claimed he'd been promised Thursday's debate would be all about foreign policy?
Too bad Putin can't help the Pretender rescue his cascadimg domestic screw-ups.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis just won't give up on trying to get former felons off the voting rolls. With two weeks left before election day orders for removal were sent out to county officials who said they had neither the time nor the resources to comply before election day.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/florida-felon-vote-2020-election/2020/10/20/fd67d51c-11fa-11eb-82af-864652063d61_story.html
"Trump's attacks on Fauci are deeply weird" says Marie. Yes! I find his whole messaging counterproductive––we are witnessing a petulant child having a meltdown right in the middle of a "Best Behaved" Romper Room contest. Of course, one has to take into consideration that his base is made up of like material ––all those snot nosed brats with the nifty red caps who come out in droves to chant prison time for various and sundry and love Fatty like their Daddy. Such fun!
Here's the "Hamilton" crew with a great "get out and vote" video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o2FPRLLAGU&feature=youtu.be
I'm still laughing at the last line in the NYTimes article about the Stahl tantrum.
One of the times it's worth reading a news article, which usually front loads its punch, all the way to the end.
Portrait of a stable genius on the Trump Virus stimulus bill
We must have a stimulus bill to help poor Americans ready to be murdered by Joe Biden! Do it. Now! Wait, don’t do it. Well, okay do it, but not so much. Wait. Make it a lot. A really lot lot. Big or go home. I command it! What? No...stop! Don’t do it. It’s a Democrat trick! What? Aiiiereee! Vote for me! Only I can fix it. (What am I fixing again?) No stimulus! It’s a Joe Biden trick to destroy America!
In other news...
“Those little brown kids who snuck into our wonderful paradise to steal your jobs and rape your daughters that we put in cages a couple of years ago (to make America great, of course), well we lost a few of ‘em. How many is a few? Ummm... over 500. But, hey, they’ll turn up. On the other hand...Hillary! Hunter!! EMAILS! Socialism! End of the world!! We had it all! Best everything ever. Then, the PLAGUE. It came just to screw me, the great Donald!”
Yeah. Stability like you read about.
“...and now, and now...some other uppity bitch is trying to ask me questions. Questions, questions, questions! Don’t they know I’m the king?!? How dare she. Run away! Run away!”
The Madness of King Donald. Crazier by the hour. Can’t even imagine what insanity we’ll be seeing over the next 10 days or so.
WHERE'S THE BEEF? at what price?
Here's information that sickens me as much as the child immigrant situation that Akhilleus writes about above. "Nicaragua is supplying beef to the U.S. at a high human cost"–(with video and transcript).
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-nicaragua-supplying-beef-to-the-u-s-comes-at-a-high-human-cost
@Ken Winkes: Yes, that last line is super. I'll bet Maggie Haberman wrote it. Not the first time she has ripped Trump with wicked understatement.
@Akhilleus: I could save myself a lot of linkin' if I just went with your summaries, like the one on Trump's position(s) on a new stimulus bill.
Trump's conflicting statements make him the tergiversator-in-chief regarding the stimulus bill, or non-bill.
@Ak, isn't it the other way around? They have the kids, but they can't find the parents of them.
@unwashed: You're right, but whaddaya bet they can't find some of the children, either?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/pope-francis-civil-unions/2020/10/21/805a601c-139e-11eb-a258-614acf2b906d_story.html
Take that, Judge Amy!
And BTW, what does an Originalist think of papal infallibility?
The Non-Integrity President
There are many (many, many, many) charges one can level at the worst president in US history, and one of the worst people alive (Wait, he doesn't KILL people, does he?? Yes. He does. Hundreds of thousands.), but his frightening lack of integrity seems not to have gained much purchase. It seems a tad lacking as a powerful enough rebuttal to the overt corruption and shameless greed of Trump and his crime family.
In fact, it offers a window into the essence of what's wrong with this charlatan and crook.
If you look it up, one of the definitions of integrity, in addition to strict adherence to a sound moral code, is incorruptibility. And there it is. The polar opposite of Donald Trump, the most easily and constitutionally corrupt holder of high office (although Barr is close) in American history.
The word came to English sometime in the 14th or 15th centuries from Latin, by way of French. Integritas, the Latin word for soundness, blamelessness (also direct antonyms of Trumpism), comes from the root word integer, meaning whole (and if you remember your basic mathematics, an integer is, well, a whole number).
Trump is not solely responsible for the loss of integrity, which has been on the wane for years, but if integrity were a chronic patient, in and out of the hospital, recovering briefly (Obama administration) after a long bout of seemingly incipient flat-lining during the Dubya Debacle, Trump has put a pillow over its face and is sitting on it waiting for its passage forever out of our ken.
Like matter and antimatter, Trump and Integrity cannot coexist without a massive explosion. Perhaps that explosion will come in early November. But we will not be shut of the non-integrity party.
As an example of the disjointed, non-whole, amoral and immoral code practiced by Trump and his Party of Traitors, we need only look at the concept of foundational texts.
Foundational texts have offered humankind designs for living, plans for how to live a good life, how to behave, how to be in the world. Many of these are religious texts (the Bible, the Koran, eg), but purely literary works have held unusually influential places in various societies, explaining the basis of those societies and how those of great mettle have worked out their own humanity.
"The Iliad" was one. Alexander the Great was so taken with the stories recounted therein, that he kept a copy with him on his travels of conquest. He even, after one important battle, tied the leader of the opposing forces to the back of his chariot and dragged the body around the conquered city, just as Akhilleus did to the defeated Hector.
The "Epic of Gilgamesh" dealt with the concept of friendship and what it means to be human to the people of ancient Mesopotamia. "Origin of the Species" is a foundational text, as well.
Americans have their own various foundational texts. "The Rights of Man" is one. So is "Common Sense", and of course, the "Federalist Papers". The Constitution, interestingly, is a foundational text that Trump spits on at every opportunity and has not even read. So much for a foundation based on that document.
The Right's own foundational texts are indicative of why they have foisted upon us a president who has not a scintilla of integrity to speak of.
One of these is, of course, Trump's own "Art of the Deal", which, revealingly, he didn't even write. But it does demonstrate that the way to be in the world is to cheat and steal and lie. To brag, to put your foot on your enemy's neck and never give an inch. They have clearly taken these rules for living to heart.
But before Trump's design for criminality and sleaze, there was the Powell Memo. The Powell Memo, for those who haven't actually read it, has become recast, in popular winger lore, as a way for conservatives to fight back against evil liberal headwinds and to establish conservatism as a much more vibrant political force.
It's nothing of the kind. It's a plan for greed. Full stop. The whole thing appeared out of Wall Street's outrage that good government types had finally realized that Big Business should not be allowed to ride roughshod over the country. Regulation had become a hated word for these people. And so Powell showed them how to fight back and achieve the massive profits and control they desired. To step on the average citizen, pick their pockets and choose their leaders, who, like Trump, will do their bidding. It's that simple.
So the foundational texts operating on the right are a plan for greed and a design for con artistry.
No wonder integrity is in the ICU.
Mitch and the GOP don't want to add any financial help to state or local governments. Won't that mean that the party that actually ends up defunding the police is the Republicans? Sorry Officer Bob there is not enough money to keep you on the payroll, but I hear the militias are all hiring. Might not pay as much, but you still get to play war and fantasize about attacking women, minorities and commies.
What does Amy think about Pope Francis’ support for same sex marriages? Like most far right-wing Catholics, I’m betting she doesn’t consider Francis a bona fide head of the church. I will bet my First Communion pin and the JFK silver half dollar I got from Sister Marie Peter in the fifth grade that her fealty is to the previous pope, the former Cardinal Ratzinger, the Nazi Pope Benedict, whose world view decrees that Catholics who don’t abide by his aggressive intolerance are not real Catholics (sound familiar?).
I’m guessing that Amy, like her ultra right-wing peers in the church, doesn’t give a shit what candy-ass lovers of the downtrodden, the gays, the outcasts, the imprisoned, and the poor, like Francis think.
Popes like Francis don’t matter to those people. Only the goose stepping, incense burning, self-flagellating Savonarola Nazi fucks can interpret the Word of God to the satisfaction of smug, self-satisfied martinets like Judge Amy.
Hahahahaha...
Trumpbots in Fayette County, PA, have rented a billboard to let passersby know that Joe Biden is not fit to run the country because he has “dimensia”.
Di-what?
Idiots 4 Trump!
https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/swpa-billboard-accusing-biden-of-dementia-misspells-dementia/