;)
The Commentariat -- October 27, 2020
Afternoon Update:
IF YOU HAVE NOT YET VOTED, DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND VOTE TODAY. IT MAY BE THE LAST DAY TO HAVE YOUR VOTE COUNTED. See linked stories below on the Supreme Court's Wisconsin decision. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~
~~~ DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOT. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "For millions of voters who considered using the U.S. Postal Service to cast their ballot for the Nov. 3 election, it's time to find a backup plan, election administration and postal experts say. With the presidential election a week away, mail service continues to lag -- especially in certain swing states that could decide control of the White House. Nationally, 85.6 percent of all first-class mail was delivered on time the week of Oct. 16; that's the 14th consecutive week the on-time rate sat below 90 percent for mail that should reach its destination within three days.... Joe Biden's campaign internally switched its language to voters this week, encouraging them to submit ballots in person or at a secure drop box, according to campaign officials, rather than through the mail. 'If you haven't requested a mail ballot yet, it's too late,' said David Becker, executive director at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research. 'I don't care about the legal deadline; it's just too late in terms of getting it processed, getting it mailed to you and you being able to fill it out and return it.... At this point, if you haven't requested a mail ballot yet, plan to vote in person and vote early, if possible.' Voters who requested but have yet to receive a mail ballot should vote in person, Becker said."
Michael McDonald of the University of Florida is keeping track of early voting -- both mail-in and in-person -- state-by-state and, where available, by party affiliation. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Joe Biden visited Georgia on Tuesday for the first time since clinching the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and he promised to deliver 'hope and healing' to the nation's soul as the race for the White House nears the finish line. Biden delivered a message calling for bipartisanship at a time of turmoil, wrapping himself in the legacy of former President Franklin Roosevelt on a grassy mountaintop not far from where the New Deal Democrat once had his private retreat." ~~~
Mrs. McCrabbie: I watched a few seconds of Melanie speaking somewhere Tuesday. She said Donald was keeping America safe from the coronavirus while Democrats were wasting time impeaching Donald. Somehow it sounds even more bizarre in a Slovenian accent.
The first thing Justice Barrett did was to participate in a campaign event at the White House for the president, eight days before an election that he has explicitly said he expects will turn on her vote. -- Chris Hayes of MSNBC in a tweet (thanks to RAS for the link)
I wonder if the reason Clarence Thomas, instead of John Roberts, swore in Barrett was that Roberts -- unlike Thomas & Barrett -- knew better than to show up wearing a MAGA cap. -- Mrs. McCrabbie
The New York Times' live election updates Tuesday are here: "The Wisconsin Democratic Party and its supporters had been on a mail-voting education crusade since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, advising people how to request, fill out and return absentee ballots. Now, in the wake of a Supreme Court decision Monday disqualifying absentee ballots that are received by election officials after Election Day, the party has changed course, alerting voters not to put ballots in the mail but to return them to their election clerk's office or use drop boxes. The party is in search of missing absentee ballots. Of about 1,706,771 Wisconsin voters who requested absentee ballots, 1,344,535 have returned them. That means 366,236 ballots are still out there."
Barack Obama campaigns for Joe Biden in Orlando, Florida:
Tom Hamburger & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Twenty former U.S. attorneys -- all of them Republicans -- on Tuesday publicly called President Trump 'a threat to the rule of law in our country,' and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden. 'The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests,' said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking 'action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice.'" U.S. attorneys are political appointees.
Wall Street Hopes for a Blue Wave. Ben White of Politico: "... Donald Trump loves to say that if Joe Biden wins the White House, stocks will crash, retirement accounts will vanish and an economic depression 'the likes of which you’ve never seen' will engulf the nation. But much of Wall Street is already betting on a Biden win.... Traders in recent weeks have been piling into bets that a 'blue wave' election, in which Democrats also seize the Senate, will produce an economy-juicing blast of fresh fiscal stimulus of $3 trillion or more that carries the U.S. past the coronavirus crisis and into a more normal environment for markets. Far from panicking at the prospect of a Biden win, Wall Street CEOs, traders and investment managers now mostly say they would be fine with a change in the White House that reduces the Trump noise, lowers the threat of further trade wars and ensures a continuation of the government spending they've seen in recent years."
David Rothkopf in USA Today: "The 2020 election presents us with an existential choice. If we reelect this wannabe authoritarian, this puppet of foreign autocrats, he and they will be not just validated but empowered. Whatever Trump's motivation, we have seen him remake our judiciary and undermine our system of justice. He has degraded America on the global stage and profoundly weakened us. All that is the price of his betrayals to date. Should he be given four more years to carry them forward, our democracy might never recover. We must see him for the traitor he is and see that because of the high office he held and his complete absence of character or care for the country, he may well be the worst of all those who have betrayed America in the past."
** Mark Stern of Slate: "On Monday night, Justice Brett Kavanaugh released a radical and brazenly partisan opinion that dashed any hopes he, as the Supreme Court's new median justice, might slow-walk the court's impending conservative revolution, while also threatening the integrity of next week's election. In an 18-page lecture, the justice cast doubt on the legitimacy of many mail ballots and endorsed the most sinister component of Bush v. Gore. America's new median justice is not a friend to democracy, and we may pay the price for Barrett's confirmation in just eight days.... Kavanaugh's opinion ... is frankly terrifying.... Kavanaugh ... [argued that] ... 'absentee ballots flow[ing] in after election day [could] potentially flip the results of an election.'... [But] there is no result to 'flip' because there is no result to overturn until all valid ballots are counted." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: See also my comment below regarding the confederate Supremes' "philosophy of jurisprudence" & Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread. Here's the kicker that unites our two comments, via Stern: "George W. Bush's 2000 election legal team -- which included Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts -- argued during that contested election that ballots arriving late and without postmarks, which were thought to benefit Bush, must be counted in Florida."
Judge Laughs Trump, DOJ Out of Court. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department's bid to make the U.S. government the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says President Trump raped her decades ago, paving the way for the case to again proceed. In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that Trump did not qualify as a government 'employee' under federal law, nor was he acting 'within the scope of his employment' when he denied during interviews in 2019 that he had raped journalist E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store during the 1990s.... If the judge had done what the Justice Department asked, government lawyers could then have invoked the notion of 'sovereign immunity' -- which prohibits lawsuits against the government -- to end the case." The New York Times' story is here. A CNN story is here.
David Folkenflik of NPR: "A regulatory 'firewall' intended to protect Voice of America and its affiliated newsrooms from political interference in their journalism was swept aside late Monday night by the chief executive of the federal agency which oversees the government's international broadcasters. Michael Pack, a Trump appointee who assumed leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June..., argued they had interfered with his mandate 'to support the foreign policy of the United States.' The move set off a firestorm. 'I am stunned,' former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett told NPR early Tuesday morning. 'It removes the one thing that makes Voice of America distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes.'" Mrs. McC: Sorry, Amanda, the Trump administration is a "repressive regime." Pack's move is a signal (and not the first he has sent) to make that crystal-clear.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "The United States reported more than 74,300 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, pushing the country's daily average over the past week above 71,000, the most in any seven-day stretch of the pandemic. Across the country, the outlook continues to worsen. More than 20 states are reporting case numbers at or near record levels."
Presidential Race, Etc.
Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "... Donald Trump argued on Monday morning that it ought to be against the law for the news media to cover the pandemic ahead of the elections as the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. surpasses 225,000. 'We have made tremendous progress with the China Virus, but the Fake News refuses to talk about it this close to the Election,' he tweeted. 'COVID, COVID, COVID is being used by them, in total coordination, in order to change our great early election numbers. Should be an election law violation!'... 'All you hear is COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID,' he complained [at a North Carolina rally]. 'That's all they put on, because they want to scare the hell out of everyone.' Meanwhile, the White House has admitted that it's given up on trying to contain the virus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Telling the news media what they can & can't report of course is what dictators do. I'm not sure even some of the world's worst dictators are cracking down on reports of an international pandemic. ~~~
~~~ Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "... the virus is getting worse in states that the president needs the most, at the least opportune time. New infections are raging in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the upper Midwest. In Iowa, polls suggest Trump is in a toss-up race with Biden after carrying the state by 9.4 percentage points four years ago.... As Trump enters a frenzied final week of campaigning, he continues to hold mass rallies that often defy local public health rules." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I think Trump's cruel calculation back in January, February & March was that the virus -- for the most part -- was going to hit only blue, coastal states where he was likely to lose anyway. He did have to pump up the markets with lies, but "his" voters were not going to care too much about the deaths of New Yorkers & Californians. Indeed, even as the virus spread across the country, the hardest-hit communities were people of color: meatpacking plant workers & urban minorities. Even though he's the least racist person in America, he knew "those people" would not likely vote for him.
So-White Jared Explains Black People to White Foxbots. ... one thing we've seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about. But he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful. -- Jared Kushner, on Fox "News" Monday morning
... Black Americans are lazy, complacent and content with mediocrity. -- Translation, by Eugene Scott of the Washington Post
Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Prior to becoming a prominent backer of Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany praised then-Vice President Joe Biden as 'funny and likable' and a 'man of the people' who resonates with 'middle class voters.'... In August 2015 interviews reviewed by CNN's KFile, McEnany said Republicans would run into a problem in a potential race between Donald Trump and Biden. 'I think the Republicans run into a problem if it is Joe Biden and if it is maybe a Trump on the other side,' McEnany said on local New York's AM970.... '... if Trump is against Joe, I think the juxtaposition of kind of the man of the people and kind of this tycoon, is a problem,' she said."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "... on Monday morning, NBC News' Today show irresponsibly aired a deceptively edited clip of Joe Biden, which appears to have originated with the Trump campaign, and purports to show the former vice president mixing up ... Donald Trump and George W. Bush.... The provenance of the clip appears to be the 'Trump War Room' Twitter account, which on Sunday night posted the exact same 12 seconds that NBC later aired." There's more.
One way to pass the time while waiting in line to vote:
Maryland. Brian Witte of the AP: "Maryland voters lined up on Monday for a busy, record-breaking first day of in-person early voting in the state.... More than 125,000 people had voted at the state's 81 early voting centers by 5 p.m., officials said. The previous high was 123,623 in 2016. Maryland has had early voting since 2010.... More than 1 million Maryland residents have voted so far, when Monday's voting is added to more than 947,000 absentee ballots returned so far." ~~~
~~~ Ovetta Wiggins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Across Maryland..., lines snaked out of community centers and schools and massive venues that had never hosted elections before.... Many voters treated casting a ballot like a personal triumph, with couples high-fiving and sons and daughters Facetiming their parents to brandish 'I voted' stickers, which election judges sometimes distributed alongside tiny bottles of hand sanitizer. In a year where concerns about covid-19 prompted a nearly half of Maryland voters -- 1.7 million -- to request ballots by mail, throngs also turned out for the first day of in-person early voting...."
** Wisconsin. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court refused on Monday to revive a trial court ruling that would have extended Wisconsin's deadline for receiving absentee ballots to six days after the election. The vote was 5 to 3, with the court's more conservative justices in the majority. As is typical, the court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons. But several justices filed concurring and dissenting opinions that spanned 35 pages and revealed a stark divide in their understanding of the role of the courts in protecting the right to vote during a pandemic.... The Democratic Party of Wisconsin immediately announced a voter education project to alert voters that absentee ballots have to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.... The ruling came as President Trump continued to attack mail-in voting, which Democrats are using far more heavily this year. In a tweet late Monday, Mr. Trump falsely declared that there were 'Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.' (Twitter quickly put a warning label on the tweet.) The ruling was also the latest in a flurry of election-year decisions by the court that have mostly upheld voting restrictions, and the Trump campaign and its Republican allies are seeking similar restrictions on ballot deadlines in other states.... In his concurrence on Monday, Justice Kavanaugh criticized what he called Justice Kagan's 'rhetoric of "disenfranchisement."' She responded that she had meant the word literally, not rhetorically." See also Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread on the exchange between Kavanaugh & Kagan. ~~~
~~~ Robert Barnes writes the Washington Post's report. Justice Elena "Kagan, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, said it was unreasonable for the court not to approve the same extension it granted during Wisconsin's April primary. 'Because of the court's ruling, state officials counted 80,000 ballots -- about five percent of the total cast -- that were postmarked by Election Day but would have been discarded for arriving a few days later,' she wrote. 'Today, millions of Wisconsin citizens are preparing to vote in the November election. But COVID is not over. In Wisconsin, the pandemic is much worse -- more than 20 times worse, by one measure -- than it was in the spring.'" ~~~
~~~ You can read the order, and the justices' opinions on it, here, via the Supreme Court. ~~~
~~~ Mark Stern of Slate: "Although George W. Bush prevailed in the Bush v. Gore decision..., the Supreme Court declined to affirm his chief legal argument.... Because the standards used to recount ballots varied between counties, the court concluded, the process violated the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.... This claim was so radical, so contrary to basic principles of democracy and federalism, that two conservative justices stepped back from the brink. Instead, the majority fabricated a novel theory to hand Bush the election -- then instructed lower courts never to rely on it again. But the court has changed. Republican lawmakers revived the original Bush v. Gore argument in fraught election cases this year, and, following Amy Coney Barrett's nomination, four sitting justices appeared to endorse it. Barrett's confirmation on Monday will almost certainly tip the balance to make that argument the law of the land on the eve of an election. The result would be an immediate invalidation of thousands of disproportionately Democratic ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina -- two swing states that could decide the outcome of the election. Put simply, Barrett's first actions on the court could hand Donald Trump an unearned second term, and dramatically curtail states' ability to protect the right to vote."
~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "What is surprising ... is two concurring opinions by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, each of which takes aim at one of the most foundational principles of American constitutional law: the rule that the Supreme Court of the United States has the final word on questions of federal law but the highest court in each state has the final word on questions of state law.... Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lash out at this very basic rule.... [They] believe the Supreme Court of the United States may overrule a state supreme court, at least when the federal justices disagree with the state supreme court's approach to election law.... They also sent a loud signal, just eight days before a presidential election, that long-settled rules governing elections may now be unsettled." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If these legal arguments confuse you, let me put it more simply: the law is whatever the confederate judges say it is at a discrete moment in time. Nothing requires them to rule consistently; therefore, they will rule in favor of whatever maintains right-wing hegemony. It's as if Mitch McConnell has infected them.
Reminder: How to Rig an Election. Victoria Collier of Harper's Magazine (2012): "From the earliest days of the republic, American politicians (and much of a cynical populace) saw vote rigging as a necessary evil.... By the beginning of the last century, however, sentiment had begun to shift. In 1915, the Supreme Court ruled that vote suppression could be federally prosecuted.... With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many Americans began to believe that the bad old days of stolen elections might soon be behind us. But as the twentieth century came to a close, a brave new world of election rigging emerged.... This privatization of our elections has occurred without public knowledge or consent, leading to one of the most dangerous and least understood crises in the history of American democracy. We have actually lost the ability to verify election results.... This privatization of our elections has occurred without public knowledge or consent, leading to one of the most dangerous and least understood crises in the history of American democracy. We have actually lost the ability to verify election results." --s
Ohio State Supreme Court Race. Jim Provance of The Blade: "Conservative national political strategist Karl Rove has gotten involved in the fight for control of the Ohio Supreme Court, and he makes it clear he's driven by one issue: redistricting. In a fund-raising plea distributed by Republican Justice Judith French's campaign, Mr. Rove argues that her Democratic opponent, 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Jennifer Brunner, has the backing of a national redistricting effort headed by former Obama era Attorney General Eric Holder. Justice French, seeking a second six-year term, faces a tough battle with Judge Brunner, a former Ohio secretary of state, in one of two high court seats on the Nov. 3 ballot. The court currently has a 5-2 Republican majority. Should Democrats upset both incumbents, it would create a 4-3 Democratic majority not seen in more than three decades. Judicial candidates do not appear on general election ballots with partisan labels. The high court will decide any challenge to new congressional and state legislative maps drawn next year under new voter-approved rules following the latest U.S. Census. Those districts have played a role in what is now a Republican-controlled 12-4 congressional delegation, 24-9 state Senate, and 61-38 state House of Representatives." [Firewalled] --s
Roger Sollenberger of Salon: "The Trump Organization reregistered the domain name TrumpTowerMoscow.com this June, internet records show, suggesting that contrary to President Trump's claims, the company has not necessarily abandoned its pursuit of the lucrative real estate deal that figured prominently in multiple investigations into his connections with Russia.... The TrumpOrganization has re-upped the domain every year of his presidency.... The domain was first registered in 2008, according to internet 'whois' lookups, but the Trump Organization was not the first buyer. Longtime Trump associate Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman whose efforts to build the Moscow tower date back to the early 2000s, told Salon that he turned ownership of the domain over to the Trump Organization in 2015, when Trump signed a letter of intent to develop the project." --s
Eric Yoder of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration-appointed head of a key advisory council on th civil service has resigned over an executive order to strip away protections against political interference in hiring and firing for a large portion of the career federal workforce. The order, which could affect tens of thousands or more career positions involved in making or carrying out policy, 'is nothing more than a smoke screen for what is clearly an attempt to require the political loyalty of those who advise the President, or failing that, to enable their removal with little if any due process,' Ronald Sanders wrote in his letter of resignation Sunday from the Federal Salary Council.... '... Career Federal employees are legally and duty-bound to be nonpartisan; they take an oath to preserve and protect our Constitution and the rule of law ... not to be loyal to a particular President or Administration....' Sanders has served in federal personnel positions across four decades...."
~~~ Thanks to NJC for the link. ~~~
~~~ AP: “Comedian John Oliver made a secret trip to Connecticut last week to help cut the ribbon on a sign naming a sewage treatment plant in his honor. Danbury's City Council voted earlier this month to rename the sewage plant 'The John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,' following a tongue-in-cheek battle that began with an expletive-filled rant against the city on HBO's 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' in August. Mayor Mark Boughton responded to the attack by posting a video of himself at the sewage plant saying the city was going to name it after Oliver 'because it's full of crap just like you, John.'"
Rebecca Traister of New York: "Four years later, any notion of salvation feels pulled from a fairy tale. The Obamas would not save anyone; Robert Mueller did not save anyone; Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis are dead, and when they were alive, they weren't capable of saving anyone either. There were no noble Republicans and too few ferocious Democrats. The fantasy that there are bulwarks in place -- individuals or institutions -- has been correctly obliterated, leaving little barrier between America's people and an awareness of their vulnerability to a plunderous ruling class. This has been the terrible gift of these years.... Those who had been privileged enough to snuggle warm and dumb beneath the blankets of an imagined postfeminist, post-civil-rights, post-Obergefell, post-Obama Camelot found themselves suddenly exposed: cold, shivering, and wide-eyed with fear and realization that the system they'd been taught responds to the will of the people was in fact designed to be able to suppress it." --s Firewalled.
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "With the coronavirus spreading out of control in many parts of the United States and daily case counts setting records, health experts say it is only a matter of time before hospitals start to reach the breaking point. In some places, it is already happening. There are more than 41,000 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the United States, a 40 percent rise in the past month. And unlike during the earlier months of the pandemic, more of those patients are being cared for not in metropolitan regions but in more sparsely populated parts of the country, where the medical infrastructure is less robust." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The president of Fox News and several of the network's top anchors have been advised to quarantine after being exposed to someone on a private flight who later tested positive for the coronavirus, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Sunday. The infected person was on a charter flight to New York from Nashville with a group of network executives, personalities and other staff members who attended the presidential debate on Thursday, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal network matters.... Those who were exposed include Jay Wallace, the president of Fox News Media; Bret Baier, the chief political anchor; Martha MacCallum, the anchor of Fox's 7 p.m. show, 'The Story'; and Dana Perino and Juan Williams, two hosts of 'The Five.'" This report is an item in Sunday's NYT Covid-19 updates. (Also linked yesterday.)
Seung Min-Kim of the Washington Post: "A bitterly divided Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th justice to the Supreme Court on Monday, elevating just the fifth woman to the court in its 231-year history and one who further cements its conservative shift -- a legacy that will last even if Republicans lose power in next week's elections. The vote was 52 to 48 for Barrett.... 'The American people will never forget this blatant act of bad faith. They will never forget your complete disregard for their voices, for the people standing in line right now voting their choice, not your choice,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said shortly before the vote. But Republicans asserted their raw power, muscling Barrett's nomination through in just over four weeks and with no bipartisan support -- the first time that has occurred for a Supreme Court nominee in generations and a reflection of the politicized atmosphere around judicial fights.... Vice President Pence, who said on Saturday that he wouldn't miss Barrett's confirmation vote 'for the world,' instead stayed away from his initial plans to preside over the Senate on Monday evening amid a fresh outbreak of covid-19 among his staff, including some of his closest aides.... In an outdoor ceremony at the White House an hour later, Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Barrett, with Trump and several Republican senators looking on." The AP's story is here. The New York Times' story is here. ~~~
~~~ Aamer Madhani & Mary Jalonick of the AP: "It's been only a month since ... Donald Trump's Rose Garden event to announce he was nominating Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the Supreme Court. That packed celebration for friends and allies of the president and his high court nominee turned into a coronavirus superspreader event. When the just-confirmed Barrett returned to the White House on Monday to take her constitutional oath, the celebration was moved to the broader South Lawn, chairs for more than 200 guests were spread about 6 feet apart, and the mask-wearers greatly outnumbered those who declined to cover their faces. Some participants -- including Trump and Barrett -- were unmasked." Mrs. McC: Also, Monday's swearing-in took place in the dead of night, which is the appropriate time-of-day to steal a Supreme Court seat. ~~~
~~~ Democrats Ask Pence to Show a Little Common Decency. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Top Senate Democrats are urging Vice President Mike Pence to abandon plans to preside over Monday's vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after several of his aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and members of his leadership team sent a letter to Pence saying that in the wake of the recent coronavirus cases, presiding over the vote 'is not a risk worth taking.' 'Not only would your presence in the Senate Chamber tomorrow be a clear violation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, it would also be a violation of common decency and courtesy. Your presence alone could be very dangerous to many people ... who must be physically present inside the U.S. Capitol for it to function,' the senators wrote to Pence.... Pence won't be needed to break a tie during the vote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence is not expected to preside over the Senate's confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett Monday night unless his vote is somehow necessary to approve her. Unless multiple Republican senators are absent, a highly unlikely scenario, Barrett has the votes to be confirmed without Pence breaking a tie. Fifty-two GOP senators are expected to support Barrett's final confirmation." Mrs. McC: mike is spending Monday afternoon doing the essential work of spreading Covid-19 in Minnesota.
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The White House plans to host a swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Monday night following her expected confirmation, despite concerns that a gathering for her nomination in September was a super-spreader event for the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday.)
Julian Borger of the Guardian (Oct. 22): "The US has today signed an anti-abortion declaration with a group of about 30 largely illiberal or authoritarian governments, after the failure of an effort to expand the conservative coalition. The [move] is ... led by secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to reorient US foreign policy in a more socially conservative direction, even at the expense of alienating traditional western allies. The 'core supporters' of the declaration are Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda, and the 27 other signatories include Belarus (where security forces are currently trying to suppress a women-led protest movement), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sure shows you the company we keep.
The New Yorker publishes an excerpt of President Barack Obama's memoir, this on the fight to pass an affordable healthcare bill into law. Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tom McCarthy of the Guardian describes the excerpt: "The former president also speaks to the political divides that spawned Donald Trump and to the stakes of the election next week in which Obama's vice-president, Joe Biden, hopes to eject Trump from the White House." (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Virginia. Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute resigned Monday morning, after Black cadets described relentless racism at the nation's oldest state-supported military college and Gov. Ralph Northam ordered an independent probe of the school's culture. Retired Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, 80, had been superintendent of the 181-year-old school since 2003. In his resignation letter to John Boland, president of VMI's Board of Visitors, Peay said that he'd been told by the governor's chief of staff that Northam (D) and other state legislators had 'lost confidence in my leadership' and 'desired my resignation.'" Mrs. McC: Both Peay & Boland are Confederate throwbacks; Boland should go, too.
News Ledes
AP: "California prepared for another round of dangerous fire weather Tuesday even as crews fought a pair of fast-moving blazes in the south that critically injured two firefighters and left more than 100,000 under evacuation orders. Some of the fiercest winds of the fire season drove fires up and down the state Sunday night and Monday before easing but they were expected to resume overnight and continue into Tuesday morning, although not to the earlier extremes, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasts called for Santa Ana winds up to 50 to 80 mph (80.4 to 128.7 kph) at times over much of Southern California, with some of the strongest gusts howling through Orange County, where two blazes sped through brushy hills near major urban centers."
NPR: "Weekend snowfall granted a reprieve against the two largest wildfires in Colorado history, which together have spread over more than 400,000 acres. But the fires continue to burn. The East Troublesome Fire spread 192,560 acres and jumped the Continental Divide. It is 15% contained. The nearby Cameron Peak Fire, the largest blaze in state history, is now 64% contained. It has already burned over 208,600 acres. Both fires have moved into Rocky Mountain National Park. The park itself has suffered minimal damage, although it hasn't been fully assessed, according to an incident update."
Weather Channel: "Hurricane Zeta is moving across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and then will head toward the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, where it's likely to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge. Hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted for the northern Gulf Coast ahead of Zeta. A hurricane watch extends Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi/Alabama border, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans. This means hurricane conditions could occur somewhere within the watch area."
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Reader Comments (25)
Translation of Kushner's bootstrap philosophy::
"The Pretender can't want them (blacks) to be successful more than they want to be born to very wealthy (white) parents."
Corollary to Jared's statement: "Black people have all the same opportunities that white people have. Pay no attention to all of the roadblocks we keep putting in their way."
"Lazy, complacent, and content with mediocrity"?
Does that describe Kushner or Princess Ivanka?
Both?
If only those lazy blahs could get someone to buy their way into Harvard and hand them millions to squander on stoopid, bullshit deals from which they could be saved by tens of millions of dollars from foreign investors looking to curry favor with their father-in-law who was also saved from stoopid bullshit deals by the millions handed him by his daddy.
The legacy of mediocrity.
Is this life in the bubble or just garden variety ignorant racist assholism?
Discuss.
Oh boy, here it comes..
Totalitarianism. Brought to you by the Trump Supreme Court.
The Court, on Monday night, slammed the door on allowing Wisconsin to count a single absentee ballot received after Nov. 3, just as Trump has demanded. The rationale, as you might expect is pure casuistry. Rape Boy, Bart O’Kavanaugh, sniffs that he is not going to allow questionable late arriving ballots to “overturn the result”. In other words, if those ballots contribute to the Dear Leader’s demise, they’re right out.
As usual, Kavanaugh’s logic is nonsensical. One of the real justices schooled Rape Boy in what does and does not constitute a legal argument. Kagan pointed out that unless and until all ballots are counted, there IS NO RESULT to overturn.
Just wait until Barrett gets there. This is going to be a kangaroo court like no one has ever even heard of. They’re all ready to hand the election to Trump, regardless of the outcome.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/10/26/in-wisconsin-ruling-supreme-court-foreshadows-election-night-cliffhanger-432725
For anyone who has already voted and done all they can, and now must patiently wait to see what the gods have in store for the nation, this additional annoyance:
I notice this coming weekend the cruel fates (and Bush II) will add an hour to that overlong wait, as we leave DST behind and enter the Great Dark on November 1st.
Let there be unseasonal Light.
Regarding the cruel calculation, I remember news reports that said that Jared was preparing a nationwide testing plan with his shadow taskforce, but the plan was ditched when they realized that the virus was attacking blue states and dark people. They are awful people.
Know I've linked it before, but checking it daily has replaced my former obsession over Rt rates, this morning something to do before my eye appointment, after which I won't be able to see much of anything for a while and will have to obsess without visual aid.
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
As of this AM, sixty five million have already voted, nearly 47 % of 2916 national totals.
Kinda changes the meaning of "end game," I'd think.
And on this site, the weekly breakdowns offered are also interesting.
Ironic that Thomas swore in Barrett whose confirmation vote was 52-48–-the same as Thomas' and at the time the lowest in history.
Our only recourse is to add 2 (some say four) more justices to the court given a Biden win. We can "pack" as Fatty and his "we can do anything we please people" pack their bags and drag their sorry asses out of the White House.
Despite Bea's plea to drop everything and vote today, some of us can't. CT does not have early voting so we have to wait until the 3rd. One benefit of small town living is that there aren't that many people to stand in a line that wraps around the block. The last time we voted it took a total of 10 minutes, including the time to drive to Town Hall and back. Even if it takes 20 or 30 minutes this year, it'll still be better than many other places. I'll follow up with an actual time next week.
So, in WI, your mail ballot is zeroed if received after 8 PM Tue; but if you vote in person you can be in line at 8, vote at 10, and OK. Capricious, yes?
In "The Way We Were" Katie tells Hubble that his book is "gorgeous--absolutely gorgeous"; if I could I'd tell Obama his writing is the same. What a pleasure to wrap yourself in his world, the joys, and sorrows he experienced while president and the determination to finally get a better health care system for this country. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/02/barack-obama-new-book-excerpt-promised-land-obamacare
PD,
Many thanks for the link and a few extra thanks to the last real president for his elegant and wonderfully readable prose. The pleasure of reading good writing, concocted by an author with a flair for truth and style cannot be overstated.
Marie's banner at the top of the RC page often features a quote from the journalist A.J. Liebling. Recently, I came across an excerpt of one of his books in an anthology on literary journalism. In 1959, Liebling traveled to Louisiana to cover the reelection campaign of Earl Long (Uncle Earl), brother of Huey Long. A noted eccentric, as well as a famous raconteur, Long provided Liebling with a cornucopia of political cooking, bayou style.
Sitting in the governor's mansion with a raft of other reporters, Liebling attempted to transcribe some of Long's more colorful anecdotes and expressions, but the governor's astonishing prolixity dumbfounded even the veteran reporter's abilities.
"There was a good deal of the discourse that I have not recorded. Carried away by the stream of idiom like a drunk on a subway train, I missed a lot of stations."
Attempting to pull Long into his reporter's magnetic field, Liebling describes his technical prowess, a mixture of humor and an acomplished writer's implicit understanding of human nature:
"I put all my admiration in my glance and edged my chair up to the end of the Governor's sofa. When I try, I can exude sincerity as far as a llama can spit, and the Governor's gaze, swinging about the room, stopped when it lit on me. My eyes clamped it in an iron grip of approval."
Now that's good writing. Direct, but nicely phrased with just enough style and humor to make a simple action between two people memorable.
Which brings me back, as happens with a frequency that plays a Paganini knucklebuster on my last nerve, to the style-free, content-free, humanity and humor free ignoramus currently installed in the White House.
There really is no point in comparing Trump with Obama, or really, with any sentient, decent human being. It's not apples and oranges (although I thought about doing something with that...), it's big bowl of incomparable homemade chicken noodle soup and a dog turd left baking in the sun.
Anyway, thinking, malignantly, of Trump, one anecdote Liebling recounts has stayed with me. During dinner as the Governor held court, he was asked about the goings on up in Arkansas, where federal officers had to escort young black kids to school past screaming racists. Long opined that Governor Faubus, who was making hay with those racists, must not have heard that the Civil War was over. He proclaimed, to make the point even more pronounced, that "Lincoln was right." But then remembering he was a Lousiana politician in 1959, he quickly followed with "But don't quote me!"
Hahaha. Unfortunately, Fatty is still shoving the Civil War down our throats.
Thankfully, we have good friends, good writing, and good sense, to see us through. At least I hope so.
One more thing to pass the time before the eye appointment.
Since we know, despite all the standard protestations and denials, that SCOTUS appointments are fundamentally political in nature and intent, and that Roberts' famous "balls and strikes" pretension to neutrality references a standard that has itself changed significantly over the years, thought it might be appropriate to dive into the history of that "the law is an ass" thing I first encountered in "Oliver Twist."
And because the likes of Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito and ??? will likely have us thinking just that in the months ahead.
It seems the phrase has been around much longer than I thought.
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-law-is-an-ass.html
The law has been an occasional ass for a long time.
I don't think we have any idea of what awaits us with this confederate Supreme Court. As Marie points out, the order of the day for this bunch will be "What's in it for us?", which makes Johnny Roberts' claim that he will simply be an umpire the lie of the century. Yes, they may very well be umpires, but umpires who change the rules as they go along to favor one team over everyone else.
This is going to be seriously bad. Joe Biden may win the White House, Democrats may improve their control in the House and take back the Senate, but at every turn, Barrett, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Rape Boy, and Roberts will say "No you don't!" to pretty much everything he wants to do. This will make McConnell's unconstitutionality in the Merrick Garland case look like a minor disagreement.
Think of it. Every Biden policy move will be challenged by some jamoke who demands the confederate Court hear his plea. They do, then they find some way to cut Biden off at the knees. That will happen again, and again, and again. Say goodbye to Roe, to the ACA, perhaps even voting rights. Remember that Kavanaugh promised revenge for people outing his past as a sexual attacker. He is a vengeful creep. But it's Barrett who really scares me. She has the look of a cool, composed killer. Gorsuch isn't far behind. And, of course, Alito and Thomas....well, what can you say?
This isn't the Roberts Court anymore. This is the Far-Right Revenge Court, and all that the horrible things that implies.
Akhilleus,
You could be right. The SCOTUS as newly-constituted may indeed rule as horribly as you predict.
My caveat: As I said, the SCOTUS is a political animal, a step or so removed from the will of the people, but still indirectly beholden to it.
Currently, thanks to radical Republicans and a complicit POTUS who satisfies his base in going along with their cramped vision for America, that step is a big one and getting bigger.
But as many have pointed out as the Barrett confirmation became certain (here's one: https://verdict.justia.com/2020/09/29/the-construction-of-a-supreme-court-to-thwart-a-majority-of-americans), the Court only pretends to function in splendid isolation. Politics will intrude (politics, after all, is how they got there)., one way or another.
Internally, maybe, with easy to swallow, narrow decisions that hew as closely as possible to carefully chosen precedent, or externally with clear progressive legislation and/or court expansion.
If Democrats do take the presidency and the Senate and hold the House, I'd start with H.B. 1 from the 2018 Congress.
Hard to judge what our foreign enemies think about the American public's response to our pandemic mass death shrug. I can't decide if we are just incredibly resilient people and about 40% of us still blindly follow our leaders even when their policies actively lead to the direct death of our family and friends, or if we're so brainwashed with our "individualism" that half of us no longer care about the mass death of their fellow citizens.
Either we have amazing resiliency and can cope with mass tragedies easily, or we are wholly divided and just can't be bothered to care about our fellow man.
@AK: so enjoyed your Liebling and Long tale–-such fun! Thanks.
As to Obama's literary skills––after dealing with a man who can't even speak in clear, concise sentences–- this is actually thrilling. Notice in the beginning he uses "sure enough" ––haven't heard that much–-it's a midwestern phrase that is heard often in them thar parts–-"Sure enough, if that thar whipper snapper didn't beat me good and proper."
As to your fear of Johnny and his four draconian dwarfs now including Snow White whose "praise be" songs will add to this off key choir, hold fast to that "packing" that needs to be done and by george, can be done––none of this pussy footing around; we need to put the gloves on and sure nuff, whip their buttocks, on court and off.
A writer in USA Today (story linked above) suggests that Trump “...may well be the worst of all those who have betrayed America in the past."
May be? You got someone worse? Because if so, I must have been out sick the day we learned about that guy in American History. The Orange Menace loves to talk about himself in sterling superlatives: best this, greatest that, like nothing we’ve ever seen, best in the history of the world. 99.9% of those risible claims are 100% false. But he is greatest in history at something: treason. No American in history can compare to the breadth and depth of Donald Trump’s treason, his greed, his mendacity, his sheer capacity for hatred and self pity.
You da biggest asshole evah, Donald.
Congratulations. Now get your fat ass the hell out of here. And take those weasely brats with you. They can see you on visiting days, if they’re not in adjoining cells.
Chris Hayes pointed out last night "The first thing Justice Barrett did was to participate in a campaign event at the White House for the president, eight days before an election that he has explicitly said he expects will turn on her vote."
Steve Marmel compares Amy to Cruella
The coordination of the Supreme Court with the ongoing sabotage of the Post Office by Louis Dejoy and GOP to shred thousands of voters' ballots is truly frightening for our future prospects.
Amerika! Greatest democracy that money ever bought.
This by people I don't know and didn't see identified, along with some of the comments, is interesting.
Hadn't thought of this approach.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/26/supreme-court-conservative-barrett-progressive-poison-pill/?
NPR just did a piece that had me considering throwing my new omelette pan through the glass doors onto the back deck.
The sniffing was audible. EVERYONE needs to calm down. People on BOTH SIDES(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) have a blind spot.
Really???? Democrats have a blind spot when it comes to Trump????? Where? They don't appreciate his choice of GODDAM &@%## ties!???!!!
They had audio bites of Trumpbots ripping their leftist friends who don't agree with their love of Trump.
This is the fetid essence of bothsiderism. On one side, there is an authoritarian, treasonous, lying murderer. On the other, people who want to save the planet and have an interest in voting rights, economic inequality, and democracy. But both sides are wrong in equal measure because Democrats are not being nice to Trump and his bots.
This is like saying that the head of a mafia crime family and his foot soldiers who have no problem with him killing their enemies, is exactly the same as a grade school teacher who wants to teach his kids about the history of democracy in the world and apprising them of those who prefer totalitarianism.
Same, right?
Yesterday I heard, on a local radio station, a winger screaming that Democrats are evil because they have no respect for those with differing opinions, and that the world would be a better place if they just listened to Donald Trump and did what he says, because he is god's choice.
No respect for differing opinions?????
W.T.F.
If Biden can beat the Trump election stealers, my vote is to fuck these people all to hell. Fuck 'em. Hard. They've been doing that to us for decades. But now....Ohhhhh, time for civility. How dare Democrats not treat us with the respect we deserve.
Know what, asshole? You lost that respect, not when you originally voted for this Satan spawn, but when you continued to support him, even after you saw what he's like, AND when you decided to rip anyone who called you on it.
FUCK. YOU. ALL.
@ AK - from your lips to god’s ears. Fuk’em. Reconciliation my ass.
Rockygirl,
You got it, baby. I can’t wait for all the Very Serious People, who tut-tutted about Hillary’s emails, and, in the process, gave us the worst president in American history, to whine about treating this Fat Fuck with the respect he deserves. He deserves shit. Literally. Shit on a shingle. So do his supporters, sycophants, and shithead voters.
But if and when Biden is able to overcome the Russians, the Chinese, the R vote stealers, and the Treason Court, we will be inundated with demands to treat the poor Republicans fairly and to let bygones be bygones and not go after Fatty for his crimes against humanity.
To hell with that. We did that bygones be bygones crap before and were practically never heard from again.
Fuck these people where they breathe.
What he said, in spades.
I just get angrier and angrier, to the point that I couldn't even finish my wine tonight. Now THAT has to change... But seriously, I don't know what to do with more rage than ever, more rage than last week, more rage than election night 2016. I know I am not alone, but having heard one guy on NPR (click went the NPR app--)talk about how he could be mean to Democrats becuz they kill babies, but he isn't...sheesh. Two letters in the paper tonight blather about how the Dems are hypocrites, rotten and corrupt (exact words--)and a vote for Dems will destroy America, bankrupt our country, ration care for Medicare seniors, allow unlimited illegal immigration, and give them free care, tax everything we own to pay for spending sprees, slash military budgets, abandon Israel and "explode the national debt by trillions..." Oh and also get rid of the second amendment...and free college--all part of our "socialist agenda." I marvel, really, since everything this moron espouses would be done by the Rs, not the Ds, or it's ridiculous fantasy. Except I agree: raze the Second Amendment to the ground since no one seems to know what it means...