The Ledes

Friday, October 11, 2024

Washington Post: “Floridians began returning to damaged and waterlogged homes on Thursday after Hurricane Milton carved a path of destruction and grief across the state, the second massive storm to strike Florida in as many weeks. At least 14 storm-related deaths were attributed to the hurricane, which made landfall south of Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Six of them were killed when two tornadoes touched down ahead of the storm in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. The deadly tornadoes, rising waters, torrential rain and punishing winds battered the state from coast to coast as Milton churned eastward before heading out to sea early Thursday.”

Washington Post: “Twelve people were rescued from an inactive Colorado gold mine after they were trapped 1,000 feet underground for about six hours following an elevator malfunction. One person was killed in the accident, which happened about 500 feet underground at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colo., Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at a Thursday news conference. The site is a tourist attraction. Eleven other people aboard the elevator at the time, including two children, were rescued shortly after the mechanical malfunction, which Mikesell said 'created a severe danger for the participants.' He said four suffered minor injuries.... Twelve others in a separate group remained trapped in a mine shaft 1,000 feet underground for several hours after the incident, before they were rescued Thursday evening, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Monday
Oct052020

The Commentariat -- October 5, 2020

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Reality Chex is still bobbing up & down, but the "down" doesn't last long. However, be sure to save your comments because this also happens when you're trying to post them.

Afternoon Update:

From Monday's Washington Post live elections updates: "Trump was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center early Monday evening and arrived back at the White House after being diagnosed last week with covid-19, experiencing a fever and being given supplemental oxygen treatments. As he left Walter Reed, Trump gave a thumbs up to reporters and ignored questions about how many White House staffers are sick and whether he is a 'superspreader.' 'Thank you very much, everybody,' Trump said, giving a slight wave before heading into his motorcade and taking off for the White House in Marine One. After arriving back at the White House, Trump stood on the Truman Balcony, the second-floor balcony facing the South Lawn, took off his face mask, gave a double thumbs-up and saluted the soldiers down below. He then stood at the balcony for a few minutes before entering the White House." Mrs. McC: Sadly, no Bible to hold aloft or protesters to tear-gas.

From Monday's New York Times live updates of Covid-19 developments: "President strong> Trump's physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, said on Monday that the president would return to the White House after having spent three nights at the Walter Reed medical center, although he was not 'out of the woods yet' in his fight against Covid-19. 'Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve,' Dr. Conley said. 'He's met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria.' The president's doctors evaded some key questions about the president's condition, including his lung function and the date of his last negative coronavirus test."

I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don't let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago! -- Most Irresponsible Person in the U.S., in a tweet Monday afternoon

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "About two-thirds of U.S. states reported an increase in new coronavirus cases in the past week, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, indicating that colder temperatures in much of the country may be driving people indoors and helping to spread the virus. Several states in the once hard-hit Northeast were among those posting their largest new-case counts in months. But many of the sharpest increases per capita came in the Midwest and Mountain West, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Utah and the Dakotas."

News from the White House Hot Zone. Brett Samuels & Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tested positive for COVID-19, she said Monday, making her the latest person in President Trump's orbit to contract the virus. 'After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms. No reporters, producers or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit,' she said in a statement." Mrs. McC: According to CNN, two people on McEnany's staff also tested positive. ~~~

     ~~~ From the Washington Post's live election updates: "Less than a day before she tested positive for the coronavirus, McEnany declined to wear a mask while talking with reporters outside the White House."= ~~~

~~~ "En route to campaign stops in South Florida, [Joe] Biden said he would listen to experts to gauge whether it would be safe for him and Trump to participate in the second presidential debate next week. Trump was hospitalized Friday night after testing positive for the coronavirus. Biden so far has tested negative but shared the stage with Trump for a prolonged period during the first presidential debate last Tuesday, when the president may have already been infected.'I'll do whatever the experts say,' Biden said before boarding his campaign plane Monday morning in Delaware. 'I think we should be very cautious.'"

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Trump campaign aide Erin Perrine on Monday suggested that ... Donald Trump is a better leader than Democratic candidate Joe Biden because he has the 'firsthand experience' of being infected with COVID-19." Mrs. McC: Perrine did not address the fact that Biden has firsthand experience being a human being while Trump does not. Anyway, this is the dumbest candidate's argument I've heard in a while.

Dan Diamond of Politico: "In early September, as many school districts were still deciding whether to hold in-person classes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered the title of a scientific report on the coronavirus and removed words like 'pediatric' from its text, days after a Trump administration appointee requested similar changes, according to emails obtained by Politico. That request -- issued by then-public affairs official Paul Alexander -- came amid ... Donald Trump's broader push to reopen schools, with the president issuing demands on Twitter the prior day that 'Democrats, OPEN THE SCHOOLS ( SAFELY),' and holding a press conference that touted data on the relatively low risk of Covid-19 for children."

Buh-bye to a Bigot. Pete Williams of NBC News: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who gained national attention five years ago when she cited her religious beliefs in refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Although the court was apparently unanimous in refusing to hear her appeal, two of the conservative justices said the 2015 ruling making same-sex marriage the law of the land amounted to a 'cavalier treatment of religion.' Davis 'may have been one of the first victims' of the decision, 'but she will not be the last,' wrote Clarence Thomas for himself and Samuel Alito."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "... the number of new cases reported each day across the United States has been slowly rising. The country is at a key moment in the pandemic, and spread of the virus could worsen significantly through the autumn, experts fear, as colder weather forces people indoors. Every day, some 43,000 new cases are being reported -- far fewer than during the surge in the summer, but still an uncomfortably large number. Some of the country's least populous states are now seeing their highest infection rates." ~~~

~~~ Natasha Korecki & David Lim of Politico: Joe Biden "is facing the prospect that the president of the United States himself might have posed the biggest Covid-19 risk to his health since the pandemic began. It could be days before the 77-year-old Biden will be in the clear, despite recent negative tests. The virus can incubate for up to 14 days. Donald Trump was quite likely infectious at the Tuesday debate, medical professionals say, considering the severity of the symptoms on Friday, in which he necessitated oxygen before being transported to Walter Reed Military Medical Center. 'A person is at their peak infectiousness in the 48-hour period before they start showing symptoms,' said Leana Wen, a former health commissioner for Baltimore and ER physician. 'If that timeline is correct, then [Trump] would actually be at the peak of contagion on Tuesday night.'... Among those inside the debate hall or who traveled with Trump that night who announced positive tests later in the week: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had helped Trump with debate prep, First Lady Melania Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien." They did not wear masks.

Thomas Kaplan, et al., of the New York Times: "For months, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has gone to great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era.... These actions have so far helped keep Mr. Biden healthy and able to continue campaigning while President Trump, who mocked masks and held large events, is now hospitalized with Covid-19. But beyond the public examples of safety precautions, Mr. Biden's health protocols have remained largely under wraps, with his campaign saying little about what steps it is taking to protect the 77-year-old Democratic nominee. His aides will not answer questions about whether Mr. Biden is tested daily; they say simply that he is tested 'regularly.' Until this weekend, they had promised to inform the public only if he had a confirmed positive case. Then, on Saturday night..., the campaign committed to releasing the results of all of his tests. He tested negative on Sunday, the campaign said. Transparency has taken on new significance in the presidential race given the conflicting information about Mr. Trump's health and the fact that his Democratic rival, who is also in an age group that is particularly susceptible to Covid-19, was exposed to the president during their 90-minute debate on Tuesday. Mr. Biden, who is ahead in national polls and many battleground state surveys, still faces the possibility of a positive test...."

The New York Times' main article on Donald Trump's condition, by Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman, is here.

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Sunday greeted supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center from his motorcade, leaving his hospital suite for a 'surprise' visit as he undergoes treatment for COVID-19. The president tweeted a video in which he said he planned to go say hello to the dozens of supporters who had gathered across the street, waving Trump flags as the president was hospitalized. Moments later, video emerged of the president's motorcade passing by, with a masked Trump visible waving in the backseat. The decision raised immediate safety concerns, as the president is infected with a highly contagious virus...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course Trump got up out of his sickbed, risking his own health as well as the health of a couple of Secret Service agents & the driver. According to reporters, some of the well-wishers were chanting QAnon conspiracy memes & holding QAnon signs. (Guardian @ 16:44 Sunday) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. A doctor who is an expert on the matter has harsher words for Trump than I ~~~

     ~~~ Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "An attending physician at Walter Reed Medical Center swiped at President Trump for leaving his hospital room and waving to supporters gathered outside from his motorcade, saying it puts those in the vehicle at risk. 'That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play,' Dr. James P. Phillips, who is also the Chief of Disaster Medicine at George Washington University Emergency Medicine. 'Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential "drive-by" just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity,' he continued." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ AND Now This. Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "Current and former Secret Service agents and medical professionals were aghast Sunday night at President Trump's trip outside the hospital where he is being treated for the coronavirus, saying the president endangered those inside his SUV for a publicity stunt. As the backlash grew, multiple aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations also called Trump's evening outing an unnecessary risk — but said it was not surprising. Trump had said he was bored in the hospital, advisers said. He wanted to show strength after his chief of staff offered a grimmer assessment of his health than doctors, according to campaign and White House officials. A growing number of Secret Service agents have been concerned about the president's seeming indifference to the health risks they face when traveling with him in public, and a few reacted with outrage to the trip, asking how Trump's desire to be seen outside his hospital suite justified the jeopardy to agents protecting him. 'He's not even pretending to care now,' one agent said...." ~~~

~~~ AND This. Patricia Yeo of the Daily Beast: "After teasing a 'little surprise visit' via video on Twitter, President Trump left the hospital on Sunday afternoon to wave to supporters from the back seat of an SUV. 'It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID,' Trump, who is still suffering from the coronavirus, said in the video. 'I learned it by really going to school, this is the real school, this isn't the "let's read the book" school, and I get it, and I understand it,' he added. Then, contradicting his own words and the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the president left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's presidential suite to wave to supporters from a car -- a decision that forced at least two Secret Service agents to don personal protective equipment as they shared the same air and enclosed space of the vehicle.... Dr. Irwin Redlener, a Columbia University expert on pandemic readiness..., said it was an awful spectacle. 'If I was his physician, I would not have approved of that. If I were the Secret Service agents' physicians, I wouldn't have approved of that either,' he said. 'The president and his entourage have been creating, almost daily, potentially superspreader events,' Redlener added." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, Trump is surrounded by flunkies who won't stand up to him even when he needlessly endangers their own health & safety. This might not be the best time to remind you that accompanying Trump into the hospital was an aide carrying the nuclear football, a briefcase that allows him to authorize a nuclear attack. Who will say "no" when Trump says, "Bring me the black box"?

Katie Thomas & Roni Rabin of the New York Times: "President Trump's doctors offered rosy assessments of his condition on Sunday, but the few medical details they disclosed -- including his fluctuating oxygen levels and a decision to begin treatment with a steroid drug -- suggested to many infectious disease experts that he is suffering a more severe case of Covid-19 than the physicians acknowledged.... Some experts raised an additional possibility: that the president is directing his own care, and demanding intense treatment despite risks he may not fully understand."

From a Guardian elections liveblog Sunday: @17:24: "The White House did not disclose that Donald Trump received a positive test result from a Covid-19 rapid test on Thursday, opting to carry on business-as-usual until the more thorough Covid-19 screening confirmed the president has Covid-19. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon from anonymous sources familiar with the matter that the president attempted to keep the positive test result from the rapid test mum, saying on Fox News Thursday night that he was awaiting test results when the president already knew about his positive rapid test result. Trump tweeted at 1 am that morning that he tested positive for Covid-19."Also, according to Political Wire, The WSJ reported that "As the virus spread among the people closest to him, Mr. Trump also asked one adviser not to disclose results of their own positive test:'Don't tell anyone.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It appears, according to the WSJ report, that Trump was trying to keep his own positive results secret until (a) he was feeling too sick to fake it, or (b) he wasn't feeling too bad & thought he could show how strong he was by easily beating the virus. That is, Trump would either hide his illness, thus infecting more people, or -- if that failed -- follow a "Cat on the Roof" strategy. ~~~

     ~~~ OR, as Scott Lemiuex puts it in LG&$: "The President of the United States is a remorseless sociopath."

The New York Times' live Covid-19 updates Sunday are here: "President Trump's medical team acknowledged delivering an overly rosy description of the president's illness on Saturday. 'I didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true,' Dr. Sean P. Conley, the White House physician, said in a briefing with reporters Sunday. The doctors said [Mrs. McC: admitted] that Mr. Trump had a 'high fever' on Friday, and that there had been two incidents when his oxygen levels dropped -- one on Friday and one on Saturday. They said Mr. Trump received oxygen at the White House on Friday; they were not clear about whether it was administered again on Saturday.... Dr. Conley said that the president had been given the steroid dexamethasone on Saturday. The drug has been shown to help patients who are severely ill with Covid-19, but it is typically not used in mild or moderate cases of the disease, and in fact could be harmful early in the course of the illness...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Conley's excuse for dissembling is a wonder to behold: "I admit I lied & covered up the truth about the status of Patient No. 1's health, but if I hadn't lied & covered up, the patient might have turned purple with rage & died because he can't handle the truth & he sure as hell doesn't want voters to know it." ~~~

~~~ Also from the Times Covid-19 updates: "Two members of the White House residence staff tested positive for the coronavirus roughly three weeks ago, according to two people familiar with the diagnoses. The people who tested positive were not employees who come in direct contact with the president and the first lady, one of the people familiar with the diagnoses said. But the positive results again raise questions about how and when President Trump may have been exposed to the virus."

None of Your Beeswax, Nosy Nancy. Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Sunday she is receiving health updates on President Trump, who is in the hospital with the coronavirus, through the media and not through official briefings or contact with the White House.... Pelosi is second in the line of succession behind Vice President Mike Pence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post shows how the Trump campaign faked some video footage of Trump which they falsely claimed was "all one take" & staged some photos of Trump, a Sharpie & some papers a few minutes apart to give the impression Trump was working all day Saturday. (Mrs. McC: Looks to me like the same set of folders & binder in both photos.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.

Doubling Down on Irresponsibility. Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post: "... you might have thought that President Trump's infection at least could have offered a learning moment for his supporters. If so, you would have underestimated the cynicism and amorality of the Trump campaign. So far, although it wouldn't have seemed possible, the Trump team is using this occasion to peddle even more dangerous misinformation and advice than before.... His irresponsibility in the past days, as in the past weeks and months, is beyond dispute.... Now that so many people who attended ... events [Trump held] are falling ill, the humane response would be, first, to apologize for having put people at risk -- particularly people who have no choice about the danger being imposed on them, such as security officers and servers. Then you'd hope to hear an apology for having put millions more people indirectly at risk by discouraging mask-wearing, encouraging reckless opening and undermining governors who have tried to find the right balance.... Instead, National security adviser Robert C. O'Brien ... [said on 'Face the Nation,'] 'I think the president made this very clear, he's going to continue to run this government. And we have to face this virus. We have to open up the country... It's very hard no matter what precautions you take.'" ~~~

MEANWHILE, from the "You Can't Make Up This Stuff" red file:

Michigan. Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit News: "Attorney General Dana Nessel will no longer enforce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's executive orders after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday that one of the laws underpinning the orders was unconstitutional. Nessel's decision comes as Whitmer's team has argued that her orders would stay in effect for 21 days after the ruling, a reference to a 21-day period in which parties can ask for reconsideration. But opponents have said the 21-day rule doesn't apply to rulings issued in response to a federal certified question as was the case in Friday's Supreme Court decision. Further, the language of the order, clearly calling all orders issued after April 30 to be unconstitutional seems to support immediate effect."

Presidential Race, Etc.

Mark Murray of NBC News: "Joe Biden's national lead over ... Donald Trump nearly doubled after Tuesday's presidential debate, with voters saying by a 2-to-1 margin that Biden has the better temperament to be president, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The poll was conducted in the two days after the unruly and insult-filled Sept. 29 debate, but before Trump tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalized Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The Democratic nominee is now ahead of Trump by 14 points among registered voters, 53 percent to 39 percent -- up from his 8-point lead in the previous poll before the debate." Mrs. McC: Other polls have Biden up, but not by as much as 14 points. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "A militia-promoting father and son duo of fake news publishers and a Trump-connected social media consultant are linked to pages which promote the idea of an American civil war with material presented in a way that appears to be an effort to sidestep Facebook's fact-checking system.... The network is comprised of websites owned and operated by Dino Porrazzo Sr and Dino Porrazzo Jr, whose company, AFF Media, is headquartered in Pinon Hills in California. The pair have been running rightwing websites since at latest 2013.... AFF Media was incorporated on Donald Trump's inauguration day, 20 January 2017.... A Guardian review of that site's content shows ... warnings of civil war stretching back to the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections.... The Vici Media Group [a partner company], meanwhile, is run by Patrick Mauldin, who is a social media consultant for the Trump campaign and other Republican politicians, and his brother, Ryan. The company was hired in 2016 by one-time Trump campaign manager and recently-resigned campaign consultant, Brad Parscale, to be part of the team that was widely credited with winning Trump the election.... Facebook Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course these are Trump's people, just like those QAnon doofuses standing outside Walter Reed that Trump jumped in an SUV to acknowledge. And for Trump, this alliance is not a temporary marriage of convenience or a pact with the devil, as many have presumed. While he may think the people themselves are "disgusting," he likes their ideas & he's counting on them to rise up if Joe Biden whups him in November.

South Carolina Senate Race. Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: "Jaime Harrison, the former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), brought his own plexiglass barrier to Saturday's debate to separate him from his Republican opponent.... 'We shouldn't blame the president for the inception of this disease. We shouldn't blame anybody for the inception of this disease, but where blame should come is how we handle this disease, whether or not we take it seriously.... You know, tonight, I am taking it seriously.... That's why I put this plexiglass up.'... Polls have shown the race to be a virtual tie for several months...." Mrs. McC: When Lindsey gets sick next week from palling around with Covid carriers, Harrison will be doubly thankful for that plexiglass. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Adam Liptak
of the New York Times: "A short-handed Supreme Court -- driven from its courtroom by the pandemic, grieving over the loss of a colleague and awaiting the outcome of a divisive confirmation battle -- will return to the virtual bench on Monday to start a term that will present Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. with a daunting test. 'The chief's leadership of the court, which just a few weeks ago appeared to be at its zenith, is now in peril,' said Richard J. Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard who has taught courses on the Supreme Court with Chief Justice Roberts. 'An addition of yet another very conservative justice could quickly eliminate the chief's ability to steer the court toward moderation.' The court will again hear arguments by telephone, starting with a timely case on the role of partisanship in judging, a subject that will also figure in Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, which are scheduled to start a week from Monday."

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Rick Rojas of the New York Times has picked up a story linked here yesterday: "Seven members of the staff of Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, including some of his top aides, wrote a letter that surfaced over the weekend saying he should be investigated in connection with offenses including improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal acts.... Mr. Paxton, one of the state's highest-profile elected officials, casts himself as a conservative warrior. He appears often on Fox News and boasts of close ties to the president. Texas is leading the latest major challenge to the Affordable Care Act to reach the Supreme Court."

News Lede

New York Times: "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Dr. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough the Nobel committee said had 'made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.... For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world population,' the committee said in a statement. They announced the prize at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm."

Reader Comments (19)

I'm moving forward two comments by Akhilleus, posted early this morning:

By Akhilleus:

Interesting to read that COVID Man has had a high temperature for several days. Earlier on Sunday morning, I heard a report quoting Trumpoid sources saying that Fatty’s temperature had been normal for 24 hours.

Believe anything these traitors say at your own peril. They would lie to their own mother on her deathbed after she begged for the truth.

October 5, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

By Akhilleus:

One often hears that Secret Service agents are ready and willing to take a bullet for the president. But what if it’s the president firing that bullet? “Make me look good. Then you can fuck off and die. I’m the king!”

October 5, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

I think we're all going to regret finding out what the president* learned from his bout with C-19.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

Hmmm...thinking of buying me a couple of those Blight House commemorative coins that bleat about that historic moment in presidential history when Donald J. Trump “defeated Covid”!

(What did he defeat it with? An Uzi? Hand to hand combat? A sock filled with manure? Or maybe he bullied it to death.)

I’m sure these gewgaws will have some residual value for MAGA morons who collect Trumpanalia (a stringy orange strand from that wig-like thing, a half consumed Big Mac, one of his Magic Sharpies, etc.), but I’m wondering how much they’d be worth after he kicks, maybe a kind of karmic, chutzpah jackpot.

I could create an infomercial to sell them on late night TV (“act now! Operators are standing by!”) that could run just before the infomercial with former senator Lindsay Graham hawking commemorative blocks of jello that he kept in his wallet for purposes of identification.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

IS "NO" NO LONGER A WORD?

I have long wondered whether Trump would be stopped from over-the-top reckless decisions and/or behavior. Do we have a system in which the president cannot be curtailed? cannot be told, "No sir, that cannot be done!"

No longer do I have to wonder. Yesterday's limo performance gave me the answer.

"He's not even pretending to care now" ––an enraged agent

But the country better or we are in for more than a sick wave from a window.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

This website has covered in deep detail some serious clusterf#ckery.

Today's rundown is the first time I can recall that it literally feels like a rundown from The Onion.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Came to me in a roundabout fashion and it takes a while to get going, but I thought this piece presents a smart approach (if Moscow Mitch and his version of Senate rules allow it) to the confirmation process of the next minority justice for our minority government.

https://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2020/09/28/how-democrats-should-address-the-acbarrett-nomination/

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

I'd note the nation's Rt backdrop as of yesterday had 39 states at 1.0 or higher Covid transmission rates.

Reality insists on intruding nearly everywhere. Not just in the Whitey House.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken: I would say that Bill Svelmoe, whose job I gather is teaching, would be a dynamite asset in congress–– such a well thought out response and directive re: the ways and means of questioning Amy C.B. for the S.C. I'm afraid, however, after the first three questions the quacks from the other side would rise up and yell "slander!–-once again the democrats are running a circus!" But, oh, how I'd love to see Bill's bully way of implementing these hearings; much more entertaining than a real circus where the elephants are well trained––the animals in this congress simply comply out of fear.

Here's the link to Ken's piece: https://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2020/09/28/how-democrats-should-address-the-acbarrett-nomination/

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

If Trump is released from hospital today it will most likely with the "GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" feeling, Every doctor and nurse can tell you about "the patient from hell" that they were glad to see leave, and Trump fills the bill.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

Not soon enough, but....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/05/pat-toomey-senate-retirement-426429

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

With all the staff and others testing positive because of President* Superspreader we could start playing Covid Bingo.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

@unwashed: At least one person already has the card with 5 in a row.

October 5, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Bea, five in a row, column, or diagonal is enough to win preliminary rounds. For the final Championship round you need to fill the complete grid.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

So lemme get this straight...

Trump would make a better leader, cuz he was infected by the coronavirus, which he caught because he’s stupid, than Joe Biden, who was not infected because he took proper precautions.

Got it.

So, you’re saying that the guy who got into his car after being hammered and slammed into a family of four, who all died, would make the best public safety officer because he has first hand knowledge of what it’s like to put yourself before the safety of others.

Great idea. In fact, the drunk driver isn’t nearly as bad as Trump. He only killed four people. Trump has killed 200,000.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

"...don't be afraid of Covid" is the 'full monty' prelude for mandated herd immunity.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterperiscope

Very much looking forward to watching that reprehensible little worm, the half-pence, getting his bigoted ass severely kicked by Kamala Harris. My only question is whether or not little mikey has already gotten Momma’s permission to speak to another woman without her being onstage to hold his hand.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Akhilleus,

Yeah, that's a debate I might watch.

October 5, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@unwashed: Oh gosh, I really didn't know. Guess we'll have to wait a week.

October 5, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns
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