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The Commentariat -- September 12, 2021
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "As they traveled the country laying wreaths, strolling through crash sites in pastoral meadows and comforting families whose wounds are ripped open anew each year, two living presidents used the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to urge Americans to come together in an effort to weather deep political and cultural divisions. 'On America's day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another,' former President George W. Bush said from the United Flight 93 memorial outside Shanksville, Pa. 'That is the America I know.' But on Saturday, both he and President Biden acknowledged that what has happened in the years since has only challenged the notion that Americans prized coming together over choosing to grow hostile to one another's differences. Mr. Bush's decisions as president two decades ago led to a war in Afghanistan and another in Iraq, and he equated the ensuing rise of domestic extremism in the United States to the same poisonous beliefs that had inspired the hijackers. Shortly after Mr. Bush spoke, Mr. Biden ... arrived near Shanksville to lay a wreath and visit a boulder where, in 2001, a plane filled with passengers and crew members, who had wrestled control from hijackers, had hit the ground.... 'Are we going to, in the next four, five, six, 10 years, demonstrate that democracies can work, or not?' Mr. Biden asked reporters gathered outside Shanksville. 'We actually can, in fact, lead by the example of our power again.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be damned if I can figure out how George saw millions of people. I suppose it's nice to know the former President has a vivid imagination, after all.
In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people. When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own. Malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together. -- George W. Bush, in a speech at Shanksville, Saturday ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang & Caroline Anders of the Washington Post: "... former president George W. Bush on Saturday warned there is growing evidence that domestic terrorism could pose as much of a threat to the United States as terrorism originating from abroad, and he urged Americans to confront 'violence that gathers within.' Without naming it, Bush seemed to condemn the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.... Bush compared those 'violent extremists at home' to the terrorists who had hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, and crashed them in New York City, Arlington, and Shanksville, Pa...." An AP story is here.
Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "A solemn President Biden on Saturday marked two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, leading a day of nationwide grief and remembrance at all three sites of the terrorist attacks and emphasizing the importance of memorializing the painful assault that left nearly 3,000 people dead. Biden deliberately stayed in the background as he participated in the anniversary of the attacks for the first time as the nation's commander-in-chief.... Biden began his day at the Sept. 11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, alongside dozens of other political dignitaries including former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. He later traveled to Shanksville, Pa., to meet privately with family members of the victims of Flight 93 and finally, to the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va., to participate in another wreath laying ceremony." The AP's story is here.
"Also Attended." Marie: There's a photo at the top of this AP story on the commemoration of 9/11 that shows Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, President Biden, Jill Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Diana Taylor, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer standing for the national anthem in New York City. That got me to wondering where "America's Mayor" was. According to this NPR story, which also features the same photo, "Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City at the time of the attacks, also attended the ceremony."
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "The attacks [of September 11, 2001], and our response to them, catalyzed a period of decline that helped turn the United States into the debased, half-crazed fading power we are today. America launched a bad-faith global crusade to instill democracy in the Muslim world and ended up with our own democracy in tatters. Bin Laden didn't build the trap that America fell into. We constructed it ourselves.... America could have credibly declared itself the war's winner at the end of 2001, sparing countless lives, trillions of dollars and our national honor.... Tthe United States in September 2021 is in truly terrible shape. Twenty years ago we were credulous and blundering. Now we're sour, suspicious and lacking in discernible ideals.... The sheer waste of it all is staggering.... We midwifed worse terrorists than those we set out to fight. We thought we knew what had been lost on Sept. 11. We had no idea."
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "... when I look back at 9/11 and the torrent of tragic, perverse blunders that followed, I think about men seized by a dangerous strain of hyper-masculinity; fake tough-guy stuff; a caricature of strength -- including the premature 'Mission Accomplished' scene of George W. Bush strutting on an aircraft carrier in his own version of 'Top Gun.'... In the ramp-up to the Iraq war, Washington was a veritable bro-fest, men at the top of government and journalism egging on the war or turning a willful blind eye to the weak casus belli."
Paul Street in CounterPunch on how we must "never forget" what "they" did but we already have forgotten the atrocities we committed at home and abroad. His short list is devastating. Thanks to Whyte for the link.
Mark Mazzetti & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. released a newly declassified document late Saturday describing connections that the agency examined between the hijackers and the Saudi government in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, although it contained no conclusive evidence about whether the kingdom played a role in the attacks. The 16-page report, which was issued hours after President Biden arrived at the World Trade Center memorial in Lower Manhattan, is the first document to be released since the president last week moved to declassify materials that for years have remained secret.... Mr. Biden instructed the Justice Department and federal agencies in recent days to release declassified documents over the next six months after a group of hundreds of affected people -- including survivors, emergency medical workers and victims' relatives -- told him to skip the memorial event at ground zero this year if he did not move to disclose some of those documents." The AP's story is here.
"Come From Away." Peter Marks of the Washington Post: "Thousands of people gathered ... on the National Mall [Friday evening] for ... the performance of a Broadway musical enshrining acts of extraordinary grace that occurred amid the indelible horrors of 20 years ago. With the renowned visage of Abraham Lincoln gazing on from his memorial, the cast of 'Come From Away' -- the story of a Canadian town that sheltered 7,000 airline passengers stranded there on 9/11 -- sang for what had to be one of the largest audiences ever for theater in the nation's capital. Theatergoers in folding chairs and on picnic blankets ringed the Mall's Reflecting Pool for 100 minutes of boisterous harmonies and anecdotes about the largesse of a small Newfoundland community."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Capitol Police investigators have recommended disciplinary action against six police officers for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when Trump supporters stormed the building in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden's victory. Three officers were singled out for unbecoming conduct, one officer for failure to comply with directives, one officer for improper remarks and one officer for improper dissemination of information, the Capitol Police said in a statement on Saturday.... No criminal charges will be filed, after the U.S. attorney's office did not find sufficient evidence to do so.... Even as the majority of the police force grapple with the trauma of the attack, videos widely circulating on social media appeared to show some officers treating the rioters sympathetically or doing little to stop them from entering the complex.
Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "A Georgia man who had an assault rifle and was headed to Washington for the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty on Friday to sending threatening text messages about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The man, Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr., wrote to an acquaintance the day after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol that he would put 'a bullet in her noggin on Live TV ' and included a purple devil emoji, the federal authorities said. In other messages, he said he would run over Ms. Pelosi. 'I predict that within 12 days, many in our country will die,' he wrote. Mr. Meredith had been staying at a Holiday Inn in Washington and had weapons in his camper-style trailer, including a Glock handgun, a Tavor X95 assault rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to court records." Meredith is a QAnon adherent.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "Instead of directly mandating Americans take the vaccine, [President] Biden effectively outsourced the job to the business community. But unlike previous White House interventions in the market -- notably including President Barack Obama's 2010 health insurance mandate -- Biden's action was welcomed by many bosses.... The vocal Republican opposition to the president's initiative threatens to leave the GOP at odds with its traditional business constituency.... Biden's new covid plan also drew backing from some national business groups, such as the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Apparel and Footwear Association...."
Alabama. Hadley Hitson of the Montgomery Advertiser, republished in USA Today: "The family of a man who died of heart issues in Mississippi is asking people to get vaccinated for COVID-19 after 43 hospitals across three states were unable to accept him because of full cardiac ICUs."
Alaska. Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "An Alaska lawmaker who is banned from flying on the state's leading airline for refusing to wear a mask was excused from attending floor votes for the rest of the year after telling legislative leaders she has no way to fly to and from the state capital. State Sen. Lora Reinbold, a Republican representing an Anchorage suburb, said this week that Alaska Airlines offered the only flights between her district and Juneau from now through the end of the year. The airline banned her indefinitely in the spring after she clashed with staffers over the airline mask mandate issued by federal transportation officials.... The action involving Reinbold comes as Alaska, like other states, is facing a sharp rise in infections."
Kim Bellware & Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "Employees at Miami International Airport who go through the standard security check for weapons and other prohibited items now have another layer of screening before they start work: a sniff test from Cobra and One Betta. Cobra, a female Belgian Malinois, and One Betta, a Dutch shepherd, are 7-year-old dogs trained to detect the presence of the coronavirus.... Cobra and One Betta will spend their shifts sniffing the face coverings of employees passing through a checkpoint to detect the presence of the virus.... The canines' accuracy rivals traditional coronavirus tests and even some lab equipment, Furton said. He cited a double-blind study published by FIU, which found the animals achieved 96 to 99 percent accuracy rates for detecting the virus. One Betta's accuracy rate was 98.1 percent, while Cobra's was an astonishing 99.4 percent.... If deployed more widely to sniff out passengers, the dogs may also deter would-be travelers inclined to fib about their coronavirus exposure or infection status." The article is free to nonsubscribers.
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. AP: "A lawsuit has been filed that could decide the fate of a Confederate monument that has stood in a square at the center of nearly all-Black Tuskegee for 115 years. WSFA-TV reported that the Macon County Commission has filed suit against both the local and state chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy arguing that the county owns the property where the statue is located and wants title to the plot."
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Reader Comments (14)
It is Sunday, after all.
"Because most things have more than one cause, we can seldom point to a single reason something happened and be certain we’ve told the whole story.
Something as straightforward as the Covid pandemic underscores that point.
We know the Covid-19 virus and its mutations are the sole cause of the infection, but the way it affects individuals and the number of people it strikes depends on everything from one’s age, underlying health and vaccination status, to our location, behavior and our politics (cnn.com).
When even the spread of a viral disease of known origin
is that complicated, the appetite of many for easy answers is understandable. Fertilized with a heavy application of impatience and wish fulfillment, complexity always provides a fertile ground for error.
Wikipedia lists dozens of comically wrong answers that have grown in the garden of so-called Covid “cures." They range
from the bleach and bright light touted by our former president to the current crazefor Ivermectin, an animal de-wormer. There are so many bogus cures, it’s hard to choose a favorite, but for me, drinking cow urine (in India) and getting vaccinated “by proxy” by touching a TV screen displaying a televangelist “healer” (in the United States) are among my favorites (wikipedia.com).
Like the causes of Covid’s spread itself, there are many reasons people readily embrace phony cures for the illness. Impatience and reliance on wishful thinking are but two of them. We also live in a nation where twenty-one percent of adults (about forty-three million) are
functionally illiterate (libraryjournal.com), another barrier to recognizing and understanding complexity.
Whatever the reasons so many thousands have treated
themselves with ineffective and sometimes harmful Covid cures, they have taught us that ignorance is always lurking, ready to rush into the vacuum of all we’ve chosen not to know."
I'm looking for investors to help me cash in on the stupidity of
antivaxxers. It should be a windfall when about 43 million
Americans are functionally illiterate and millions more will fall for
whatever they're told.
Those tiny liquor bottles that are sometimes placed near the checkout
will be perfect for holding 3 shots of cheap whiskey and 2 shots
of bleach plus a dash of ivermectin. When they see the FDA on the
label they won't know that it stands for Forrest Didn't Apply.
It should sell better than my last venture, which was masks with a
built in straw for those bar hoppers and party goers. Problem was,
they couldn't suck up the free snacks at the bar through that straw.
Oh well, back to fall landscape cleanups and trimming, etc.
Looks like once again our canine friends are smarter than the average man-made test for Covid. I saw this coverage the other night on the tube and marveled how quickly both Cobra and One Betta sniffed their way down the line of dangling masks. I knew dogs were trained to detect cancer from patient's urine and of course dogs have been used for bomb detection but this is certainly ONE BETTA, I bet.
I'm wondering whether it bothers 'thems' that hold Fatty in such high glorification that he was absent in the 9/11 ceremonies attended by our current and past presidents. Surely they sense a disconnect? And would it have made a difference if those dogs could have sniffed out the scent of a lying, demented circus barker before he had the chance to embark on his role as our president.
And one more thing about dogs: One Murdoch owned paper that denounced the Iraq War was the "Post Courier of Papua New Guinea. Fox, of course, ran with it and at the time a reporter (I don't remember whom) wrote this:
"As Orwell said, a dog can be trained to jump at the crack of a whip but the really well-trained dog jumps without the whip. Murdoch did not have to beseech politicians, they came to him, desperate for his support."
A daily slug of cow urine has been part of Hindu India's many medical practices for many generations. It has prophylactic AND curative power, so of course you would expect it to keep covid at bay.
"Ten tolas a day keeps the Ayurvedic in play." (Not a real saying, I just made that up.)
Does it work? Western doctors don't think so. Many highly educated Indians do (as a prophylactic, like taking your vitamins -- not necessarily as a covid cure).
Running with a theme today, things are complicated, including ANY biological causations.
PD,
Fatty doesn’t play well with others, and if he has to share a stage with someone, you can be sure he’ll try to shove his fat ass to the foreground as quickly as he can waddle up there. No one comes before the Donald. And why bother praising the suckers and losers who died? Fatty doesn’t put himself on the line for anyone or anything. He’s smart. He doesn’t even pay taxes. And laws? Pshaw. Laws are for mere mortals.
No, The Orange Menace saw dollar signs when those planes demolished parts of downtown Manhattan. He saw opportunity where others saw death and national tragedy. Not the great Donald! He scarfed up plenty even though his building wasn’t touched. Oh, but he made sure to mention that now that the Twin Towers were rubble (and plenty of bodies buried beneath them—more losers) that HIS building was now the tallest in that neighborhood. Seriously, you to really have to worry about someone who sees a catastrophic event and can only think “Yes! I win!”
But then he was also down in the smoking ruins singlehandedly picking up thousand pound blocks of rubble and flinging them across the Hudson River. At least that’s what he sez. And at the same time, he was in New Jersey watching thousands of Mooslims dance for joys amid the chaos. I mean, that’s true. Right?
Lies, self aggrandizement, greed, and the all powerful narcissistic urge to show off his wonderfulness.
The GQP recipe for a “great” president*.
And if there was no chance of him being center stage, making money, or preening, why bother going?
@Akhilleus: I saw a headline that Donald & Junior were providing color for a wrestling or boxing match while the other presidents were remembering 9/11 victims. (A few days ago I allowed that the Donalds were calling stock car races, but as we say in the South, same difference.) Then I saw a headline that the former fake president made a surprise call on NYC police & firefighters yesterday.
Your explanation of why Trump didn't show sounds spot-on to me. But what fun if Biden had arm-wrestled the Biggest Loser for best seat & Obama had challenged Trumpty-Dumpty to a foot-race for the next seat (and slowed down at one point to accidentally knee Trumpty in the groin).
The interesting thing is that nobody ever said, "Where's Donald?" because it is a given that -- even though he is the only one in the Presidents' Club who lived in NYC for decades -- he doesn't give a rat's ass about the city where he spent most of his life.
Silly old man here once thought that as case numbers diminished but tilted more toward young adults, adolescents, and children that those vaccine hesitant parents would think of their childrens welfare and have them vaccinated as soon as possible. More fool me, as it seems only to have hardened their opposition, leaving the young as a sacrifice on the altar of ignorance.
@Bobby Lee: I think the nincompoops are out there dosing up the kids with spoonsful of Forrest's Amazing Covid Tincture. So no worries.
Marie,
Saw that. Anything to stay “relevant” with the droolers. One day it’s “Robert E. Lee would have kicked Afghan butt”, next it’s “Boxing matches can be rigged, just like elections”. Because it’s always about the Donald.
But he loves to be seen as a tough guy, like old time gangsters, surrounding himself with boxers, hoping the tough image will rub off on him. Like his fake tough kids who enjoy their own rigged safaris where guides take them to protected areas so they could break out their high powered rifles and “bag” big game.
Like everything Trump, there is the air of purloined but weightless and gaudy grandeur, like sickeningly cheap perfume. Talk about Potemkin villages, these schmucks lead Potemkin lives. All cheap facade with nothing behind it. You half expect semi-naked babes to parade around the ring of their lives holding signs that say “Round Three”. Or maybe “I really don’t care. Do you?”
Line of the day: FDA. Forrest didn’t apply.
Hahahaha.
Forrest Morris' tincture sounds tasty, but it fails to address our public health crisis. Vaccine resistance was predictable. With a bit of judicious marketing it could have been avoided.
It's too late now, but what if the choice wasn't just Pfizer or Moderna or J&J? What if we had been presented with additional, more relatable options? With carefully targeted ad campaigns and souvenir packaging, we could have had an array of vaccines with something for every American to take with confidence and then brag about on Facebook.
MAGAvax, MyWayVax, FaithVax
Available only at special events held at fairgrounds, sports arenas, and megachurches, with speeches by local bigwigs and suitable refreshments offered. Free, but contributions to the cause welcomed.
TexaVax, DiSantiVax, QVax
Sponsored by a senator or congresscritter, available at local campaign offices, with a small donation expected.
RolexaVax
Premium-priced, luxury-packaged, sold only by high-end pharmacies and delivered to your home by uniformed attendants, who remain with you for an hour to watch for and treat any reaction to the shot. Meanwhile, the patient receives a therapeutic massage with specially-formulated emollients and rare botanical oils. Supplies are limited, appointments hard to get.
GentleVax for Sensitive Immune Systems
Offered, by prescription only, to patients identified by their physician (or rabbi, faith healer, etc) to be at risk for negative reactions, whether physical or psychological. Patient receives a microdose of a specially formulated low-dose vaccine, produced under the most exacting procedures in an ultrasterile facility in Wyoming, under round-the-clock supervision by specially appointed monitors. The dose is delivered in a sterile "safe room" in a major medical facility, where the patient remains overnight for supervision. Steak dinner and pancake breakfast are included. Prayer sessions are available on request. The regimen includes weekly testing for the following eight weeks and additional doses if determined to be necessary for full immunity. Not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or health insurance, but a GoFundMe site solicits, collects, and distributes contributions to help defray the cost.
And, of course, InvisiVax: Two doses, four weeks apart, of a sterile saline solution, guaranteed to cause no side effects or after-effects. Comes with a standard vaccination card, which can be laminated for a small additional charge following the second injection. Approved by all medical, religious, and political authorities, as well as the FDA.
@Monoloco
Great! Huzzah! Bravo! Loved it.
Thank you. You are one nutty guy.
Monoloco is onto something. Although there are ads urging people to get vaccinated, and some may even feature celebrities, the ads rely on reason and the celebrities are the wrong celebrities. I think we also need HannitiVax & TrumpoVax. If it takes snake oil salesmen to sell Covid vaccines, let's get the best snake oil salesmen. And the ads have to appeal to more than reason and the public good. Somehow, the "new" vaccines have to make you better-looking, sexier, richer and maybe more patriotic. They have to be "satisfying" at the same time they offer prestige. Everybody has to want one, and that probably means there's a cost involved: hey, you've got the greenbacks to get shot with CoolVax.
Well, Comirnaty® certainly may not be a winning brand name, but they could call it "Shit in a syringe" for all I'm concerned. If it works, I don't care what it's called.