;)
The Commentariat -- November 13, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
CNN has called Georgia for Joe Biden & North Carolina for the other guy: ~~~
~~~ Gregory Krieg of CNN: "Joe Biden will win Georgia, CNN projected Friday, striking at the heart of what has been a Republican presidential stronghold for nearly three decades. The former vice president is the first Democratic nominee to triumph in Georgia since Bill Clinton did it in 1992. Biden's victory adds 16 electoral votes to his tally, bringing him to 306 -- matching ... Donald Trump's 2016 total. With CNN's projection that Trump will win North Carolina, the final tally is 306-232. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post has now also called Georgia & North Carolina. So has NBC News. Also too CBS News. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In 2016, Trump called his win over Clinton by exactly the same numer -- 306 - 232 -- a MASSIVE Electoral College landslide victory! So Congratulations, Mr. President-elect on your MASSIVE landslide victory! Biden, BTW, has already bested Trump in the popular vote by more than 5.3 million votes and counting, while Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 2.9 million votes.
Another One Bites the Dust. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "The Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit on Friday in Arizona seeking a review of ballots cast in the state's biggest county in the presidential race just hours after multiple outlets projected President-elect Joe Biden to carry the state. The campaign, which filed the complaint Saturday, said in a new filing that it would no longer seek a court order for a review of presidential votes over its allegation that poll workers had mishandled ballots rejected by tabulation machines. 'Since the close of yesterday’s hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors,' Trump campaign lawyers wrote Friday in the filing."
Tommy Tuberville Is Dumber than a Rock, Plans to Break Law, Too. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “In his first big interview as a senator-elect, Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, misidentified the three branches of the federal government, claimed erroneously that World War II was a battle against socialism and wrongly asserted that former Vice President Al Gore was president-elect for 30 days.... 'Our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three branches of government — wasn’t set up that way,' Mr. Tuberville said. 'You know, the House, the Senate, and the executive.'... Mr. Tuberville said[,] 'I tell people, my dad fought 76 years ago in Europe to free Europe of socialism.' World War II was a global battle against fascism. Mr. Tuberville also said he planned to use his Senate office to raise money for two Republican senators in Georgia who are facing runoff elections that will determine control of the chamber. Senate ethics rules bar the use of official resources for campaign purposes.”
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Say, it's Friday, Sen. Jim Lankford. What are you doing to make sure President-elect Biden gets his daily intel briefings?
David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times: “Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, the law firm leading the Trump campaign’s efforts to cast doubt on the presidential election results in Pennsylvania, abruptly withdrew from a federal lawsuit that it filed days earlier on behalf of President Trump.... The law firm on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Trump campaign. The suit, which is pending, alleged that there were 'irregularities' in the presidential vote across the state, which President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won by more than 50,000 votes. The Democratic National Committee has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Previously, Porter Wright had filed a number of other actions in Pennsylvania courts challenging aspects of the state’s voting process. It isn’t clear if the firm will continue to represent Mr. Trump’s campaign on those cases.” ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently these lawyers are averse to losing their licenses to practice or being fined for bringing frivolous suits.
Does This Orange Jumpsuit Go with My Hair? William Rashbaum & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "President Trump lost more than an election last week. When he leaves the White House in January, he will also lose the constitutional protection from prosecution afforded to a sitting president. After Jan. 20, Mr. Trump ... will be more vulnerable than ever to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the president’s family business and its practices, as well as his taxes. The two-year inquiry, the only known active criminal investigation of Mr. Trump, has been stalled since last fall, when the president sued to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other records, a bitter dispute that for the second time is before the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling is expected soon.... [Trump's] pardon power does not extend to state crimes, like the possible violations under investigation by [the Manhattan DA's] office.... In addition to [the DA’s] inquiry, Mr. Trump also faces continuing scrutiny by New York State’s attorney general — who he has also claimed has targeted him out of partisan rancor."
Trump Sickens His Security Details. Carol Leonnig & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing. The spread of the coronavirus — which has sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency’s core security team — is believed to be partly linked to a series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the people.... Trump went on a travel blitz in the final stretch of the campaign, making five campaign stops on each of the last two days. On Nov. 2, Trump’s campaign schedule required five separate groups of Secret Service officers — each numbering 20 to several dozen -- ... to screen spectators and secure the perimeter around the president’s events. President-elect Joe Biden made two campaign stops that day that also required Secret Service protection, but in smaller numbers. The agency is also examining whether some portion of the current infections are not travel-related..., but instead trace back to ... the White House." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Turns out Trump isn't shooting people on Fifth Avenue in plain sight; he's figuratively doing it all over the country, including in the White House. These officers may have signed up to "take a bullet for the president," but surely they never anticipated the bullet would come from Trump's own gun.
Annie Gowan & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "As coronavirus cases grow across the United States — up 70 percent on average in the past two weeks, with an average of 130,000 cases per day nationally — the situation is particularly acute now in the Upper Midwest and Plains states, with North and South Dakota leading the nation in new cases and deaths per capita over the past week, according to Washington Post data. Experts say that cases are surging in the region as the weather has turned colder and more people are forced inside — into more poorly ventilated indoor spaces where transmission thrives — with the virus arriving even in remote areas in largely conservative states where Republican leaders have resisted mask mandates or business closures, asking their residents to rely instead on personal responsibility.... Doctors and health-care providers across the Upper Midwest grappling with rising caseloads and staff shortages continue to urge leaders in their states to do more to stem the tide of the virus, as many in these hardy, wind-swept states where independence is prized still refuse to wear masks."
Time-out for a Feel-good Story. Courtney Kube of NBC News: “When a bystander collapsed at the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday, a nurse happened to be nearby and rushed to his aid. She ... was the wife of the nation’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley.... 'When I first got there, he was breathing in a very erratic way that he wasn’t really taking air into his lungs as he should have been,' [Hollyanne Milley] said. 'And then he stopped breathing.' The man had no pulse. Milley said she directed someone to call 911 and started chest compressions. 'I did about two cycles of CPR, and then he just took a big, deep breath and kind of groaned a little bit and then started moving around.'... Milley spoke with him the next morning and said he was doing very well. She said the man, a veteran who asked to remain anonymous, has since been discharged [from a local hospital].”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Presidency, Ctd.
CNN, the major networks, the New York Times & the Washington Post finally called the presidential race for Joe Biden Thursday night. The AP & Fox "News" called it last week. After Georgia's hand-recount, Biden also is likely to win the state, bringing Biden's total Electoral College vote to 306. Donald Trump will win North Carolina, the only other state the AP & networks have not called. ~~~
The New York Times' live election updates Thursday are here: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has narrowly won Arizona, capturing the state’s 11 electoral votes and strengthening his Electoral College margin as President Trump continues to make baseless attacks on the vote counts favoring Mr. Biden. Mr. Biden, whose margin in Arizona is currently about 11,000 votes, or 0.3 percentage points, is the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since President Bill Clinton in 1996. Four years ago, Mr. Trump won the state by 3.5 percentage points. That Arizona — the home of the late Senator John McCain and Senator Barry Goldwater, a founder of the 20th century conservative political movement and the 1964 Republican presidential nominee — was in play for Democrats at all is remarkable. Before the state voted for Mr. Clinton, the last Democrat it had supported for president was Harry S. Truman in 1948." A CNN story is here.
Nicole Via y Rada of NBC News: "President-elect Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Thursday, according to his transition team. Biden, a devout Catholic, thanked the Pope for 'extending blessings and congratulations,' saying he expressed a desire to work together 'on the basis of a shared belief in the dignity and equality of all humankind.'" Here's a readout of the conversation provided by the Biden-Harris transition team.
It is not merely that this book avoids being ponderous, as might be expected, even forgiven, of a hefty memoir, but that it is nearly always pleasurable to read, sentence by sentence, the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid. From Southeast Asia to a forgotten school in South Carolina, he evokes the sense of place with a light but sure hand. This is the first of two volumes, and it starts early in his life, charting his initial political campaigns, and ends with a meeting in Kentucky where he is introduced to the SEAL team involved in the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian writes more of a book report. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Atlantic publishes an "adapted & updated" excerpt from Barack Obama's memoir, which is to be published Tuesday. It includes audio of the preface, as appears in the book, read by President Obama. (Firewalled.) (Also linked yesterday.)
The Farce, Ctd.
One Good Thing: We haven't heard the Voice of Trump for six days. Macho Man is cowering in a corner of his bunker or hiding under the Resolute Desk (sadly, no corners in the Oval, as pence explained to the Fat King in soothing tones).
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “At a meeting on Wednesday at the White House, President Trump ... press[ed his advisors] on whether Republican legislatures could pick pro-Trump electors in a handful of key states and deliver him the electoral votes he needs to change the math and give him a second term, according to people briefed on the discussion.... 'He knows it’s over,' one adviser said. But instead of conceding, they said, he is floating one improbable scenario after another for staying in office while he contemplates his uncertain post-presidency future. There is no grand strategy at play, according to interviews with a half-dozen advisers and people close to the president. Mr. Trump is simply trying to survive from one news cycle to the next, seeing how far he can push his case against his defeat and ensure the continued support of his Republican base.” ~~~
~~~ David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "On Thursday, six American service members were killed in a helicopter crash during a peacekeeping mission in Egypt. Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in North Florida, contributing to severe flooding. The number of Americans infected with the novel coronavirus continued at a record-setting pace, sending the stock market tumbling. At the White House, President Trump spent the day as he has most others this week — sequestered from public view, tweeting grievances, falsehoods and misinformation about the election results and about Fox News’s coverage of him.... The contrast between the nation grappling with an ongoing global crisis and a president consumed with his own political problems highlighted a fundamental contradiction at the heart of Trump’s assault on the integrity of the U.S. election system: He is leveraging the power of his office in a long-shot bid to stay in the job while ignoring many of the public duties that come with it.... His public schedule has not included the daily presidential security briefing since early October, even as his administration has refused to launch the formal transition, depriving President-elect Joe Biden’s team of access to national security information."
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: “Hours after President Trump repeated a baseless report that a voting machine system 'deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide,' he was directly contradicted by a group of federal, state and local election officials, who issued a statement on Thursday declaring flatly that the election 'was the most secure in American history' and that 'there is no evidence' any voting systems were compromised. The rebuke, in a statement by a coordinating council overseeing the voting systems used around the country, never mentioned Mr. Trump by name. But it amounted to a remarkable corrective to a wave of disinformation that Mr. Trump has been pushing across his Twitter feed. The statement was distributed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is responsible for helping states secure the voting process. Coming directly from one of Mr. Trump’s own cabinet agencies, it further isolated the president in his false claims that widespread fraud cost him the election.” The AP's story is here.
Trump Has “Already Lost.” Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Five days after television networks and other major news organizations called the presidential election for Joseph R. Biden Jr., President Trump continues to maintain that he 'will win.' That is false. Mr. Biden’s winning margins in the key battleground states he has captured — 20,000 votes in Wisconsin, 54,000 votes in Pennsylvania and 148,000 votes in Michigan — are well above the thresholds of votes that have been changed in previous recounts. Even in Georgia, where officials are preparing for a hand recount of the ballots, Mr. Biden leads by 14,000 votes, a margin that is unlikely to be reversed. (Mr. Biden also leads by 11,000 votes in Arizona, but elections officials there are still counting absentee votes that arrived by mail.)... The former vice president has won enough states by enough votes that Mr. Trump cannot overcome those deficits through legal challenges or recounts.... The largest margin to be overturned in a recent recount came in Minnesota’s 2008 Senate contest, when a 215-vote margin for Senator Norm Coleman, the incumbent Republican, was reversed, becoming a 312-vote advantage for Al Franken, the Democratic candidate, after a court ruled that hundreds of absentee ballots were wrongly rejected.” ~~~
~~~ It's the Cyber! Or Something. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "President Trump has transitioned from insisting that he will win the 2020 presidential election once all the votes are counted (he will not) to claiming that the results were muddied by rampant voter fraud (they were not) to a new set of claims: The results were altered by the use of computers and perhaps, more frightening, algorithms.... It’s important to note that the president’s track record on matters of technology is a bit spotty.... None of [the allegations Trump & his allies are pushing] ... is reinforced by any robust evidence. Adherents will insist that such evidence exists, because that’s what conspiracy theorists do. But it’s all just an effort to rationalize Trump’s loss, which, obviously, is why it appeals to Trump."
"The Golden Goose." Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Thursday unleashed on Fox News, retweeting a dozen messages attacking the network and sharing one himself lamenting that Fox 'forgot the Golden Goose' that made them successful." Mrs. McC: This would be a good place to remind ourselves that this is what the POTUS* was doing on yet another day in which more Americans than ever tested positive for the coronavirus. I hate that guy. ~~~
~~~ AND Why Was the Goose Attacking Fox "News"? Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios.... 'He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it,' said a source with detailed knowledge of Trump's intentions.... Trump is considering a digital media channel that would stream online, which would be cheaper and quicker to start [than would a cable network like Fox 'News.']" ~~~
~~~ Brian Stelter of CNN: "President Trump's fans who don't think Fox News is right-wing enough have another option on cable and satellite: Newsmax TV.... On Newsmax, voter fraud innuendo is everywhere. Conspiracy theory chatter is constant. And perhaps most importantly, Joe Biden is not the president-elect. The channel is tapping into a real vein of rage on the right. And Trump is encouraging it by retweeting Twitter users who are trashing Fox and promoting Newsmax."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Benjamine Wittes of Lawfare notes in an analysis, “The administrator of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, has refused to 'ascertain' (in the language of the law) that Biden is the 'apparent' winner of the election, thus blocking transition funding and preventing certain other transition activity from beginning.” This has been annoying me all morning. Murphy and the media don't “declare ” a winner, as Republicans have said or implied; Murphy just has to acknowledge that Biden is the “apparent ” winner. That's obvious to anyone with access to a newspaper, a TV or the Internet. Even if you think Biden didn't win and Trump's goofy lawsuits will prove it, Biden is -- according to 50 state top election officials -- the apparent winner. Unlike Trump, who won by fewer Electoral College votes than Biden already has got, both Biden & Harris have or have had high-level security clearances, so there's no danger whatsoever in giving them access to national security briefings. In the past, these transition accommodations have been accorded to Trump & to other incoming administrations several weeks before the last states have certified their results. The only excuse for withholding them is to assuage Donnie's widdle feelings. That's corrupt. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the segment PD Pepe mentions in yesterday's Comments, wherein Brian Williams tries (in vain, we can be sure) to explain to Donald Trump "how graciousness works": ~~~
Two Days Ago, We Learned This: Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Since Election Day..., Donald Trump and his allies have pushed numerous merit-free allegations of voting irregularities. The Department of Homeland Security’s top cyber official [Chris Krebs] is swatting them down in near real-time — contradicting the president in a way that often ends in a pink slip...." ~~~
~~~ Now Read This. Christopher Bing & Joseph Menn of Reuters: "Top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs has told associates he expects to be fired by the White House, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters." ~~~
~~~ AND This. Christopher Bing of Reuters: "A senior U.S. cybersecurity official is leaving government after being asked to resign, an official familiar with the matter said Thursday, part of a wider thinning of President Donald Trump’s administration following Joe Biden’s election win. Bryan Ware, the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity for the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation on Thursday." ~~~
~~~ Update. Nick Miroff & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: “The White House has forced out two top Department of Homeland Security officials as part of a widening purge of anyone suspected of lacking complete loyalty to President Trump, three people familiar with the removals said Thursday. Valerie Boyd, the top official for international affairs at DHS, was asked for her resignation, as well as Bryan Ware, a senior policy aide at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The requests came from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office, whose 30-year-old director, John McEntee, has recently intensified efforts to purge appointees who have failed to demonstrate sufficient fealty to the president.... Boyd, in a resignation letter obtained by The Washington Post, wrote to DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf that she hopes government officials will 'act with honor' during the transition to a new presidency.” ~~~
~~~ No, Virginia, there is no honor in Trumpsville. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
WhoopDeeDoo. Shane Goldmacher & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The first small cracks have begun to appear in the Republican wall of support for President Trump and his unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, with a growing number of elected officials and party leaders signaling on Thursday that they would indulge Mr. Trump’s conspiracy theories for only so long. A few were willing to openly contradict him. Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said that it was time to call Joseph R. Biden Jr. the 'president-elect.' The Republican attorney general of Arizona said that Mr. Trump would not end up winning his state, despite the president’s protestations. And on Capitol Hill, several Republican senators have begun, in measured tones, to say that Mr. Biden should be entitled to classified intelligence briefings as the incoming commander in chief or that it is time to recognize he will soon be certified as president-elect." ~~~
~~~ Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "An increasing number of Senate Republicans said Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden should be granted access to classified briefings during the presidential transition, an acknowledgment of the election results despite President Trump’s insistence that he will win. Republicans have sought to delegitimize Biden’s victory, amplifying Trump’s baseless claims about widespread election fraud and endorsing the president’s legal challenges as he refuses to concede. Only four of the 53 Senate Republicans have congratulated Biden. But several Republicans said Thursday that Biden should be afforded some of the privileges of an incoming president while still declining to say he won." Biden received some form of classified briefings during the campaign, and now that he has been elected, Trump is withholding them. How much sense does that make? ~~~
~~~ Ted Barrett of CNN: “Sen. Lindsey Graham [R] told CNN Thursday he thinks President-elect Joe Biden should get intelligence briefings starting now. 'Yeah, I think he should,' said Graham, a close ally of President Trump.... Another influential Republican, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, said, 'yeah, I don’t think that would hurt,' for Biden to start getting the briefings now, as a handful of other Republicans have said they support this.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Manu Raju & Ted Barrett of CNN: "Two top GOP senators told CNN on Thursday that Joe Biden should have access to classified briefings, the latest indication that Republicans acknowledge the President-elect is likely on his way to the White House despite ... Donald Trump's refusal to accept the results.'I would think -- especially on classified briefings -- answer is yes,' said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who as president pro tempore is the most senior Republican in the chamber. Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota also told CNN that Biden should have access to classified briefings. Those comments follow GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma who made a similar comment Wednesday on a local radio station, and several other Republicans have signaled it's time to begin the transition process." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Lauren Egan & Nicole Via y Rada of NBC News: "Senate Republicans and former national security officials Thursday increased the pressure on the General Services Administration to grant President-elect Joe Biden access to presidential-level intelligence briefings, a key step in the transition to the White House.... Over 150 former national security officials urged the GSA in a letter Thursday to recognize Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the winners of the election, giving them access to the President's Daily Brief and allowing them to begin to obtain the security clearances necessary for members of the transition team.... The group, which includes several former Trump administration officials, warned of serious national security risks as a result of the delay in Biden's transition. Other signatories include retired lawmakers and national security officials who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations."
** Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: “... the [Republican] party [has] lurch[ed] away from democratic ideals and practices, a shift that predates Trump but one that has accelerated precipitously since. Now, according to data released by an international team of political scientists just before the Nov. 3 election, it’s possible to quantify the extent to which the Republican Party no longer adheres to such principles as the commitment to free and fair elections with multiple parties, the respectful treatment of political opponents and the avoidance of violent rhetoric. 'The Republican Party in the U.S. has retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years,' said Anna Lührmann, a political scientist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and a former member of the German parliament. 'Its rhetoric is closer to authoritarian parties, such as AKP in Turkey and Fidesz in Hungary.'... Lührmann points out that the Republican Party score [as conveyed in a chart republished by the WashPo] started to edge downward during the Obama administration but fell off a cliff in 2016 with the ascent of Trump.” Mrs. McC: This is something we've been observing & remarking on (yelling! sometimes) for years, and now political scientists have quantified it.
Arizona. Justin Price of the Arizona Republic: "Results from newly counted ballots in Maricopa County released Wednesday night favored ... Donald Trump, but not by a wide enough margin to overtake President-elect Joe Biden in Arizona.... Trump would need about 74% of the 24,738 ballots left to tabulate statewide, in order to surpass Biden and win the state's 11 Electoral College votes. Since Election Day, Trump has been unable to garner such a large share of the results released by Maricopa County. The county has 6,715 ballots remaining to be tallied." ~~~
~~~ Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: “A Trump campaign attorney conceded in court on Thursday morning that he tried to enter hundreds of dodgy form-filed affidavits into evidence, even though their own investigation found that a subset of the sworn statements that they received were filled with lies and 'spam.'... 'How is that a reliable process of gathering evidence?' the judge asked, later blocking admission of the so-called evidence.... 'This is not a fraud case,' [attorney Kory] Langhofer said, casting the lawsuit instead as allegations of flaws within the voting system. 'It is not a stealing-the-election case.'... The Trump campaign’s admission came toward the beginning of a daylong evidentiary hearing in a case that began as the so-called 'Sharpiegate' lawsuit, the outlandish speculation that election workers handed markers to Trump voters to invalidate their votes on Election Day. The hearing is expected to last for five hours.” ~~~
~~~ Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Repubic: "Rae Chornenky, the chair of the Maricopa County Republican Party, has resigned from her position after Democrats called her out for skipping a meeting ahead of the election where the county’s ballot tabulation machines were tested. Chornenky, an attorney backed by the state's more establishment Republicans, had long clashed with the further-right-leaning figures within the state’s Republican Party. Calls for her to step down started after Maricopa County Democratic Party chair Stephen Slugocki reminded the public in a Twitter post that in October she had not attended a logic and accuracy test of election equipment. That equipment — new ballot tabulators from Dominion Voting Systems — are at the center of claims about software glitches that some Republicans have asserted changed votes from ... Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. There is no credible evidence that happened."
Pennsylvania. Mick Stinelli of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "The Trump campaign on Thursday won a case attempting to disqualify a small number of mail-in ballots for first-time Pennsylvania voters who were unable to confirm their identification by Nov. 9. These ballots had been segregated pending the judge’s decision and have not yet been counted, so their disqualification will not affect the current vote count in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden won the state, and subsequently the election, on Saturday and currently leads President Trump by more than 53,000 votes."
Marissa Lang & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: “Demonstrations in support of President Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the presidential election will descend on downtown Washington this weekend. The events have been promoted by far-right media personalities, white nationalists and conspiracy theorists — several of whom announced plans to attend. Counterdemonstrations organized by anti-fascist and anti-racism groups are being planned nearby.... The pro-Trump rallies have garnered support from Fox News host Sean Hannity as well as more fringe figures, including Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys; self-described 'American Nationalist' and social media agitator Nicholas Fuentes; conservative provocateur Jack Posobiec, who promoted the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory tied to the 2016 shooting at D.C. pizzeria Comet Ping Pong; Scott Presler, a pro-Trump activist who works with anti-Muslim group ACT for America; and Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.” Mrs. McC: The company Hannity keeps. ~~~
~~~ Timothy Johnson of Media Matters: “Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes said that he has armed men on standby outside of Washington, D.C., to supposedly prevent the 2020 presidential election from being stolen from ... Donald Trump. Echoing elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory during an appearance on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ program, Rhodes said the only way to prevent his men from engaging in a 'bloody fight' would be Trump declassifying information to supposedly expose pedophiles in the 'deep state' and allow the president to stay in power. Rhodes also indicated his militia will be involved in a rally to support Trump planned for this weekend in the nation's capital. Rhodes’ Oath Keepers militia, which comprises 'former law enforcement officials and military veterans,' is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as 'one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S. today.' But, as Rhodes recent public comments have made clear, the organization’s purpose has shifted from opposing the government to instead act as a pro-Trump vigilante group that is willing to violently support Trump’s unjust attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.”
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Too Fake for Fox. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: “After a tumultuous year at Fox News that included the network’s own 'Brain Room' warning hosts and anchors not to trust his 'disinformation,' pro-Trump columnist John Solomon is no longer a paid contributor with the network.... As the chief creative officer for Circa News, he teamed up with current Fox News contributor Sara Carter on a number of articles that set the table for Trumpworld’s 'Spygate' narrative, resulting in his becoming a fixture on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. After joining The Hill ... in 2017, Solomon’s questionable reporting — which repeatedly pushed narratives that Trump was the victim of a liberal 'deep state' plot—caused tension in the newsroom, prompting The Hill to move him to the opinion side in 2018.... [But] Hannity would continue to call Solomon an 'investigative reporter' during his guest appearances, despite Fox management reportedly telling him to stop. Solomon’s opinion pieces at The Hill, meanwhile, helped fuel Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on now-President-elect Joe Biden, something that was laid out in full during the impeachment hearings.”
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "Public health officials in the United States announced more than 160,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the first day over 150,000 since the pandemic began — an alarming record that came just over a week after the country first experienced 100,000 cases in a single day. The pandemic has risen to crisis levels in much of the nation, especially the Midwest, as hospital executives warn of dwindling bed space and as coroners deploy mobile morgues. More than 100,000 coronavirus cases have been announced nationwide every day since Nov. 4, and six of the last nine days have broken the previous record.
"The United States set a record for new coronavirus cases and blew past the record for hospitalizations on Wednesday as the pandemic continued to balloon unabated, and a long list of cities and states imposed new restrictions on public life. More than 142,000 new cases were detected on Wednesday for the first time, according to data compiled by The New York Times, continuing a harrowing increase as the Northern Hemisphere enters a period of cold weather, indoor life, colds and flus that are expected to add fuel to the contagion." (Also linked yesterday.)
Aamer Madhani & Zeke Miller of the AP: "... Donald Trump has publicly disengaged from the battle against the coronavirus at a moment when the disease is tearing across the United States at an alarming pace. Trump, fresh off his reelection loss to President-elect Joe Biden, remains angry that an announcement about progress in developing a vaccine for the disease came after Election Day. And aides say the president has shown little interest in the growing crisis even as new confirmed cases are skyrocketing and hospital intensive care units in parts of the country are nearing capacity. Public health experts worry that Trump’s refusal to take aggressive action on the pandemic or to coordinate with the Biden team during the final two months of his presidency will only worsen the effects of the virus and hinder the nation’s ability to swiftly distribute a vaccine next year."
Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to President Trump's reelection campaign, has tested positive for coronavirus, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Thursday.... Lewandowski was at a White House party on the night of the election, and he has mostly been in Pennsylvania in recent days as part of an effort to challenge the outcome there.... The White House election night party has emerged as the latest super-spreader event inside the building...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Monica Alba of NBC News: "Republic[an] National Committee chief of staff Richard Walters has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a GOP official.... Unlike other Trump allies who have recently tested positive, Walters was not at the White House election night party."
Yereth Rosen of Reuters: “The Alaska congressman who once ridiculed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus, calling it the 'beer virus,' said on Thursday he is now infected with it. The announcement by Representative Don Young comes as the state’s governor on Thursday warned that health-care and public-safety systems were at risk of being overwhelmed by the rapid spread of the virus across Alaska. Young, the 87-year-old Republican who is Alaska’s sole U.S. House of Representatives member, made the announcement on Twitter.”
Shannon McMahon of the Washington Post: “The first cruise in the Caribbean since March has halted its journey after passengers tested for the coronavirus 'returned assumptive positive results' on Wednesday, yachting company SeaDream said in a news release. The cruising ship, the SeaDream I, returned to port in Barbados on Wednesday after administering rapid tests on all passengers as part of its routine testing protocol, which requires testing before and during the journey. The reported outbreak is a major setback for the cruise industry, which has been touting testing as a path to the return to sea.” A BuzzFeed News story is here.
Freeeedumb! Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "As coronavirus infections surge again across the country, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ... said during a Fox News interview on Thursday evening..., 'We should tell [Americans who had recovered from Covid-19] to celebrate.... We should tell them to throw away their masks, go to restaurants, live again, because these people are now immune.' That medically suspect comment from Paul, who tested positive for the virus in March, contradicts widespread public health guidance as well as consistent messaging from many doctors and scientists: There is no evidence that people who have already contracted the virus are now immune to it, they have repeatedly said. And there is a possibility they can still spread the virus to others.... Peter Hotez, an infectious-disease specialist at Baylor University College of Medicine, wrote on Twitter that Paul’s remarks amounted to 'anti-science disinformation.'... It is far from the first time that Paul, a self-certified ophthalmologist, has been accused by doctors of spreading misinformation regarding a pandemic.... During a Senate hearing in September, he was singled out by Anthony S. Fauci ... for repeatedly misconstruing scientific data to serve a political talking point — in this case, about 'herd immunity' in New York.” A shorter version of the story appears in the WashPo's non-firewalled daily Covid-19 developments, linked above.
Freeeedumb! Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: “Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told the Federalist Society on Thursday night that the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in previously 'unimaginable' restrictions on individual liberty.... He repeated his criticism of the court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that granted same-sex couples the right to marry. He told those watching that he predicted at the time that those who continued to hold to the notion that marriage is only between a man and a woman would be seen as bigots. 'That is just what is coming to pass,' he said.... Alito said he was not criticizing officials for their policy decisions — 'I’m a judge, not a policymaker' — and said before launching into the speech that he hoped his remarks would not be 'twisted or misunderstood.'” Mrs. McC: No, Sam, I think we understand quite well. And, yes, Sam, you are a bigot. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito delivered an unusually inflammatory public speech Thursday night, starkly warning about the threats he contends religious believers face from advocates for gay and abortion rights, as well as public officials responding to the coronavirus pandemic.... Alito also seemed to minimize the significance of a refusal of a Colorado baker to produce a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The justice noted that the couple involved 'was given a free cake by another bakery' and that the high-profile standoff prompted 'celebrity chefs' to come to their defense.” Mrs. McC: Sorta like saying it's okay if a Black woman's boss refuses to promote her & calls her racist & sexist names, but after awhile the company promotes her to another department & keeps the first boss on.
Mike Baker of the New York Times: "... Russian military operations in August inside the U.S. economic zone off the coast of Alaska were the latest in a series of escalated encounters across the North Pacific and the Arctic, where the retreat of polar ice continues to draw new commercial and military traffic. This year, the Russian military has driven a new nuclear-powered icebreaker straight to the North Pole, dropped paratroopers into a high-Arctic archipelago to perform a mock battle and repeatedly flown bombers to the edge of U.S. airspace. As seas warmed by climate change open new opportunities for oil exploration and trade routes, the U.S. Coast Guard now finds itself monitoring a range of new activity: cruise ships promising a voyage through waters few have ever seen, research vessels trying to understand the changing landscape, tankers carrying new gas riches, and shipping vessels testing new passageways that sailors of centuries past could only dream of."
Letting a well-connected billionaire get away with child rape and international sex trafficking isn’t ‘poor judgment’ – it is a disgusting failure. Americans ought to be enraged. -- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) ~~~
~~~ Matthew Goldstein & Katie Benner of the New York Times: “A former top federal prosecutor in Miami 'exercised poor judgment' by allowing the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to evade federal child trafficking charges more than a decade ago, a Justice Department review revealed on Thursday, but it found no other wrongdoing, prompting criticism that the department dodged responsibility for its light treatment of Mr. Epstein, who died last year of an apparent suicide after his arrest on similar charges. The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility did not find any professional misconduct by R. Alexander Acosta, the U.S. attorney in Miami who oversaw the 2006 investigation into Mr. Epstein and who later served as labor secretary under President Trump until he resigned last year amid a renewed uproar over the Epstein case.” An NBC News story is here.
Bianca Quilantan of Politico: “A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed with a lower court ruling that Harvard University does not intentionally discriminate against prospective Asian American students. Two judges from the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the district court was correct in ruling that Harvard’s limited use of race in its admissions process in order to achieve diversity 'is consistent with the requirements of Supreme Court precedent.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
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