The Commentariat -- October 27, 2020

Afternoon Update:

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET VOTED, DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND VOTE TODAY. IT MAY BE THE LAST DAY TO HAVE YOUR VOTE COUNTED. See linked stories below on the Supreme Court's Wisconsin decision. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOT. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "For millions of voters who considered using the U.S. Postal Service to cast their ballot for the Nov. 3 election, it's time to find a backup plan, election administration and postal experts say. With the presidential election a week away, mail service continues to lag -- especially in certain swing states that could decide control of the White House. Nationally, 85.6 percent of all first-class mail was delivered on time the week of Oct. 16; that's the 14th consecutive week the on-time rate sat below 90 percent for mail that should reach its destination within three days.... Joe Biden's campaign internally switched its language to voters this week, encouraging them to submit ballots in person or at a secure drop box, according to campaign officials, rather than through the mail. 'If you haven't requested a mail ballot yet, it's too late,' said David Becker, executive director at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research. 'I don't care about the legal deadline; it's just too late in terms of getting it processed, getting it mailed to you and you being able to fill it out and return it.... At this point, if you haven't requested a mail ballot yet, plan to vote in person and vote early, if possible.' Voters who requested but have yet to receive a mail ballot should vote in person, Becker said."

Michael McDonald of the University of Florida is keeping track of early voting -- both mail-in and in-person -- state-by-state and, where available, by party affiliation. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Joe Biden visited Georgia on Tuesday for the first time since clinching the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and he promised to deliver 'hope and healing' to the nation's soul as the race for the White House nears the finish line. Biden delivered a message calling for bipartisanship at a time of turmoil, wrapping himself in the legacy of former President Franklin Roosevelt on a grassy mountaintop not far from where the New Deal Democrat once had his private retreat." ~~~

Mrs. McCrabbie: I watched a few seconds of Melanie speaking somewhere Tuesday. She said Donald was keeping America safe from the coronavirus while Democrats were wasting time impeaching Donald. Somehow it sounds even more bizarre in a Slovenian accent.

The first thing Justice Barrett did was to participate in a campaign event at the White House for the president, eight days before an election that he has explicitly said he expects will turn on her vote. -- Chris Hayes of MSNBC in a tweet (thanks to RAS for the link)

I wonder if the reason Clarence Thomas, instead of John Roberts, swore in Barrett was that Roberts -- unlike Thomas & Barrett -- knew better than to show up wearing a MAGA cap. -- Mrs. McCrabbie

The New York Times' live election updates Tuesday are here: "The Wisconsin Democratic Party and its supporters had been on a mail-voting education crusade since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, advising people how to request, fill out and return absentee ballots. Now, in the wake of a Supreme Court decision Monday disqualifying absentee ballots that are received by election officials after Election Day, the party has changed course, alerting voters not to put ballots in the mail but to return them to their election clerk's office or use drop boxes. The party is in search of missing absentee ballots. Of about 1,706,771 Wisconsin voters who requested absentee ballots, 1,344,535 have returned them. That means 366,236 ballots are still out there."

Barack Obama campaigns for Joe Biden in Orlando, Florida:

Tom Hamburger & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Twenty former U.S. attorneys -- all of them Republicans -- on Tuesday publicly called President Trump 'a threat to the rule of law in our country,' and urged that he be replaced in November with his Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden. 'The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests,' said the former prosecutors in an open letter. They accused Trump of taking 'action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice.'" U.S. attorneys are political appointees.

Wall Street Hopes for a Blue Wave. Ben White of Politico: "... Donald Trump loves to say that if Joe Biden wins the White House, stocks will crash, retirement accounts will vanish and an economic depression 'the likes of which you’ve never seen' will engulf the nation. But much of Wall Street is already betting on a Biden win.... Traders in recent weeks have been piling into bets that a 'blue wave' election, in which Democrats also seize the Senate, will produce an economy-juicing blast of fresh fiscal stimulus of $3 trillion or more that carries the U.S. past the coronavirus crisis and into a more normal environment for markets. Far from panicking at the prospect of a Biden win, Wall Street CEOs, traders and investment managers now mostly say they would be fine with a change in the White House that reduces the Trump noise, lowers the threat of further trade wars and ensures a continuation of the government spending they've seen in recent years."

David Rothkopf in USA Today: "The 2020 election presents us with an existential choice. If we reelect this wannabe authoritarian, this puppet of foreign autocrats, he and they will be not just validated but empowered. Whatever Trump's motivation, we have seen him remake our judiciary and undermine our system of justice. He has degraded America on the global stage and profoundly weakened us. All that is the price of his betrayals to date. Should he be given four more years to carry them forward, our democracy might never recover. We must see him for the traitor he is and see that because of the high office he held and his complete absence of character or care for the country, he may well be the worst of all those who have betrayed America in the past."

** Mark Stern of Slate: "On Monday night, Justice Brett Kavanaugh released a radical and brazenly partisan opinion that dashed any hopes he, as the Supreme Court's new median justice, might slow-walk the court's impending conservative revolution, while also threatening the integrity of next week's election. In an 18-page lecture, the justice cast doubt on the legitimacy of many mail ballots and endorsed the most sinister component of Bush v. Gore. America's new median justice is not a friend to democracy, and we may pay the price for Barrett's confirmation in just eight days.... Kavanaugh's opinion ... is frankly terrifying.... Kavanaugh ... [argued that] ... 'absentee ballots flow[ing] in after election day [could] potentially flip the results of an election.'... [But] there is no result to 'flip' because there is no result to overturn until all valid ballots are counted." ~~~

      ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: See also my comment below regarding the confederate Supremes' "philosophy of jurisprudence" & Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread. Here's the kicker that unites our two comments, via Stern: "George W. Bush's 2000 election legal team -- which included Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts -- argued during that contested election that ballots arriving late and without postmarks, which were thought to benefit Bush, must be counted in Florida."

Judge Laughs Trump, DOJ Out of Court. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department's bid to make the U.S. government the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says President Trump raped her decades ago, paving the way for the case to again proceed. In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that Trump did not qualify as a government 'employee' under federal law, nor was he acting 'within the scope of his employment' when he denied during interviews in 2019 that he had raped journalist E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store during the 1990s.... If the judge had done what the Justice Department asked, government lawyers could then have invoked the notion of 'sovereign immunity' -- which prohibits lawsuits against the government -- to end the case." The New York Times' story is here. A CNN story is here.

David Folkenflik of NPR: "A regulatory 'firewall' intended to protect Voice of America and its affiliated newsrooms from political interference in their journalism was swept aside late Monday night by the chief executive of the federal agency which oversees the government's international broadcasters. Michael Pack, a Trump appointee who assumed leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June..., argued they had interfered with his mandate 'to support the foreign policy of the United States.' The move set off a firestorm. 'I am stunned,' former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett told NPR early Tuesday morning. 'It removes the one thing that makes Voice of America distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes.'" Mrs. McC: Sorry, Amanda, the Trump administration is a "repressive regime." Pack's move is a signal (and not the first he has sent) to make that crystal-clear.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "The United States reported more than 74,300 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, pushing the country's daily average over the past week above 71,000, the most in any seven-day stretch of the pandemic. Across the country, the outlook continues to worsen. More than 20 states are reporting case numbers at or near record levels."

Presidential Race, Etc.

Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "... Donald Trump argued on Monday morning that it ought to be against the law for the news media to cover the pandemic ahead of the elections as the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. surpasses 225,000. 'We have made tremendous progress with the China Virus, but the Fake News refuses to talk about it this close to the Election,' he tweeted. 'COVID, COVID, COVID is being used by them, in total coordination, in order to change our great early election numbers. Should be an election law violation!'... 'All you hear is COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID,' he complained [at a North Carolina rally]. 'That's all they put on, because they want to scare the hell out of everyone.' Meanwhile, the White House has admitted that it's given up on trying to contain the virus." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Telling the news media what they can & can't report of course is what dictators do. I'm not sure even some of the world's worst dictators are cracking down on reports of an international pandemic. ~~~

~~~ Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "... the virus is getting worse in states that the president needs the most, at the least opportune time. New infections are raging in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the upper Midwest. In Iowa, polls suggest Trump is in a toss-up race with Biden after carrying the state by 9.4 percentage points four years ago.... As Trump enters a frenzied final week of campaigning, he continues to hold mass rallies that often defy local public health rules." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I think Trump's cruel calculation back in January, February & March was that the virus -- for the most part -- was going to hit only blue, coastal states where he was likely to lose anyway. He did have to pump up the markets with lies, but "his" voters were not going to care too much about the deaths of New Yorkers & Californians. Indeed, even as the virus spread across the country, the hardest-hit communities were people of color: meatpacking plant workers & urban minorities. Even though he's the least racist person in America, he knew "those people" would not likely vote for him.

So-White Jared Explains Black People to White Foxbots. ... one thing we've seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they're complaining about. But he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful. -- Jared Kushner, on Fox "News" Monday morning

... Black Americans are lazy, complacent and content with mediocrity. -- Translation, by Eugene Scott of the Washington Post

Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Prior to becoming a prominent backer of Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany praised then-Vice President Joe Biden as 'funny and likable' and a 'man of the people' who resonates with 'middle class voters.'... In August 2015 interviews reviewed by CNN's KFile, McEnany said Republicans would run into a problem in a potential race between Donald Trump and Biden. 'I think the Republicans run into a problem if it is Joe Biden and if it is maybe a Trump on the other side,' McEnany said on local New York's AM970.... '... if Trump is against Joe, I think the juxtaposition of kind of the man of the people and kind of this tycoon, is a problem,' she said."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "... on Monday morning, NBC News' Today show irresponsibly aired a deceptively edited clip of Joe Biden, which appears to have originated with the Trump campaign, and purports to show the former vice president mixing up ... Donald Trump and George W. Bush.... The provenance of the clip appears to be the 'Trump War Room' Twitter account, which on Sunday night posted the exact same 12 seconds that NBC later aired." There's more.

One way to pass the time while waiting in line to vote:

Maryland. Brian Witte of the AP: "Maryland voters lined up on Monday for a busy, record-breaking first day of in-person early voting in the state.... More than 125,000 people had voted at the state's 81 early voting centers by 5 p.m., officials said. The previous high was 123,623 in 2016. Maryland has had early voting since 2010.... More than 1 million Maryland residents have voted so far, when Monday's voting is added to more than 947,000 absentee ballots returned so far." ~~~

~~~ Ovetta Wiggins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Across Maryland..., lines snaked out of community centers and schools and massive venues that had never hosted elections before.... Many voters treated casting a ballot like a personal triumph, with couples high-fiving and sons and daughters Facetiming their parents to brandish 'I voted' stickers, which election judges sometimes distributed alongside tiny bottles of hand sanitizer. In a year where concerns about covid-19 prompted a nearly half of Maryland voters -- 1.7 million -- to request ballots by mail, throngs also turned out for the first day of in-person early voting...."

** Wisconsin. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court refused on Monday to revive a trial court ruling that would have extended Wisconsin's deadline for receiving absentee ballots to six days after the election. The vote was 5 to 3, with the court's more conservative justices in the majority. As is typical, the court's brief, unsigned order gave no reasons. But several justices filed concurring and dissenting opinions that spanned 35 pages and revealed a stark divide in their understanding of the role of the courts in protecting the right to vote during a pandemic.... The Democratic Party of Wisconsin immediately announced a voter education project to alert voters that absentee ballots have to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3.... The ruling came as President Trump continued to attack mail-in voting, which Democrats are using far more heavily this year. In a tweet late Monday, Mr. Trump falsely declared that there were 'Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.' (Twitter quickly put a warning label on the tweet.) The ruling was also the latest in a flurry of election-year decisions by the court that have mostly upheld voting restrictions, and the Trump campaign and its Republican allies are seeking similar restrictions on ballot deadlines in other states.... In his concurrence on Monday, Justice Kavanaugh criticized what he called Justice Kagan's 'rhetoric of "disenfranchisement."' She responded that she had meant the word literally, not rhetorically." See also Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread on the exchange between Kavanaugh & Kagan. ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes writes the Washington Post's report. Justice Elena "Kagan, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, said it was unreasonable for the court not to approve the same extension it granted during Wisconsin's April primary. 'Because of the court's ruling, state officials counted 80,000 ballots -- about five percent of the total cast -- that were postmarked by Election Day but would have been discarded for arriving a few days later,' she wrote. 'Today, millions of Wisconsin citizens are preparing to vote in the November election. But COVID is not over. In Wisconsin, the pandemic is much worse -- more than 20 times worse, by one measure -- than it was in the spring.'" ~~~

     ~~~ You can read the order, and the justices' opinions on it, here, via the Supreme Court. ~~~

~~~ Mark Stern of Slate: "Although George W. Bush prevailed in the Bush v. Gore decision..., the Supreme Court declined to affirm his chief legal argument.... Because the standards used to recount ballots varied between counties, the court concluded, the process violated the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.... This claim was so radical, so contrary to basic principles of democracy and federalism, that two conservative justices stepped back from the brink. Instead, the majority fabricated a novel theory to hand Bush the election -- then instructed lower courts never to rely on it again. But the court has changed. Republican lawmakers revived the original Bush v. Gore argument in fraught election cases this year, and, following Amy Coney Barrett's nomination, four sitting justices appeared to endorse it. Barrett's confirmation on Monday will almost certainly tip the balance to make that argument the law of the land on the eve of an election. The result would be an immediate invalidation of thousands of disproportionately Democratic ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina -- two swing states that could decide the outcome of the election. Put simply, Barrett's first actions on the court could hand Donald Trump an unearned second term, and dramatically curtail states' ability to protect the right to vote."

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "What is surprising ... is two concurring opinions by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, each of which takes aim at one of the most foundational principles of American constitutional law: the rule that the Supreme Court of the United States has the final word on questions of federal law but the highest court in each state has the final word on questions of state law.... Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lash out at this very basic rule.... [They] believe the Supreme Court of the United States may overrule a state supreme court, at least when the federal justices disagree with the state supreme court's approach to election law.... They also sent a loud signal, just eight days before a presidential election, that long-settled rules governing elections may now be unsettled." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If these legal arguments confuse you, let me put it more simply: the law is whatever the confederate judges say it is at a discrete moment in time. Nothing requires them to rule consistently; therefore, they will rule in favor of whatever maintains right-wing hegemony. It's as if Mitch McConnell has infected them.

Reminder: How to Rig an Election. Victoria Collier of Harper's Magazine (2012): "From the earliest days of the republic, American politicians (and much of a cynical populace) saw vote rigging as a necessary evil.... By the beginning of the last century, however, sentiment had begun to shift. In 1915, the Supreme Court ruled that vote suppression could be federally prosecuted.... With the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many Americans began to believe that the bad old days of stolen elections might soon be behind us. But as the twentieth century came to a close, a brave new world of election rigging emerged.... This privatization of our elections has occurred without public knowledge or consent, leading to one of the most dangerous and least understood crises in the history of American democracy. We have actually lost the ability to verify election results.... This privatization of our elections has occurred without public knowledge or consent, leading to one of the most dangerous and least understood crises in the history of American democracy. We have actually lost the ability to verify election results." --s

Ohio State Supreme Court Race. Jim Provance of The Blade: "Conservative national political strategist Karl Rove has gotten involved in the fight for control of the Ohio Supreme Court, and he makes it clear he's driven by one issue: redistricting. In a fund-raising plea distributed by Republican Justice Judith French's campaign, Mr. Rove argues that her Democratic opponent, 10th District Court of Appeals Judge Jennifer Brunner, has the backing of a national redistricting effort headed by former Obama era Attorney General Eric Holder. Justice French, seeking a second six-year term, faces a tough battle with Judge Brunner, a former Ohio secretary of state, in one of two high court seats on the Nov. 3 ballot. The court currently has a 5-2 Republican majority. Should Democrats upset both incumbents, it would create a 4-3 Democratic majority not seen in more than three decades. Judicial candidates do not appear on general election ballots with partisan labels. The high court will decide any challenge to new congressional and state legislative maps drawn next year under new voter-approved rules following the latest U.S. Census. Those districts have played a role in what is now a Republican-controlled 12-4 congressional delegation, 24-9 state Senate, and 61-38 state House of Representatives." [Firewalled] --s

Roger Sollenberger of Salon: "The Trump Organization reregistered the domain name TrumpTowerMoscow.com this June, internet records show, suggesting that contrary to President Trump's claims, the company has not necessarily abandoned its pursuit of the lucrative real estate deal that figured prominently in multiple investigations into his connections with Russia.... The TrumpOrganization has re-upped the domain every year of his presidency.... The domain was first registered in 2008, according to internet 'whois' lookups, but the Trump Organization was not the first buyer. Longtime Trump associate Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman whose efforts to build the Moscow tower date back to the early 2000s, told Salon that he turned ownership of the domain over to the Trump Organization in 2015, when Trump signed a letter of intent to develop the project." --s

Eric Yoder of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration-appointed head of a key advisory council on th civil service has resigned over an executive order to strip away protections against political interference in hiring and firing for a large portion of the career federal workforce. The order, which could affect tens of thousands or more career positions involved in making or carrying out policy, 'is nothing more than a smoke screen for what is clearly an attempt to require the political loyalty of those who advise the President, or failing that, to enable their removal with little if any due process,' Ronald Sanders wrote in his letter of resignation Sunday from the Federal Salary Council.... '... Career Federal employees are legally and duty-bound to be nonpartisan; they take an oath to preserve and protect our Constitution and the rule of law ... not to be loyal to a particular President or Administration....' Sanders has served in federal personnel positions across four decades...."

     ~~~ Thanks to NJC for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ AP: “Comedian John Oliver made a secret trip to Connecticut last week to help cut the ribbon on a sign naming a sewage treatment plant in his honor. Danbury's City Council voted earlier this month to rename the sewage plant 'The John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,' following a tongue-in-cheek battle that began with an expletive-filled rant against the city on HBO's 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' in August. Mayor Mark Boughton responded to the attack by posting a video of himself at the sewage plant saying the city was going to name it after Oliver 'because it's full of crap just like you, John.'"

Rebecca Traister of New York: "Four years later, any notion of salvation feels pulled from a fairy tale. The Obamas would not save anyone; Robert Mueller did not save anyone; Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis are dead, and when they were alive, they weren't capable of saving anyone either. There were no noble Republicans and too few ferocious Democrats. The fantasy that there are bulwarks in place -- individuals or institutions -- has been correctly obliterated, leaving little barrier between America's people and an awareness of their vulnerability to a plunderous ruling class. This has been the terrible gift of these years.... Those who had been privileged enough to snuggle warm and dumb beneath the blankets of an imagined postfeminist, post-civil-rights, post-Obergefell, post-Obama Camelot found themselves suddenly exposed: cold, shivering, and wide-eyed with fear and realization that the system they'd been taught responds to the will of the people was in fact designed to be able to suppress it." --s Firewalled.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "With the coronavirus spreading out of control in many parts of the United States and daily case counts setting records, health experts say it is only a matter of time before hospitals start to reach the breaking point. In some places, it is already happening. There are more than 41,000 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the United States, a 40 percent rise in the past month. And unlike during the earlier months of the pandemic, more of those patients are being cared for not in metropolitan regions but in more sparsely populated parts of the country, where the medical infrastructure is less robust." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The president of Fox News and several of the network's top anchors have been advised to quarantine after being exposed to someone on a private flight who later tested positive for the coronavirus, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Sunday. The infected person was on a charter flight to New York from Nashville with a group of network executives, personalities and other staff members who attended the presidential debate on Thursday, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal network matters.... Those who were exposed include Jay Wallace, the president of Fox News Media; Bret Baier, the chief political anchor; Martha MacCallum, the anchor of Fox's 7 p.m. show, 'The Story'; and Dana Perino and Juan Williams, two hosts of 'The Five.'" This report is an item in Sunday's NYT Covid-19 updates. (Also linked yesterday.)

Seung Min-Kim of the Washington Post: "A bitterly divided Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th justice to the Supreme Court on Monday, elevating just the fifth woman to the court in its 231-year history and one who further cements its conservative shift -- a legacy that will last even if Republicans lose power in next week's elections. The vote was 52 to 48 for Barrett.... 'The American people will never forget this blatant act of bad faith. They will never forget your complete disregard for their voices, for the people standing in line right now voting their choice, not your choice,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said shortly before the vote. But Republicans asserted their raw power, muscling Barrett's nomination through in just over four weeks and with no bipartisan support -- the first time that has occurred for a Supreme Court nominee in generations and a reflection of the politicized atmosphere around judicial fights.... Vice President Pence, who said on Saturday that he wouldn't miss Barrett's confirmation vote 'for the world,' instead stayed away from his initial plans to preside over the Senate on Monday evening amid a fresh outbreak of covid-19 among his staff, including some of his closest aides.... In an outdoor ceremony at the White House an hour later, Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Barrett, with Trump and several Republican senators looking on." The AP's story is here. The New York Times' story is here. ~~~

~~~ Aamer Madhani & Mary Jalonick of the AP: "It's been only a month since ... Donald Trump's Rose Garden event to announce he was nominating Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the Supreme Court. That packed celebration for friends and allies of the president and his high court nominee turned into a coronavirus superspreader event. When the just-confirmed Barrett returned to the White House on Monday to take her constitutional oath, the celebration was moved to the broader South Lawn, chairs for more than 200 guests were spread about 6 feet apart, and the mask-wearers greatly outnumbered those who declined to cover their faces. Some participants -- including Trump and Barrett -- were unmasked." Mrs. McC: Also, Monday's swearing-in took place in the dead of night, which is the appropriate time-of-day to steal a Supreme Court seat. ~~~

~~~ Democrats Ask Pence to Show a Little Common Decency. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Top Senate Democrats are urging Vice President Mike Pence to abandon plans to preside over Monday's vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after several of his aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and members of his leadership team sent a letter to Pence saying that in the wake of the recent coronavirus cases, presiding over the vote 'is not a risk worth taking.' 'Not only would your presence in the Senate Chamber tomorrow be a clear violation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, it would also be a violation of common decency and courtesy. Your presence alone could be very dangerous to many people ... who must be physically present inside the U.S. Capitol for it to function,' the senators wrote to Pence.... Pence won't be needed to break a tie during the vote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence is not expected to preside over the Senate's confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett Monday night unless his vote is somehow necessary to approve her. Unless multiple Republican senators are absent, a highly unlikely scenario, Barrett has the votes to be confirmed without Pence breaking a tie. Fifty-two GOP senators are expected to support Barrett's final confirmation." Mrs. McC: mike is spending Monday afternoon doing the essential work of spreading Covid-19 in Minnesota.

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The White House plans to host a swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Monday night following her expected confirmation, despite concerns that a gathering for her nomination in September was a super-spreader event for the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday.)

Julian Borger of the Guardian (Oct. 22): "The US has today signed an anti-abortion declaration with a group of about 30 largely illiberal or authoritarian governments, after the failure of an effort to expand the conservative coalition. The [move] is ... led by secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to reorient US foreign policy in a more socially conservative direction, even at the expense of alienating traditional western allies. The 'core supporters' of the declaration are Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda, and the 27 other signatories include Belarus (where security forces are currently trying to suppress a women-led protest movement), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sure shows you the company we keep.

The New Yorker publishes an excerpt of President Barack Obama's memoir, this on the fight to pass an affordable healthcare bill into law. Firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Tom McCarthy of the Guardian describes the excerpt: "The former president also speaks to the political divides that spawned Donald Trump and to the stakes of the election next week in which Obama's vice-president, Joe Biden, hopes to eject Trump from the White House." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Virginia. Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute resigned Monday morning, after Black cadets described relentless racism at the nation's oldest state-supported military college and Gov. Ralph Northam ordered an independent probe of the school's culture. Retired Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, 80, had been superintendent of the 181-year-old school since 2003. In his resignation letter to John Boland, president of VMI's Board of Visitors, Peay said that he'd been told by the governor's chief of staff that Northam (D) and other state legislators had 'lost confidence in my leadership' and 'desired my resignation.'" Mrs. McC: Both Peay & Boland are Confederate throwbacks; Boland should go, too.

News Ledes

AP: "California prepared for another round of dangerous fire weather Tuesday even as crews fought a pair of fast-moving blazes in the south that critically injured two firefighters and left more than 100,000 under evacuation orders. Some of the fiercest winds of the fire season drove fires up and down the state Sunday night and Monday before easing but they were expected to resume overnight and continue into Tuesday morning, although not to the earlier extremes, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasts called for Santa Ana winds up to 50 to 80 mph (80.4 to 128.7 kph) at times over much of Southern California, with some of the strongest gusts howling through Orange County, where two blazes sped through brushy hills near major urban centers."

NPR: "Weekend snowfall granted a reprieve against the two largest wildfires in Colorado history, which together have spread over more than 400,000 acres. But the fires continue to burn. The East Troublesome Fire spread 192,560 acres and jumped the Continental Divide. It is 15% contained. The nearby Cameron Peak Fire, the largest blaze in state history, is now 64% contained. It has already burned over 208,600 acres. Both fires have moved into Rocky Mountain National Park. The park itself has suffered minimal damage, although it hasn't been fully assessed, according to an incident update."

Weather Channel: "Hurricane Zeta is moving across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and then will head toward the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, where it's likely to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge. Hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted for the northern Gulf Coast ahead of Zeta. A hurricane watch extends Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi/Alabama border, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans. This means hurricane conditions could occur somewhere within the watch area."

The Commentariat -- October 26, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "... Donald Trump argued on Monday morning that it ought to be against the law for the news media to cover the pandemic ahead of the elections as the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. surpasses 225,000. 'We have made tremendous progress with the China Virus, but the Fake News refuses to talk about it this close to the Election,' he tweeted. 'COVID, COVID, COVID is being used by them, in total coordination, in order to change our great early election numbers. Should be an election law violation!'... 'All you hear is COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID,' he complained [at a North Carolina rally]. 'That's all they put on, because they want to scare the hell out of everyone.' Meanwhile, the White House has admitted that it's given up on trying to contain the virus." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Telling the news media what they can & can't report of course is what dictators do. I'm not sure even some of the world's worst dictators are cracking down on reports of an international pandemic.

The New Yorker publishes an excerpt of President Barack Obama's memoir, this on the fight to pass an affordable healthcare bill into law. Firewalled. ~~~

~~~ Tom McCarthy of the Guardian describes the excerpt: "The former president also speaks to the political divides that spawned Donald Trump and to the stakes of the election next week in which Obama's vice-president, Joe Biden, hopes to eject Trump from the White House."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "With the coronavirus spreading out of control in many parts of the United States and daily case counts setting records, health experts say it is only a matter of time before hospitals start to reach the breaking point. In some places, it is already happening. There are more than 41,000 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the United States, a 40 percent rise in the past month. And unlike during the earlier months of the pandemic, more of those patients are being cared for not in metropolitan regions but in more sparsely populated parts of the country, where the medical infrastructure is less robust."

Democrats Ask Pence to Show a Little Common Decency. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Top Senate Democrats are urging Vice President Mike Pence to abandon plans to preside over Monday's vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court after several of his aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and members of his leadership team sent a letter to Pence saying that in the wake of the recent coronavirus cases, presiding over the vote 'is not a risk worth taking.' 'Not only would your presence in the Senate Chamber tomorrow be a clear violation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, it would also be a violation of common decency and courtesy. Your presence alone could be very dangerous to many people ... who must be physically present inside the U.S. Capitol for it to function,' the senators wrote to Pence.... Pence won't be needed to break a tie during the vote." ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The White House plans to host a swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Monday night following her expected confirmation, despite concerns that a gathering for her nomination in September was a super-spreader event for the coronavirus."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The president of Fox News and several of the network's top anchors have been advised to quarantine after being exposed to someone on a private flight who later tested positive for the coronavirus, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said on Sunday. The infected person was on a charter flight to New York from Nashville with a group of network executives, personalities and other staff members who attended the presidential debate on Thursday, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal network matters.... Those who were exposed include Jay Wallace, the president of Fox News Media; Bret Baier, the chief political anchor; Martha MacCallum, the anchor of Fox's 7 p.m. show, 'The Story'; and Dana Perino and Juan Williams, two hosts of 'The Five.'" This report is an item in Sunday's NYT Covid-19 updates.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

Norah O'Donnell of CBS News: "When we spoke with Joe Biden this past week in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president was ahead in the polls, but confronting a withering final assault from President Trump. As the presidential campaign enters its final full week, we also had questions for his running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris. In our conversation, Joe Biden discussed how much he'd be influenced by progressives within his own party, whether his proposed tax increases would hurt the economy, and how he views the current state of the race." Video & transcript of the interview included.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "... Joe Biden has endured a long and bruising campaign, with repeated attacks on his policies, his family, his mental faculties -- and, often, sustained doubts even from those inside his own party.... But the circumstances of this campaign -- a pandemic and an economic collapse costing millions of jobs and making even the still-employed feel vulnerable -- have pushed the race in the direction of Biden's strong suits and against his deficits, shining a bright light on his empathy and sober experience and casting his flaws into the shadows. He has emerged with more Americans viewing him favorably now than at this time last year, the opposite of the usual trajectory of a campaign and far different from the circumstances that faced Hillary Clinton in 2016. He holds a national lead approaching double digits and narrower but stable leads in many battleground states. He enters the final stretch with far more money to spend than Trump as he reaches for the pinnacle of a political career, one that has eluded him twice before."

Fadel Allassan of Axios: "The New Hampshire Union Leader, the conservative-leaning Manchester-based newspaper, endorsed Joe Biden for president on Sunday.... It's the first time the paper has endorsed a Democrat for president in over 100 years, after it broke from more than a century of backing Republicans to endorse libertarian Gary Johnson over President Trump in 2016.... 'President Trump is not always 100 percent wrong, but he is 100 percent wrong for America,' the editorial reads." The Union-Leader editors' endorsement is here. It's lukewarm, but it's something.

Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: "Joe Biden has outraised President Trump on the strength of some of the wealthiest and most educated ZIP codes in the United States, running up the fund-raising score in cities and suburbs so resoundingly that he collected more money than Mr. Trump on all but two days in the last two months, according to a New York Times analysis of $1.8 billion donated by 7.6 million people since April. The data reveals, for the first time, not only when Mr. Biden decisively overtook Mr. Trump in the money race -- it happened the day Senator Kamala Harris joined the ticket -- but also what corners of the country, geographically and demographically, powered his remarkable surge. The findings paint a portrait of two candidates who are, in many ways, financing their campaigns from two different Americas.... Under Mr. Trump, Republicans have hemorrhaged support from white voters with college degrees.... The fund-raising data suggests that erosion is not only harming the party's electoral prospects but also its economic bottom line."

Russian Election Interference-- Not Sure Whom This Helps. Andrew Osborn of Reuters: "Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that he saw nothing criminal in Hunter Biden's past business ties with Ukraine or Russia, marking out his disagreement with one of Donald Trump's attack lines in the U.S. presidential election. Putin was responding to comments made by Trump during televised debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Trump, who is trailing in opinion polls, has used the debates to make accusations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in unethical practices in Ukraine. No evidence has been verified to support the allegations, and Joe Biden has called them false and discredited. Putin, who has praised Trump in the past for saying he wanted better ties with Moscow, has said Russia will work with any U.S. leader, while noting what he called Joe Biden's 'sharp anti-Russian rhetoric'.... In what may be seen by some analysts as an attempt to try to curry favour with the Biden camp, he took the time to knock down what he made clear he regarded as false allegations from Trump about the Bidens."

Lesley Stahl interviews Donald Trump & mike pence. Of the interview with Trump, she says, "We had prepared to talk about the many issues and questions facing the president, but in what has become an all-too-public dust-up, the conversation was cut short. It began politely, but ended regrettably, contentiously." Includes video & transcript of the interviews. Here's the part where Angry Baby whines & walks out:

     ~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump continued his dishonesty blitz in an interview with Lesley Stahl of '60 Minutes.' An edited version of the interview aired on CBS Sunday night. Trump released the full 38-minute interview on Facebook on Thursday, pre-empting the network because he said he was unhappy with Stahl's questioning. Despite Stahl's persistent efforts to challenge him, Trump made false or misleading claims about several topics on which he has been frequently deceptive in recent months -- most notably the coronavirus pandemic. We counted at least 16 false or misleading claims in the extended footage Trump posted, 10 of them pandemic-related." The article has a full list, including those that Trump made in the portions of the video "60 Minutes" cut.

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The presidential campaign was roiled this weekend by a fresh outbreak of the novel coronavirus at the White House that infected at least five aides or advisers to Vice President Pence, a spread that President Trump's top staffer acknowledged Sunday he had tried to avoid disclosing to the public.... The new White House outbreak spotlighted the administration's failure to contain the pandemic as hospitalizations surge across much of the United States and daily new cases hit all-time highs. The outbreak around Pence, who chairs the White House's coronavirus task force, undermines the argument Trump has been making to voters that the country is 'rounding the turn,' as the president put it at a rally Sunday in New Hampshire. Further complicating Trump's campaign-trail pitch was an extraordinary admission Sunday from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that the administration had effectively given up on trying to slow the virus's spread. 'We're not going to control the pandemic,' Meadows said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' '"We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.'... The vice president continued Sunday with his heavy travel schedule, flying to North Carolina for an evening rally in Kinston. He told aides that he was determined to keep up his appearances through the week despite his potential exposure, irrespective of guidelines, officials said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Although the CDC recommends 14 days of quarantine, the White House is arguing that pence can continue his schedule because he is an "essential worker." That does not mean that leading superspreaders is "essential." ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "... for voters, the new wave of infections at the White House just over a week before Election Day was a visceral reminder of the president's dismissive and erratic handling of the virus, even in one of the most secure spaces in the country.... Joseph R. Biden Jr. ... said Sunday that the statement by [Trump's Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows was 'an acknowledgment of what President Trump's strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasn't, and it won't.'... As the leader of the White House virus task force, Mr. Pence has parroted the president's rosy outlook.... Over the past several months, Mr. Pence stood by as the White House sidelined Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, and Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the task force coordinator, and instead embraced Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a radiologist and senior fellow at Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution, who has advocated a largely hands-off approach by the federal government to stopping the pandemic.... [After five of Pence's aides tested positive, at least some with symptoms,] his spokesman would not say whether Mr. Pence was receiving some of the drugs Mr. Trump was given.... The decision to continue Mr. Pence's schedule risked making the outbreak in his ranks a bigger story than if he pulled back from the campaign trail." ~~~

~~~ Anita Kumar & Nancy Cook of Politico: "... Donald Trump is heading into the final nine days of the 2020 election with a new nationwide explosion in coronavirus cases and a second outbreak in the top ranks of his own White House -- all while he tries to sell an alternate reality to voters. Trump claims the U.S. is turning the corner on the pandemic, blames the media for being too focused on the coronavirus and blasts the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, for trying to lock up the country.... Most polls show Trump lagging behind Biden in part because some Americans have lost confidence in the president's handling of the coronavirus, the most important issue to many voters."

The Washington Post's live election updates Sunday are here. They're free to nonsubscribers.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Ben Smith of the New York Times writes a column that begins with the failed attempt of Trump allies -- including a White House lawyer -- to plant a damaging story about Joe & Hunter Biden in the Wall Street Journal in time for Trump to hype it at the last presidential debate. Smith goes on to assert that establishment media "gatekeepers" are back in control after years of allowing right-wing media -- and Trump himself -- to drive the news. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe. Since I scan -- but don't study -- a huge amount of media political reporting every day, I can tell you that my impression (and that's all it is -- an impression) is that major media outlets are just not that interested in slamming Joe Biden, but they have no qualms about pointing to the rich trove of bad -- and outright dangerous -- Trump behavior. I would guess this is not because Trump hurt their feelings by calling them fake news & not because Biden is the perfect candidate, but because they -- like all sensible Americans -- are terrified by what a second Trump term could do to destroy our fragile form of government. Anyway, if you have a NYT subscription, Smith's column is worth a read.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Tiffany Hsu of the New York Times: "In the final stretch of the 2020 campaign, right-leaning news sites with millions of readers have published dozens of false or misleading headlines and articles that effectively back unsubstantiated claims by President Trump and his allies that mail-in ballots threaten the integrity of the election. The Washington Examiner, Breitbart News, The Gateway Pundit and The Washington Times are among the sites that have posted articles with headlines giving weight to the conspiracy theory that voter fraud is rampant and could swing the election to the left, a theory that has been repeatedly debunked by data." Hsu provides examples of false stories, only some of which were corrected after the fake news had gone viral.

Neither Rhyme Nor Reason. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "At least nine times since April, the Supreme Court has issued rulings in election disputes. Or perhaps 'rulings' is too generous a word for those unsigned orders, which addressed matters as consequential as absentee voting during the pandemic in Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, and the potential disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people with felony convictions in Florida. Most of the orders, issued on what scholars call the court's 'shadow docket,' did not bother to supply even a whisper of reasoning.... If the court is going to treat emergency applications with something like equal care, it might consider explaining what it is doing. Explaining, Judge Frank H. Easterbrook wrote in 2000, is what distinguishes judges from politicians. 'The political branches of government claim legitimacy by election, judges by reason,' he wrote. 'Any step that withdraws an element of the judicial process from public view makes the ensuing decision look more like fiat, which requires compelling justification.'"

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Santas Get the Sack. Daniel Politi of Slate: "The Department of Health and Human Services had planned to devote $250 million for an advertising campaign, part of which involved Santa Claus performers promoting COVID-19 vaccination, reports the Wall Street Journal. In exchange, they would get access to the vaccine before the general public. And not just Mr. Claus, performers playing Mrs. Claus and elves would also benefit from the scheme. Michael Caputo, an HHS assistant secretary who took a 60-day medical leave last month, was the one who thought up the plan. It has since been scrapped and the HHS spokesman denies that HHS Secretary Alex Azar had any idea that it was in the works. Rick Erwin, the head of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, isn't happy with the news that had given Santa performers hope the holiday season wouldn't be completely lost due to the pandemic. Caputo had told Erwin the vaccine would likely be approved by mid-November and front-line workers would get it before Thanksgiving. 'If you and your colleagues are not essential workers, I don't know what is,' Caputo said in a call. Erwin recorded phone calls he had with Caputo and shared them with the Journal." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Since the vaccine is not likely to be given to children any time soon, the only purpose of using a child-friendly figure like Santa would be, I guess, to imply Santa Loves Trump. Hell, maybe they would have had Trump play Santa. He would only have had to change his make-up from the brownface he's favored lately (if you saw him at the last debate, you know what I mean) to something with a rosier glow. On the other hand, Anonymous has a reasonable theory explaining the purpose of the Santa's-Bag-Is-Full-of-Hypodermic-Needles project: "Maybe it was actually an attempt to neutralize Melania's recorded 'fuck Christmas' comment." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Speaking of child-centric holiday celebrations ... an AP item about Sunday evening's White House Halloween party for kids reports, "Guests older than 2 were required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. The same went for all White House personnel working the event, while any staff giving out candy also wore gloves." But the story, at least @ 7 am ET, does not mention that the hosts, two ghouls named Don Dracula & Mean Monster Melanie, were not wearing masks. Fortunately, in the online version, there are photos.

Ruby Mellen of the Washington Post: "Italy became the latest European country to announce new restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus on Sunday as countries across the continent continue to report surging infections. France on Sunday announced more than 50,000 new infections, a new record for the fourth day running. Germany, widely lauded for its initial handling of the virus, reported a surge of its own. The number of coronavirus cases in Poland has doubled in less than three weeks. And Spain has also imposed new restrictions. The World Health Organization reported new daily case records worldwide three days in a row last week, with new infections reaching more than 465,000 on Saturday. Almost half of those cases were in the organization's Europe region. The United States set a new record Friday with more than 82,000 confirmed new infections."

** Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The Republican party has become dramatically more illiberal in the past two decades and now more closely resembles ruling parties in autocratic societies than its former centre-right equivalents in Europe, according to a new international study. In a significant shift since 2000, the GOP has taken to demonising and encouraging violence against its opponents, adopting attitudes and tactics comparable to ruling nationalist parties in Hungary, India, Poland and Turkey.... By contrast the Democratic party has changed little in its attachment to democratic norms, and in that regard has remained similar to centre-right and centre-left parties in western Europe. Their principal difference is the approach to the economy." --s

Trump's Gifts to Putin Diminish the U.S. & Strengthen Russia. Philip Rucker & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Under President Trump, the United States has abandoned international climate and nuclear arms agreements. It has announced its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, questioned the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and antagonized stalwart allies like Germany. America's past presidents have long promoted democracy, human rights and the rule of law abroad, yet Trump instead has waged an assault on those values at home, where he has weakened institutions, shredded norms and declared without evidence that the upcoming election will be 'rigged.' America's moral authority also has been undercut by the devastatingly high death toll and wrenching economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with the racial reckoning that has convulsed the country. These highlights from Trump's nearly four years in office read like Vladimir Putin's wish list. Few countries have benefited more geopolitically from Trump's time in office than Russia."

Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios: "If President Trump wins re-election, he'll move to immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and also expects to replace CIA Director Gina Haspel and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, two people who've discussed these officials' fates with the president tell Axios.... The list of planned replacements is much longer, but these are Trump's priorities, starting with Wray.... A win, no matter the margin, will embolden Trump to ax anyone he sees as constraining him from enacting desired policies or going after perceived enemies. Trump last week signed an executive order that set off alarm bells as a means to politicize the civil service. An administration official said the order 'is a really big deal' that would make it easier for presidents to get rid of career government officials."

** "This Land is Their Land...". Emily Holden, et al. of the Guardian: "Under Donald Trump, the government has auctioned off millions of acres of public lands to the fossil fuel industry, the Guardian can reveal, in the most comprehensive accounting to date of how much public land the administration has handed over to oil and gas drillers over the past four years.... Trump has stacked the administration with former fossil-fuel lobbyists and conservative activists.... The Trump administration has leased 5.4m acres -- an area the size of New Jersey -- to oil and gas companies.... Drilling from the leases could result in the equivalent of 4.1bn metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.... The interior department has also leased 4.9m acres in the Gulf of Mexico to drillers.... Should Trump win another term, leasing may grow. A total of 50m acres are being made available to drillers in proposed plans for public lands." --s

Ben Parker, et al. of McSweeney's have a "Catalogue of Trump's Worst Cruelties, Corruptions and Crimes" throughout his time in office. --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Thank goodness the writers left room for more. Because there will be.

Marianne Lavelle of Inside Climate News: "[C]limate scientists are bracing for the potential disruption of NOAA's climate work with the appointment of two prominent climate science deniers and a former campaign official for President Donald Trump to top agency positions this fall. One of the new hires, David Legates, a University of Delaware geography and climatology professor who works closely with anti-climate action advocacy groups like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has been especially critical of the agency that he will now help run.... Legates maintains there is no scientific consensus on the environmental hazard of carbon dioxide emissions.... The hiring of Legates and others, only weeks before the election, comes just as NOAA is set to collaborate with more than a dozen other federal agencies on the next Congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, due out in 2023." --s

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Democrats are holding an hours-long talk-a-thon to protest Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination. Democrats are vowing to hold the floor into Monday morning, as the Senate pulls an all-nighter ahead of a final vote to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court.... Democrats are powerless to prevent Barrett's confirmation since every Republican senator except GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) -- who doesn't believe a vote should take place before the election -- is expected to vote to confirm her on Monday. But Democrats are using the floor speeches, which they are highlighting on social media, to try to build awareness and rail against the decision by Republicans to move just days before the election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A divisive drive to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before Election Day wound on Sunday toward its expected end, as Senate Republicans overcame Democratic protests to limit debate and set up a final confirmation vote for Monday. Two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined united Democrats in an attempt to filibuster President Trump's nominee to protest a decision they say should be left to the winner of the presidential election. But Republicans had the simple majority they needed to blow past them, setting up the vote to confirm Judge Barrett just eight days before the election and a month to the day after she was chosen. The tally was 51 to 48. Republicans were expected to win back Ms. Murkowski's vote on Monday, though not that of Ms. Collins." ~~~

~~~ Valerie Volcovici & Jessica Resnick-Ault of Reuters: "The addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, moving it further rightward, could have significant consequences for U.S. climate change policy and complicate the government's ability to regulate pollution, according to legal experts.... That ideological leaning could make the court even more favorable toward oil and gas interests and could come into play in environmental cases as the justices resolve disputes involving climate policy and Trump administration rollbacks of environmental regulations, experts said." --s ~~~

~~~ E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "The truly scandalous lack of institutional patriotism on the right has finally led many of the most sober liberals and moderates to ponder what they opposed even a month ago: The only genuinely practical and proper remedy to conservative court-packing is to undo its impact by enlarging the court.... I's not court enlargement that's radical. Balancing a stacked court is a necessary response to the right's radicalism and (apologies, Thomas Jefferson) to its long train of abuses. And conservatives are as hypocritical about court enlargement as they are about [Merrick] Garland and [Amy] Barrett: In 2016, Republicans expanded the state supreme courts of Georgia and Arizona to enhance their party's philosophical sway."

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) intends to run for another term as House speaker, she said Sunday morning on CNN. Pelosi's commitment underscores Democrats' confidence that they will be able to retain their majority in the House after Election Day. She also called President Trump's debate-stage prediction that Republicans would retake the House majority 'delusional.'"

Frank Bajak of the AP: "Academics, journalists and First Amendment lawyers are rallying behind New York University researchers in a showdown with Facebook over its demand that they halt the collection of data showing who is being micro-targeted by political ads on the world's dominant social media platform. The researchers say the disputed tool is vital to understanding how Facebook has been used as a conduit for disinformation and manipulation. In an Oct. 16 letter to the researchers, a Facebook executive demanded they disable a special plug-in for Chrome and Firefox browsers that they have distributed to thousands of volunteers across the U.S. -- and delete the data obtained.... The tool is a key source of data on election interference and manipulation because it lets researchers see how some Facebook advertisers use data gathered by the company to profile citizens 'and send them misinformation about candidates and policies that are designed to influence or even suppress their vote,' Damon McCoy, an NYU professor involved in the project, said in a statement." --s

Rosanna Xia of the Los Angeles Times: "From 1947 to 1982, the nation's largest manufacturer of DDT [Montrose] ... was based in Los Angeles. An epic Superfund battle later exposed the company's disposal of toxic waster through sewage pipes that poured into the ocean -- but all the DDT that was barged out to sea drew comparatively little attention. Shipping logs show that every month in the years after World War II, thousands of barrels of acid sludge laced with this synthetic chemical were boated out to a site near Catalina and dumped into the deep ocean.... Mark Gold ... who is now Gov. Gavin Newsom's deputy secretary for coast and ocean policy, said he had heard stories of illegal dumping.... But there was no firsthand evidence in the 1990s, he said, nor a sense of whether it was five barrels, 10 or 20.... [Researchers have now found a graveyard of leaking barrels].... 'Nobody in their worst nightmares,' he said, 'ever thought there would be half a million barrels of DDT waste dumped into the ocean off of L.A. County's coast.'" --s Firewalled.

Elizabeth Dias & Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Sunday namedWilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, [D.C.,] a cardinal, elevating the first African-American to the Catholic church's highest governing body, a groundbreaking act in a year when demands for racial justice have consumed the country. The rise of Archbishop Gregory, who is also the first American named to the College of Cardinals since 2016, comes as debates over how to address the legacy of slavery and racism have extended to the Catholic church, which for centuries excluded African Americans from positions of power."

The Commentariat -- October 25, 2020

Some of this is too true:

Presidential Race, Etc.

Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: "With coronavirus infections reaching their highest peak of the pandemic just as the election headed into the home stretch, Trump and Biden took starkly different approaches to the public health crisis in appealing for votes in battleground states. 'We don't want to become superspreaders,' Biden told supporters at a 'drive-in' rally Saturday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.... The former vice president pressed his case that Trump was showing dangerous indifference to the surging virus on a day he looked to boost his candidacy with the star power of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi, who performed before Biden took the stage at a second drive-in rally in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.... Biden hosted another rally later Saturday in Luzerne County, a blue-collar area that twice voted for Barack Obama but went overwhelmingly for Trump four years ago." Meanwhile, Trump held three superspreader rallies where he mocked Biden & measures to control coronavirus & claimed that testing was "in many ways foolish."

[When Joe Biden becomes president,] we won't have a president who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him.... That's not normal behavior, Florida.... You wouldn't tolerate it from a coworker, you wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal, you wouldn't tolerate it from a coach, you wouldn't tolerate it from a family member. Why are we accepting it from the president of the United States?... Florida Man wouldn't even do this stuff. -- President Barack Obama, at a drive-in rally in North Miami, Saturday ~~~

~~~ Alex Daugherty & David Smiley of the Tampa Bay Times: "Former President Barack Obama criticized nearly every facet of ... Donald Trump's record while campaigning for Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Saturday, making specific appeals to Florida's diverse electorate by mentioning issues like socialism, the Affordable Care Act and the federal government's Hurricane Maria response during his first Miami speech in two years. But the biggest chunk of his 45-minute speech was devoted to an issue that affects every voter: ... Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.... 'We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook to show them how to respond before a virus reached our shores,' Obama said at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay Campus in North Miami. 'It must be lost along with the Republican healthcare plan.'" Mrs. McC: Former Republican President George W. Bush did not campaign for Donald Trump.

A Woman Finds a Way to Get MAGA Men to Vote for Biden. Michael Ellsberg in the Daily Beast: "... up until recently, there's one group of potential Biden voters who have not been the subject of voter outreach: kinky, submissive male Trump supporters with humiliation fetishes. Now, thanks to a Las Vegas-based professional dominatrix named Empress Delfina, this once-overlooked voting bloc is covered -- and may be voting Biden. By force. She calls it 'Trump Conversion Therapy.' At $1.99 a minute, business is booming.” Ellsberg interviews Delfina. The interview is interesting, & in places creepy & funny. (I'm not sure if Ellsberg paid her $1.99/minute for the interview.)

Sarah Elbeshbishi of USA Today: "Most registered voters said that ... Joe Biden performed better than ... Donald Trump during the second presidential debate, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Friday. Fifty-four percent of voters who watched the Thursday debate said Biden performed the best, while 39% said that Trump did. Eight percent of voters who watched weren't sure or had no opinion on who did best. Both& candidates' performances improved with voters since the first presidential debate."

Lev Casts More Doubt on Rudy's Purloined Laptop Fable. Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "... Rudy Giuliani was offered salacious photos and other documents belonging to Joe Biden's son Hunter in the spring of 2019, earlier than previously known, according to one of Giuliani's closest former associates [Lev Parnas]. And the alleged offer came from ... a Ukrainian oligarch looking for help with a potential legal jam [with the U.S. Justice Department]. The claim ... raises new questions about the provenance of the materials Giuliani has said he obtained recently from a computer repair shop in Delaware -- and that he is now touting to accuse the Democratic nominee of corruption. Parnas, who collaborated with Giuliani on the former New York mayor's quest to find damaging information on the Bidens beginning in late 2018, now says that similar materials were being offered to Giuliani just weeks after Joe Biden launched his presidential run.... Time Magazine reported earlier this week that at least two people were approached with offers to buy salacious Biden material in the spring and fall of 2019, raising similar questions about the original source of the photos and emails Giuliani gave to the New York Post."

They Learned from the Master to Whine & Deflect Responsibility. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Donald Trump's top advisers have plunged into a bitter round of finger-pointing and blame-shifting ahead of an increasingly likely defeat. Accusations are flying in all directions and about all manner of topics -- from allegedly questionable spending decisions by former campaign manager Brad Parscale, to how White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handled Trump's hospitalization for Covid-19, to skepticism that TV ads have broken through. Interviews with nearly a dozen Trump aides, campaign advisers and Republican officials also surfaced accusations that the president didn't take fundraising seriously enough and that the campaign undermined its effort to win over seniors by casting Democrat Joe Biden as senile. Finger-pointing is a common feature of campaigns that think they're losing, but it's happening at an uncommon level in this campaign. Shifting responsibility has been a staple of the Trump presidency -- and his lieutenants are now following suit." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Congressional Races. Josh Dawsey & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "President Trump privately told donors this past week that it will be 'very tough' for Republicans to keep control of the Senate in the upcoming election because some of the party's senators are candidates he cannot support. 'I think the Senate is tough actually. The Senate is very tough,' Trump said at a fundraiser Thursday at the Nashville Marriott, according to an attendee. 'There are a couple senators I can't really get involved in. I just can't do it. You lose your soul if you do. I can't help some of them. I don't want to help some of them.'... The president -- in a sentiment not shared by many of his party's top officials and strategists -- said he instead thinks the Republicans 'are going to take back the House.' And many strategists involved in Senate races say the party's chances at keeping the chamber are undermined by the president's unscripted, divisive rhetoric and his low poll numbers in key states.: ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nobody thinks you have a soul to lose, President* Lucifer. Let's hope Trump is right on the former, because it's unlikely he's right on the latter. Most pollsters think House Democrats, if anything, will gain seats.

And You Thought Bush II Was Bad. Andrew Solender of Forbes: "President Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, both of whom have been deeply involved in their father's reelection campaign, broke with the 'Keep America Great' message on Saturday to hint at their own runs in 2024, as polls show their father heavily disfavored to win reelection. Donald Trump Jr. ... posted a photo of a 'Don Jr. 2024' flag to instagram.... Eric Trump ... liked a tweet on Saturday reading 'Eric Trump 2024,' a move some commentators recognized as roughly equivalent to his brother's instagram post."

Isaac Stanley-Becker & Tony Romm of the Washington Post: Especially in Republicans strongholds, voters are flooding county offices with fears their mail-in ballots will be ditched. Their "worries can be traced to baseless or alarmist statements by President Trump and posts on his Twitter feed. Others have been fed by headlines stripped of context and misleading reporting in the mainstream media according to election administrators, voting rights advocates and experts in online communication. The confusion and chaos follow a months-long campaign by Trump and his allies to sow doubt about voting by mail.... Many Democrats appear to have dealt with their fears by opting for early voting, powering overwhelming turnout, while Republicans insist they will make up ground on Election Day." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The story includes some ridiculous rumors like, "They're sending ballots to dogs." But the most ridiculous assertion, the biggest lie is this: "In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Thea McDonald said the president 'has been fighting for months' to stop what she described as 'last-minute election rule changes.'" The Trump campaign, the RNC & state GOP organizations have filed hundreds of lawsuits to effect "last-minute election rule changes." Ten days before the election, while Americans have been voting for weeks, some of those cases are still in court.

New York. Edgar Sandoval & Troy Closson of the New York Times: "New Yorkers flooded polling places on Saturday, the first day of early voting in the state.... Saturday was the first time New Yorkers were allowed to vote early in a presidential election, which is expected to produce record voter turnout.... Recent mishaps involving absentee ballots drove many voters to the polls on Saturday.... Late last month, the city's Board of Elections came under fire after as many as 100,000 voters in Brooklyn received absentee ballots with the wrong names and addresses.... Unlike in many other states and the rest of New York, where people can cast ballots at any early voting center in their county, voters in New York City are allowed to vote early only at assigned locations." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Julia Harte of Reuters: "The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily reinstated the governor's ban on multiple drop-off sites for mail ballots, in a short-term victory for ... Donald Trump. The ban will remain in effect while the state supreme court fully reviews a Friday appeals court ruling that overturned the order by Governor Greg Abbott...."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "The latest coronavirus surge is raging across the American heartland, most acutely in the Midwest and Mountain West. This harrowing third surge, which led to a U.S. single-day record of more than 85,000 new cases Friday, is happening less than two weeks from Election Day, which will mark the end of a campaign dominated by the pandemic and President Trump's much-criticized response to it.... The virus will be front of mind for voters in several key states: in Ohio, where more people are hospitalized than at any other time during the pandemic, and especially Wisconsin, home to seven of the country's 10 metro areas with the highest numbers of recent cases. On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Gov. Tony Evers' emergency order restricting the size of indoor gatherings to 25 percent capacity on Friday.... President Trump and many supporters blame restrictions on business activity, often imposed by Democratic governors and mayors, for prolonging the economic crisis initially caused by the virus. But the experience of states like Iowa, which recently set a record for patients hospitalized with Covid-19, shows the economy is far from back to normal even in Republican-led states that have imposed few business restrictions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Several members of Vice President Mike Pence's inner circle, including at least four members of his staff, have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past few days, people briefed on the matter said, raising new questions about the safety protocols at the White House, where masks are not routinely worn. Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for Mr. Pence, said that the vice president's chief of staff, Marc Short, had tested positive.... 'While Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the vice president will maintain his schedule in accordance with the C.D.C. guidelines for essential personnel.' The statement did not come from the White House medical unit, but instead from a press aide. Two people briefed on the matter said that the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had sought to keep news of the outbreak from becoming public.... The decision by Mr. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, to continue campaigning is certain to raise new questions about how seriously the White House is taking the risks to their own staff members...." An ABC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe when Trump keeps saying, "We're rounding the corner," he means, "I work in an Oval Office." Otherwise, record-breaking cases-per-day and coming up on a quarter of a million American deaths makes no sense at all.

Superspreader-in-Chief, Ctd. Shawn Boburg of the Washington Post: "In the days leading up to the Sept. 30 [Trump rally] in Duluth, Minn., local officials had privately pressed the campaign to abide by state public health guidelines aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, documents show. In response, the campaign signed an agreement pledging to follow those rules, limiting attendance to 250 people. On the day of the rally, however, Trump supporters flooded onto the tarmac at Duluth International Airport. They stood shoulder to shoulder, many without masks.... Held two days before Trump was diagnosed with covid-19, the rally was attended by more than 2,500 people, airport officials estimated.... Emails and other documents obtained by The Washington Post through open-records requests show that Duluth officials insisted on adherence to the rules, and that the campaign responded by making commitments it ultimately did not keep. The documents also show that local officials suspected the campaign would violate the agreement, but shied away from enforcing public health orders for fear of provoking a backlash." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Officials always should have made the Trump campaign turn over at least a $1 million bond before any event. You can't trust those people as far as a mouse could throw President Fatso.

Barbie & Ken Very Upset Their Indifference to National Pandemic Makes Them Look Bad. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are threatening to sue the Lincoln Project over billboards the anti-Trump group put up in Times Square assailing them over the White House's coronavirus response. In a letter to the group posted on Twitter on Friday night, an attorney for the president's daughter and son-in-law demanded the 'false, malicious and defamatory' billboards be taken down. Marc Kasowitz warned that if the ads stay up, 'we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.' The Lincoln Project was defiant, saying in a scathing public statement that the billboards would stay up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katherine Wu, et al., of the New York Times (Oct. 23): "Late-stage coronavirus vaccine trials run by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have resumed in the United States after the companies said on Friday that serious illnesses in a few volunteers appeared not to be related to the vaccines. Federal health regulators gave AstraZeneca the green light after a six-week pause.... Johnson & Johnson said that its trial, which had been on pause for 11 days, would restart after learning that a 'serious medical event' in one study volunteer had 'no clear cause.'"

Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his spokesman announced on Saturday, the latest in a string of world leaders to be infected.... In addition to President Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko are among other world leaders to have contracted the virus." Mrs. McC: Not coincidentally, every one of them is a careless, authoritarian right-winger. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump's Bad Bet. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Trump fights to save his political career, another key part of his life -- his business -- is also under growing stress. In the next four years, Trump faces payment deadlines for more than $400 million in loans -- just as the pandemic robs his businesses of customers and income, according to a Washington Post analysis of Trump's finances. The bills coming due include loans on his Chicago hotel, his D.C. hotel and his Doral resort, all hit by a double whammy: Trump's political career slowed their business, then the pandemic ground it down much further. If Trump is reelected, these loan-saddled properties could present a significant conflict of interest: The president will owe enormous sums to banks that his government regulates. National security experts say Trump's debts to Deutsche Bank, a German company, and foreign deals may constitute security risks if they make him vulnerable to influence by foreign governments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

What Not to Say When Announcing a Fake Peace Agreement. Elias Meseret of the AP (Oct. 23): "Ethiopia on Saturday denounced 'belligerent threats' over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile River, a day after ... Donald Trump said downstream Egypt will 'blow up' the project it has called an existential threat.... Trump made the comment while announcing that Sudan would start to normalize ties with Israel. 'They (Egypt) will end up blowing up the dam,' Trump said. 'And I said it and I say it loud and clear ... they'll blow up that dam....' Ethiopia's foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to seek clarification, saying 'the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the longstanding partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate relations.'... 'The man doesn't have a clue on what he is talking about,' Former Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn tweeted, calling Trump's remark reckless and irresponsible.... Downstream Sudan is a party to the talks with Ethiopia and Egypt over the disputed dam. European Union representative Josep Borrell said in a statement that 'now is the time for action and not for increasing tensions,' adding that a deal on the dam [among affected countries] is within reach...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's brief self-congratulatory peace accord announcement was unique in diplomatic history. First, Sudan's legislature has not ratified the agreement, so it's not a done deal. Second, Trump managed to make two very undiplomatic gaffes: (1) inciting war between two other countries, and (2) attempting to induce a foreign leader to illegally interfere in U.S. elections. And Trump is upset that the media ignored his nomination -- by a couple of right-wing nuts -- for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Definition of Self-Dealing. Stephen Gandel of CBS News: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's former company landed a $5 million highway-shipping contract last month with the United States Postal Service. DeJoy continues to own a multimillion-dollar stake in XPO Logistics as of early October. The $5 million deal is the first regular contract for a postal route that XPO Logistics has signed with the USPS in more than a year. XPO's last highway contract with the USPS was in December and was temporary. The one before that was signed in July 2019.... The USPS database shows the contract has one of the highest annual rates out of more than 1,600 contracts the Postal Service initiated with outside firms in its most recent quarter, which is the first full quarter DeJoy has served as head of the agency." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Murkowski Caves. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the moderate Alaska Republican who had opposed voting on a new Supreme Court justice so close to the election, said Saturday she would vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett. In a Senate floor speech, Murkowski lamented that the Senate was spending the weekend debating a judicial nominee rather than a coronavirus relief bill days before the election. But she said she wouldn't hold her opposition to the process against Barrett, the 48-year-old conservative jurist, and would cast a vote based on the 'merits of her qualifications.' The Senate held a rare weekend session to debate the nomination...." Politico's story is here.

** Jenny Gross of the New York Times: "White supremacists and other like-minded groups have committed a majority of the terrorist attacks in the United States this year, according to a report by a security think tank that echoed warnings made by the Department of Homeland Security this month. The report, published Thursday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, found that white supremacist groups were responsible for 41 of 61 'terrorist plots and attacks' in the first eight months of this year, or 67 percent. The finding comes about two weeks after an annual assessment by the Department of Homeland Security warned that violent white supremacy was the 'most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland' and that white supremacists were the most deadly among domestic terrorists in recent years." Mrs. McC: Meanwhile, Trump & Barr continue to cite Black Lives Matter & antifa as the sources of lethal violence. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Richard Kreitner & Rick Perlstein, in a New York Review of Books essay, illuminate the time-honored technique of blaming "outside agitators" and "dangerous others" for violence perpetrated by the state and/or its own supporters. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See his commentary below.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Russia, Etc. Jack Stubbs & Christopher Bing of Reuters: "Russian hackers piggy-backed on an Iranian cyber-espionage operation to attack government and industry organizations in dozens of countries while masquerading as attackers from the Islamic Republic, British and U.S. officials said on Monday. The Russian group, known as 'Turla' and accused by Estonian and Czech authorities of operating on behalf of Russia's FSB security service, has used Iranian tools and computer infrastructure to successfully hack in to organizations in at least 20 different countries over the last 18 months, British security officials said. The hacking campaign, the extent of which has not been previously revealed, was most active in the Middle East but also targeted organizations in Britain, they said." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)