Rock on.
Monday, August 31, 2020
Nobody Could Have Predicted
503 @IowaStateU students, faculty and staff tested positive for COVID-19 in the second week of the semester. That's a 28.8% positive percentage, which is up from 18.5% the week before. Today, @nytimes ranks Ames as having the worst outbreak in the country, relative to population.
— KatelynHarrop (@KatelynHarrop) August 31, 2020
Happy Hour Thread
Figure we're about 3 weeks away from another undeniable uptick in case counts.
I'm sorry, this was the happy hour thread!
I'm sorry, this was the happy hour thread!
Punching Up Punching Down
I find that you can learn way too much about someone, or about institutions, by observing whether they are likely to punch or punch down, or somewhat more generally, sympathize with those in power versus the mostly powerless who occasionally manage to make a bit of good trouble. You know, do you sympathize more with the senator who gets yelled at in the restaurant or the kids that senator puts in cages? Are you more worried about the rich racist, or the college students who get mad at the rich racist? Are the feelings of the person who denies the humanity of African-Americans, and his right to get paid lots of money to do so, more important than the lives he helps to ruin and the systems of Apartheid he helps to perpetuate? Should oil lobbyists have an equal voice, or usually greater, than the millions of lives they damage with environmental poisoning?
This is not an especially novel or smart point, but when it comes to members of the press, or the organizations they work for, it's a more useful framework than the liberal/conservative one.
This is not an especially novel or smart point, but when it comes to members of the press, or the organizations they work for, it's a more useful framework than the liberal/conservative one.
What A Country
Everything works just as it should.
All of this provides plenty of reason to worry, but we now come to perhaps the most troubling development of all. President Schlissel said he is guided by U-M’s values as a public institution. But when the decision was made to reopen, U-M’s Board of Regents was chaired by one of Ann Arbor’s largest landlords, Ron Weiser — a billionaire Trump megadonor who has given more than $100M to U-M in the last six years. He closed a new $30M gift within days of U-M’s decision to reopen. In one of the biggest conflicts of interest imaginable between public health and private wealth, Weiser’s company McKinley, which he founded and of which he is majority owner, stands to take a financial hit if students didn’t come back and pay rent.
To sum things up, President Schlissel said this would be a “public health informed in-residence semester,” but the public health experts are upset and afraid. Thousands of community members are upset and afraid. And our megadonor landlord regent is satisfied that he’ll profit from the students told to return to campus by President Schlissel.
People will soon begin dying avoidable deaths from COVID-19 and the University will be culpable. Why did it come to this? Thousands of us were shouting warnings and demanding answers all summer, but we were ignored, silenced, made to feel powerless in our isolation.
It Is Never Going To End
Ever.
...more.
One of President Trump’s top medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic, which would entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus, while taking steps to protect those in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, according to five people familiar with the discussions.You are the herd. They are not. They think the herd needs a good culling.
The administration has already begun to implement some policies along these lines, according to current and former officials as well as experts, particularly with regard to testing.
...more.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
America's Worst Members Of Congress
Steve Scalise.
.@SteveScalise,
— Ady Barkan (@AdyBarkan) August 30, 2020
These are not my words.
I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts.
You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain.
Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology. https://t.co/N6G5RgMXlO
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
I keep returning to the fact that there were a couple of moments when "doing the right thing, or at least, sorta" seemed possible, as the alternatives were too horrible to contemplate.
And then stonks went back up, baby!!!
And then stonks went back up, baby!!!
Kennedy The Protagonist
Not really picking on any individual reporter with this (though in some cases I could!), but I've been struck by the extent to which the Markey-Kennedy primary race has been told as if it was Kennedy's story. Not that reporters are in the tank for him, but that it's all about whether he is up down, and why that is happening, that his (once) projected win is the "norm," and deviations from that narrative are bumps in the road on our hero's quest.
Unseating a sitting senator in a primary is a big deal, and whatever the right way to cover such a race, the incumbent is generally treated in this fashion. Also, too, for those of us who remember the coverage of the Lamont-Lieberman race, this is, uh, a bit jarring.
Vote Markey, massholes.
Unseating a sitting senator in a primary is a big deal, and whatever the right way to cover such a race, the incumbent is generally treated in this fashion. Also, too, for those of us who remember the coverage of the Lamont-Lieberman race, this is, uh, a bit jarring.
Vote Markey, massholes.
Make America Great Again, Again, Again
We will get it right this time.
Traveling a bit this morning. Talk amongst yourselves.
Traveling a bit this morning. Talk amongst yourselves.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Speaking Of Cancel Culture
Wow I bet the usual suspects are OUTRAGED by this!!!
Administration officials at the University of Alabama reportedly have ordered the school’s professors to keep quiet about the coronavirus amid an outbreak that infected more than 500 students during the first week of classes.It is outrageous, actually, but the usual suspects only see FREE SPEECH and CANCEL CULTURE when the ability of powerful people to get paid large sums of money to do racisms without criticism is threatened.
Faculty in multiple departments said they received emails this week telling them not to discuss the situation in classrooms and to keep students in the dark if they became aware of anyone contracting the virus, according to an exclusive report by The Daily Beast.
Cancel Culture
The troubling thing about elections is that usually someone is trying to CANCEL an incumbent, and that is very wrong.
3.1% Die
I hadn't looked at the US fatality rate for awhile, as the numbers earlier were so skewed by the early hot spots, like New York, when the lack of testing made the number somewhat meaningless. A lot of people died without getting a test.
The number still depends on the rate of testing, so it is not a perfect measure of what % of people who contract the disease actually die, but it's probably closer to the "real" number than it was back in the first few months, and... 3.1% is pretty high!
The number still depends on the rate of testing, so it is not a perfect measure of what % of people who contract the disease actually die, but it's probably closer to the "real" number than it was back in the first few months, and... 3.1% is pretty high!
Defense Is Not Enough
Frequently I think about how a big goal of ACA was to "bend the cost curve." I don't bring this up to fight about ACA, but to point out that a primary goal of landmark once-a-generation health care legislation was to make the costs go up not quite as fast as they had been going up.
Yes there were other things, but the techno-wonkidudies kept putting up these charts and intoning, "THIS WILL BEND THE CURVE," as if letting rich thieves extract slightly less of our money than the absolutely insane growing amount they were projected to be able extract from us was some major triumph of Smart Legislating, instead of just an absolute capitulation to "stakeholders."
And it's actually even worse than that, because the promise was to lower aggregate costs, not out of pocket individual costs. And, well, you know...
We gotta do more than lower the first derivative a bit. With everything.
Yes there were other things, but the techno-wonkidudies kept putting up these charts and intoning, "THIS WILL BEND THE CURVE," as if letting rich thieves extract slightly less of our money than the absolutely insane growing amount they were projected to be able extract from us was some major triumph of Smart Legislating, instead of just an absolute capitulation to "stakeholders."
And it's actually even worse than that, because the promise was to lower aggregate costs, not out of pocket individual costs. And, well, you know...
We gotta do more than lower the first derivative a bit. With everything.
Friday, August 28, 2020
This Is Never Going To End
Update on mask enforcement (or lack there of) at this Trump rally in New Hampshire.
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) August 28, 2020
Many of the folks here have taken their masks off. (I’d say 80%)
When an announcement was made reminding them wearing a mask was the law... it was met with a loud round of booos.
Wow That Will Make Him Mad Clapping Emoji
I'm all for having a laugh (I say, smiling through my streaming tears), but that people seem to think "pissing off Donald Trump" is a) something requiring skill and b) a useful form of political activism (as opposed to good for a chuckle) mystifies me.
The man is enraged almost every single moment of his life, with the exceptions of when his Foxy friends in the teevee are saying nice things about him and when he gets to barge into the Miss Teen USA locker room. Everything makes him mad!
The man is enraged almost every single moment of his life, with the exceptions of when his Foxy friends in the teevee are saying nice things about him and when he gets to barge into the Miss Teen USA locker room. Everything makes him mad!
Make America Great Again, Again
Before the last election in the UK, political reporters who took a few minutes to talk to some Real Voters instead of just projecting their nonsense onto them, were a bit shocked to discover that a nontrivial number of them were under the impression that Labour was currently in control, that Jeremy Corbyn was Prime Minister, and that for these generally single issue pro-Brexit voters (the equivalent Ohio diner man in the UK), he was standing in the way of the Great And Glorious Brexit that had been promised to them, and so they had to elect Boris PM to "get Brexit done."
Just how were these people so misinformed about this issue that the entire UK news media had been focused almost exclusively on for 3 years? Mystery.
Just how were these people so misinformed about this issue that the entire UK news media had been focused almost exclusively on for 3 years? Mystery.
At Least 2% Of People I Hate Will Die Then
On the lack of social distancing or face masks at Trump’s #RNC2020 acceptance speech in the middle of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, a senior White House official tells @Acosta: “Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually.” 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0T5e6r3BSx
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) August 28, 2020
Trying to stay positive!
Okay, Campers, Rise and Shine
Let me say - Without hope or agenda - Just because it's Friday - And on Friday you tell the truth:
We're at the end of the beginning of the Covid/economic crisis, not the beginning of the end.
We're at the end of the beginning of the Covid/economic crisis, not the beginning of the end.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Revolting
Keep it going.
The Phillies and Nationals will not play their regularly scheduled game on Thursday night, according to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Instead, they will sit-out in protest of racial injustice in America.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Though worse than I expected.
COLUMBIA — University of South Carolina President Bob Caslen has asked his staff to consider closing the state’s largest college after COVID-19 cases doubled in a day.
Caslen stressed during a town hall meeting Thursday that he is not ready to shut down the campus after starting the semester with a combination of in-person and online classes, and an USC epidemiologist said the school’s case totals were within what was forecast.
But a shock came Thursday when USC reported 191 new coronavirus cases in a single day, bringing the total to 380 during the first week of classes. Almost all of those infected are students.
Nothing But Clarity
It all makes perfect sense.
Director Walks Back New Testing Guidelines After Outcry; Website Remains Unchanged
Dr. Robert R. Redfield now says that “testing may be considered” for anyone exposed to the coronavirus. But guidelines issued this week remain unchanged on the C.D.C. website. Stalled stimulus discussions may resume.
It's Never Going Away
The best we can hope for is it muddles along at roughly the current rate, with brief local flare ups, and doesn't get much worse because enough people have adjusted their lives to minimize transmission possibilities in various ways, such as mask wearing.
Infectious disease experts are not only confused but also troubled by a change in testing guidelines made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said people without symptoms may not need a test – even if they’ve been exposed to the coronavirus.
“Our work on the ‘silent’ spread underscored the importance of testing people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms,” tweeted Alison Galvani, director for the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale School of Medicine. “This change in policy will kill.”
Drat
The idea that Dems are going to pursue Trump when he's out of office is hilarious, but maybe six months ago would have been a good time, also, too?
I hate when our overlords think we're stupid.
Pelosi just suggested that Richie Neal — the ways and means chairman — will go after Trump’s tax returns if Joe Biden wins the presidency
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 27, 2020
I hate when our overlords think we're stupid.
Fascist White Supremacist
For whatever dumb reason, I always got Tucker wrong. I figured he was just a typical rich boy conservative asshole, in the pundit game because it was more fun than being an investment banker, but that he didn't really give a shit. Not a good guy, but someone who would laugh as you fell to your death, not actually push you over the bridge railing himself.
Wouldn't have expected him to lead the nightly White Power Hour, but here we here.
Wouldn't have expected him to lead the nightly White Power Hour, but here we here.
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Shut Up And Dribble
The athletes are revolting.
BREAKING:
— Coy Wire (@CoyWire) August 26, 2020
CNN has learned that all of tonight’s NBA games have been postponed.
Bucks players are in locker room attempting to reach the attorney general of Wisconsin, Josh Kaul, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Magic players are leaving the arena soon -- not accepting the Bucks‘ forfeit.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 26, 2020
Celtics’ Marcus Smart said yesterday, "We tried the peaceful way, kneeling, we tried to protest, we tried to come out here and get together and play this game and tried to get our voice across, but it's not working. So, obviously, something has to be done.”
— Coy Wire (@CoyWire) August 26, 2020
Apparently, Pence was planning to criticize "taking a knee" in his speech tonight. The Milwaukee Bucks just put their own livelihoods on the line for their cause. Contrast to Pence, who once spent $325K of taxpayer dollars to make a show of angrily walking out on an NFL game.
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) August 26, 2020
Kyle
Lock him up, though I suspect we're going to be finding out a lot about police support - implicit and explicit.
Afternoon Thread
Real Americans care about the things I care about, and everything else is just inside-the-beltway nonsense.
I've Never Met Anyone Quite Like You Before
To pissy whiny elite journalists, THE TWITTER MOB is more powerful than the president. And, as it affects them, probably true, because policy doesn't seem to. At least until someone threatens to increase taxes on rich people.
If you want to respectfully hold reporters accountable, you're playing a vital role in civic society.
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) August 26, 2020
If you want to take cheap shots, make bad-faith readings, harass us for mistakes & score points for your Twitter metrics, you're doing as much damage to civic society as Trump.
A "Lifelong Democrat" Calls Into Cspan
They've been doing this for decades, but self-described Ann Coulter fangirl Elaina Plott thinks this is newsworthy.
Cancel your subscription to that fucking newspaper. You know which one.
A woman from Pennsylvania who says she "comes from a long line of Democrats" calls into C-SPAN just now: "Well, I didn't vote for Trump" in 2016, she says, "but I am now."
— Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) August 26, 2020
Cancel your subscription to that fucking newspaper. You know which one.
The Media Has Learned Nothing
This is a thing people say a lot, implying that there were some mistakes from 2016 that should be learned from, but everybody involved in 2016 election season coverage thinks they did a great job and the same people think they have done a great job since the election and they think they are doing a great job now.
It's the people who regularly say that who have learned nothing. The lesson is these reporters don't see their job as what you imagine their job is, or how they portray what they want you to think their job is, because they are dishonest career climbers and not the beacons of truthtelling.
It's the people who regularly say that who have learned nothing. The lesson is these reporters don't see their job as what you imagine their job is, or how they portray what they want you to think their job is, because they are dishonest career climbers and not the beacons of truthtelling.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
It's Never Going To End
Just..hold...off...a...little...while...longer...
(WSVN) - Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has announced all restaurants in the county can reopen at 50% capacity.
The mayor made the announcement during a virtual press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“Today, we’re announcing that after consultation with our medical advisors and also from the White House Task Force, we’ve made a decision to allow indoor dining at restaurants to commence next Monday,” he said.
The World Is At Your Command
For nonexecutive positions - Congress, State Reps - the general idea that you should "vote on character" or similar nonsense is, well, nonsense. Sure you don't want somebody there to steal the farm, but even then mostly because you don't want them embarrassing the party generally. Even for executive positions - governor, president - it's much less nonsense, but still not the important thing most of our political coverage emphasizes. Just how gross would a Democrat have to be for any of you to pull the lever for a Republican governor? President?
Putting perhaps the most corrupt human being, something only in doubt because of his lack of brains and imagination, ever to be born into this world in charge of the country is not ideal, but I'm not completely surprised that focusing on his obvious character flaws is less of a clearly winning electoral strategy than people would hope.
And true swing voters, the people who vote fairly regularly and really do switch back and forth between parties, are...kinda weird and uninformed, generally. They're hard to reach because they aren't the idealized Centrist Man, but a mess of idiosyncrasies and misunderstandings.
Putting perhaps the most corrupt human being, something only in doubt because of his lack of brains and imagination, ever to be born into this world in charge of the country is not ideal, but I'm not completely surprised that focusing on his obvious character flaws is less of a clearly winning electoral strategy than people would hope.
And true swing voters, the people who vote fairly regularly and really do switch back and forth between parties, are...kinda weird and uninformed, generally. They're hard to reach because they aren't the idealized Centrist Man, but a mess of idiosyncrasies and misunderstandings.
Deep Thought
Nikki Haley's superpower is getting everyone in political journalism to refer to her as "the presumptive 2024 frontrunner" or similar.
Quite a presumption!
Quite a presumption!
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Because everyone loves to blame The Kids - and of course kids can be dipshits - the individual responsibility rhetoric is always emphasized.
The student who steps up to the edge of the cliff, idiot as he may be, is tethered to 5 more students, who are tethered to 5 more students, who are tethered to 5 more students...
That some number of students are dipshits was known by the responsible adults making these plans. That each student dipshit is going to infect some number of other "blameless" students is regularly ignored.
Contagions, how the fuck do they work?
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBMA) — The University of Alabama on Monday night unveiled a new COVID-19 dashboard which showed 566 coroavirus cases since Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020.But this isn't like putting a sign in front of a cliff which says, "please don't step right up to the edge of the cliff," and then blaming the student who plunged to his death for failing to obey the sign. Though that's the story university administrators want to tell.
The student who steps up to the edge of the cliff, idiot as he may be, is tethered to 5 more students, who are tethered to 5 more students, who are tethered to 5 more students...
That some number of students are dipshits was known by the responsible adults making these plans. That each student dipshit is going to infect some number of other "blameless" students is regularly ignored.
Contagions, how the fuck do they work?
When The Fever Breaks
I suspect I know what the answer is, but I am not *entirely* sure just why Miserable Failure George Bush had his approval rating plunge into the 20s. The "fever" didn't break, of course, it just went briefly into remission and then came roaring back at 108 degrees. His approval rating cratered long before the mortgage/financial/economic crisis hit, so it wasn't that.
I *suspect* the answer is that "they," generally, stopped pushing the rage injection button on a daily basis. They began again for the 2008 election but Bush was already in the past.
The lesson is, never stop turning the rage button up to 11. Their voters are just anger junkies.
I *suspect* the answer is that "they," generally, stopped pushing the rage injection button on a daily basis. They began again for the 2008 election but Bush was already in the past.
The lesson is, never stop turning the rage button up to 11. Their voters are just anger junkies.
Monday, August 24, 2020
Cuck
We can all laugh at the details but really this is a story about a massive financial scam inflicted upon (other) people which dooms them to a life of fucked up sexual morality and associated hangups that they can't unburden themselves of without extreme difficulty.
WASHINGTON – In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader.
So Fine
Good for the #Conways. Family is paramount. I’ve known Kellyanne for many years and always liked her on a purely personal level. I wish her and her family the best. It’ll also help her (and perhaps all Conways) to get as far away as possible from a certain poisonous personality.
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) August 24, 2020
Kenosha
Cops are out of control in this country, either with the support of their notional elected political leadership or because those leaders are too powerless to do anything about it and that seems to be pretty undeniable (though people will deny it!) whatever the specifics of any particular high profile case. A bit of a problem!
We've Got To Fulfill The Book
Kellyanne's gonna have a primetime MSNBC show and be a proud leader of the resistance against President Cotton in 2025.
Bye Kellyanne
And shame on any of you liberals for saying anything bad about this person who lied in support of an administration that has caused immense death and misery, facilitated child rape and a lifetime of trauma for thousands at least! She has been having family problems - have some sympathy you heartless jerks! - and while we all like the kayfabe on tv of calling out her lies, she was an invaluable source to us, and Journalistic Ethics never allowed us to point out that she contradicted privately what she told you publicly! We will do everything we can to promote her inevitable book, which will give us massive scoops like, "Trump is a big dumb asshole evil liar." Who knew? Surely not us journalists! BREAKING BREAKING BREAKING
Sunday, August 23, 2020
bOtH sIdEs
I don't think all Democrats are Good or that they wouldn't be more likely to give a Dem president the benefit of the doubt, but if there was an even mildly convincing case that President Clinton (or any Dem president) had fucked up the pandemic response this badly, a majority of Dem voters wouldn't be saying, "yay team, great job." Certainly they wouldn't be calling 176,000 deaths acceptable even without being asked who to pin the blame on.
The Trump Family Circus
Convention is going to be (almost) all Trumps (and Jared) all the time.
Can't wait for the most of the country to hear Jared for the first time!
Can't wait for the most of the country to hear Jared for the first time!
The Party Of Death
CBS anchor Margaret Brennan highlights recent poll that shows 57% of Republicans think 176,000 dead Americans from covid is "acceptable," asks RNC chair Ronna McDaniel how that number can be acceptable.
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 23, 2020
McDaniel: "I think that is a really unfair poll." pic.twitter.com/yJsY6mVBnA
CURE
Tonight, My President will announce that if you stick oleander extract up your ass while drinking nightshade tea, you will totes be cured of both Covid and that annoying rhythmic pounding in your chest.
This will be taken very seriously by the people who took the last miracle cure seriously, and by that I mean all our finest media outlets.
This will be taken very seriously by the people who took the last miracle cure seriously, and by that I mean all our finest media outlets.
Got Him Now
This Trump person seems like a bad guy, no?
Barry, 83, was aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Seems Bad
MAJOR SHIFT#Marco now expected to make landfall in #Louisiana and so is #Laura. pic.twitter.com/XQe5lmjC87
— Alan Auglis (@alanauglis) August 22, 2020
Dear Colleagues, Please Do Not Take Photos Of The Crime
The whole thing is a crime, but, please be mindful.
Free, Melania.
This is CNN correspondent @KateBennett_DC asking the news media to “be mindful of the White House request” to crop out RNC branding https://t.co/ywTIjx5mi3
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) August 22, 2020
Free, Melania.
It Is The Children Who Are Wrong
"Kids" are irresponsible but they aren't entirely stupid. You can't tell them to come back to university en masse, with little more than "covid theater" to prevent the spread, and then blame them for behaving predictably. Perhaps "having a big party" is dumb but so is "packing people into a typical college dormitory." If your policies require 100% compliance to work, or even 90% compliance, they aren't going to work. Sucks, but true. Sure the one big party is bad, but then they all go spread it to the rest of the students who didn't go to the party. You don't need a lot of supposedly irresponsible behavior to doom the whole project.
And expecting college students to behave better than the supposedly responsible adults who haven't exactly been setting good examples...
Also, too, pay your fucking workers no matter what happens you assholes. Not like senior admin is going to furlough themselves if they send everyone home.
And expecting college students to behave better than the supposedly responsible adults who haven't exactly been setting good examples...
Also, too, pay your fucking workers no matter what happens you assholes. Not like senior admin is going to furlough themselves if they send everyone home.
THE WAY I WAS HAVING A GOOD DAY UNTIL WILLIAM & MARY SENT THIS ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY EMAIL. pic.twitter.com/W9jBzy9De5
— Ravynn K. Stringfield (@RavynnKaMia) August 21, 2020
George Bush Was Bad
I get that people who didn't pay much attention back then - people who did not read this very fine blog, for example - don't really realize. A point of this blog, to the extent that there was one, was that George Bush was very bad in ways which were not adequately covered elsewhere in the punditsphere.
But there are people who I know should know better... who have just pretended to forget.
But there are people who I know should know better... who have just pretended to forget.
The campaign to normalize the George W. Bush presidency is part of a broader campaign to separate the Republican Party from Donald Trump. We should reject the whole project, and call Bush what he is: a war criminal abroad and a villain at home.People who worked for George Bush are, also, too, very bad.
Friday, August 21, 2020
California Fires
Model forecasts indicate that wildfire smoke will cover the majority of the lower 48 by next week. pic.twitter.com/8uiGFWmR4H
— Joe Zagrodnik (@joejoezz) August 21, 2020
I remember during the 2018 fires, I noticed an eerily familiar haze in Philadelphia. It was the smog from my youth! The sky was just a bit yellow and a bit more opaque on an otherwise clear day. But not smog, it was the traveling smoke.
The smog is gone, but...
Welp
Folks, this really happened. pic.twitter.com/EviEJCGvs7
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) August 21, 2020
Trumptown
I get cult leaders (get in that they are crazy in a particular way I can identify and comprehend) want their followers to perish along with them, but killing them off before their own end is a bit odd.
“This thing works — it’s the miracle of all time,” Mr. Lindell, who has a financial stake in the company that makes the compound and sits on its board, said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. When CBS asked Mr. Trump about oleandrin for Covid-19, Mr. Trump said, “We’ll look at it.”
The unsubstantiated claims alarmed scientists. No studies have shown that oleandrin is safe or effective as a coronavirus treatment. It’s unclear what dose the purported treatment would have, but ingesting even a tiny bit of the toxic shrub the compound comes from could kill you, experts say.
“Don’t mess with this plant,” said Cassandra Leah Quave, a medical ethnobotanist at Emory University.
In It To Win It
I'm not going to try to micromanage the Biden campaign with snarky blog comments that they won't be aware of anyway, but they have a big responsibility and I don't want to wake up the day after election day and hear about how it was everybody's fault but theirs.
The flip side is they get to be heroes if they win.
The flip side is they get to be heroes if they win.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
If Not Tomorrow Perhaps The Day After
Doing the very scientific activity of squinting at graphs, I'd guess if all the worst Covid states continued with their current practices, in another month they'll be back to where they were in early June.
Which means it's an excellent time to send everyone to schools and universities.
Which means it's an excellent time to send everyone to schools and universities.
Long Term
I'm no smart medical talking person, but I think of it (metaphorically at least) as a disease which chews up a bunch of holes everywhere in your body and if it eats too much in the wrong places before the defenses kick in...That's a problem!
Lauren nichols has been sick with COVID-19 since March 10, shortly before Tom Hanks announced his diagnosis and the NBA temporarily canceled its season. She has lived through one month of hand tremors, three of fever, and four of night sweats. When we spoke on day 150, she was on her fifth month of gastrointestinal problems and severe morning nausea. She still has extreme fatigue, bulging veins, excessive bruising, an erratic heartbeat, short-term memory loss, gynecological problems, sensitivity to light and sounds, and brain fog. Even writing an email can be hard, she told me, “because the words I think I’m writing are not the words coming out.” She wakes up gasping for air twice a month. It still hurts to inhale.
Tens of thousands of people, collectively known as “long-haulers,” have similar stories. I first wrote about them in early June. Since then, I’ve received hundreds of messages from people who have been suffering for months—alone, unheard, and pummeled by unrelenting and unpredictable symptoms. “It’s like every day, you reach your hand into a bucket of symptoms, throw some on the table, and say, ‘This is you for today,’” says David Putrino, a neuroscientist and a rehabilitation specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital who has cared for many long-haulers.
What A Country
Plague has depleted our prison slave labor force, which was tasked with vital functions.
Last month, the state said it expected to have about a dozen fewer inmate crews available for wildfire duty, partly because thousands of inmates have been released because of virus risks. The total inmate population is down 9% from a year ago, according to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation data.
Last month, the state had to place a dozen inmate camps on lockdown after a major COVID-19 outbreak at a Lassen County prison where prisoners are trained on fire.
A Cackle of Grifters
Kris Kobach is the general counsel of the Build the Wall PAC that Steve Bannon was just arrested for being involved in as chairman. The advisory board includes Erik Prince, former CO congressman Tom Tancredo, Sheriff Dave Clarke and former pitcher Curt Schilling.
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) August 20, 2020
The Enemy Is Poverty And The Wall Keeps Out The Enemy
Leaders of ‘We Build The Wall’ online fundraising campaign charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors https://t.co/cH2abWm2Ph pic.twitter.com/NKxfKXkcEX
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) August 20, 2020
Computer, enhance.
...
Breaking on @MSNBC: Steve Bannon is in federal custody in New York City, according to a SDNY spokesperson.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 20, 2020
This Is Your Brain On The Internet
Back in the pre/early-internet days, we all laughed at the email forwards the annoying great uncle would send around all the time. I'm not sure precisely why the semi-underground internet propaganda machine seems to have faded somewhat after that, perhaps simply because during the Bush era it was pretty hard to compete with the respectable propaganda outlets. Then Facebook...
I Give George W. Bush Credit For Two Things
The first is that immediately after 9-11 he did tamp down on the anti-Muslim sentiment in the population that could have exploded instantly. Of course he followed that up with... well, you know. But there was a moment.
The second is that once it became clear everything was done wrecked and ruined, he said "fuck it, I'm out," and went away.
Neither of these things provides any level of redemption. Nor the dog paintings.
The second is that once it became clear everything was done wrecked and ruined, he said "fuck it, I'm out," and went away.
Neither of these things provides any level of redemption. Nor the dog paintings.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
There Are Too Many States Now
The post office issue, like everything else, isn't really a cunning plan by Trump even if people he hired are implementing one. He got it in his pudding brain that something was a problem and he told people to make the bad thing go away.
It's bad. Very bad. But not because Lex Luthor is in charge. Because he has advanced brain worms.
It's bad. Very bad. But not because Lex Luthor is in charge. Because he has advanced brain worms.
Watch Out Homeboy, Don't Let It Catch You
"We're" juggling several unfolding catastrophes at the moment, so let's not forget that state and local governments are basically broke and there's no additional COVID aid bill and...
Sorry the good news didn't last long. Not even through the whole good news post!
Sorry the good news didn't last long. Not even through the whole good news post!
The Good News
Have to play against type, sometimes. Cases in hotspots, and nationally, are declining. "We're" roughly where we were 7 weeks ago, though still way above the lower plateau period of mid May-mid June.
But the schools and universities...
But the schools and universities...
America's Worst Humans
Jon Chait.
Because I don't think these are common terms for most people who attended non-selective universities.
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) August 19, 2020
Student Life
College students are (usually) legal adults. Universities can't control what they do off campus, even if they have set up the ideal disease spreading prevention regimes on their campuses (spoiler: haha no they haven't done this either). Can't look across MAGA nation and think, "oh, but surely the children will be smarter!"
But, sure, bring 15,000 (or however many) students back to smallish towns and then pretend to be shocked about what happens.
But, sure, bring 15,000 (or however many) students back to smallish towns and then pretend to be shocked about what happens.
Morning Thread
I'd never heard of that guy, Meghan McCain's father, before. Seems like a great guy! Weird he wasn't a Democrat.
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Indeed
This is a start. But we still need to reverse all the damage, fully fund @USPS, & investigate DeJoy’s conflicts. And we need to keep our eyes on DeJoy so he keeps his promise & doesn’t find new ways to dismantle the USPS.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 18, 2020
I’ll be watching DeJoy’s actions – not just his words. pic.twitter.com/DNlGKqZSwt
One Minute Rhymes That Don't Come Out Right
I don't deny that charisma in politics matters, that a good speech can change some minds, that good politicians know how to win people over,in person or from the teevee. But I'm endlessly frustrated that the theater of politics is the primary focus of so many professional Advanced Politics Knowers. Words speak louder than actions, the kayfabe is real, the policy doesn't matter.
I suppose it's a bit like how music reviews focus on the lyrics. They're easier to write about than the music. But whatever contribution a good lyric has to a song, a CD (or whatever we call them now) isn't a book of poetry. Easier to comment on the themes of a soaring speech than the impact of policy, or just what it is this person is going to do, though I'm not entirely sure why that is.
And of course more than the show, it's about the meta show. The Advanced Politics Knowers make up hurdles (HE MUST DEMONSTRATE THAT HE CAN LEAD IN THIS SPEECH), and then let us know whether or not the person jumped over them. Objectively speaking, of course.
I suppose it's a bit like how music reviews focus on the lyrics. They're easier to write about than the music. But whatever contribution a good lyric has to a song, a CD (or whatever we call them now) isn't a book of poetry. Easier to comment on the themes of a soaring speech than the impact of policy, or just what it is this person is going to do, though I'm not entirely sure why that is.
And of course more than the show, it's about the meta show. The Advanced Politics Knowers make up hurdles (HE MUST DEMONSTRATE THAT HE CAN LEAD IN THIS SPEECH), and then let us know whether or not the person jumped over them. Objectively speaking, of course.
One Big Country
If you were an evil genius wanting to disperse your deadly virus across the country, just keeping Las Vegas casinos open for business would be a pretty good way of doing it.
Also, too, universities.
Las Vegas casinos reopened June 4, and they have become a likely hotbed for the spread of the novel coronavirus, public health experts said. But if tourists return home and then test positive for COVID-19, the limitations of contact tracing in the midst of a pandemic make it unlikely such an outbreak would be identified.But "we" won't shut it down.
Also, too, universities.
My President Has A Very Good Point
Trump said Michelle Obama is the one in “over her head.” He cited the fact that she taped her speech, rather than doing it live, and “she had the wrong deaths.”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 18, 2020
Obama said “more than 150,000” Americans have died from the coronavirus. It is now more than 170,000.
In It To Win It
You have to be nuts to want to be president, ever, and certainly now, and you also have to be a bit nuts to take on the responsibility (campaign manager, etc.) of running the campaign. Perhaps for this reason (and others) it is not often the case that the do-gooders in DC rise to the top, but the disturbed career climbers that seem to rise everywhere.
If you win a campaign you're a hero, and if you lose one you're, well, a loser, or at least you should be. People failing up is another feature of these work cultures. In tales of losing campaigns past (told by unreliable narrators with competing agendas), it isn't that people make some dumb choices - with hindsight they all look dumb in a losing campaign - it's the apparent thinking behind those choices that often makes my jaw drop.
The problem with the kinds of sociopathic mercenaries that tend to run things is that they're all pretty Trumpy, convinced of their own genius. Sure they're smarter than Trump. Jim Hoft is smarter than Trump. But the other feature of such supergeniuses is that being proved fucking right, with uniquely brilliant cunning plans, is too much of a motivator.
I suppose I'm vagueblogging a bit, here, but Jared Kushner isn't the only failchild with a fatal case of Dunning-Krueger syndrome, and gold-embossed certificates from schools near Boston attesting to their genius, running around DC.
The problem is that it's fatal to us.
If you win a campaign you're a hero, and if you lose one you're, well, a loser, or at least you should be. People failing up is another feature of these work cultures. In tales of losing campaigns past (told by unreliable narrators with competing agendas), it isn't that people make some dumb choices - with hindsight they all look dumb in a losing campaign - it's the apparent thinking behind those choices that often makes my jaw drop.
The problem with the kinds of sociopathic mercenaries that tend to run things is that they're all pretty Trumpy, convinced of their own genius. Sure they're smarter than Trump. Jim Hoft is smarter than Trump. But the other feature of such supergeniuses is that being proved fucking right, with uniquely brilliant cunning plans, is too much of a motivator.
I suppose I'm vagueblogging a bit, here, but Jared Kushner isn't the only failchild with a fatal case of Dunning-Krueger syndrome, and gold-embossed certificates from schools near Boston attesting to their genius, running around DC.
The problem is that it's fatal to us.
Monday, August 17, 2020
We'll Know Better Next Time
BREAKING: 71 of Mississippi's 82 counties are now reporting #COVID19 outbreaks in schools.
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) August 17, 2020
Confirmed Cases:
Students: 199
Teachers: 245
Quarantined (for 2 weeks):
Students: 2,035
Teachers: 589
And consider this: Dozens of schools just had their first day of class TODAY.
College Try
Nobody could have predicted.
BREAKING: One week into the semester, UNC-Chapel Hill announces that it is transitioning all undergraduate classes to fully online instruction, effective Wednesday.
— The Daily Tar Heel (@dailytarheel) August 17, 2020
Story to come. Check this thread soon.
10 Points To Gryffindor
On a private party call Monday, @RepRichmond suggested that the House Democrats revote on the Heroes Act at a lower price tag to make the case they’re still working — and Senate Rs aren’t.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 17, 2020
Game On
NEW: House Oversight Committee announces Postmaster General DeJoy has agreed to testify on Monday pic.twitter.com/uHsPcr13uX
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) August 17, 2020
But have staffers do it.
True, But, Uh...
Choose your allies.
“Here is the crazy thing, y’all,” Silk declares in the book. “Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham were questioning the same things we were questioning about the virus and pandemic. The very same questions we had raised were being discussed openly on Fox News.”When you really think about it...
She continues: “Why were our Fox Nation videos dialed back because they were deemed overly political, but it was okay for others on the network to talk about politics, even down to asking some of the same questions we had? Why were we such a threat? We only did one video every week, and it was hidden behind a paid subscription wall. When you really think about it, was this part of the systemic racism that everybody was talking about?”
Gotta Try Something
I know that the House Democrats are not all powerful, but "can't win, don't try" is less inspiring than, "the fucking bastards beat us."
I also don't think "yelling at them on the internet" necessarily helps, but, well, what else can I do? Not yell at them on the internet? Only superpower I have. Worst comic book ever.
Every 2 (and 4) years people beg for money and time from people who can hardly afford either to put them into office and a lot of people respond. "Really not much point, unless we have the presidency and 60 votes in the Senate" is not a strong way to motivate people to care much. "Democrats only have power if they have the trifecta+, otherwise Republicans rule" is an odd view of governance.
The post office issue is, to me, less about the election than the complete dismantling of the connective tissue of society. I've read "privatize the post office" arguments for years as they were all the rage because DC conventional wisdom was taking us there. Dumb pundit arguments usually follow, not lead, what our overlords are planning. Everybody's always trying to get on board. And now people can't get their medicine because we combined "privatize the post office" with "of course we should mail life saving drugs to people." I can imagine a world without basic universal first class mail* - though I'm not sure why I should - but we'd have to create that world and nobody has bothered to try.
*Privatizers always get slippery about what they mean, and if you point to a bad part, they say that bad part isn't what they have in mind, but ultimately there is no good point to it other than somethingsomething USPS wastes money on salaries for black people so we should waste money giving PROFIT to rich people instead.
...adding, I missed the "good they're doing something!" point which I thought was implicit but sometimes things are clear in my head and not obvious.
I also don't think "yelling at them on the internet" necessarily helps, but, well, what else can I do? Not yell at them on the internet? Only superpower I have. Worst comic book ever.
Every 2 (and 4) years people beg for money and time from people who can hardly afford either to put them into office and a lot of people respond. "Really not much point, unless we have the presidency and 60 votes in the Senate" is not a strong way to motivate people to care much. "Democrats only have power if they have the trifecta+, otherwise Republicans rule" is an odd view of governance.
The post office issue is, to me, less about the election than the complete dismantling of the connective tissue of society. I've read "privatize the post office" arguments for years as they were all the rage because DC conventional wisdom was taking us there. Dumb pundit arguments usually follow, not lead, what our overlords are planning. Everybody's always trying to get on board. And now people can't get their medicine because we combined "privatize the post office" with "of course we should mail life saving drugs to people." I can imagine a world without basic universal first class mail* - though I'm not sure why I should - but we'd have to create that world and nobody has bothered to try.
*Privatizers always get slippery about what they mean, and if you point to a bad part, they say that bad part isn't what they have in mind, but ultimately there is no good point to it other than somethingsomething USPS wastes money on salaries for black people so we should waste money giving PROFIT to rich people instead.
...adding, I missed the "good they're doing something!" point which I thought was implicit but sometimes things are clear in my head and not obvious.
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Clusters
Sounds bad.
Updated 2:48 p.m.: The University reported another COVID-19 cluster in the Hinton James Residence Hall at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday via Alert Carolina. This is the fourth cluster reported in the past three days.
Two have already been reported at Ehringhaus Residence Hall and Granville Towers, and a third at the Sigma Nu fraternity.
According to the Alert Carolina, those in the cluster are already isolating and being monitored. The University is working with the Orange County Health Department to identify other potential exposures.
Time Is Cruel
steve bannon found alive after 88 days adrift at sea https://t.co/InmVu2MkO8
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) August 16, 2020
The Evidence Is East, West, South and North Somewhat
When @jaketapper tells Mark Meadows there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Mark Meadows said, “There’s no evidence that there’s not either.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 16, 2020
Progress
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) August 16, 2020
Chair @RepMaloney just called on @USPS PMG DeJoy to testify at an urgent Oversight Cmte hearing on Aug. 24 to examine his sweeping changes and their impact on mail-in voting. #SavetheUSPS
Read more here: https://t.co/WETO762Dsq pic.twitter.com/PJn6XPoFHj
and when they tell you to fuck off? 3.5 years of the Trump administration and we haven't quite answered that question.
Inflict Pain
I get that the House isn't going to haul in My President or members of the Cabinet, but this idea that all subpoenas are really just a friendly negotiation between the House and the administration has been absurd. If you can't haul the Cabinet Secretary in, you haul in the people who work for them. If you're arguing you can't even do that, then you're arguing that Congressional subpoenas are just a polite myth, a bit like the tooth fairy. And, hey, ok, but...
Better
We need to subpoena the Postmaster General, and if he fails to appear, we should send the Sgt at Arms to arrest him.
— Jim Cooper (@repjimcooper) August 15, 2020
A certain other Dem member of Congress has been saying oh noes they will fight our subpoenas congress is powerless just vote.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Plateauing
Better than exploding, but "keeping steady at the worst it's ever been" is... not quite progress, either.
Analysts have confirmed that Georgia is making progress in the fight against COVID-19. This encouraging data is vital as local leaders decide how best to protect and educate students in schools throughout our state. #gapol https://t.co/3gX6V2cRLq
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) August 14, 2020
The Plan Is Hope
I was never a SUPER DC INSIDER, but I used to be a bit more connected to various information pathways. Not so much anymore. Still I learned to read the tea leaves a bit. To put it a bit bluntly, insiders leak information to various positioned individuals and outlets in a way that's designed to get the message out. I guess the dumbest version of this is talking points, but sometimes there's more substance.
The result is sometimes it's pretty obvious that a message is going out, as you begin hearing it in surround sound.
There really is no message. The message is just the wrapping, of course. What's inside the box is more important. But if there's no wrapping, there probably no box either. Members of Congress are tweeting, "nothing we can do, please vote."
I am dumb and not important and nobody tells me anything anymore, but...
The result is sometimes it's pretty obvious that a message is going out, as you begin hearing it in surround sound.
There really is no message. The message is just the wrapping, of course. What's inside the box is more important. But if there's no wrapping, there probably no box either. Members of Congress are tweeting, "nothing we can do, please vote."
I am dumb and not important and nobody tells me anything anymore, but...
Friday, August 14, 2020
Grifter Friday
The FSD improvement will come as a quantum leap, because it’s a fundamental architectural rewrite, not an incremental tweak. I drive the bleeding edge alpha build in my car personally. Almost at zero interventions between home & work. Limited public release in 6 to 10 weeks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2020
Not that it even matters, but Elon promised ONE MILLION ROBOTAXIS by the end of this year. But he can sometimes get from his work to his home.
What Are You Going To Do About it
I suspect just waiting for the election is not quite enough of a plan.
Disapora
I don't have a handle on how many college students are going to be traveling to for the Fall semester, relative to what is normal, but that is an issue, also, too.
The study, conducted by scientists with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Columbia University, examines how four South Florida counties that are hotspots for coronavirus — Miami Dade, Palm Beach, Monroe and Broward — would influence the spread of COVID-19 should a Category 3 hurricane hit the area and force some residents to flee to safer regions.
10 Points To Gryffindor
This is how I and fellow Democrats reacted when idiots tried to say McCain wasn’t qualified to run.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) August 14, 2020
Text of S.Res. 511 (110th): A resolution recognizing that John Sidney McCain, III, is a natural born citizen. (Resolution Agreed to by Senate version) https://t.co/vH9ii5s9ty
Road Rage Nation
Obviously The Man tells us what we can and can't do in lots of ways, but I guess psychology is such that status quo bias means that being told to do so some new thing, especially when you think The Libs Are Making You Do It, is intolerable. That a nontrivial number of people are driven into genuine - not performative - rage over very minor inconveniences is, I guess, not surprising. Everyone has a road rage story, and everyone has seen the red faced ham man apoplectic because the service worker gave him the wrong sized fries.
It isn't as if governments are generally enforcing mask requirements with jack booted thuggery. I suppose there are some fines happening in some places, but basically getting chucked out of a store (private property) is about the extent of the "tyranny" you are about to experience.
Literally everything about covid at all levels of government could have been handled better, but I don't even know how to overcome a culture of Spreading The Plague To Own The Libs Even If My Kids Get It Too.
I guess we had a good run.
It isn't as if governments are generally enforcing mask requirements with jack booted thuggery. I suppose there are some fines happening in some places, but basically getting chucked out of a store (private property) is about the extent of the "tyranny" you are about to experience.
Literally everything about covid at all levels of government could have been handled better, but I don't even know how to overcome a culture of Spreading The Plague To Own The Libs Even If My Kids Get It Too.
I guess we had a good run.
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Happy Hour Thread
Vote Markey, you Massholes.
When the government abandons its people, it’s up to us to rise up and make a revolution. We’re fighting for dignity, for justice, and for our future. Join us at https://t.co/NY8pZcBcFE. #GreenNewDealmaker pic.twitter.com/4V558XjrVw
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) August 13, 2020
And That's How The World Will End
It's hard to remember what I thought about anything even a week ago, but I'm pretty sure even pessimistic me thought that schools around the country would consistently make half-assed attempts, at least, to seem to be doing something to minimize transmission risks. There are severe limits to what even the most well-intentioned schools can do, but clearly some (for a variety of reasons) aren't even fucking trying.
Cases have been going down. They're going to start going up again soon.
Cases have been going down. They're going to start going up again soon.
What A Country
Encouraging 30% of the country refuse to wear masks (and similar) to Own the Libs might even be the greatest catastrophe of Trumpism.
A Georgia school district that does not require masks has closed a high school and now has over 1,100 students and staff in quarantine due to the coronavirus.
...
"As your Superintendent, I wear a mask whenever I cannot social distance," Hightower said. "We know all parents do not believe the scientific research that indicates masks are beneficial, but I believe it and see masks as an important measure to help us keep schools open."
The Fed Can Do What It Wants
I don't particularly care about the legal arguments, because they've made quite clear through past actions that they will take whatever extraordinary measures they deem "necessary" and come up with some bullshit justifications later. Also, who will stop them? But, yes, they are the backstop against everything collapsing.
Keep in mind that the Fed has bought over 800 companies’ corporate bonds, because they had to keep their promises according to chair Jerome Powell, but the municipal lending is stuck on 1. Some regional Fed presidents have intimated that Treasury is holding up bigger changes on funds to which it contributed its CARES Act share. Others have said that states don’t need liquidity, they need grants, and the central bank’s hands are tied.Gotta point the money cannon somewhere useful. Quickly.
Darien Shanske, a UC-Davis professor of law and political science, figured out a way to untie those hands months ago. In a paper co-written with Indiana University’s David Gamage, Shanske lays out how there’s a way to avoid Treasury’s effective veto on the program by lending under the Fed’s Section 14 authority rather than the Section 13 authority being used now. Under those powers, the Fed can purchase six-month notes without needing an equity backstop from elsewhere. The way to extend the terms is to commit to re-purchase the notes every six months for twenty years, with a sliding schedule of repayment of principal. Most localities have a short-term borrowing exception that could make this work.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
de Blasio is as bad as Florida Man.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is digging in on NYC schools reopening.
— Emma G. Fitzsimmons (@emmagf) August 13, 2020
New Yorkers don't back down, he says, just because people raise questions and doubts.
"We just don't surrender."
NYC has a low infection rate. Parents are begging for school. We are doing this, he says.
If You Don't Do It Then The Other One Will
Wait until the election and hope for the best is a strategy. Maybe it is the best strategy. It was also the strategy 4 months ago. I do not think it was the best strategy then.
There were always (bullshit) barriers around Trump and top political appointees, but Congress could've made everybody within 5 feet of all of them miserable. They chose not to.
There were always (bullshit) barriers around Trump and top political appointees, but Congress could've made everybody within 5 feet of all of them miserable. They chose not to.
Failed State
Pareene:
But the Donald Trump we have is the one who believes meaningless or imaginary executive orders will substitute for congressional action for the same reason that he believed Covid-19 would go away on its own. As he understands it, the important thing is that he was seen on television promising relief. The idea that people might notice if that relief never came, or was inadequate when it did, is as foreign to him as the idea that people might notice that their neighbors or parents had died of Covid-19 even if none of them could get a test to confirm the diagnosis.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Florida Man
.@GovRonDeSantis begins a statewide address with a comparison between schools reopening in Martin County and the Navy Seal raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.
— Kirby Wilson (@KirbyWTweets) August 12, 2020
Said school reopening will require the same kind of commitment as that mission.
Lunch Thread
Busy with stuff for a bit. Don't worry, everything will still be terrible when I get back.
And Then A Reclosing Plan
Sometimes there are no good options, and right now that's in large part due to the actions of My President and a bunch of stupid sycophantic governors, and schools are just going to be going through this all year.
"Suburban Housewife"
My President keeps addressing his official tweets to them. Aside from a small number of people deep in conservative culture, does anybody actually identify with this grouping anymore? We've had a lot of different terms, and specific euphemisms in political contexts ("soccer moms"), to roughly describe relatively affluent married suburban white women with children, but they tend to emphasize the "mom" part not the "wife" part.
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Pre-Writing Maureen Dowd
Don't disappoint me, MoDo. We need one column about how Joe Biden is actually more of the woman on the ticket, and Kamala Harris is more the man. You have it in you! I know you do!
Reaping
The picture below is from their first day back to school about a week ago.
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) August 11, 2020
Today the superintendent said, “Since we’ve reopened, and as of this morning, there have been 59 positive COVID-19 tests confirmed among our students and staff.” https://t.co/Y1IHyXErYb
Veepstakes
Because I am cranky I am sure the choice will annoy me no matter who it is, which I think means my opinions are probably Bad and don't matter. Discuss amongst yourselves!
It's Gonna Take A Superman To Sweep Me Off My Feet
I'm not surprised that Trump was incapable of even faking doing the bare minimum during All This - I'm not waiting for President New Tone to appear - but my point is that there's a definite rally-around-our-glorious-leaders impulse in this country, and a press so desperate to bear witness to The Great Man Doing Great Things that they attempt to do it even now, that tragedy coupled with a sense that the people in charge are doing something about it would quite likely push him over the top.
He Could Have Been A Hero
Repeating myself as usual, but a Donald Trump mimicking the bare minimum of competence during all of this would be coasting to re-election.
Just putting someone else in charge and saying, "I gave it all to the science guy, it's on him," or whatever.
Just putting someone else in charge and saying, "I gave it all to the science guy, it's on him," or whatever.
Hit and Run
Another power outage last night. Only lasted about an hour. Just long enough to interrupt a good night's sleep.
Monday, August 10, 2020
The Virgin Ben
I admit I didn't imagine we'd still have him to kick around in the Year of our Gritty, 2020, though I probably didn't predict too much correctly about this year.
There Is No Way This Winter Is Ever Going To End
Reading tweets from a press conference, and the Kentucky governor is reopening bars and restaurants at half capacity (up from 25%) because I guess it's all solved now.
Though he is pushing back school openings!
Beshear: 275 new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky today. 7-day rolling average of new daily cases down slightly to 535. pic.twitter.com/nygqr2fvP0
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) August 10, 2020
Though he is pushing back school openings!
Stonks
The Fed can and will goose stonks whenever they need a little help, and once the stonks are goosed "no one" in charge cares anymore.
The glaring disconnect between the real economy, of working humans with jobs and bills to pay, and the investor class economy, embodied by the stock market, is one of the most brutal and devious political issues of this age of crisis in which we’re living. Though free marketeers like to boast of the fact that more than half of Americans now own stocks, the fact is that most of them own too few stocks to matter to their day-to-day economic lives. Half of all stocks in America are owned by the wealthiest 1% of people. They are the stock market’s target audience and prime movers. The primary effect of high stock prices today is to insulate the rich from the consequences of the wrecked real economy. So long as stocks are doing okay, there is no need for the class of people who control most of America’s institutions to feel much urgency to save the lives of everyone. A strong stock market is like a sturdy wall around the rich and powerful. You can stay outside and lose your job and starve and die, and it won’t penetrate their serene bubble very much at all.
But Mah Football
Thanks, Trump.
The Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 college football season in a historic move that stems from concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, multiple people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Free Press.I'm more of a sports fan than I used to be, and I get the even greater fandom in others more than I used to, but that tons of grown ass adults in the middle of All This think OH NOT DON'T TAKE MY FOOTBALL AWAY as if that's important at all...
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) plans to send a letter to Big Ten presidents pleading them to hold the 2020 college football season, according to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger.
Never Tweet
Ok @PopcornFactory two messed up birthday orders missed delivery dates with no explanation. First time I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Second one tells me not to buy from you again. #DisappointedNephew
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 10, 2020
Numbers
It is frightening how quickly expectations adapt to "the new normal." I suspect if I submitted my plan to The Stonecutters that the price of "everything being normal" was just 800 people dying of this new disease, every day, plus all the as-yet-fully-unknown long term health effects, there would be much rejoicing.
800 per day is 292,000 per year. It would be just fine. Unemployment falling to 8% will also be just fine.
800 per day is 292,000 per year. It would be just fine. Unemployment falling to 8% will also be just fine.
Sunday, August 09, 2020
And Then
#BREAKING North Paulding High School will shut down for two days due to Covid-19. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/zZrac2iUNG
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) August 9, 2020
Yes, that one.
...news report:
PAULDING COUNTY, Ohio — Roughly 24 hours after sending out a notice to parents about nine new cases of COVID-19 in one school, the Paulding County School District has announced students at that location will be going virtual for at least two days.
There will be no in-person instruction at North Paulding High School on Monday or Tuesday. Parents will find out on the second day if the online learning plan will remain in place any longer.
All This
Perhaps none of it matters, but a person unfamiliar with politics, but who tuned in once in awhile, would be quite sure that Clinton's affair with Lewinsky was a much greater threat to all that "we" hold dear than, well, all this, based on the comparative tenor of punditry.
I Know This Might Shock You
But I do not think My President is quite right in the head.
In private, the efforts to charm Mr. Trump were more pointed, according to a person familiar with the episode: Ms. Noem greeted him with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included a fifth presidential likeness: his.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Going well.
The Paulding County high school that became infamous for hallways crowded with unmasked students reported a half dozen students and three staffers in the school with COVID-19, the school district told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Saturday.Going to be a great Fall.
Saturday, August 08, 2020
I Usually Want To Be Wrong
But... doesn't sound so good, folks.
Nearly 100,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds. Just over 97,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus from July 16 to July 30, according to the association.
Out of almost 5 million reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S., CBS News' Michael George reports that the group found that more than 338,000 were children.
People Ain't Got No Fucking Money
There are the immediate crises, and it's an open question whether we solve them satisfactorily or if you'd all better pull out your copies of "How To Serve Man" for some creative ways to feed your families, but if we do manage to solve them, the next step will involve most of the Very Serious People being very confused about just how to solve the inevitable Even Greater Recession. Perhaps a tax advantaged savings plan!
Friday, August 07, 2020
Falling Well
Take just one photo of your unzipped pants..
The head of the conservative evangelical Liberty University has been forced to take an “indefinite leave of absence” after he shared a photo of himself with his pants unzipped to reveal his underwear.
Arbitrary Numbers
Senate Rs -- those that may actually support a deal - have quietly said anything over $2 trillion is a non starter.
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) August 7, 2020
Schumer says the votes don't exist in the Dem-led House to pass anything less than $2 trillion.
Therein lies a pretty major problem.
I Think Obummer Used Up All The Hope
I really don't know why they're doing this. Trump isn't the only one with a 14 day time horizon.
As Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed this summer for schools to reopen, state leaders told school boards they would need Health Department approval if they wanted to keep classrooms closed.I'm not one who naively believes in ACCOUNTABILITY (hahahaha) but what, precisely, is the up side for choosing this course? With Trump you can follow his demented pudding brain illogic, but these Republican governors?
Then they instructed health directors not to give it.
Monster Trucks
Just pedestrian killing machines.
Furthermore, the specific design trend of the massive hood sticking way out in front of the driver, with a cliff-face front grille obstructing the view several feet out in front of the wheels, is entirely a marketing gimmick. The explicit point is to create an angry, aggressive face that will intimidate others, especially pedestrians. Don't take it from me, take it from the guy who designed the latest GM Sierra HD: "The front end was always the focal point... we spent a lot of time making sure that when you stand in front of this thing it looks like it's going to come get you. It's got that pissed-off feel," he told Muscle Cars & Trucks. "The face of these trucks is where the action is," marketing expert Mark Schirmer told the Wall Street Journal's Dan Neil, "a Ford has to say Ford from head on, a Chevy must shout Chevy. Every pickup has become a rolling brand billboard and the billboards are big." And as Neil discovered when he was nearly run down in a Costco parking lot, that massive grille creates a massive blind spot.
10.2%
Monthly unemployment report today. 10.2% isn't good, but the apocalypse was delayed by the various measures which just expired. So delayed, but not averted.
Time Keeps On Ticking
Trump barely has object permanence, and "a month from now" might as well be "in 2874, when we are vacationing on Europa." Not the only reason he's fucking everything up, but in addition to everything else, he doesn't really comprehend the difference between 2 weeks and 2 months, which is an advanced skill you should have when trying to comprehend the evolution of a pandemic.
Thursday, August 06, 2020
More Powerful Than God
That Biden guy sounds pretty scary, but also maybe we shouldn't anger him.
Joe Biden will "hurt the Bible, hurt God," Trump says in Ohio of his practicing Catholic opponent. "He's against God."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 6, 2020
Poll Porn
#NEW Senate @QuinnipiacPoll
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) August 6, 2020
#MESen:
Gideon (D) 47% (+4)
Collins (R-inc) 43%#SCSen:
Graham (R-inc) 44%
Harrison (D) 44%#KYSen:
McConnell (R-inc) 49% (+5)
McGrath (D) 44%
Lucky Kids
Might be the only ones who survive.
At least two students have been suspended at North Paulding High School in Georgia for posting photos of crowded hallways that went viral on Twitter.
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