Rock on.
Saturday, August 01, 2020
The Dumbest Evil Fucks In The Universe
The House was always filled with some of the lesser lights of the country, but I don't think it's false nostalgia to think that there weren't quite so many who were quite this dumb not so long ago. The evil isn't new of course.
Stupid.
And evil!
Stupid.
I am taking #Hydroxychloroquine to treat my coronavirus diagnosis. It is what was decided as the best course of action between my doctor and me--not by government bureaucrats. How long until the tech tyrants censor this tweet? https://t.co/dzAYAXiQ8p
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) July 31, 2020
And evil!
Rep. Raúl Grijalva has tested positive for COVID-19 after a week in Washington, D.C., that included a hearing with Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive in recent days.
Scoop Of A Lifetime
This is a well-reported look into some of what went wrong. It’s also worth noting that treating the coronavirus as a blue state problem was a fairly widespread approach in the West Wing. https://t.co/wDgk8cazok
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 31, 2020
Wow if only you'd been a reporter at a prominent American news outlet so you could have informed the public that the White House was willing to let half the country die because they though it would be good politics.
And Maggie isn't even saying she missed it, just that it wasn't worth being in the paper of record.
Sure they reported on the diversion of scare resources to favored states and governors. Also bad! But that's a bit different than the Trump administration wanting people in blue states to die so that they could blame Dem governors for the deaths!
Not infrequently reporters, because it's extremely important that they be seen as Knowing Things, basically say, "oh, yes, we knew all that." Cool. Why didn't you tell us?
I've been through enough important major events to know that I shouldn't expect them to get off their bullshit even when [looks around at all this] but I keep being surprised.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Election Delay
There's no legal channel for a president to delay the election, so any actual attempt to do so or similar is actually the coup attempt, whether or not it gets anywhere.
We All Want Things
March -> August seemed like a reasonable amount of time for things to get back to normalish. Ah, well, nevertheless.
NEW from CDC: #COVID19 outbreak at an overnight camp in Georgia infects *at least* 260 campers & staff.
— Amy Maxmen (@amymaxmen) July 31, 2020
-51% of positives 6-10yo
-44% 11-17 yo
-Camp required a test <12 days before arriving & attempted "pods"
-Masks required for staff but NOT campers
(1/2)
How Long Can Stonks Float On Powell's Levitation Device
I don't actually remember an economic model of "The Fed blowing up financial assets as fast as possible as the real economy disintegrates" and am too dumb to imagine how long that bubble can float on nothing.
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Workin' 9 to 5
People have to eat, but I doubt too many of these people are dependent on these jobs. They don't have to work for people who will happily feed them - and us - to the wood chipper.
We are getting more and more messages from deep inside the Trump administration from aides and senior officials who feel like they cannot work safely during COVID, and are being told not to wear masks
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 30, 2020
Pls, pls continue reaching out. We want to tell you story in Playbook.
Never Go The Full Racist
I think enough people (maybe just enough) are repelled by it that it isn't actually a winning strategy. I hope!
SUMMER FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVAGANZA DAY FINAL
Thanks so much! Gonna book my dream weekend at Mar-a-Lago now!
Fun Season
Better luck next year.
The Philadelphia Phillies have canceled workouts today after a coach and clubhouse attendant tested positive for coronavirus. Activities are shut down “until further notice,” according to the team.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 30, 2020
Asymmetry
Even the "good guys" in DC always err on the side of not doing enough, especially as the costs of not doing enough are huge relative to the costs of doing too much. People might have a little extra money? Oh no. How can we measure the scale of the human tragedy this would cause.
This was obviously a time to go yuuuuuge, and it was obvious from the beginning that not enough of the Very Serious People had any idea, with all that chatter about turning the economy off and then on again, and V-Shaped recoveries, etc.
Oh well, we'll know better next time.
This was obviously a time to go yuuuuuge, and it was obvious from the beginning that not enough of the Very Serious People had any idea, with all that chatter about turning the economy off and then on again, and V-Shaped recoveries, etc.
Oh well, we'll know better next time.
Wow What A Dumbass
Some idiot with a blog, March 20, 2020.
Whatever you think is enough, double it and then double it again.
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
1.43 million new lucky duckies.
I'm not sure it's easy to think about an initial claims number as either good or bad, because we can't yet see whether this is an unusually deep downturn or an unusually rapid one.
I'm not sure it's easy to think about an initial claims number as either good or bad, because we can't yet see whether this is an unusually deep downturn or an unusually rapid one.
Just The Flu
150,000 dead and no end in sight. My expert Dr. Dr. Atrios, Ph.d MD take is that measures which can allow life to return to somewhat normal (mask wearing as a standard practice, no indoor dining and similar) once the new case rate is low, are also measures which can flatten the curve and stop cases from exploding but not enough to significantly lower them.
The initial round of medicine needs to be harsher, and 30-60 days of strong lockdown is necessary to deal with a state like Florida. Any official measures can be helped or hindered by a culture that embraces or rejects the basic advice (enforcement isn't really the way, you need leadership and general buy in from the populace).
MAGAs coughing in each others mouths to own the libs, a president who can only manage his new tone for about 7 minutes (long enough to get the bobbleheads to praise him for it yet again), and a conservative media telling "you" constantly that it's all a plot to steal your vital essences, are going to make dealing with this impossible no matter what the relevant stupid governor makes official policy.
Almost August! Gonna open up by Easter, 2021!
The initial round of medicine needs to be harsher, and 30-60 days of strong lockdown is necessary to deal with a state like Florida. Any official measures can be helped or hindered by a culture that embraces or rejects the basic advice (enforcement isn't really the way, you need leadership and general buy in from the populace).
MAGAs coughing in each others mouths to own the libs, a president who can only manage his new tone for about 7 minutes (long enough to get the bobbleheads to praise him for it yet again), and a conservative media telling "you" constantly that it's all a plot to steal your vital essences, are going to make dealing with this impossible no matter what the relevant stupid governor makes official policy.
Almost August! Gonna open up by Easter, 2021!
Morning Thread
Huzzah! All eight episodes of Tim Bousquet's podcast Uncover;Dead Wrong, are now available. Perfect listening while having your first cuppa.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Still
I certainly don't expect anything from Trump and I have as low an opinion of Republicans generally as is legally allowed, but I still can't believe they're clowning around about covid over 4 months later, even after it stopped just killing bad liberals in New York City and started killing THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
I Love My Boss
PLAYBOOK PM: After we reported that @replouiegohmert was positive, we got an email from a Gohmert aide. pic.twitter.com/x31CSOdkLf
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 29, 2020
SUMMER FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVAGANZA DAY 6
After 18 years, this blog is finally going to adopt a new tone.
Florida Man
The good news is cases don't seem to be rising... the bad news is they don't really seem to be falling, either
Florida set a new daily record for coronavirus-related deaths for the second day in a row Wednesday, as the state saw a spike of 216 deaths.
...
The state also added another 9,446 new COVID-19 cases, for a total of 451,423 dating back to March, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Health Wednesday. It's the fourth straight day that fewer than 10,000 cases were confirmed.
Surprise Surprise Surprise
NEWS … Texas Rep. LOUIE GOHMERT (@replouiegohmert) has tested positive for the coronavirus.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 29, 2020
He has not been wearing a mask on Capitol Hill.
Gohmert was scheduled to go to Texas with @realDonaldTrump this morning.
Story up on POLITICO shortly….
So Everybody In The School Then
I am dumb and I don't have the solution, but I suspect there just isn't one within the realm of possibility, especially but maybe not even because of the limits of our politics.
Just days after Alcoa City Schools began slowly welcoming students back to class during the coronavirus pandemic, an individual has tested positive for the virus.I don't know the specifics here, of course, but in general the burden on teachers trying to make this sort of dual system work is absurd, and quite likely the uncertainty for everybody involved makes it just not worth it.
The school system announced Friday night that an individual at Alcoa Middle School has tested positive for COVID-19 and contact tracing has been completed.
"Anyone who has been in close contact with this person will be notified by phone messaging system and email within the next 24 hours," wrote director Rebecca Stone.
If notified, the student will need to quarantine for 14 days unless a doctor's note or negative test shows it's possible to return sooner. Students are expected to continue working digitally, but are not permitted to attend school or any school activities.
New York Times Editorial Board Member Is Making Sense
For all the talk about accountability during the 2018 elections, what we got was a few half-assed investigations, a narrowly focused impeachment and the occasional made for TV rant.
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) July 28, 2020
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Tuesday Night
Rock on.
Bill Barr is aggressive towards Black Lives Matter protests but not armed right-wing extremists threatening to lynch a Governor.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) July 28, 2020
Why? Because white men with swastikas storming a Capitol are part of Trump's agenda while people of color protesting injustice are seen as terrorists. pic.twitter.com/hrpUuatIks
Umbrella Man
I think people can be a bit too quick to assume any seemingly bad actions by protesters are committed by agitators, but Umbrella Man was pretty obvious.
A masked man who was seen in a viral video smashing the windows of a south Minneapolis auto parts store during the George Floyd protests, earning him the moniker “Umbrella Man,” is suspected to be a member of the Hell’s Angels biker gang seeking to incite racial tension in a demonstration that until then had been peaceful, police said.
Demon Sperm
Trump always finds the best doctors.
A Houston doctor who praises hydroxychloroquine and says that face masks aren’t necessary to stop transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus has become a star on the right-wing internet, garnering tens of millions of views on Facebook on Monday alone. Donald Trump Jr. declared the video of Stella Immanuel a “must watch,” while Donald Trump himself retweeted the video.
Before Trump and his supporters embrace Immanuel’s medical expertise, though, they should consider other medical claims Immanuel has made—including those about alien DNA and the physical effects of having sex with witches and demons in your dreams.
Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches.
SUMMER FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVAGANZA DAY 5
Because this blog is, above all, dedicated to presenting Both Sides of every issue: the garbage one and the good one.
Are We The Baddies
Applebaum's been paid well for decades to explain things to us, and she apparently believed all the bullshit everyone she knew told her!
Oh my old friends were just seduced by that slutty bitch authoritarianism! Led astray by its siren song! It couldn't possibly be that their lifelong project was to implement it.
I hate these people.
Free Polanski!
In “Twilight of Democracy,” Applebaum tries to understand why so many of her old friends — conservatives who once fancied themselves champions of democracy and classical liberalism — have become paranoid right-wing populists. “Were some of our friends always closet authoritarians?” she asks. “Or have the people with whom we clinked glasses in the first minutes of the new millennium somehow changed over the subsequent two decades?”Imagine thinking the "throw leftists from helicopters" crowd actually believed all these things. Well, don't worry, you can continue to enrich Anne buy buying her book and also you can hear her talk to David Frum, for another episode of "we are truly stupid assholes with odious opinions and friends but wow you should give us more money and keep listening to our sage advice, because the one thing we refuse learn is that we are evil dumdums who no one should listen to."
To Applebaum, today’s right, in both America and Europe, “has little in common with most of the political movements that have been so described since the Second World War.” Until recently, she writes, the right was “dedicated not just to representative democracy, but to religious tolerance, independent judiciaries, free press and speech, economic integration, international institutions, the trans-Atlantic alliance and a political idea of ‘the West.’” What happened?
all are invited! I will ask @davidfrum about his book, "Trumpocalypse," and he will ask me about mine... https://t.co/IG4lhBsydi
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) July 28, 2020
Oh my old friends were just seduced by that slutty bitch authoritarianism! Led astray by its siren song! It couldn't possibly be that their lifelong project was to implement it.
I hate these people.
Free Polanski!
Only Republicans Have A Right to Rule
That's how the political press covers things, and that's why Republicans have no problem attaching piece of shit bills to suicide vests wrapped around the entire country with 5 minutes left on the timers, over and over, and "everyone" demanding that the Dems do the right thing and pass it.
Only one way to break that dynamic...
Only one way to break that dynamic...
teChnOlogy
Sure we all want a vaccine, but otherwise... getting the virus under control - not perfectly, but enough for life to return to largely normal - has been possible a lot of places!
The country's most annoying stats nerd should learn to read his nerd charts.
Hong Kong identified 128 cases yesterday. That's a "resurgence" contact tracers can hopefully manage and suppress.
— Matt Novak (@paleofuture) July 27, 2020
Arizona, which has roughly the same population of Hong Kong, identified 1,973 cases yesterday and has a positivity rate of 22.7%.https://t.co/Z2jJ7BDP7O
The country's most annoying stats nerd should learn to read his nerd charts.
Monday, July 27, 2020
Surely A Bunch Of 3rd Graders Will Be Better At Following The Plan
I mean, seriously, they probably will be, but still.
The operations manual says that after a player tests positive for COVID-19, the club must conduct contact tracing to identify the individuals who had close contact with the infected individual. The Marlins flew together to Philadelphia from Atlanta, traveled by bus to a Center City hotel, traveled by bus to the ballpark, dressed in the clubhouse, and sat in the dugout.
It could be easily argued that every Marlins player and staff member came in close contact over the weekend with the infected players. If so, the operations manual says those individuals should be quarantined or isolated pending the results of an Expedited Diagnostic Test, which the Marlins received Sunday morning. Instead of quarantining and thus postponing Sunday’s game, the Marlins played a 3-hour, 44-minute game against the Phillies and then learned Monday morning that eight additional players had tested positive.
The Economy Is Saved!
100% business meals deduction in the GOP Senate Bill! If you survive your trip to the restaurant!
Sports
The writers are getting a bit obvious with this subplot.
the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings have announced that their Infection Control Officer has tested positive for coronavirus
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 27, 2020
A New Tone
Surely 1284 days into his presidency, in the middle of a depression and a pandemic, he'll FINALLY CHANGE HIS TONE.
Was That The Plan
Pretty dumb plan, if so.
The Marlins have not left Philadelphia yet after Miami took two out of three games in the season-opening series against the Phillies. The team decided to play its game Sunday afternoon game after holding out three players, including scheduled starting pitcher Jose Urena, due to positive test results. First baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Harold Ramirez were out of the lineup Sunday, and catcher Jorge Alfaro was placed on the injured list shortly before Friday’s season opener. Th team did not disclose an official reason for any of the absences.Even under this much scrutiny, they... just played.
SUMMER FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVAGANZA DAY 4
Thanks for keeping my blogs mighty and strong! We will blog our way to victory, together!
That Was A Fun Couple Of Days
All the greatest minds and money of MLB couldn't make this work.
Tonight’s game between the Phillies and New York Yankees at Citizens Bank Park has been postponed following a coronavirus outbreak suffered by the Miami Marlins, according to sources.The issue every school is facing isn't a plan for reopening, it's the likely plan for reclosing.
The Marlins remain in Philadelphia, quarantined in a hotel after postponing their home opener tonight against the the Baltimore Orioles. At least 14 Marlins players and coaches have tested positive for COVID-19, with eight players and two coaches testing positive Sunday, according to ESPN.
The Virus Is Coming From Inside The White House
BREAKING scoop: Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has tested positive for the coronavirus, sources tell me.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 27, 2020
The Next One Will Be Smarter
We can't continue the basic state of affairs in the US, which is that there is only meaningful Congressional oversight of Democratic presidents, and Democrats can't keep pinning their hopes for oversight on "independent" GOP Daddies like Mueller or from finding A Few Good Republicans in the Senate when necessary. Gotta use the power you have, and not keep outsourcing it to others or simply waiting for election day to wash all the sins away.
Hopefully we see President Biden in January 2021, but we will still have to plan for President Cotton in 2025.
The next one doesn't have to be much smarter, either. Donald Trump is the dumbest human being in America.
Hopefully we see President Biden in January 2021, but we will still have to plan for President Cotton in 2025.
The next one doesn't have to be much smarter, either. Donald Trump is the dumbest human being in America.
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Reopen By Easter
That was obviously nuts when Trump said it, but a that time, a month or so after Easter probably didn't seem so nuts, even knowing what we did about how the strategy of the federal government was to fuck things up as badly as possible. Even the pessimists were more worried about a second wave in the Fall, not that we'd never get past the first one.
It's July 26! Maybe we'll reopen by Easter!
It's July 26! Maybe we'll reopen by Easter!
Speaking Of Buying Ambassadorships
I'd be less annoying than this guy! Iceland's nice.
Despite being assigned to one of the safest countries in the world, Jeffrey Ross Gunter has been "paranoid" about his security since coming to Reykjavik last year, according to a dozen diplomats, government officials, former officials and individuals familiar with the situation. As a result, Gunter wanted the State Department to obtain special permission from the Icelandic government for him to have a firearm. He also wanted door-to-door armored car service, and entertained the idea of wearing a "stab-proof vest."
Summer Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 3!
Thanks to all! Only a few million more donations and I will be able to afford to buy my very own ambassadorship!
The Most Ridiculous Show On TV
I admit I can't stop watching, but these writers are just trolling us at this point.
“If you vote for Biden, you’re going to be living in Nazi Germany,” the woman with the swastika mask told Mueller, as her companion bagged up toilet paper and an enormous canister of cheeseballs. The two were apparently using the masks to protest Minnesota’s mask mandate, which took effect Saturday.
Poll Porn
Just for fun.
In Florida (51% Biden to 46% for President Donald Trump) and Arizona (49% Biden to 45% Trump), registered voters break in Biden's favor by single-digit margins, while in Michigan, Biden's lead stands at 52% to 40%, matching the national average for the presidential race per the most recent CNN Poll of Polls.
Live Die Repeat
My current basic concern is that as "we" are apparently incapable of learning anything or even remembering 2 months ago, that current hotspots which have to varying degrees shut down again, will, as soon as things start looking a bit better, try to go back to normal. Also the schools, of course.
There's a reason the doctor tells you to make sure to take the full 10 day course of antibiotics, even if you're feeling better by day 4.
There's a reason the doctor tells you to make sure to take the full 10 day course of antibiotics, even if you're feeling better by day 4.
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