The White House spokesperson reportedly said that with reference to the leak about the Russian bounties.
No kidding, eh?
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Skyrocket
Coronavirus: Fauci warns of 100,000 US cases per day
Top disease researcher Dr Anthony Fauci has told the US Senate that he "would not be surprised" if new virus cases in the country reach 100,000 per day.
Top disease researcher Dr Anthony Fauci has told the US Senate that he "would not be surprised" if new virus cases in the country reach 100,000 per day.
America is toast
The message today of the virus experts.
Looks like we're going to find out pretty soon what happens when everybody in an entire country gets infected with this virus, or as near as may be.
If you don't agree the virus is the greatest threat to America and the world today you are a fool.
Not Russia, not racism, not Communism, not immigration, not free trade, and not Secular Humanism.
The virus.
Our goose is cooked because half the country is so stupid it deliberately put a totally useless and malignant clown in the White House.
Deliberately.
He was their kind of guy.
Looks like we're going to find out pretty soon what happens when everybody in an entire country gets infected with this virus, or as near as may be.
If you don't agree the virus is the greatest threat to America and the world today you are a fool.
Not Russia, not racism, not Communism, not immigration, not free trade, and not Secular Humanism.
The virus.
Our goose is cooked because half the country is so stupid it deliberately put a totally useless and malignant clown in the White House.
Deliberately.
He was their kind of guy.
At Lowe's today
A young woman took off her mask to cough into her elbow.
A man took off his mask in order to sneeze.
A man took off his mask in order to sneeze.
Mail in fraud? You bet.
And Republicans have actually been caught after using mail in fraud to steal elections.
Republicans.
Republicans.
Afghanistan
The bullshit just goes on and on.
The rise of Muslim fundamentalism got the greatest boost in its history when that knee-jerk anti-communist boob, Republican and conservative hero Ronald Reagan, gave the Taliban to the world in order to mess things up for the Russians in Afghanistan.
Russians in Afghanistan would be bad?
Oh, please.
Nowhere near as bad for us, for Afghanistan, or for the entire Muslim world as us handing that country to the Taliban.
That gave us, well, the Taliban, a much-strengthened Al-Qaeda, the attacks of 9/11, an endless war in Afghanistan, a huge rise in terrorism and jihad all over the region, ISIS, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the ongoing wastage of trillions of dollars.
Yes, Reagan gave us that, with Bush fils not far behind him.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Meanwhile, Democrats to a man (or woman) are shocked, shocked, that Russians would subsidize military operations against US forces by enemies whom we once subsidized to carry out military operations . . . against the Russians!
A lot of Russia owns Trump claptrap, for day and days.
The rise of Muslim fundamentalism got the greatest boost in its history when that knee-jerk anti-communist boob, Republican and conservative hero Ronald Reagan, gave the Taliban to the world in order to mess things up for the Russians in Afghanistan.
Russians in Afghanistan would be bad?
Oh, please.
Nowhere near as bad for us, for Afghanistan, or for the entire Muslim world as us handing that country to the Taliban.
That gave us, well, the Taliban, a much-strengthened Al-Qaeda, the attacks of 9/11, an endless war in Afghanistan, a huge rise in terrorism and jihad all over the region, ISIS, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the ongoing wastage of trillions of dollars.
Yes, Reagan gave us that, with Bush fils not far behind him.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Meanwhile, Democrats to a man (or woman) are shocked, shocked, that Russians would subsidize military operations against US forces by enemies whom we once subsidized to carry out military operations . . . against the Russians!
A lot of Russia owns Trump claptrap, for day and days.
Why the Great Fat Orange Klansman is mad as heck and itching to appoint another supreme
Supreme Court, in 5-4 ruling, strikes down restrictive Louisiana abortion law
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Louisiana's tough restriction on abortions violates the Constitution, a surprising victory for abortion rights advocates from an increasingly conservative court.
The 5-4 decision, in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court's four more liberal justices, struck down a law passed by the Louisiana Legislature in 2014 that required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
. . . .
The challengers said the requirement was identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016.
With the vote of then-Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled that Texas imposed an obstacle on women seeking access to abortion services without providing any medical benefits.
Kennedy was succeeded by the more conservative Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by President Donald Trump, who was among the four dissenters Monday.
Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the Texas decision, also wrote Monday's ruling.
. . . .
Roberts said he thought the court was wrong to strike down the Texas law, but he voted with the majority because that was the binding precedent.
"The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents."
Will he respect precedent enough to uphold Roe?
Others surely would not.
Democrats liked Roberts' call but noted Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were not on their side.
Sara Gideon attacks Susan Collins on abortion rights after Supreme Court ruling
Gideon touted her endorsements from groups supporting abortion rights like NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action and publicly questioned whether Collins still believed that Kavanaugh viewed Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision in which the court ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman's right to choose to have an abortion, as "settled law."
Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices because of Supreme Court precedent, emphasizing that the Louisiana law was identical to a credentialing requirement in a Texas statute invalidated by the court's 2016 ruling in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.
Kavanaugh dissented with the other conservative justices, writing that the Supreme Court "should remand the case for a new trial and additional fact finding under the appropriate legal standards."
Thomas tears into abortion precedent, says Roe v. Wade should fall in dissent on Louisiana case
Thomas called Roe v. Wade 'farcical,' the court's reasoning for calling abortion a right 'amorphous' and its abortion jurisprudence 'grievously wrong'
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Louisiana's tough restriction on abortions violates the Constitution, a surprising victory for abortion rights advocates from an increasingly conservative court.
The 5-4 decision, in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court's four more liberal justices, struck down a law passed by the Louisiana Legislature in 2014 that required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
. . . .
The challengers said the requirement was identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016.
With the vote of then-Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled that Texas imposed an obstacle on women seeking access to abortion services without providing any medical benefits.
Kennedy was succeeded by the more conservative Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by President Donald Trump, who was among the four dissenters Monday.
Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the Texas decision, also wrote Monday's ruling.
. . . .
Roberts said he thought the court was wrong to strike down the Texas law, but he voted with the majority because that was the binding precedent.
"The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents."
Will he respect precedent enough to uphold Roe?
Others surely would not.
Democrats liked Roberts' call but noted Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were not on their side.
Sara Gideon attacks Susan Collins on abortion rights after Supreme Court ruling
Gideon touted her endorsements from groups supporting abortion rights like NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action and publicly questioned whether Collins still believed that Kavanaugh viewed Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision in which the court ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman's right to choose to have an abortion, as "settled law."
Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices because of Supreme Court precedent, emphasizing that the Louisiana law was identical to a credentialing requirement in a Texas statute invalidated by the court's 2016 ruling in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.
Kavanaugh dissented with the other conservative justices, writing that the Supreme Court "should remand the case for a new trial and additional fact finding under the appropriate legal standards."
Thomas called Roe v. Wade 'farcical,' the court's reasoning for calling abortion a right 'amorphous' and its abortion jurisprudence 'grievously wrong'
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas filed a blistering opinion dissenting from a Monday decision to strike down a Louisiana law that required abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, calling the court's record on abortion "grievously wrong."
The pitched dissent made clear that Thomas is ready to tear down the court's protections for abortion completely in his most explicit comments yet that precedents all the way back to Roe v. Wade should fall.
Vice President Mike Pence tweeted, “After today’s disappointing decision by SCOTUS, one thing is clear: We need more Conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.”
So of course he wants to appoint more of them to put unelected conservatives in possession of the law.
Good answer, but what was the question?
Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program
A First Amendment free exercise issue, a Fourteenth Amendment equal protection (anti-discrimination) issue, or both?
Roberts went with the conservatives on this one.
Joe Biden meets the press
Columbus, Washington, Jefferson good and their monuments need to be protected by government.
And down with the Confederacy and all their honors.
And down with the Confederacy and all their honors.
The County acts on the virus
As COVID-19 cases reach record numbers, Allegheny County to ban alcohol sales in bars, restaurants starting Tuesday afternoon
Bars and restaurants in Allegheny County will be prohibited from selling alcohol for drinking on-site beginning Tuesday afternoon by order of the Pennsylvania Department of Health as the number of COVID-19 cases spikes and officials struggle to contain the spread of the highly infectious disease.
For the first time since the outbreak began in Western Pennsylvania in March, Allegheny County led the state Sunday in new cases with 96 — a record for the county — and the number of positive cases in the county in the previous two days was higher than the past two weeks, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald said during an unusual Sunday briefing.
“We have seen some alarming spikes in our numbers in the last week,” he said in what was only the second briefing of its kind since the outbreak of the pandemic triggered by the coronavirus in Western Pennsylvania.
“If we don’t get ahead of it now, we’re going to have to shut down many more businesses. It’s a very serious situation.”
Effective immediately, on-premises alcohol consumption at bars and restaurants is banned in Allegheny County and enforcement will begin at 5 p.m Tuesday.
Penalties for violations can result in the closure of the business for a week, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said.
. . . .
Despite the shutdown of alcohol sales, there were no imminent plans to move the county back into the yellow phase — with more restrictive requirements for businesses — as the result of the sharp increase in the number of cases, Dr. Bogen said.
“We don’t want to close down our economy again,” she said.
“We know that’s not good for people’s health, either. If we follow the guidance, we should be OK.”
Bars and restaurants in Allegheny County will be prohibited from selling alcohol for drinking on-site beginning Tuesday afternoon by order of the Pennsylvania Department of Health as the number of COVID-19 cases spikes and officials struggle to contain the spread of the highly infectious disease.
For the first time since the outbreak began in Western Pennsylvania in March, Allegheny County led the state Sunday in new cases with 96 — a record for the county — and the number of positive cases in the county in the previous two days was higher than the past two weeks, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald said during an unusual Sunday briefing.
“We have seen some alarming spikes in our numbers in the last week,” he said in what was only the second briefing of its kind since the outbreak of the pandemic triggered by the coronavirus in Western Pennsylvania.
“If we don’t get ahead of it now, we’re going to have to shut down many more businesses. It’s a very serious situation.”
Effective immediately, on-premises alcohol consumption at bars and restaurants is banned in Allegheny County and enforcement will begin at 5 p.m Tuesday.
Penalties for violations can result in the closure of the business for a week, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said.
. . . .
Despite the shutdown of alcohol sales, there were no imminent plans to move the county back into the yellow phase — with more restrictive requirements for businesses — as the result of the sharp increase in the number of cases, Dr. Bogen said.
“We don’t want to close down our economy again,” she said.
“We know that’s not good for people’s health, either. If we follow the guidance, we should be OK.”
News as oppo research as full-on propaganda
Always bearing in mind propaganda isn't necessarily false.
From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump's phone calls alarm US officials
From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump's phone calls alarm US officials
Yeah, we saw.
Coronavirus updates: 'The minute we opened, it was like COVID didn't exist'
The event will take place on July 3.
I'm sure that will be well attended.
Miami is now the hardest hit city in Florida's coronavirus outbreak.
Since Miami began reopening in late May, Mayor Francis Suarez said he's seen people acting as though the coronavirus pandemic never happened.
"The minute that we opened, it was like COVID didn't exist and people just forgot and, in some cases, are still forgetting," Suarez told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Tuesday on "Good Morning America."
"You know, the city of Miami was actually the last city in the entire state of Florida to open," he added.
"I got criticized at the time for taking too long, some said."
Miami is now the hardest hit city in Florida's novel coronavirus outbreak as cases rise across the Sunshine State.
The mayor said his office is doing everything they can to control the spread of the virus
"People are congregating, they're having a good time, they're partying and they're spreading the disease incredibly efficiently, and it's starting to stress our hospital system," Suarez said.
. . . .
Latest:
Since Miami began reopening in late May, Mayor Francis Suarez said he's seen people acting as though the coronavirus pandemic never happened.
"The minute that we opened, it was like COVID didn't exist and people just forgot and, in some cases, are still forgetting," Suarez told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Tuesday on "Good Morning America."
"You know, the city of Miami was actually the last city in the entire state of Florida to open," he added.
"I got criticized at the time for taking too long, some said."
Miami is now the hardest hit city in Florida's novel coronavirus outbreak as cases rise across the Sunshine State.
The mayor said his office is doing everything they can to control the spread of the virus
"People are congregating, they're having a good time, they're partying and they're spreading the disease incredibly efficiently, and it's starting to stress our hospital system," Suarez said.
. . . .
Latest:
- No social distancing, optional masks at Mount Rushmore event with Trump
- Over 100 cases linked to a single bar in Michigan
- WHO to send team to China to investigate COVID-19 origin
- Hospitals reaching capacity in Arizona
. . . .
South Dakota won't be enforcing social distancing at the Mount Rushmore July 4th celebration with President Donald Trump, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem told Fox News Monday night.
"We told those folks that have concerns that they stay can home. But those who want to come join us, we will be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one," Noem said in a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham.
"We won't be social distancing, we're asking them to come, be ready to celebrate the freedoms and the liberties we have in this country."
Noem added that she's told residents to focus on "personal responsibility" and that everyone should make a decision "that they're comfortable with."
"We told those folks that have concerns that they stay can home. But those who want to come join us, we will be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one," Noem said in a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham.
"We won't be social distancing, we're asking them to come, be ready to celebrate the freedoms and the liberties we have in this country."
Noem added that she's told residents to focus on "personal responsibility" and that everyone should make a decision "that they're comfortable with."
The event will take place on July 3.
I'm sure that will be well attended.
Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanisan
Just today more came out and it appears the story is actually a year old.
The intelligence came up in March of 2019, not March of this year.
And now we're hearing from the media the story needs to be confirmed even while we're hearing it was confirmed and acted on last year, being shared with the Brits and with American commanders who beefed up security.
I'm guessing what happened is that the Bozo in the White House knew a year ago and his administration responded appropriately, and they didn't bring it up with Putin in some public way because that would only create flap and possibly reveal intelligence sources, and even create public pressure for a too aggressive response, in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
So, is this just a tale of confusion by everybody, including the White House, about a piece of year-old news?
Politically interested confusion on the Democrat side, politically inept confusion on the White House side?
Well, anti-Trump media are running away with the story, Joe Scarborough (for example) saying it proves the Duce is in Putin's pocket.
Sure, he's in Putin's pocket, somehow.
But this isn't that.
They'll stretch out the thing as long as they can, anyway.
Campaign season.
The intelligence came up in March of 2019, not March of this year.
And now we're hearing from the media the story needs to be confirmed even while we're hearing it was confirmed and acted on last year, being shared with the Brits and with American commanders who beefed up security.
I'm guessing what happened is that the Bozo in the White House knew a year ago and his administration responded appropriately, and they didn't bring it up with Putin in some public way because that would only create flap and possibly reveal intelligence sources, and even create public pressure for a too aggressive response, in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
So, is this just a tale of confusion by everybody, including the White House, about a piece of year-old news?
Politically interested confusion on the Democrat side, politically inept confusion on the White House side?
Well, anti-Trump media are running away with the story, Joe Scarborough (for example) saying it proves the Duce is in Putin's pocket.
Sure, he's in Putin's pocket, somehow.
But this isn't that.
They'll stretch out the thing as long as they can, anyway.
Campaign season.
Monday, June 29, 2020
More full of shit activists
Biden campaign says 36% of senior staff are people of color
Joe Biden’s campaign says a little more than a third of its senior staff are people of color, sharing staff diversity data after facing pressure to answer questions on the issue.
The campaign said that 36% of its senior staff are people of color, but did not disclose how much of its overall campaign staff are people of color.
The campaign also noted that women are in the majority of both the campaign’s senior staff and its full staff.
The candidate has faced warnings from activists that he must be careful not to take the Black community for granted.
Right.
They might stay home, or vote for the Great Fat Orange Klansman, if he doesn't watch it.
I had a feeling they might.
Black voters helped deliver him the nomination, and will be key to his White House hopes this fall.
They and just under half the whites who vote this time.
Two or three times as many as the blacks who will vote for him.
Joe Biden’s campaign says a little more than a third of its senior staff are people of color, sharing staff diversity data after facing pressure to answer questions on the issue.
The campaign said that 36% of its senior staff are people of color, but did not disclose how much of its overall campaign staff are people of color.
The campaign also noted that women are in the majority of both the campaign’s senior staff and its full staff.
The candidate has faced warnings from activists that he must be careful not to take the Black community for granted.
Right.
They might stay home, or vote for the Great Fat Orange Klansman, if he doesn't watch it.
I had a feeling they might.
Black voters helped deliver him the nomination, and will be key to his White House hopes this fall.
They and just under half the whites who vote this time.
Two or three times as many as the blacks who will vote for him.
Another guy too vicious to live
Execution is the best closure.
Doesn't sound like they needed the confession to get a conviction for enough of his crimes to kill him, anyway.
He was a cop during his years as a killer.
'Golden State Killer' pleads guilty as grisly crimes recounted by prosecutors
Joseph DeAngelo, the man suspected of being the notorious Golden State Killer, has agreed to plead guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder in front of dozens of victims and victims' relatives, prosecutors said.
The death penalty will be taken off the table and he will serve life without parole, Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday said at Monday's hearing.
After DeAngelo was taken into custody in 2018, he said to himself in an interview room, "I did all those things. I destroyed all those lives," according to prosecutors.
The plea deal required him to admit to multiple uncharged acts, including rapes, which were described in grisly detail by prosecutors.
. . . .
The deal will "allow the remaining victims and family members ... to hear the defendant admit that he committed these acts," Holliday said.
Instead of a courtroom, DeAngelo, in an orange jumpsuit and using a cane, appeared in a California State University–Sacramento ballroom.
With over 150 victims and relatives expected to attend, prosecutors sought a room that would be large enough to accommodate them and promote social distancing,The Sacramento Bee reported.
Doesn't sound like they needed the confession to get a conviction for enough of his crimes to kill him, anyway.
He was a cop during his years as a killer.
'Golden State Killer' pleads guilty as grisly crimes recounted by prosecutors
Joseph DeAngelo, the man suspected of being the notorious Golden State Killer, has agreed to plead guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder in front of dozens of victims and victims' relatives, prosecutors said.
The death penalty will be taken off the table and he will serve life without parole, Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday said at Monday's hearing.
After DeAngelo was taken into custody in 2018, he said to himself in an interview room, "I did all those things. I destroyed all those lives," according to prosecutors.
The plea deal required him to admit to multiple uncharged acts, including rapes, which were described in grisly detail by prosecutors.
. . . .
The deal will "allow the remaining victims and family members ... to hear the defendant admit that he committed these acts," Holliday said.
Instead of a courtroom, DeAngelo, in an orange jumpsuit and using a cane, appeared in a California State University–Sacramento ballroom.
With over 150 victims and relatives expected to attend, prosecutors sought a room that would be large enough to accommodate them and promote social distancing,The Sacramento Bee reported.
Four men too vicious to live
Supreme Court refuses to block upcoming federal executions
Nothing in the story explains why the cases involving these men were federal, in the first place.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates who are scheduled to be put to death in July and August.
The executions would mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level since 2003.
The justices rejected an appeal from four inmates who were convicted of killing children.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor noted that they would have blocked the executions from going forward.
. . . .
The activity at the high court came after Attorney General William Barr directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions.
Three of the men had been scheduled to be put to death when Barr first announced the federal government would resume executions last year, ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain.
. . . .
The inmates scheduled for execution are:
Danny Lee, who was convicted in Arkansas of killing a family of three, including an 8-year-old;
Wesley Ira Purkey, of Kansas, who raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl and killed an 80-year-old woman;
Dustin Lee Honken, who killed five people in Iowa, including two children;
and Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped a 10-year-old girl who was rollerblading in front of her Kansas home and raped her in a forest behind a church before strangling the young girl with a wire.
Three of the executions — for Lee, Purkley and Honken — are scheduled days apart beginning July 13.
Nelson’s execution is scheduled for Aug. 28.
The Justice Department said additional executions will be set at a later date.
Nothing in the story explains why the cases involving these men were federal, in the first place.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates who are scheduled to be put to death in July and August.
The executions would mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level since 2003.
The justices rejected an appeal from four inmates who were convicted of killing children.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor noted that they would have blocked the executions from going forward.
. . . .
The activity at the high court came after Attorney General William Barr directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions.
Three of the men had been scheduled to be put to death when Barr first announced the federal government would resume executions last year, ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain.
. . . .
The inmates scheduled for execution are:
Danny Lee, who was convicted in Arkansas of killing a family of three, including an 8-year-old;
Wesley Ira Purkey, of Kansas, who raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl and killed an 80-year-old woman;
Dustin Lee Honken, who killed five people in Iowa, including two children;
and Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped a 10-year-old girl who was rollerblading in front of her Kansas home and raped her in a forest behind a church before strangling the young girl with a wire.
Three of the executions — for Lee, Purkley and Honken — are scheduled days apart beginning July 13.
Nelson’s execution is scheduled for Aug. 28.
The Justice Department said additional executions will be set at a later date.
Yeah, let's just pretend it's all over.
Coronavirus updates: Over 200 urged to quarantine after positive case at Planet Fitness
A gymgoer at a Planet Fitness in West Virginia has tested positive for COVID-19.
A gymgoer at a Planet Fitness in West Virginia has tested positive for COVID-19.
Now is the time but Wolf is too chicken to act
COVID-19 Update: Allegheny County reports 83 new cases, no deaths
Allegheny County — with 83 new cases — had the highest increase in cases [in the state].
. . . .
The additional cases bring the county total to 2,651, with 2,508 confirmed and 143 probable, since the pandemic started in March.
The recent cases involve individuals ranging in age from 9 to 89, but the median age is 26.
. . . .
Allegheny County — with 83 new cases — had the highest increase in cases [in the state].
. . . .
The additional cases bring the county total to 2,651, with 2,508 confirmed and 143 probable, since the pandemic started in March.
The recent cases involve individuals ranging in age from 9 to 89, but the median age is 26.
. . . .
“In one three-day period, we tested 1,000 people, but we’re seeing a higher positive rate because there’s a lot more COVID disease in our community than there was a few weeks ago,” Dr. Bogen said.
In the last 10 days, the county has had 513 new cases.
In an effort to contain the virus, county officials on Sunday announced that the sale of alcohol for on-site consumption is prohibited. Though effective immediately, enforcement won’t begin until Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Case investigators noted that multiple people who tested positive for the contagious virus had noted visiting bars in the South Side and in Oakland, as well as vacationing in Florida, Texas, along the coast of the Carolinas and other COVID-19 hot spots.
Despite the increase the state has seen over the last week, Dr. Rachel Levine, director of the state health department, said Monday that there are no immediate plans to move any county back into the yellow phase.
“Overall we are not one of those states that are looking at a big spike,” Gov. Tom Wolf said.
It was hilarious when they tried this clown show stuff on O.
It still is.
Rep. Biggs: 2020 is a choice between Trump and a 'Marxist, leftist, authoritarian' regime
What, did the Democrats nominate Joe Stalin?
Rep. Biggs: 2020 is a choice between Trump and a 'Marxist, leftist, authoritarian' regime
What, did the Democrats nominate Joe Stalin?
The November election will boil down to a choice between a "Marxist leftist authoritarian type of regime" and President Trump, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Sunday.
"The choice is so stark here," Biggs told "The Next Revolution" host Steve Hilton.
"You have people like the Lincoln Project Bill Kristol and those guys....what they are doing is they are saying we would rather have a Marxist leftist authoritarian type of regime where we can make money and have a special interest protected than to support President Trump [who] is gonna support this country and make this country truly great and let everybody succeed or fail on their own personal merit."
They've been talking this nonsense since Goldwater and Reagan denounced Medicare as Communism in 1965.
I'm willing to bet they damned Social Security as Communism in 1935.
They lie to avoid prosecution
They feared for their property so they came out to the street - a private street, by the way, and the protesters had broken down a gate to get into the private street - to defend their house.
If they had feared for their lives they would have stayed inside, armed, possibly hiding out in the basement.
'Ken & Karen' Draw Their Guns At Crowd Heading To St. Louis Mayor's Home
White privilege, much?
If they had been black and the crowd white would they have lived long enough to make lying explanations?
Oh, and it's that mayor.
A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis, Missouri, as the group marched toward the mayor’s home, demanding her resignation after she publicly read the names and addresses of several residents who supported defunding the police department
If they had feared for their lives they would have stayed inside, armed, possibly hiding out in the basement.
'Ken & Karen' Draw Their Guns At Crowd Heading To St. Louis Mayor's Home
White privilege, much?
If they had been black and the crowd white would they have lived long enough to make lying explanations?
Oh, and it's that mayor.
A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis, Missouri, as the group marched toward the mayor’s home, demanding her resignation after she publicly read the names and addresses of several residents who supported defunding the police department
Sometimes you get what you deserve
Fauci doubts effectiveness of coronavirus vaccine in US due to anti-vaxxers
He expects a vaccine maybe 75 % effective.
But just as far too many people are blowing off masking and physical distancing and refusing to cooperate with contact tracing far too many will refuse the vaccine.
America right now is in awful shape and it's just going to get way worse.
The reason for all this is one and the same.
Americans are as dumb as cats, and you can't herd cats.
Americans are going to do the worst job in the entire world handling this virus, and yet given our riches we could have done the best.
He expects a vaccine maybe 75 % effective.
But just as far too many people are blowing off masking and physical distancing and refusing to cooperate with contact tracing far too many will refuse the vaccine.
America right now is in awful shape and it's just going to get way worse.
The reason for all this is one and the same.
Americans are as dumb as cats, and you can't herd cats.
Americans are going to do the worst job in the entire world handling this virus, and yet given our riches we could have done the best.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
A Democratic governor anticipates the Red Guards
Rhode Island moves to change official name over slavery ties
Governor’s order would shorten state’s full name of ‘The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations’ to just ‘Rhode Island’
The name has no slavery ties.
No more than the name of the Niger River has ties to the racial epithet.
Or Niger the country, or Nigeria the country, through both of which the river passes.
In the 17th century, the English used "plantation" to mean "colony".
But, hey, the mob's the mob and this Democratic governor is desperate to virtue-signal.
And, anyway, "colony" is a bad word to use in a name, too, eh?
Rhode Island
Providence Plantations
Plymouth Plantation
See the Guardian article.
The change requires action by the RI legislature.
If it's made contingent on a popular vote of confirmation it possibly won't happen.
It was tried once before and the voters opposed the change by 75%.
It is predictable that Republicans will want to make it so contingent while Democrats will oppose that.
Governor’s order would shorten state’s full name of ‘The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations’ to just ‘Rhode Island’
The name has no slavery ties.
No more than the name of the Niger River has ties to the racial epithet.
Or Niger the country, or Nigeria the country, through both of which the river passes.
In the 17th century, the English used "plantation" to mean "colony".
But, hey, the mob's the mob and this Democratic governor is desperate to virtue-signal.
And, anyway, "colony" is a bad word to use in a name, too, eh?
Rhode Island
Providence Plantations
Plymouth Plantation
See the Guardian article.
The change requires action by the RI legislature.
If it's made contingent on a popular vote of confirmation it possibly won't happen.
It was tried once before and the voters opposed the change by 75%.
It is predictable that Republicans will want to make it so contingent while Democrats will oppose that.
Not for the last time, there is no code
An appeal to or claim to defend states rights is not code for racism or defense of racism or white supremacy.
But historically and so far as I know nobody has ever appealed to or defended states rights except to defend secession and slavery, or state-mandated segregation, or state Jim Crow laws, or the right of employers or public accommodations to discriminate on the basis of race.
"States rights" isn't code for those things.
Those things have been and largely still are the only reason for defending states rights.
But historically and so far as I know nobody has ever appealed to or defended states rights except to defend secession and slavery, or state-mandated segregation, or state Jim Crow laws, or the right of employers or public accommodations to discriminate on the basis of race.
"States rights" isn't code for those things.
Those things have been and largely still are the only reason for defending states rights.
What does that mean? Nothing in the story explains.
Health secretary: ‘Window is closing’ to stop coronavirus as US cases pass 2.5m
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press program on Sunday morning, Azar was asked by presenter Chuck Todd why the US was failing to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, especially when so many other countries seem to be succeeding.
Azar acknowledged the US was “seeing surging in cases” and that the majority of those are among people under the age of 35, which means a “large number of those” will be asymptomatic, presenting a different challenge for authorities trying to get a grip on outbreaks.
“This is a very serious situation,” Azar said, adding that “the window is closing” to stop virus spread.
“We have to act, and people as individuals have to act responsibly. We need to social distance, we need to wear our face coverings.”
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press program on Sunday morning, Azar was asked by presenter Chuck Todd why the US was failing to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, especially when so many other countries seem to be succeeding.
Azar acknowledged the US was “seeing surging in cases” and that the majority of those are among people under the age of 35, which means a “large number of those” will be asymptomatic, presenting a different challenge for authorities trying to get a grip on outbreaks.
“This is a very serious situation,” Azar said, adding that “the window is closing” to stop virus spread.
“We have to act, and people as individuals have to act responsibly. We need to social distance, we need to wear our face coverings.”
The Klansman in Bozo emerges with a shout out
If this was intentional - and I think it was - it was not a "dog whistle", much less was it "code".
It was more of a blatant shout out to the alt.right.
The kind of folks we saw and heard at Charlottesville.
Trump thanked 'great people' shown in Twitter video in which a man chants 'white power'
Check out the video.
No mistaking the guy in the cart shouting "White power!" repeatedly, fist raised.
This is a chant or slogan of nobody but committed and very self-aware white racists.
The tweet was deleted after the news had insured everyone was aware of it.
President Donald Trump on Sunday morning widely shared a video he said is from the Villages, a retirement community in Florida, in which a man driving a golf cart with Trump campaign posters is seen chanting "white power."
The President retweeted the video that showed the community's Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters arguing with one another.
The President thanked the "great people" shown in the video.
"Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!" he wrote in the tweet.
Roughly three hours later, the tweet no longer appeared in Trump's timeline.
Ask yourself this.
If the Duce had seen and heard the fellow in the golf cart covered with Trump signs shouting "White power!" and pumping his fist at a live rally, what would have been his reaction?
Would he have blanched in horror?
Would he instantly have publicly rejected the man and his support and the support of anybody like him as somebody like McCain or Romney would have done?
Pshaw.
That is not what he did when he was told David Duke supported him in 2016, when he and Pence both very clearly did not want to reject the support of the racist right.
If this had happened at a McCain or Romney support rally and they said or did nothing that would prove they were not aware.
But the Duce?
The Great Fat Orange Klansman in the White House?
I think not only was he aware, that was the point of re-tweeting the video.
Even if he expected or planned its removal, from the beginning.
It was more of a blatant shout out to the alt.right.
The kind of folks we saw and heard at Charlottesville.
Trump thanked 'great people' shown in Twitter video in which a man chants 'white power'
Check out the video.
No mistaking the guy in the cart shouting "White power!" repeatedly, fist raised.
This is a chant or slogan of nobody but committed and very self-aware white racists.
The tweet was deleted after the news had insured everyone was aware of it.
President Donald Trump on Sunday morning widely shared a video he said is from the Villages, a retirement community in Florida, in which a man driving a golf cart with Trump campaign posters is seen chanting "white power."
The President retweeted the video that showed the community's Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters arguing with one another.
The President thanked the "great people" shown in the video.
"Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!" he wrote in the tweet.
Roughly three hours later, the tweet no longer appeared in Trump's timeline.
Ask yourself this.
If the Duce had seen and heard the fellow in the golf cart covered with Trump signs shouting "White power!" and pumping his fist at a live rally, what would have been his reaction?
Would he have blanched in horror?
Would he instantly have publicly rejected the man and his support and the support of anybody like him as somebody like McCain or Romney would have done?
Pshaw.
That is not what he did when he was told David Duke supported him in 2016, when he and Pence both very clearly did not want to reject the support of the racist right.
If this had happened at a McCain or Romney support rally and they said or did nothing that would prove they were not aware.
But the Duce?
The Great Fat Orange Klansman in the White House?
I think not only was he aware, that was the point of re-tweeting the video.
Even if he expected or planned its removal, from the beginning.
Let the orgy of oppo research begin!
Expect it when the radical left put forward their list of heroes and heroines to replace the ones it rejects.
The statue celebrates this fellow for being a hero of press freedom under Mussolini.
Protesters target statue of famed Italian journalist who married a 12-year-old in Eritrea
The statue celebrates this fellow for being a hero of press freedom under Mussolini.
Protesters target statue of famed Italian journalist who married a 12-year-old in Eritrea
A statue of famed Italian journalist Indro Montanelli in Milan has been painted red and sprayed with the words "racist" and "rapist," while a petition has called for its removal.
While serving in the army in 1935-1936, during Italy's war in Eritrea, the 26-year-old Montanelli bought and married a 12-year-old girl.
During a 1969 interview with Italian journalist and activist Elvira Banotti, Montanelli said he was married to the child because he "bought" her, which he said was part of the region's tradition and common among Eritrean soldiers.
When Banotti pressed Montanelli on whether he had raped the girl, named Desta, the journalist did not answer the question directly but defended himself by saying that he was married and that the issue of rape was out of the question.
. . . .
Milan's mayor, Beppe Sala, said Sunday that although he had seen the video in which Montanelli admitted he had bought the girl, he believed Montanelli was a "great journalist" who fought for press freedom, and that the statue should remain where it is.
"Now I invite all of us, I invite our community to reflect on two issues. The first question I ask myself and you is what do we ask of personalities we want to remember with a statue, with a plaque, with the name of a street or a square, or a garden?
"Do we ask for a spotless life? For a life in which everything was absolutely right? It is possible. However, few would remain to remember," he said in a video posted to Facebook.
"And the second question that I ask myself and you is: When we judge our lives, can we say that our own is spotless? And without things that we wouldn't do again?" he said.
"I put my hands up, my life is not. I made mistakes, I did things I wish I hadn't done, but lives must be judged in their complexity.
"For all these reasons, I think that the statue must remain there. I am nevertheless available to discuss the issue of racism and Montanelli whenever you want," the mayor added.
"This virus still has the upper hand"
Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases
Only two US states are reporting a decline in new coronavirus cases compared to last week: Connecticut and Rhode Island.
A rise was reported in a staggering 36 states, including Florida, which some experts have cautioned could be the next epicenter for infections.
Officials there and across the US are also warning of an increase in cases among younger people.
Florida reported 9,585 new coronavirus cases Saturday, a single-day record since the start of the pandemic.
The number rivals those of New York's peak in early April (New York's new case tally Saturday was about 6% of Florida's).
On Sunday, Florida's Department of Health reported another 8,530 new cases.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state's surge in cases in the past week was the result of a "test dump," echoing an assertion from the White House that an increase in testing is resulting in the higher numbers.
The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contended the increase was actual, not an anomaly related to testing numbers, and warned more spread and deaths were in the country's future.
"As a doctor, a scientist, an epidemiologist, I can tell you with 100% certainty that in most states where you're seeing an increase, it is a real increase. It is not more tests; it is more spread of the virus," CDC Director Tom Frieden told Fox News on Sunday.
In the South, the numbers are rising as a result of hasty reopenings, he said, and it's "going to continue to get worse for weeks."
Deaths are not yet spiking because deaths lag infections by about a month, he said, estimating the nation will see at least 15,000 more deaths in the next month.
"This virus still has the upper hand," Frieden told Fox News.
Doesn't this mean it's not working, here, either?
Sure, sunbelt states are in much worse shape for new cases.
But this isn't good and we're moving in the wrong direction.
Allegheny County sets record with 96 new cases of COVID-19
The number of COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County continues to see an upward, record-setting trend, as the the county health department on Sunday reported 96 new positive cases, a new single-day record, tops the mark of 90 cases set the previous day.
Before Saturday, the previous single-day record total was 76 cases, reported on April 4.
Over the last nine days of being in the green phase, Allegheny County has experienced an increase of 430 new cases as reported by the county health department.
Since March 14, when the county reported its first case, there have been been 2,568 cases in Allegheny County — 2,425 confirmed and 143 probable.
But this isn't good and we're moving in the wrong direction.
Allegheny County sets record with 96 new cases of COVID-19
The number of COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County continues to see an upward, record-setting trend, as the the county health department on Sunday reported 96 new positive cases, a new single-day record, tops the mark of 90 cases set the previous day.
Before Saturday, the previous single-day record total was 76 cases, reported on April 4.
Over the last nine days of being in the green phase, Allegheny County has experienced an increase of 430 new cases as reported by the county health department.
Since March 14, when the county reported its first case, there have been been 2,568 cases in Allegheny County — 2,425 confirmed and 143 probable.
. . . .
On Saturday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 621 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 84,991.
All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have cases of COVID-19.
There are 6,603 total deaths statewide attributed to COVID-19, an increase of 24 new deaths from Friday’s report, the state health department said.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
It is no accident . . .
. . . that Frost/Nixon is now on Netflix.
I had forgotten what a swine Nixon was in ways tawdry and contemptible as well as larger and more frightening.
He and Trump are much of a muchness, the key differences being that Nixon was by far much better informed, much smarter, took his job a lot more seriously, and did it way, way better.
He really was a loyal man who wanted to leave America better off and stronger, within the limits of his insuperable petty vindictiveness and consuming ambition.
Trump would trash America in a fit of pique - if he hasn't already - and otherwise could not care less about the country or his actual job as president.
He is useless or worse in pretty much all respects, and has been since day one.
I had forgotten what a swine Nixon was in ways tawdry and contemptible as well as larger and more frightening.
He and Trump are much of a muchness, the key differences being that Nixon was by far much better informed, much smarter, took his job a lot more seriously, and did it way, way better.
He really was a loyal man who wanted to leave America better off and stronger, within the limits of his insuperable petty vindictiveness and consuming ambition.
Trump would trash America in a fit of pique - if he hasn't already - and otherwise could not care less about the country or his actual job as president.
He is useless or worse in pretty much all respects, and has been since day one.
This is the church that hosted Trump
Of course it is.
Church warned to stop claiming COVID can be eliminated with air filtration
Trump's kind of Christianity.
Gantry's, too. And Sharon Falconer's.
The attorney general of Arizona issued a warning letter to a megachurch that claims its air filtration system "kills 99 percent of COVID within 10 minutes."
Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent the letter to Phoenix's Dream City Church on Thursday, saying that their claim -- which Brnovich said was not backed by any science -- may be illegal.
"In the absence of scientific evidence regarding COVID-19 specifically, statements suggesting that a product could provide nearly guaranteed protection from COVID-19 infections create a misrepresentation or a false promise.
Misrepresentations and false promises are illegal under A.R.S. § 44-1522," Brnovich wrote.
The church, which can seat 3,000 people, had also claimed "when you come into [the church's] auditorium, 99 percent of COVID is gone" and "you can know when you come down here, you'll be safe and protected," according to his letter.
Dream City Church, which has six other locations, made some of the claims in a Facebook video ahead of hosting President Donald Trump this week.
Church warned to stop claiming COVID can be eliminated with air filtration
Trump's kind of Christianity.
Gantry's, too. And Sharon Falconer's.
The attorney general of Arizona issued a warning letter to a megachurch that claims its air filtration system "kills 99 percent of COVID within 10 minutes."
Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent the letter to Phoenix's Dream City Church on Thursday, saying that their claim -- which Brnovich said was not backed by any science -- may be illegal.
"In the absence of scientific evidence regarding COVID-19 specifically, statements suggesting that a product could provide nearly guaranteed protection from COVID-19 infections create a misrepresentation or a false promise.
Misrepresentations and false promises are illegal under A.R.S. § 44-1522," Brnovich wrote.
The church, which can seat 3,000 people, had also claimed "when you come into [the church's] auditorium, 99 percent of COVID is gone" and "you can know when you come down here, you'll be safe and protected," according to his letter.
Dream City Church, which has six other locations, made some of the claims in a Facebook video ahead of hosting President Donald Trump this week.
New York did it right. Texas fucked the pooch.
New York went into lockdown to flatten the curve before the ICUs were filled or even close.
Their ICUs have never yet filled.
New York's governor is a Democrat.
Texas blew off all warnings and went ahead though their state was not ready by CDC/White House criteria.
And now Houston is in virus hell, all beds full and more patients on the way.
Texas Republicans move forward with plans for an indoor convention in Houston, the state's biggest coronavirus hot spot
Florida, also, coming too late to the party.
Why?
Their governors are Republicans and their are not blue states.
Republicans are idiots who play along with the idiot in the White House.
The stupidest Americans - well, of white Americans - gravitate to that party.
Nearly all voters of all other races, morons and loonies included, gravitate toward the Democrats.
Their ICUs have never yet filled.
New York's governor is a Democrat.
Texas blew off all warnings and went ahead though their state was not ready by CDC/White House criteria.
And now Houston is in virus hell, all beds full and more patients on the way.
Texas Republicans move forward with plans for an indoor convention in Houston, the state's biggest coronavirus hot spot
Florida, also, coming too late to the party.
Why?
Their governors are Republicans and their are not blue states.
Republicans are idiots who play along with the idiot in the White House.
The stupidest Americans - well, of white Americans - gravitate to that party.
Nearly all voters of all other races, morons and loonies included, gravitate toward the Democrats.
Friday, June 26, 2020
What the hell are they doing?
Reportedly, people whose idea of the cops comes from watching TV cop shows think the cops succeed in punishing crime, prevent crime, and behave within the law unless it's for the greater good.
The cop shows do teach those lessons.
And that a lot of the time it's best to break the law.
American cop shows far more than those from the UK or Europe, where law enforcement is far more often shown to be careful of human rights, proper procedure, and compliance with the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
Those observations are true.
American crime dramas regularly, in pretty much every episode, portray cops as breaking the law for the greater good and as being able to get the bad guys only by committing crimes or at least violating procedures and ignoring rights guaranteed by the courts and the constitution.
American cop shows also sometimes portray the cops as also being criminals without such excuses, like Chicago PD.
But on the whole it's wall to wall propaganda for cop thuggery, crime, and even sometimes murder.
I have made this observation, myself, before, and claimed it disserves us by encouraging cop criminality and in effect urging the public and those who would police the police to be grateful for it.
Just watched Trevor Noah summarize the case against American cop shows, both reality TV and TV dramas.
And, really, the shows about heroic prosecutors are just as bad, though it's legal chicanery and shameful doings, even including threats to prosecute or otherwise punish someone known to be innocent, sometimes even children, in order to get the targeted suspect or witness to cooperate, testify, or confess, rather than coercion and violence they justify as needed and useful to get the job done.
Come to that, Trevor didn't address the fact that these shows argue police lying, burglaries, and other forms of horrific behavior are both necessary and useful.
In fact there is no limit to the shit from cops and prosecutors these shows won't try to justify in the same way.
By the way, it's no good trying to justify those shows by saying they're just in the gritty noir tradition of cop fiction reaching back to the days before the Supremes did their best to get rid of the third degree by making it useless in pursuit of convictions.
Chambers v Florida
Brown v Mississippi
The noir tradition represented the cops as thugs, but did not attempt to justify that thuggery by showing it as both necessary and able to get the job done.
What we need to do now is go beyond making unlawful police violence useless.
We need to make it personally costly to all those involved by firing them from law enforcement and disbarring them (if they are lawyers) and sending them to prison or even executing them.
PS.
Noah did not mention the undoubted extent toward which acceptance of police violence as "a necessary part of the job" (in LA Confidential, Captain Dudley Smith, a villain and murderer killed in the end, makes that claim, though the violence he actually runs either frames the innocent to cover up for the guilty or aids his personal criminal career, or both) is related to the criminals being black and the acceptors white.
I guess if we wanted to know how far such acceptance is based on racial difference rather than fascist leanings, say, we could compare acceptance in America with acceptance in countries where the criminals and the populace in general are racially homogeneous.
But even without that who is kidding whom?
The cop shows do teach those lessons.
And that a lot of the time it's best to break the law.
American cop shows far more than those from the UK or Europe, where law enforcement is far more often shown to be careful of human rights, proper procedure, and compliance with the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
Those observations are true.
American crime dramas regularly, in pretty much every episode, portray cops as breaking the law for the greater good and as being able to get the bad guys only by committing crimes or at least violating procedures and ignoring rights guaranteed by the courts and the constitution.
American cop shows also sometimes portray the cops as also being criminals without such excuses, like Chicago PD.
But on the whole it's wall to wall propaganda for cop thuggery, crime, and even sometimes murder.
I have made this observation, myself, before, and claimed it disserves us by encouraging cop criminality and in effect urging the public and those who would police the police to be grateful for it.
Just watched Trevor Noah summarize the case against American cop shows, both reality TV and TV dramas.
And, really, the shows about heroic prosecutors are just as bad, though it's legal chicanery and shameful doings, even including threats to prosecute or otherwise punish someone known to be innocent, sometimes even children, in order to get the targeted suspect or witness to cooperate, testify, or confess, rather than coercion and violence they justify as needed and useful to get the job done.
Come to that, Trevor didn't address the fact that these shows argue police lying, burglaries, and other forms of horrific behavior are both necessary and useful.
In fact there is no limit to the shit from cops and prosecutors these shows won't try to justify in the same way.
By the way, it's no good trying to justify those shows by saying they're just in the gritty noir tradition of cop fiction reaching back to the days before the Supremes did their best to get rid of the third degree by making it useless in pursuit of convictions.
Chambers v Florida
Brown v Mississippi
The noir tradition represented the cops as thugs, but did not attempt to justify that thuggery by showing it as both necessary and able to get the job done.
What we need to do now is go beyond making unlawful police violence useless.
We need to make it personally costly to all those involved by firing them from law enforcement and disbarring them (if they are lawyers) and sending them to prison or even executing them.
PS.
Noah did not mention the undoubted extent toward which acceptance of police violence as "a necessary part of the job" (in LA Confidential, Captain Dudley Smith, a villain and murderer killed in the end, makes that claim, though the violence he actually runs either frames the innocent to cover up for the guilty or aids his personal criminal career, or both) is related to the criminals being black and the acceptors white.
I guess if we wanted to know how far such acceptance is based on racial difference rather than fascist leanings, say, we could compare acceptance in America with acceptance in countries where the criminals and the populace in general are racially homogeneous.
But even without that who is kidding whom?
Birx changes the tune, a little.
Just now on the tube.
They used to say the especially vulnerable were the elderly with comorbidities.
Then it was those 65 and over and those of any age with comorbidities.
Today it's those 80 and over and those of any age with comorbidities.
Pence is useless and full of shit.
But even the docs, including Fauci, did not balk at Pence's happy-talk.
Fauci was clear but gentle, even rather sweet-talking the young idiots blowing off social distancing and masks.
And very gently and politely attributed our current disaster to them and to states re-opening too far and too soon, against the rules provided by the White House documents.
He did not for a second blame Trump or any GOP person or GOP media for heaping contempt on those documents and those who obey them and telling many different lies to cause people to ignore the danger and party like it's pledge week.
Not Fauci.
Not with that giant yellow streak down his back.
The three docs on stage wore masks except while at the mic, speaking.
Pence at no time went anywhere near a mask.
So, who was undermining the credibility of whose message?
They used to say the especially vulnerable were the elderly with comorbidities.
Then it was those 65 and over and those of any age with comorbidities.
Today it's those 80 and over and those of any age with comorbidities.
Pence is useless and full of shit.
But even the docs, including Fauci, did not balk at Pence's happy-talk.
Fauci was clear but gentle, even rather sweet-talking the young idiots blowing off social distancing and masks.
And very gently and politely attributed our current disaster to them and to states re-opening too far and too soon, against the rules provided by the White House documents.
He did not for a second blame Trump or any GOP person or GOP media for heaping contempt on those documents and those who obey them and telling many different lies to cause people to ignore the danger and party like it's pledge week.
Not Fauci.
Not with that giant yellow streak down his back.
The three docs on stage wore masks except while at the mic, speaking.
Pence at no time went anywhere near a mask.
So, who was undermining the credibility of whose message?
There is fear and there is judgement
An uninterrupted stream of morons reject the path counselled by good judgement saying "I can't live in fear."
But it's not about being afraid, you f-ing idiots!
Do you live in fear of being hit by a car?
Is that why you don't walk blindfolded onto the turnpike on a childish dare?
Do you live in fear of being hit by a car?
Is that why you don't walk blindfolded onto the turnpike on a childish dare?
The Malevolent Troll in the White House strikes out at twenty-odd million Americans
At The Height Of Pandemic, Trump Asks SCOTUS To Wipe Out Obamacare
And they just might do it.
Joe Biden yesterday attacked Trump's cruelty for trying to prevent Americans from having reliable health care.
Late last night, proving him right, the Trump administration joined a serious challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
. . . .
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi has announced a vote Monday to expand the health care act, calling Trump's move "an act of unfathomable cruelty.”
And they just might do it.
Joe Biden yesterday attacked Trump's cruelty for trying to prevent Americans from having reliable health care.
Late last night, proving him right, the Trump administration joined a serious challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
. . . .
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi has announced a vote Monday to expand the health care act, calling Trump's move "an act of unfathomable cruelty.”
The new Job One
James Carville: 'Deal With It, Democrats, You're Going To Win'
Then Biden and the Dems need to show they understand that things have changed, big time, and Job One now is putting together national plans for dealing with the virus and the horrific damage to the economy that's already happened and will continue to happen as a result of the virus and of necessary efforts to cope with it.
Parts of it will look a lot more like what FDR did, too, I imagine, with his CCC camps and WPA.
And parts will be tax increases to undo the Trump/Ryan/McConnell cuts and even beyond that.
The tax base, after all, has shriveled mightily.
The deficit is astronomical and the national debt has gone intergalactic.
Then Biden and the Dems need to show they understand that things have changed, big time, and Job One now is putting together national plans for dealing with the virus and the horrific damage to the economy that's already happened and will continue to happen as a result of the virus and of necessary efforts to cope with it.
Parts of it will look a lot more like what FDR did, too, I imagine, with his CCC camps and WPA.
And parts will be tax increases to undo the Trump/Ryan/McConnell cuts and even beyond that.
The tax base, after all, has shriveled mightily.
The deficit is astronomical and the national debt has gone intergalactic.
The system is being overrun in Southern states
Stephanie Ruhle says while we have more new infections we have only about a quarter of the new deaths, comparing today with the early months when lockdown began.
Doubtless, I suppose, because the new cases continue ever more among the less vulnerable, the young and the healthy.
But deaths run late.
First you get the new cases and then, 2 or 3 weeks later, you get the deaths.
So we'll see.
They're filling hospitals and ICUs, though, it seems.
Houston' s hospitals are full today.
Austin will get there next week.
Dade County and Miami Beach are in trouble.
Officials everywhere blame people blowing off physical distancing, masking, in huge numbers.
Truth is that's starting to happen in my own Pennsylvania county.
On the streets of Pittsburgh and in the parks, wherever people are mostly the young, almost no masks and no social distancing.
There is no pleasing everyone. Certainly not history's losers.
Native Americans to protest against Trump visit to Mount Rushmore
Oh, gee, we'd better dynamite the whole thing, then.
They will push until they hear falling glass, you know.
Tired of it, yet?
Should Washington and Jefferson monuments come down?
They will push until they hear falling glass, you know.
Tired of it, yet?
Should Washington and Jefferson monuments come down?
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Treason: Bozo slams America with another body blow.
Poll finds sharp partisan divide over coronavirus as cases spike
This is Trump's doing. Keep that in mind.
Trump Follows Through on Threat to ‘Slow the Testing Down’
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced it will pull funding from more than a dozen drive-through testing sites across five states, including Texas, at the end of the month.
The move has left top Democrats incensed:
“The pandemic is clearly getting worse in states nationwide,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the health committee, said in a blast to reporters, “and instead of trying harder to stop it, President Trump is apparently trying harder to hide it.”
Resources are not the issue.
This move comes after Democratic senators called out the administration for failing to spend nearly $14 billion that Congress appropriated to increase testing.
GOP senators push back on Trump administration plan to end support for testing sites
Texas Sens. John Cornyn (R) and Ted Cruz (R) on Thursday sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) protesting the administration’s plans to cut back federal support of drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Texas and other states.
The senators called the testing sites “critical to Texas’ testing capacity” at a time the number of coronavirus cases in the state is spiking, hitting a peak of 5,551 new cases on Wednesday.
“Now is not the time to end a program that is working and successfully increasing testing capacity — especially for underserved communities in the state. Due to the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in Texas, cities need additional time to prepare for the transition to state and local control of the testing sites,” the senators wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday the state will pause its reopening plan and ordered hospitals to halt elective surgeries to help deal with the crush of new cases.
I think I know why this is happening.
Many people have told me that Alex Jones has told them many people have told him that Trump is sabotaging testing as part of his term-long effort to undermine the national security of America to the advantage of Vladimir Putin's Russia.
It fits in with everything he has done to botch the federal response to this virus and wreck the American economy, everything to sabotage the response to the Floyd demonstrations, everything to undermine America's intelligence services and national security establishment and the confidence of Americans in them, and everything else he has done to weaken American institutions and subvert the US Constitution over the course of his entire term.
This is Trump's doing. Keep that in mind.
Trump Follows Through on Threat to ‘Slow the Testing Down’
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced it will pull funding from more than a dozen drive-through testing sites across five states, including Texas, at the end of the month.
The move has left top Democrats incensed:
“The pandemic is clearly getting worse in states nationwide,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the health committee, said in a blast to reporters, “and instead of trying harder to stop it, President Trump is apparently trying harder to hide it.”
Resources are not the issue.
This move comes after Democratic senators called out the administration for failing to spend nearly $14 billion that Congress appropriated to increase testing.
GOP senators push back on Trump administration plan to end support for testing sites
Texas Sens. John Cornyn (R) and Ted Cruz (R) on Thursday sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) protesting the administration’s plans to cut back federal support of drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Texas and other states.
The senators called the testing sites “critical to Texas’ testing capacity” at a time the number of coronavirus cases in the state is spiking, hitting a peak of 5,551 new cases on Wednesday.
“Now is not the time to end a program that is working and successfully increasing testing capacity — especially for underserved communities in the state. Due to the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in Texas, cities need additional time to prepare for the transition to state and local control of the testing sites,” the senators wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday the state will pause its reopening plan and ordered hospitals to halt elective surgeries to help deal with the crush of new cases.
I think I know why this is happening.
Many people have told me that Alex Jones has told them many people have told him that Trump is sabotaging testing as part of his term-long effort to undermine the national security of America to the advantage of Vladimir Putin's Russia.
It fits in with everything he has done to botch the federal response to this virus and wreck the American economy, everything to sabotage the response to the Floyd demonstrations, everything to undermine America's intelligence services and national security establishment and the confidence of Americans in them, and everything else he has done to weaken American institutions and subvert the US Constitution over the course of his entire term.
All of it for Putin and to wreck America.
Anyway that's what many people are telling me Alex Jones has said many people have told him.
Who knew Americans are so weak?
Too weak to face the facts about the virus and too weak to make the sacrifices and take the efforts necessary to save thousands and tens of thousands.
But maybe not just Americans.
It's happening all over the world.
Millions more will die than need to.
Maybe tens of millions.
What does that tell us about how things would go in case of a bug this easily spread but as deadly as Ebola?
Half or nearly half of humanity would die, right?
And how would things go for those who survived, with the global economy put through a shredder?
How soon is that bug coming, I wonder?
But maybe not just Americans.
It's happening all over the world.
Millions more will die than need to.
Maybe tens of millions.
What does that tell us about how things would go in case of a bug this easily spread but as deadly as Ebola?
Half or nearly half of humanity would die, right?
And how would things go for those who survived, with the global economy put through a shredder?
How soon is that bug coming, I wonder?
Biden on public honors. Where is he?
There are several issues.
Honoring the Confederacy or its leaders with public statues or even monuments, or on stamps or the currency, or by naming military or public property such as schools or streets, etc., after them.
Similarly honoring the Founders such as Washington, Jefferson, or Hamilton, or Union leaders in the Civil War including such as Lincoln, Sherman, and Grant.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the history of the European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the expansion of the US to its current reach, including figures celebrated for defeating Indians (the Seminole Wars, just for one example) or defeating Mexicans (Texas' War of Independence from Mexico and the Mexican War).
Trump is volubly and publicly committed to defending all of the above.
Similarly honoring leading figures of the historic resistance to slavery (Nat Turner, for example) or in the movement for its abolition (Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman. etc.).
Trump is unhappy with replacing or even supplementing President Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill with Harriet Tubman.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the historic resistance to the European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas.
Similarly honoring leading figures of the historic resistance to the expansion of the US to its current reach.
Honoring any of the above privately rather than publicly by, for example, naming private schools or private streets after them or putting up statues or monuments at private clubs or schools, etc.
This is where Trump says Biden is.
All I could find from Biden or about him in news media is this.
Keeping his head down and his mouth shut?
It is a minefield out there.
Honoring the Confederacy or its leaders with public statues or even monuments, or on stamps or the currency, or by naming military or public property such as schools or streets, etc., after them.
Similarly honoring the Founders such as Washington, Jefferson, or Hamilton, or Union leaders in the Civil War including such as Lincoln, Sherman, and Grant.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the history of the European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the expansion of the US to its current reach, including figures celebrated for defeating Indians (the Seminole Wars, just for one example) or defeating Mexicans (Texas' War of Independence from Mexico and the Mexican War).
Trump is volubly and publicly committed to defending all of the above.
Similarly honoring leading figures of the historic resistance to slavery (Nat Turner, for example) or in the movement for its abolition (Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman. etc.).
Trump is unhappy with replacing or even supplementing President Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill with Harriet Tubman.
Similarly honoring leading figures in the historic resistance to the European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas.
Similarly honoring leading figures of the historic resistance to the expansion of the US to its current reach.
Honoring any of the above privately rather than publicly by, for example, naming private schools or private streets after them or putting up statues or monuments at private clubs or schools, etc.
This is where Trump says Biden is.
All I could find from Biden or about him in news media is this.
Keeping his head down and his mouth shut?
It is a minefield out there.
Why does Conor Lamb never wear a mask or observe physical distancing?
In his ads. Never. Neither him nor anyone around him. And his ads show him interacting with many others, often in the act of fighting the virus.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
A young man on the scene hits the nail on the head
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) jumped in with the kill shot in his opening statement.
The knife went in so cleanly, you had to rewind the tape to even hear what he said a second time:
Mr. Chairman, let me start by saying that part of our colleagues said that the whole hearing is here so we can embarrass the president.
Let’s just be clear.
If we wanted to embarrass the president, we would sit back and do nothing and just let him continue to embarrass himself and say that you should drink bleach or disinfectant to cure COVID-19, that he slowed down testing, that it will magically go away.
Or the absurd statement that he’s done more for black people than Abraham Lincoln.
In law we just say res ipsa loquitor -- the thing speaks for itself.
So instead of trying to embarrass the president, we would just let him continue to do it himself.
What we’re here today to talk about is the abuse of power, the miscarriage of justice.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Into the Night
Netflix, one season, six episodes, each about 45 minutes.
There had better be a season two.
It's that good.
There had better be a season two.
It's that good.
Wow. That man needs an enema.
Trump to sign executive order on monuments
He is such a clown he is a clown in connection with everything.
Confederates did not fight in the armed forces of the United States.
They fought against the armed forces of the United States.
The Veterans' Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003 establishes criminal penalties for anyone who "willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy ...veterans' memorials" including "any structure, plaque, statue or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States."
Under that statute, anyone convicted of those acts could be fined and/or imprisoned for no more than 10 years, or both.
But since that federal law is already established, and has been for nearly two decades, no authorization from the president is needed to enforce it or prosecute someone under the law.
He is such a clown he is a clown in connection with everything.
Confederates did not fight in the armed forces of the United States.
They fought against the armed forces of the United States.
The Veterans' Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003 establishes criminal penalties for anyone who "willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy ...veterans' memorials" including "any structure, plaque, statue or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States."
Under that statute, anyone convicted of those acts could be fined and/or imprisoned for no more than 10 years, or both.
But since that federal law is already established, and has been for nearly two decades, no authorization from the president is needed to enforce it or prosecute someone under the law.
The virus is not over
Saudi Arabia bars foreign pilgrims from hajj over coronavirus fears
MSNBC reports this morning that immunity of those who have recovered lasts only months.
If you recovered in February it could hit you again before the end of this summer.
Maybe there will be no second wave because the first wave will never stop.
Survivors could be hit every few months until they finally die.
Sweden's 'herd immunity' hopes are fading as only a small fraction of the population has coronavirus antibodies
MSNBC reports this morning that immunity of those who have recovered lasts only months.
If you recovered in February it could hit you again before the end of this summer.
Maybe there will be no second wave because the first wave will never stop.
Survivors could be hit every few months until they finally die.
Sweden's 'herd immunity' hopes are fading as only a small fraction of the population has coronavirus antibodies
On average in the US, the flu's death rate is .1%, while the coronavirus' death rate is 4.9%.
Both viruses are most deadly for the elderly.
The flu kills .83% of infected people above age 65, whereas the the coronavirus's death rate is 10.7% for infected people from age 65 to 74, 21.2% for the 75-84 group, and 30.2% for people over 85.
Allegheny County reports biggest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since early May
Allegheny County reported 45 new positive cases on Monday — the highest single-day increase since 45 cases were announced May 7, when the county was still in the red phase.
Dr. Debra Bogen, head of the county health department, attributed the rise in cases to more people going out to bars and restaurants and increased travel outside of the county.
This latest data comes less than a week after the county reported zero new cases of the virus.
. . . .
The county has reported no new deaths for the second day in a row, keeping the total at 178.
The state is reporting 456 new cases of the virus, bringing the statewide total to 82,186.
There are only three additional deaths in Pennsylvania — one each in Berks, Lancaster and Lehigh counties — making the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the state 6,426.
Allegheny County reports biggest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since early May
Allegheny County reported 45 new positive cases on Monday — the highest single-day increase since 45 cases were announced May 7, when the county was still in the red phase.
Dr. Debra Bogen, head of the county health department, attributed the rise in cases to more people going out to bars and restaurants and increased travel outside of the county.
This latest data comes less than a week after the county reported zero new cases of the virus.
. . . .
The county has reported no new deaths for the second day in a row, keeping the total at 178.
The state is reporting 456 new cases of the virus, bringing the statewide total to 82,186.
There are only three additional deaths in Pennsylvania — one each in Berks, Lancaster and Lehigh counties — making the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the state 6,426.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Bolton's best effort to avoid historic disaster
What Bolton cares about is Bolton.
Specifically, Bolton's wallet.
John Bolton says he won't vote for Trump and hopes he is a one-term president
“I don’t think he should be president. I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job. I don’t think he’s a conservative Republican. I’m not going to vote for him in November.
"I’m certainly not going to vote for Joe Biden either. I’m going to figure out a conservative Republican to write in.”
John Bolton says he won't vote for Trump and hopes he is a one-term president
“I don’t think he should be president. I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job. I don’t think he’s a conservative Republican. I’m not going to vote for him in November.
"I’m certainly not going to vote for Joe Biden either. I’m going to figure out a conservative Republican to write in.”
The stupidity is more blatant each time
The virus in AZ is out of control.
Phoenix Mayor Gallego: Mask policy won’t be enforced at Trump event
The White House says he's going to highlight the Great Wall of Trump.
Phoenix Mayor Gallego: Mask policy won’t be enforced at Trump event
The White House says he's going to highlight the Great Wall of Trump.
Trump: irrelevant at best, dangerously malevolent and stupid at worst.
Fat Elvis in Tulsa
Joe and Mika ripping on the Duce as Florida virus cases approach a hundred thousand.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Tulsa authorities lying to hurt Trump? Or maybe telling the truth to hurt him?
We know some among them were not keen on the event, at all.
The place holds 19,000 and everybody said it was 2/3 full, and it looked 2/3 full in the pictures I saw.
Now the Tulsa fire department says the crowd was just over six thousand.
So, a bit less than 1/3 full.
The White House disputes the claim.
The place holds 19,000 and everybody said it was 2/3 full, and it looked 2/3 full in the pictures I saw.
Now the Tulsa fire department says the crowd was just over six thousand.
So, a bit less than 1/3 full.
The White House disputes the claim.
CNN race police (a bald white guy) this morning: "Kung Flu" is racist humor.
Trump used the expression last night, soooo . . .
Trump fizzles
MSNBC at 1:17 am EDT Sunday morning (Saturday night).
No overflow crowds and the arena that could fit 19,000 was about 2/3 full.
The outside space for the overflow was empty and they tore it down to deny the photo-op.
Remember the bullshit about his inauguration crowds?
Oh, yeah.
And while speaking Trump admitted he ordered the slowing of testing to keep down the numbers.
Pretty good bet this was a super spreader event, anyway.
What a complete asshole.
Update.
He did speak of the statue issue.
“The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments,” Trump said.
“They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose their new repressive regime in its place.”
Trump also floated the idea of a one-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of burning an American flag, an act of protest protected by the First Amendment.
And he revived his attacks on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who emigrated from Somalia as a child, claiming she would want “to make the government of our country just like the country from where she came, Somalia: no government, no safety, no police, no nothing — just anarchy.”
“And now she’s telling us how to run our country,” Trump continued. “No, thank you.”
No overflow crowds and the arena that could fit 19,000 was about 2/3 full.
The outside space for the overflow was empty and they tore it down to deny the photo-op.
Remember the bullshit about his inauguration crowds?
Oh, yeah.
And while speaking Trump admitted he ordered the slowing of testing to keep down the numbers.
Pretty good bet this was a super spreader event, anyway.
What a complete asshole.
Update.
He did speak of the statue issue.
“The unhinged left-wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments,” Trump said.
“They want to demolish our heritage so they can impose their new repressive regime in its place.”
Trump also floated the idea of a one-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of burning an American flag, an act of protest protected by the First Amendment.
And he revived his attacks on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who emigrated from Somalia as a child, claiming she would want “to make the government of our country just like the country from where she came, Somalia: no government, no safety, no police, no nothing — just anarchy.”
“And now she’s telling us how to run our country,” Trump continued. “No, thank you.”
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Trump and his campaign are laughing at Democrats
This gives them quite a wedge.
Republicans, Trump in the lead, will promise to put the statues back up.
He might even do it tonight.
What will Democrats do?
They can't win elections without a good piece of the white vote.
They have to open a big space between themselves and all this.
They have embraced removal of statues of Confederates and renaming of government property, but not removal of statues of all slaveowners, Columbus, or other explorers.
What will Biden do or say?
San Francisco protesters topple statues of Ulysses Grant and other slave owners
On Friday night in San Francisco, protesters tore down and defaced statues of white men who enslaved black and indigenous people – among them Ulysses S Grant, the 18th president who in the civil war led the Union armies in the defeat of the slave-owning Confederacy.
Video posted on social media and by local news outlets showed a small crowd in Golden Gate Park cheering as people toppled the statues with rope, covered them with red paint and, in at least one instance, dragged them through the grass.
Statues of Father Junípero Serra and Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, were also brought down.
Grant was the last US president to have personally owned another human being.
And this isn't helping, either.
One dead and one wounded in shooting in Seattle police-free zone
Republicans, Trump in the lead, will promise to put the statues back up.
He might even do it tonight.
What will Democrats do?
They can't win elections without a good piece of the white vote.
They have to open a big space between themselves and all this.
They have embraced removal of statues of Confederates and renaming of government property, but not removal of statues of all slaveowners, Columbus, or other explorers.
What will Biden do or say?
San Francisco protesters topple statues of Ulysses Grant and other slave owners
On Friday night in San Francisco, protesters tore down and defaced statues of white men who enslaved black and indigenous people – among them Ulysses S Grant, the 18th president who in the civil war led the Union armies in the defeat of the slave-owning Confederacy.
Video posted on social media and by local news outlets showed a small crowd in Golden Gate Park cheering as people toppled the statues with rope, covered them with red paint and, in at least one instance, dragged them through the grass.
Statues of Father Junípero Serra and Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, were also brought down.
Grant was the last US president to have personally owned another human being.
And this isn't helping, either.
One dead and one wounded in shooting in Seattle police-free zone
This is derogatory? No, but they aren't waiting for the Red Guards to come for them.
Eskimo Pie no more: Ice cream owners will drop 'derogatory' name
After nearly 100 years, Eskimo Pie ice cream will get a new name.
"We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory," Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for parent company Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, told CNN in a statement.
After nearly 100 years, Eskimo Pie ice cream will get a new name.
"We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory," Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for parent company Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, told CNN in a statement.
Preemptive surrender.
The Duce's fans will like this headline
Tulsa Police Arrest Rally Attendee Shiela Buck For Wearing 'I Can't Breathe' Shirt
Sheila Buck had tickets for the rally tonight, and like thousands of others, had arrived hours ahead of time to get in.
Unlike the other knuckle-draggers just dying to inhale those COVID-filled MAGA-hate respiratory droplets, Ms. Buck sat quietly on the ground wearing an "I Can't Breathe" shirt.
She wasn't blocking anyone's pathway for walking or driving, nor was she armed or dangerous.
Just sitting there crosslegged, masked, and minding her own business when a Trump employee approached, then police, all of whom told her she had to leave.
The back and forth lasted at least fifteen minutes, much of which was caught by news cameras, and ultimately ended in the police forcibly removing Ms. Buck and placing her under arrest and into a squad car, driving off with her just as soon as the door was closed.
This might not go over so well with the fans.
Six Trump campaign staffers working on Tulsa rally test positive for coronavirus
Or maybe it won't matter.
They're way too stupid to realize they're about to walk into a room full of virus, or to care if they do.
Stuff twenty thousand people from all over the country into an arena and the question isn't whether anyone is infected, it's how many are infected.
And these are twenty thousand people who clearly make of point of not taking precautions at all, eh?
Six staffers working on President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have tested positive for coronavirus, the Trump campaign said Saturday.
Just hours before the President is expected to arrive in the state, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement that "per safety protocols, campaign staff are tested for COVID-19 before events.
Six members of the advance team tested positive out of hundreds of tests performed, and quarantine procedures were immediately implemented."
"No COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today's rally or near attendees and elected officials,"he said.
. . . .
Public health officials both on the ground in Tulsa and within the President's administration have warned about the potential risks.
The Tulsa city-county Health Department Director David Bart said he wished the event would be postponed, and the BOK Center where the rally is taking place has canceled or postponed all other events at the venue through the end of July.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a key member of the President's coronavirus task force, has warned that large-scale indoor events are very risky at this stage of the pandemic.
Sheila Buck had tickets for the rally tonight, and like thousands of others, had arrived hours ahead of time to get in.
Unlike the other knuckle-draggers just dying to inhale those COVID-filled MAGA-hate respiratory droplets, Ms. Buck sat quietly on the ground wearing an "I Can't Breathe" shirt.
She wasn't blocking anyone's pathway for walking or driving, nor was she armed or dangerous.
Just sitting there crosslegged, masked, and minding her own business when a Trump employee approached, then police, all of whom told her she had to leave.
The back and forth lasted at least fifteen minutes, much of which was caught by news cameras, and ultimately ended in the police forcibly removing Ms. Buck and placing her under arrest and into a squad car, driving off with her just as soon as the door was closed.
This might not go over so well with the fans.
Six Trump campaign staffers working on Tulsa rally test positive for coronavirus
Or maybe it won't matter.
They're way too stupid to realize they're about to walk into a room full of virus, or to care if they do.
Stuff twenty thousand people from all over the country into an arena and the question isn't whether anyone is infected, it's how many are infected.
And these are twenty thousand people who clearly make of point of not taking precautions at all, eh?
Six staffers working on President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have tested positive for coronavirus, the Trump campaign said Saturday.
Just hours before the President is expected to arrive in the state, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement that "per safety protocols, campaign staff are tested for COVID-19 before events.
Six members of the advance team tested positive out of hundreds of tests performed, and quarantine procedures were immediately implemented."
"No COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today's rally or near attendees and elected officials,"he said.
. . . .
Public health officials both on the ground in Tulsa and within the President's administration have warned about the potential risks.
The Tulsa city-county Health Department Director David Bart said he wished the event would be postponed, and the BOK Center where the rally is taking place has canceled or postponed all other events at the venue through the end of July.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a key member of the President's coronavirus task force, has warned that large-scale indoor events are very risky at this stage of the pandemic.
Bolton unchained
Federal judge denies Trump administration's attempt to block release of Bolton's book
A federal judge has denied the Trump administration's attempt to block the upcoming publication of a book by former national security adviser John Bolton.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the DC District Court wrote in a 10-page decision Saturday morning that the Justice Department's arguments weren't enough to stop the book's release.
He cited how the book, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, had already been widely distributed, and could easily be distributed further on the internet, even if the court said it could not be.
"For reasons that hardly need to be stated, the Court will not order a nationwide seizure and destruction of a political memoir," Lamberth wrote.
The judge's ruling Saturday quickly dispels a long-shot attempt by the Trump administration to stymy the book's release -- an attempt roundly condemned as antithetical to the First Amendment.
But Lamberth's decision also keeps alive major risks for Bolton, such as the administration's effort to claw back proceeds from the book, including from any movie and TV rights, and other consequences for disclosing classified information.
A federal judge has denied the Trump administration's attempt to block the upcoming publication of a book by former national security adviser John Bolton.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the DC District Court wrote in a 10-page decision Saturday morning that the Justice Department's arguments weren't enough to stop the book's release.
He cited how the book, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, had already been widely distributed, and could easily be distributed further on the internet, even if the court said it could not be.
"For reasons that hardly need to be stated, the Court will not order a nationwide seizure and destruction of a political memoir," Lamberth wrote.
The judge's ruling Saturday quickly dispels a long-shot attempt by the Trump administration to stymy the book's release -- an attempt roundly condemned as antithetical to the First Amendment.
But Lamberth's decision also keeps alive major risks for Bolton, such as the administration's effort to claw back proceeds from the book, including from any movie and TV rights, and other consequences for disclosing classified information.
Maybe the virus likes the sun?
From Florida across to and including California, sun drenched states are where the virus is spiking.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Extremists planning violence
Trump Threatens Rally Protesters While Tulsa Is Under Civil Emergency, Curfew
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum declared a civil emergency on Thursday and ordered a curfew near the arena where Trump is scheduled to speak.
He said he expects crowds of more than 100,000 people.
Tulsa has a population of about four hundred thousand.
The arena reportedly holds about 19,000 people.
The arena reportedly holds about 19,000 people.
Citing "civil unrest," the order stated that part of downtown closed at 10 p.m. Thursday through 6 a.m. Saturday ahead of the rally.
The curfew will again take effect after the conclusion of the rally through 6 a.m. Sunday.
Bynum's order said he had "received information from the Tulsa Police Department and other law enforcement agencies that shows that individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive and violent behavior in other States are planning to travel to the city of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally."
Trump took the opportunity to play the authoritarian strongman he so wishes he could be and once again signaled both his well known appreciation for police violence and his complete disregard for the First Amendment - which he certainly could not recite from memory, assuming he ever knew the text at all.
Trump took the opportunity to play the authoritarian strongman he so wishes he could be and once again signaled both his well known appreciation for police violence and his complete disregard for the First Amendment - which he certainly could not recite from memory, assuming he ever knew the text at all.
Trump on Friday warned in a tweet that demonstrators could be treated harshly, conflating protests with malevolent activities:
"Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis. It will be a much different scene!"
Virus rising in Tulsa
What if the next one is as contagious as this but kills half the people it infects?
What if it starts up next month somewhere?
ABC News
Vice President Mike Pence has applauded Oklahoma for its handling of the pandemic, saying the state "has really been in the forefront of our efforts to slow the spread, and in a very real sense, they've flattened the curve."
However, data released by state and local public health departments there paints a different picture.
The daily number of coronavirus cases statewide have actually increased over the last week, while the number of tests conducted each day has declined slightly, according to the state's health department.
The number of daily cases in the Tulsa area has also trended upward over the past two weeks, while the rate of testing has remained about the same, according to Tulsa County's health department.
What if it starts up next month somewhere?
ABC News
Vice President Mike Pence has applauded Oklahoma for its handling of the pandemic, saying the state "has really been in the forefront of our efforts to slow the spread, and in a very real sense, they've flattened the curve."
However, data released by state and local public health departments there paints a different picture.
The daily number of coronavirus cases statewide have actually increased over the last week, while the number of tests conducted each day has declined slightly, according to the state's health department.
The number of daily cases in the Tulsa area has also trended upward over the past two weeks, while the rate of testing has remained about the same, according to Tulsa County's health department.
The virus has been around longer than we thought
This is not the first time we've seen stories like this.
Coronavirus was already in Italy by December, waste water study finds
The Frontline episode on the US government botching dealing with this makes it clear the Fauci, the CDC, and other health authorities did their own share of fucking things up.
It wasn't all down to the Duce and his White House team of idiots.
Invidious comparisons of the value of different lives, inequalities of power, wealth, and influence, all on shocking display even in access to testing and not only in access to treatment.
Coronavirus was already in Italy by December, waste water study finds
The Frontline episode on the US government botching dealing with this makes it clear the Fauci, the CDC, and other health authorities did their own share of fucking things up.
It wasn't all down to the Duce and his White House team of idiots.
Invidious comparisons of the value of different lives, inequalities of power, wealth, and influence, all on shocking display even in access to testing and not only in access to treatment.
Floyd demonstrations and the virus
Reportedly, the demonstrations have generated no noticeable uptick in the number of new cases.
Might they have prevented a drop in new cases that would otherwise have been seen?
The daily number of new cases in the US seems to have stabilized since late April, making the spread of the virus linear rather than exponential.
That's a national thing.
[In some locales new cases are falling while in others they are still rising.
And while more testing is being done, the percentage of positives among those tested is higher which means the increase in new cases does represent speeding spread of the virus.
Lately, they have been rising in "the sun belt" states.]
If, over the same period, the number of people tested nationally has risen in some regular manner that would mean the percentage of positives among those tested has actually been dropping and the rate of spread has actually dropped over that period.
In much of Europe new cases continued to decline over that period.
Both more contagious and more deadly than the flu, this bug is going to kill a lot of people.
But contagion seems to be limited to person to person close encounters lasting some time.
There's going to be a lot of that in Tulsa, tomorrow.
This morning on Morning Joe, people were asking the question how "real life" looks if there never is a vaccine, or anyway not for years.
Might they have prevented a drop in new cases that would otherwise have been seen?
The daily number of new cases in the US seems to have stabilized since late April, making the spread of the virus linear rather than exponential.
That's a national thing.
[In some locales new cases are falling while in others they are still rising.
And while more testing is being done, the percentage of positives among those tested is higher which means the increase in new cases does represent speeding spread of the virus.
Lately, they have been rising in "the sun belt" states.]
If, over the same period, the number of people tested nationally has risen in some regular manner that would mean the percentage of positives among those tested has actually been dropping and the rate of spread has actually dropped over that period.
In much of Europe new cases continued to decline over that period.
Both more contagious and more deadly than the flu, this bug is going to kill a lot of people.
But contagion seems to be limited to person to person close encounters lasting some time.
There's going to be a lot of that in Tulsa, tomorrow.
This morning on Morning Joe, people were asking the question how "real life" looks if there never is a vaccine, or anyway not for years.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
The end of La Peste
The ending is so rough.
Tarrou dies hard, watched over by Rieux and his mother, Rieux gets a telegram telling him his wife has died in the sanitarium, and Cottard freaks at the departure of the plague and starts shooting people out of his window.
Tarrou dies hard, watched over by Rieux and his mother, Rieux gets a telegram telling him his wife has died in the sanitarium, and Cottard freaks at the departure of the plague and starts shooting people out of his window.
Another surprise!
US supreme court rejects Trump's bid to end Daca program
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation.
The 5-4 ruling was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
In penning the opinion, Roberts once again sided with the liberals on the bench in a momentous dispute that will infuriate judicial conservatives who are still bitter that he once provided the deciding vote to uphold Obamacare.
The opinion is the second time in a week when the Supreme Court -- bolstered with two of President Donald Trump's nominees -- has ruled against the Trump administration. Monday, the court said LGBTQ Americans are protected under the Civil Rights Act.
The ruling emphasizes that the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to justify ending the DACA program.
"We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies," Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
"'The wisdom' of those decisions 'is none of our concern.' We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action."
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation.
The 5-4 ruling was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
In penning the opinion, Roberts once again sided with the liberals on the bench in a momentous dispute that will infuriate judicial conservatives who are still bitter that he once provided the deciding vote to uphold Obamacare.
The opinion is the second time in a week when the Supreme Court -- bolstered with two of President Donald Trump's nominees -- has ruled against the Trump administration. Monday, the court said LGBTQ Americans are protected under the Civil Rights Act.
The ruling emphasizes that the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to justify ending the DACA program.
"We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies," Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
"'The wisdom' of those decisions 'is none of our concern.' We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action."
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
The ridiculous party at play in Harrisburg
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe calls for impeachment of Gov. Wolf
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and two dozen co-sponsors on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s impeachment due to “unlawful” decisions made during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the legislator’s office.
. . . .
Mr. Wolf’s press secretary, Lyndsay Kensinger, said in an emailed statement Wednesday that House Republicans have in recent weeks “continued their efforts to divide the commonwealth and score cheap political points instead of taking the challenge before them seriously.”
House Resolution 915 is merely the “latest example of the House Republicans wasting time instead of helping to protect Pennsylvanians during this public health crisis,” she said.
. . . .
Mr. Metcalfe alleges that the more than 3,000 deaths in the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities are directly linked to Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, and his health secretary’s “unconscionable orders to admit infected COVID-19 patients.”
Another of Mr. Metcalfe’s previous resolutions passed by the state Legislature earlier this month — House Resolution 836 — requires the governor to end Pennsylvania’s pandemic shutdown.
The governor, Mr. Metcalfe said, has refused to “comply.”
Commonwealth Court has scheduled oral arguments for later this month regarding the Senate Republicans’ lawsuit to enforce the resolution.
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and two dozen co-sponsors on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s impeachment due to “unlawful” decisions made during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the legislator’s office.
. . . .
Mr. Wolf’s press secretary, Lyndsay Kensinger, said in an emailed statement Wednesday that House Republicans have in recent weeks “continued their efforts to divide the commonwealth and score cheap political points instead of taking the challenge before them seriously.”
House Resolution 915 is merely the “latest example of the House Republicans wasting time instead of helping to protect Pennsylvanians during this public health crisis,” she said.
. . . .
Mr. Metcalfe alleges that the more than 3,000 deaths in the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities are directly linked to Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, and his health secretary’s “unconscionable orders to admit infected COVID-19 patients.”
Another of Mr. Metcalfe’s previous resolutions passed by the state Legislature earlier this month — House Resolution 836 — requires the governor to end Pennsylvania’s pandemic shutdown.
The governor, Mr. Metcalfe said, has refused to “comply.”
Commonwealth Court has scheduled oral arguments for later this month regarding the Senate Republicans’ lawsuit to enforce the resolution.
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