Have fun
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Everything's Big In Texas
No one tell the brain geniuses in the post below that Texas had yet another record new case day (6975). Previous record was 5996.
Infecting Ourselves To Death
It'd be funny except for the "giving it to others" part.
Protesters are upset @GovAbbott shut down bars in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19. More than 30 bar owners are suing over the executive order. Protesters are demonstrating at the State Capitol and soon at the Governor’s Mansion. @KVUE pic.twitter.com/MaRSILqIxk
— Jenni Lee (@JenniL_KVUE) June 30, 2020
Scheduled Rollout
The way to deal with liars and a media environment that, for various reasons, privileges those lies, is to anticipate them and then keep adding more details to the story.
Yes it's that fucking newspaper, but not the political reporters!
Yes it's that fucking newspaper, but not the political reporters!
Deep Thought
Stop asking young people to fix the problems old people made. They have enough problems, such as dealing with those problems.
Illegitimate
Clarifying, my point here wasn't that having a Democratic president wouldn't have made a difference, it's that the ongoing treatment of Democratic rule as illegitimate by conservatives and elected Republicans is a big problem with big consequences!
The Obummer Plague
It was a bit hard to get the MAGA anti-lockdown protests to catch on too much, but imagine what March-May could have been like if Obama had been president. Picture a full rebellion against tyranny from the Kenyan president if the Feds tried to encourage any sort of responsible state action.
There were always mixed messages from the Feds generally and even Trump himself about whether lockdown was necessary. Sure he kept trying to blame liberal governors and pushed to OPEN FASTER, but it was hardly straightforward. Without a clear "villain" to rebel against, the response, while hyped by our media, was pretty muted.
But try to imagine Tsar Obama instituting or just encouraging a nationwide lockdown. Republican governors would have rejected anything the Feds pushed, including fully paid for testing. Large protests in any state with a Dem governor trying to do the right thing. Front page stories in that fucking newspaper dominated by the question of whether OBAMA HAD GONE TOO FAR with whatever meek encouragement they would have used to stop the country from infecting itself to death.
However "good" the Obama administration's response would have been, in theory, the backlash would have been immense.
There were always mixed messages from the Feds generally and even Trump himself about whether lockdown was necessary. Sure he kept trying to blame liberal governors and pushed to OPEN FASTER, but it was hardly straightforward. Without a clear "villain" to rebel against, the response, while hyped by our media, was pretty muted.
But try to imagine Tsar Obama instituting or just encouraging a nationwide lockdown. Republican governors would have rejected anything the Feds pushed, including fully paid for testing. Large protests in any state with a Dem governor trying to do the right thing. Front page stories in that fucking newspaper dominated by the question of whether OBAMA HAD GONE TOO FAR with whatever meek encouragement they would have used to stop the country from infecting itself to death.
However "good" the Obama administration's response would have been, in theory, the backlash would have been immense.
Shutting Down
Looking at the pictures of the places that are shutting down again - and therefore had been very open - is jarring. Just people living "normal life." I'm not one who likes to tut tut individual bad behavior about this stuff (aside from the aggressive asshole behavior), but even at the worst of this it seems like the country was pretty divided between people who were like, "oh, yes, so I can still plan for my European vacation in July, right?" and people who weren't planning on leaving their houses for 6 months. Plenty of "normal people," not hyped up MAGAs, never really quite took all of this very seriously. "Normal people" received pretty mixed messages from the powers be.
Just Couldn't Reach Him
Why do reporters repeat nonsensical stuff? There are staffers and Secret Service agents all over the place. If you want to reach the president, even this pudding brain president, you can.
“The video remained on the president’s Twitter page for more than three hours because White House officials couldn’t reach him to ask him to delete it, the two officials said. The president was at his golf club in Virginia and had put his phone down” https://t.co/8bdiTDa5LS
— Rebecca Buck (@RebeccaBuck) June 30, 2020
Can't See Stationary Vehicles
A pretty much established feature of Tesla's "autopilot" is that if it's traveling at highway speed it can't recognize stationary objects fast enough to do anything about them.
According to court documents, a Weston man driving a Tesla slammed into a Massachusetts State Police cruiser that was stopped in the left lane of the road, propelling the SUV forward into Smith's vehicle before spinning out.No software fix for it, either, from what I understand. Just a feature.
...
A trooper who responded to the scene wrote that Ciarlone said his Tesla was set to Autopilot mode and he "must not have been paying attention."
Monday, June 29, 2020
Closing Time
Various states are locking back down and/or rolling back plans to open more.
Groundhog's gonna check if he can see his shadow in another 3 months, I guess.
Groundhog's gonna check if he can see his shadow in another 3 months, I guess.
Shrinking Life
My troubles are none compared to people who have real troubles (at the moment, knock on wood!), but the narrowing of the scope of existence is still a bit depressing. Many of the things I enjoy doing are not coming back any time soon, and substitute activities which are possible are still not necessarily easy to do in a safe and practical way. Not the best time to not have a car.
Not a complaint, really. Just, you know, 2020, man, what a year!
Not a complaint, really. Just, you know, 2020, man, what a year!
No You're The Nazis
Quality people running things.
The head prosecutor for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s trial division resigned Monday after posting a meme on Facebook last week that equated protesters who remove Confederate statutes with Nazis.
RINO ROBERTS
Libs win the abortion case, 4-1-4 with Roberts siding with the libs on the judgment but not the opinion (justification). I have gleaned this from twitter.
Oh Dear, Two Blogger Ethics Panels In One Day?
One thing I'm pretty good at (not perfect) is spotting the grifters in public life, and my grifter alarm has gone off with Jones from the beginning. During the Obama years certain organizations treated him like some combination of saint and oracle and muse, and those groups didn't get a lot accomplished. Elevating brand Jones should not have been an important priority.
Jones went on CNN’s Inside Politics with John King and Anderson Cooper 360 to enthusiastically commend Trump’s executive order—even as it was being criticized as cynical and unproductive by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and “delusional” by the Color of Change, an influential racial justice organization that Jones himself co-founded in 2005.
CNN viewers weren’t informed that he had actually attended secret White House meetings with his new friend Jared Kushner, discussing ways to frame the presidential project.
According to a knowledgeable White House source, who expressed satisfaction that there were zero leaks, Jones and California human rights attorney Jessica Jackson, who runs #cut50, a prison-reform group that Jones also founded, actively participated with law enforcement officials and White House staffers to help fashion the order and guide the politics of the discussion to what they considered “the sweet spot” between law enforcement and “the reasonable middle” and “the reasonable left.”
Time For Another Blogger Ethics Panel
"Ethics in journalism" generally has nothing to do with "ethics" as commonly understood, and is almost entirely about creating an environment where people feel comfortable dishing dirt to journalists without any fear of consequences. They never, ever burn sources, even when President Trump publicly contradicts John Barron.
So you let sources tell you one thing anonymously and then deny it publicly to your audience. What do you call that?
....JOURNALISM!
A funny thing is that about the only time I've seen a journalist burn a source was when Howie Kurtz (who worked for the Washington Post then) outed Ann Coulter for the same thing. She denied something he had once reported. She was actually correct that what he reported was wrong, but what he reported was an Ann Coulter quote from TV that had been given to him by... Ann Coulter. So he burned her. Fair enough! Never happens.
All this stuff has nothing to do with readers, and everything to do with keeping sources - actual and potential - happy. And it's justified by the idea that sources are whistleblowers, but in political journalism anonymous sources are generally:
a) the administration line (a press release) being presented under cover of anonymity, which both gives deniability AND additional credence to the information to the un-savvy reader (most people).
b) office gossip, with sources knifing each other in public and the reader has little idea of the real importance of the story (usually it's who is knifing whom and why, and not whatever the story is, though even 'who is knifing whom' is usually bullshit)
c) beat sweetener stuff, with sources providing information for glowing profiles for themselves and their bosses.
In the article, Bob Woodward, the Post legend who protected the identity of his Watergate source, Deep Throat, for 30 years, was going to unmask one of his own confidential sources. He was, in particular, going to disclose that Judge Kavanaugh had been an anonymous source in his 1999 book “Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate.”
Mr. Woodward was planning to expose Mr. Kavanaugh because the judge had publicly denied — in a huffy letter in 1999 to The Post — an account about Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton that he had himself, confidentially, provided to Mr. Woodward for his book. (Mr. Kavanaugh served as a lawyer on Mr. Starr’s team.)
So you let sources tell you one thing anonymously and then deny it publicly to your audience. What do you call that?
....JOURNALISM!
A funny thing is that about the only time I've seen a journalist burn a source was when Howie Kurtz (who worked for the Washington Post then) outed Ann Coulter for the same thing. She denied something he had once reported. She was actually correct that what he reported was wrong, but what he reported was an Ann Coulter quote from TV that had been given to him by... Ann Coulter. So he burned her. Fair enough! Never happens.
All this stuff has nothing to do with readers, and everything to do with keeping sources - actual and potential - happy. And it's justified by the idea that sources are whistleblowers, but in political journalism anonymous sources are generally:
a) the administration line (a press release) being presented under cover of anonymity, which both gives deniability AND additional credence to the information to the un-savvy reader (most people).
b) office gossip, with sources knifing each other in public and the reader has little idea of the real importance of the story (usually it's who is knifing whom and why, and not whatever the story is, though even 'who is knifing whom' is usually bullshit)
c) beat sweetener stuff, with sources providing information for glowing profiles for themselves and their bosses.
Morning Thread
A friend of ours has just published a book:
It's available on Amazon. Click the link from left side of this
page and get your copy. I've only read the first chapter, so far.
That's enough to convince me to continue reading.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Do The Ostrich
I don't get the point of hiding this stuff. There's no point in trying to win the day or the week.
Texas Medical Center hospitals have stopped reporting key metrics showing the stress rising numbers of COVID-19 patients are placing on their facilities, undermining data that policy makers and the public have relied upon during the pandemic to gauge the spread of the coronavirus.
The change came one day after the hospitals reported their base intensive care capacity had hit 100 percent for the first time during the pandemic, with projections showing the institutions — which together comprise the world’s largest medical complex — were on pace to exceed their “unsustainable surge capacity” by July 6.
Donnie and Lindsey Go Golfing
I'd say there's a tiny chance that this is the moment when Lindsey stages his big intervention, at which point he learns what everybody else learns, which is that's how you become an unperson to Trump.
Tiny chance.
Tiny chance.
Afternoon Thread
It is time for the Trump Administration to take the threat posed by the coronavirus seriously.
Two Months Until The Fall Semester Starts
As I am academic adjacent in various ways, I see all the various plans for higher ed institutions to open in one way or another. I feel for the people tasked with dealing with this, because there is no way to deal with it, really. Some are well-intentioned, some are amoral assholes, as is always the case, but generally all the plans to try to have some students on campus are basically doomed unless the virus goes away. And (looking around) I don't think the virus is going to go away (9585 8530 new cases in Florida today, for those who like to keep count).
Reduce the number of students, put all of them in single rooms, tell them to socially distance (lol). But it's going to take about 2 genuinely sick residential students, if not simply two positive tests, to shut the whole project down, no matter what fantasies they have about quarantining people if they get sick and keeping the show going. And if they get sick, you have to quarantine them, because they can't travel, and...
I'm sorry to say, you just can't do it my friends.
Reduce the number of students, put all of them in single rooms, tell them to socially distance (lol). But it's going to take about 2 genuinely sick residential students, if not simply two positive tests, to shut the whole project down, no matter what fantasies they have about quarantining people if they get sick and keeping the show going. And if they get sick, you have to quarantine them, because they can't travel, and...
I'm sorry to say, you just can't do it my friends.
Civil War In The Villages
This is the content I crave.
...this was funnier before My President retweeted it praising the white power folks.
Seniors from The Villages in Florida protesting against each other: pic.twitter.com/Q3GRJCTjEW
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) June 27, 2020
...this was funnier before My President retweeted it praising the white power folks.
Hydroxychloroquine
Newspapers don't have to take it seriously when the president thinks he has found some magic beans, and doing so (on this and so many other things) has consequences.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Saturday Afternoon
New record new daily case numbers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Nevada... Not looking good, folks!
Great Innovations In Democratic Policy Making
The masses cry out for a child care tax credit, and the Dems deliver with not one, not two, but three different child care tax credits! https://t.co/r9en7DFzv5
— Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) June 27, 2020
Regrets, I Have A Few
Ah, well, nevertheless.
"If I could go back and redo anything, I would slow down the re-opening of bars," Abbott told ABC affiliate KIVA in El Paso. Abbott added that a "bar setting, in reality, just doesn't work with a pandemic."
Reaction Time
I was reading through some old (you know, March) articles about the virus, about when Italy had locked down the North up to about when New York City locked down. In a way it's surprising how fast "we" reacted. Not defending the too slow and too little reactions in most places, but the perfectly sensible fear to some degree was greater than the actual number of infections. New York State went on lockdown on March 20, when there were "only" about 10,000 cases and 50 deaths. Obviously the extreme and sudden growth rate in measured cases should have put people on notice, especially given the situation in other countries, but while panic was fully appropriate I'm actually a bit surprised "we" did. Again, I don't mean this as a defense of the many many bad decisions that were made (or were not made), but it could have very easily been much, much worse.
But the other point is that justifiable panic set in when things weren't yet quite so bad, and now they're REALLY BAD (in absolute numbers if not yet NYC growth rate in March bad) and, well...
But the other point is that justifiable panic set in when things weren't yet quite so bad, and now they're REALLY BAD (in absolute numbers if not yet NYC growth rate in March bad) and, well...
Resign, Bitch
It is a disgrace that more people/institutions who would normally (good or bad) take it upon themselves to call for a president to resign over much less, have not.
Friday, June 26, 2020
BENGHAZI
Sounds bad.
The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
...
Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.
The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.
Labyrinth
I went from worrying about the virus to worrying about the economic wellbeing of people and back to worrying about the virus. It was always both, of course, but even with the malicious ineptitude of our big wet boy and the federal government generally, the states, even the ones led by Fox marinated governors, did... something to slow down the virus. Progress was made. With a lot of luck maybe they'd muddle through.
And now...
And now...
Silver Linings
Pence: "Roughly half the new cases are Americans under the age of 35, which is, at a certain level, very encouraging ...Younger Americans are less susceptible to serious outcomes. The fact we are finding more younger Americans who have contracted the coronavirus is a good thing."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 26, 2020
Every Little Thing
We can argue about what should be open/closed, when things should or shouldn't reopen, etc., but I suspect the bigger issue is simply whether the population takes the threat seriously. Perhaps a restaurant can open at 50% capacity with a staff and customers that are careful, but if half the restaurant owners and most of the customers don't think it's a real problem, no one is going to be careful.
I don't mean things didn't need to have closed/shouldn't be closed in places now, but re-opening in a cultural moment when "coughing directly at each other to own the libs" was a thing was not ideal.
Take it seriously, tell people to wear masks even if you aren't meaningfully enforcing it, lead by example, stop downplaying it all as a liberal plot. That might have been enough! Maybe.
Ah, well, nevertheless.
I don't mean things didn't need to have closed/shouldn't be closed in places now, but re-opening in a cultural moment when "coughing directly at each other to own the libs" was a thing was not ideal.
Take it seriously, tell people to wear masks even if you aren't meaningfully enforcing it, lead by example, stop downplaying it all as a liberal plot. That might have been enough! Maybe.
Ah, well, nevertheless.
Uh-Oh
That is..bad...
The state of Florida has reported record high spikes in the number of new COVID-19 cases for the last couple of weeks, and on Friday it added another 8,942 cases.
That number is now the highest single-day jump in new coronavirus cases in Florida since tracking began in March, eclipsing Wednesday's previous record of 5,508 new cases, according to data from the Department of Health.
Cuck
Reality has a way of intruding.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday took his most drastic action yet to respond to the post-reopening coronavirus surge in Texas, shutting bars back down and capping restaurant capacity at 50%.Bars had been able to open to 50% capacity, which I assume is "fire marshal" capacity, which isn't generally very restrictive...
Policy, How The Fuck Does It Work
The ur-tweet of habermanish political journalism.
Those aren’t “policies.” His government has policies that he is ignoring. That’s “behavior.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 25, 2020
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Wildfire
Sounds bad.
Texas' 7-day positive rate is now 11.76%.
— Christopher Adams (@cadamsKXAN) June 25, 2020
That means 11.76% of all test results in the past 7 days have been positive. That's the highest positive rate since April 16.
DSHS just reported the positive rate for yesterday alone was 19.09%.@KXAN_News pic.twitter.com/IgI7tLAty3
But What About My Grievances
I can understand somewhat how, outside of the obvious hotspots, people easily could be convinced that the virus was some combination of liberal hoax and a problem only for dirty filthy places like New York City. Somewhat. I do think that people in NYC (for example) forget that they are as much or more of a foreign planet to people from Oklahoma as Oklahoma clearly is to them. A far away land with weird alien people. Why should I have to lock myself in my house for the sins of New Yorkers?
Maybe with just a little bit more luck and a little bit more sense, this second more disperse peak wouldn't be happening, or at least wouldn't be happening so soon. But as it becomes a problem elsewhere and maybe everywhere, Trump's tweets about his personal problems are also going to seem increasingly foreign. People have real problems.
Maybe with just a little bit more luck and a little bit more sense, this second more disperse peak wouldn't be happening, or at least wouldn't be happening so soon. But as it becomes a problem elsewhere and maybe everywhere, Trump's tweets about his personal problems are also going to seem increasingly foreign. People have real problems.
When The Only Tool You Have Is A Cop
This twitter thread from a journalist arrested in Philly is a good read.
Abuses inflicted by our society - not limited to but certainly including abuses by our criminal justice system - shouldn't be OK as long as they "only" fall on the bottom rungs (race, class), but I do think a theme of the last several decades is that all this stuff is creeping up. The levels of income and status that it takes to be immune from abuses, whether from the cable company, your health insurance company, your bank, or the cops, that have been standard for some forever, keep rising.
If in the middle of All This, with cameras on and world attention directed and our very imperfect but at least not indifferent mayor and our even better district attorney saying, in various ways, cut this shit out, cops treat a mainstream reporter like this as if it's all just a joke, then it all ceases to be something that happens to "other people" but something which happens to "us."
And, no, it should not have had to take All This for that to be more widely understood, but here we are.
Abuses inflicted by our society - not limited to but certainly including abuses by our criminal justice system - shouldn't be OK as long as they "only" fall on the bottom rungs (race, class), but I do think a theme of the last several decades is that all this stuff is creeping up. The levels of income and status that it takes to be immune from abuses, whether from the cable company, your health insurance company, your bank, or the cops, that have been standard for some forever, keep rising.
If in the middle of All This, with cameras on and world attention directed and our very imperfect but at least not indifferent mayor and our even better district attorney saying, in various ways, cut this shit out, cops treat a mainstream reporter like this as if it's all just a joke, then it all ceases to be something that happens to "other people" but something which happens to "us."
And, no, it should not have had to take All This for that to be more widely understood, but here we are.
The Local Drama
Short version: "rumors" went around "they" were going to remove a Columbus status from a park (they weren't), a bunch of local goons who probably never thought about the statue before decided to "defend" it by showing up with baseball bats, protesters and journalists showed up mostly to document the vigilante goons who behaved liked vigilante goons with the blessing of the cops (no one was really trying to take the statue down), and now the statue is coming down.
Philadelphia city officials on Wednesday announced they intend to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus in Marconi Plaza, which has repeatedly attracted armed groups accused of assaulting protesters and passersby amid a national reckoning over monuments to controversial figures.The Philly DA is not loved by the local cops.
...
Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement Wednesday the city will ask the Art Commission on July 22 to approve the statue’s removal “in light of ongoing public safety concerns about the presence of armed individuals at Marconi Plaza.” The move came less than 24 hours after the most recent incident, in which a group of armed white South Philadelphians provoked a brawl with protesters supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
...
District Attorney Larry Krasner on Wednesday criticized the police response, saying, “It is the role of government to be even-handed in trying to prevent violence on both sides and not to favor people who perhaps make Frank Rizzo’s acolytes feel comfortable,” a reference to the former mayor and police commissioner.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Your Moment Of Zen
To better visualize observed data, we also continually update a curve-fitting exercise to summarize COVID-19's observed trajectory. Particularly with irregular data, curve fitting can improve data visualization. As shown, IHME's mortality curves have matched the data fairly well. pic.twitter.com/NtJcOdA98R
— CEA (@WhiteHouseCEA) May 5, 2020
And Texas
5551. Another record day.
As I said, judging from our very recent experience, it's gonna take 3 months to reverse this. If they take the steps to do it. If.
As I said, judging from our very recent experience, it's gonna take 3 months to reverse this. If they take the steps to do it. If.
Pass The Torch
I don't think people are due to be pushed out of the dome when they turn 70, or whenever, but there are certain positions of authority, such as, oh, I don't know, leadership positions in the US Congress, where maybe there's some responsibility to make sure there are reasonable opportunities for the younger generation. You know, the 60-year-olds.
I don't really what know motivates some like Eliot Engel to try to hold on. Being reasonably *good* at being a House member (which I am not defining as doing stuff I agree with) is actually quite a lot of work, and while senators might get treated like little princes, House members really don't. They don't get that much sycophantic deference. They are one of many and their individual kingdoms are small. Once upon a time the heads of major committees had real power, but that's been eroded over time in various ways.
I don't really what know motivates some like Eliot Engel to try to hold on. Being reasonably *good* at being a House member (which I am not defining as doing stuff I agree with) is actually quite a lot of work, and while senators might get treated like little princes, House members really don't. They don't get that much sycophantic deference. They are one of many and their individual kingdoms are small. Once upon a time the heads of major committees had real power, but that's been eroded over time in various ways.
And California
7149 new cases. That's a bigly number. I know just posting the case numbers as they come in makes this an incredibly boring blog. It's just "Yep, there's a train wreck. Oh there's another one. And another. Maybe we should do something about train safety."
Places generally didn't lock down fast enough back in March, but I can understand a degree of denial (though we shouldn't forget de Blasio telling people to go out and party one last time because the bars were going to shut tomorrow). It doesn't seem like an overwhelming crisis until suddenly it is. But now "we" "know" and places just started opening up way too early and... it isn't going to get better quickly. It's going to take 3 months. Again. To get close.
Places generally didn't lock down fast enough back in March, but I can understand a degree of denial (though we shouldn't forget de Blasio telling people to go out and party one last time because the bars were going to shut tomorrow). It doesn't seem like an overwhelming crisis until suddenly it is. But now "we" "know" and places just started opening up way too early and... it isn't going to get better quickly. It's going to take 3 months. Again. To get close.
Florida Man
Another record.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida reported 5,508 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, again shattering a single-day record and continuing a trend that has leaders urging the public to follow safety guidelines more vigilantly.
The state’s previous one-day high for new cases was 4,049 reported on Saturday.
Nothing's Fixed
National new case rates are at peak levels and economic catastrophe still looms.
I spend too much time obtaining some distance by pretending this is all a dumb TV show, because absent significant action on many fronts, things are going to get very very bad.
They aren't too good right now, folks!
I spend too much time obtaining some distance by pretending this is all a dumb TV show, because absent significant action on many fronts, things are going to get very very bad.
They aren't too good right now, folks!
Poll Porn
Not looking good for the bad orange man.
Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump 50% to 36% in a new nationwide poll Wednesday, the latest alarm bell for the president’s campaign as the economy, coronavirus and Black Lives Matter protests continue to weigh on his re-election bid.
The 14-point difference in the New York Times/Siena College poll matches the largest margin Biden has seen this year, and it shows the presumptive Democratic nominee leading or making inroads among a broad cross-section of demographic groups.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Copaganda Man
Lol
UPDATE: Statement from Target:
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 23, 2020
“We take this allegation seriously. We have reviewed video footage and have not found any suspicious behavior. We have shared the video with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and look forward to the conclusions of their investigation.”
Cops Lie
Constantly.
The footage, requested by WHYY News, does not appear to otherwise corroborate accounts of violence circulated by Mayor Jim Kenney’s office in justification of the tear-gassing. Officials said demonstrators, who were protesting systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, had trapped the lone trooper and begun rocking his vehicle. In the dashcam video, law enforcement can be heard describing the protests as “peaceful.”Even as described it wouldn't have justified the gassing, but...
“While on the roadway, the crowd surrounded a State Trooper, who was alone and seated in his vehicle, and began rocking the vehicle, with the trooper having no safe means of egress,” said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw in an initial statement, released on June 1, the day of the event.
And California
I keep highlighting these to show that it isn't a fluke, one bad week. Things are getting worse a lot of places. California locked down early and hard and then... just gave up.
California shattered its single-day record for most new coronavirus cases Monday as the number of people hospitalized statewide due to the virus also reached record levels.
As of Monday evening, county health departments had reported more than 6,000 new cases, with several counties still yet to report, according to data compiled by The Chronicle. California hadn’t exceeded 4,515 new cases in a single day previously, according to the state’s health department.
Expected
Otherwise wouldn't make any sense.
European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded, according to draft lists seen by The New York Times.
Let It All Burn
I think we are at the point in the presidency where Trump is unsatisfied with the level of adulation provided to him by his subjects and is increasingly happy with the idea of just lighting it all on fire and listening to the screams.
You just didn't love him enough.
You just didn't love him enough.
And Arizona
Up up and away...
PHOENIX – The Arizona health department reported 3,591 new coronavirus cases, a single-day high, and 42 additional deaths Tuesday morning.
That increased Arizona’s totals to 58,179 COVID-19 cases and 1,384 deaths on the day President Donald Trump was visiting the state.
Florida Man
Still high but not yet continuing to explode.
Florida added more than 3,200 new coronavirus cases Tuesday as the state reported another 64 virus-related deaths.
With 3,289 new COVID-19 cases, the state's total rose to 103,506, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Health.
Florida has reported more than 23,000 cases in the past week, including a daily record of 4,049 COVID-19 cases on Saturday.
Not An Expert, But Don't Think That's It
So many cops are pathological liars and local media (especially) just pass on what they are told. And so so dumb and not creative. Their imagination about playing victim is limited to minor alterations of bad attempts by other cops to manufacture victimhood.
The story is that the Starbucks worker saw the cop's card, which had a police credit union label, and decided to put a "tampon" (lol) into the frappuccino, a drink served in a clear plastic cup, to stick it to the pigs. The police union spox calls it a "disgusting assault" suggesting that not only is it a tampon, but a used tampon, which are easily accessible things your typical Starbucks workers have at arms length at all times just in case a pig shows up, instead of just a bit of absorbent material.
Also, not a tampon.
BREAKING: Sources tell me an off duty LAPD officer allegedly found a tampon halfway thru his Frappuccino at a Starbucks in Diamond Bar on Friday. I’m told he used his police credit union debit card. Sheriff’s Dept. confirms they took a report & they’re now investigating. @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/HdLTreNuur
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 23, 2020
The story is that the Starbucks worker saw the cop's card, which had a police credit union label, and decided to put a "tampon" (lol) into the frappuccino, a drink served in a clear plastic cup, to stick it to the pigs. The police union spox calls it a "disgusting assault" suggesting that not only is it a tampon, but a used tampon, which are easily accessible things your typical Starbucks workers have at arms length at all times just in case a pig shows up, instead of just a bit of absorbent material.
Also, not a tampon.
Aced It
Our big wet boy is so smart.
Trump had taken a cognitive screening test as part of his 2018 physical, and now, more than two years later, he brought up the 10-minute exam. He waxed on about how he’d dazzled the proctors with his stellar performance, according to two people familiar with his comments. He walked the room of about two dozen White House and reelection officials through some of the questions he said he’d aced, such as being able to repeat five words in order.If Trump starts talking about how he doesn't have tertiary syphilis you know, for sure, that he has tertiary syphilis.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Going Forward
I'm not one who thinks Republican governors are necessarily as awful as the national Republican elected. They are, at least, sometimes competent. But Trump making "fuck this up as much as possible" a weird kind of loyalty test has reduced the likelihood of any occasional flashes of that potential competence.
The pressure from above to just let people die is bigly.
The pressure from above to just let people die is bigly.
You're Going The Wrong Way
Without words. pic.twitter.com/twXJoGmnVX
— Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) June 22, 2020
Good Luck, Florida
Nothing to see here.
Amid a surge in Florida coronavirus cases, Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ administration is changing the guidelines for hospitals’ reporting of intensive-care beds in the state Emergency Status System, or ESS.
In a phone call with hospital providers this week, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, who’s also the secretary of the Department of Health, said he no longer wants hospitals to report to the state the number of patients in intensive-care unit beds.
Instead, Rivkees said he only wants hospitals to report the number of patients in those beds who require what he described as an “intensive level of care.”
The change could reduce the number of occupied ICU beds being reported to the state.
Good Luck, Texas
JUST IN: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says in the past few days, we have averaged more than 3,500 new cases a day and our positivity rate has gone to more than 9 percent now. "To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas," Abbott says.
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) June 22, 2020
Governor asks that Texans wear masks. "Our goal is to keep Texans out of hospitals and to reduce the number of Texans who test positive...COVID hasn't simply gone away. We don't have to choose between jobs and health. We can have both."
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) June 22, 2020
Thoughts And Prayers
I am sad all of these people are having a bad week.
Despite claims he's not angry, multiple people said Trump's been seething since he got back from Tulsa. It's raised questions about his campaign manager's future, but others said his job isn’t only one in jeopardy. Anyone, including WH aides, could be fired depending on coverage.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 22, 2020
But Who Will Arrest The Police?
Police commit a lot of violent crime, and we need some police for that.
Sports
We all kinda need our lungs, but professional athletes and wannabe professional athletes (college) need them a bit more than the average bear. Covid might not kill everyone, but in addition to possible death it seems to have long term effects on people. The desire to get the sports up and running is just nuts. And abusive.
Oh, Elon
Reminder that Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) price goes up by $1k on July 1st
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2020
I don't need to run through the years of promises about this vaporware, but Elon began selling "full self-driving" as an $8000 option nearly 4 years ago and in April, 2019, said by the end of 2020 everybody's Tesla could be a robotaxi.
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Up Up And Away
I am dumb and don't know everything, but denial is probably not the best response.
The good COVID-19 news as far as Florida: for the second consecutive week, Sunday’s update from the Department of Health stopped the streak of single-day records for new cases.Reported cases everywhere follow a similar pattern of lower counts Sun-Monday then (roughly) rising through the week, for what are some pretty guessable reasons.
The not-so-good novel coronavirus news as far as Florida: the Sunday update case counts usually run lower than the rest of the week and this week’s 3,494 tops the previous Sunday high (last week) by 73%. And current hospitalizations continued their steady rise in Miami-Dade.
Thoughts And Prayers
To all of those wonderful people who have chosen to spend the best years of their lives working in the Trump White House.
Gonna have a great week. The best week. Special shout out to Bill Barr stepping on the message, and Brad Parscale for believing eleventy billion people were going to show.
But aides say Tulsa is about something far more important: giving Trump the adulation he craves and reenergizing him after weeks spent wallowing in sagging poll numbers and critical media coverage.
"I guarantee you after Saturday, if everything goes well, he's going to be in a much better mood," a Trump political adviser said. "He believes that he needs to be out there fighting and he feeds off the energy of the crowds.
Gonna have a great week. The best week. Special shout out to Bill Barr stepping on the message, and Brad Parscale for believing eleventy billion people were going to show.
L0L TRUMP'S A L000SER
I wish All This wasn't happening so I could get a more joy out of Trump's low attendance white power rally.
MOMENTS AGO: President Trump arrives at the White House from Joint Base Andrews. He is holding a 'Make America Great Again' hat. pic.twitter.com/e94ILNFP44
— The Hill (@thehill) June 21, 2020
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Keep Sawing Off Those Limbs
Barr fired the US Attorney, the US Attorney says nuh-uh, Barr says Trump fired him, a few minutes later Trump says he had nothing to do with it.
Sources close to Bill Barr say he is the best and most honest and most ethical Attorney General ever.
Sources close to Bill Barr say he is the best and most honest and most ethical Attorney General ever.
Getting The Plague To Own The Libs
That's pretty much the position of some of these GOP governors.
Another record new case day in Florida.
Another record new case day in Florida.
Still Going
7 day averages or similar are more telling (and also bad), but there were more than 33,000 new cases yesterday. There have not been that many since May 1. Texas had over 4200 new cases. Before this recent week, their peak day was about 2500.
Apparently it's June 20.
Apparently it's June 20.
Seems Bad
Remember when the Bush administration fired US attorneys and most people in the press refused to believe it because it was too bad to imagine and now George Bush paints dogs so he is good. I bet you don't recall.
Attorney General William P. Barr on Friday night abruptly tried to fire the United States attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, the powerful federal prosecutor whose office sent President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to prison and who has been investigating Mr. Trump’s current personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani.
But Mr. Berman said in a statement that he was refusing to leave his position, setting up a crisis within the Justice Department over one of its most prestigious jobs.
Friday, June 19, 2020
Sports
Sports are likely going to end before they have begun. Some baseball operations (Phillies) are shutting down in Florida because of players getting positive tests. I feel for the students whose life paths are a being a bit altered by All This, but the institutional pressure to keep college sportsball going is insane.
On the same day that the state of South Carolina announced its highest number of coronavirus cases yet with 1,081, the Clemson athletics department announced that 25 additional people have tested positive for the coronavirus.23 football players.
Happy Hour Thread
Apparently it is Friday again.
Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb...
Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb...
The Great Culling
I'm not saying every Republican or rich asshole thinks this way, but since I am allowed to say what polite people cannot, I am 100% sure that many of them do think that Covid is a welcome way to rid the planet of some of the botched and the bungled.
In college, I studied the decline of the Soviet Union and its last failed efforts to engineer society around a “New Soviet Man,” a fit, young, action-oriented prototype optimized for kitschy ideological warfare. Everything Republicans have done in Florida since I was an adolescent here—from deregulating septic tanks to disenfranchising millions of voters—has established that the state exists primarily for a certain kind of Florida Man, and the rest of us are welcome to ride behind him, as long as we pay our own way. Now I can’t help but wonder if DeSantis’s and his partisans’ coronavirus calculus is an essentially eugenicist one: They seem overtly content to let lots of people die, as long as they’re the right people.
And Arizona
A record day there too.
PHOENIX — The Arizona health department reported more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time Friday morning.
With 3,246 new COVID-19 cases, the state’s total increased to 46,689. The health department also reported 41 additional fatalities, increasing the death toll to 1,312.
Florida Man
I honestly don't know what Florida is going to do, with their governor in a mind meld with the dumbest person in the country. Another record of 3822 cases today. 3207 yesterday. Just up up and away!
Their "first wave" peak cases was about 1200, but the 7 day average never really dropped below 600.
Their "first wave" peak cases was about 1200, but the 7 day average never really dropped below 600.
My President
I get Trumpism, but the appeal of this whiny boy...
Mr. Trump: Well, I was standing outside on a sidewalk. It was very, very noisy, as you can imagine. The protesters, who, the day before tried to burn down the church…You know, everyone was saying, Oh, they were so wonderful. They weren’t wonderful. They tried to burn down the church. And it was, they told me, the same group. A similar group. So you have people screaming all over the place. And I didn’t think it was exactly the right time to pray. I’m on the sidewalk. And the church itself, I didn’t want to go in because they had a lot of insurance reasons. You know, the church was boarded up. The entire church was boarded up, and I knew that. So I went there, stood there, held up the Bible, talked to a few people and then we left. I came back and I got bad publicity.
But I also, if you think about it, I went to West Point over the weekend, made a very good speech, according to everybody. They said the speech was one of the best. The kids thought it was one of the best they’d ever heard. Stood up there for a long time saluting. Were you there?
Mr. Bender: No, but I watched. It looked like a really nice day.
Mr. Trump: Yeah. After the helicopters came over, the hats went up, the general said, Sir, Are you ready? I said, I’m ready. And he led me to a ramp that was long and steep and slippery. And I said, I got a problem because I wear, you know, the leather bottom shoes. I can show them to you if you like. Same pair. And you know what I mea, they’re slippery. I like them better than the rubber because they don’t catch. So they’re better for this. But they’re not good for ramps. I said, General, I got a problem here. That ramp is slippery.…
So I’m going to go real easy. So I did. And then the last 10 feet I ran down. They always stop it just before I ran, they always stop it. So, I spent three hours between speeches and saluting people and they end up, all they talked about is ramp. … If you would have seen this ramp, it was like an ice skating rink. So I’m the only one that can happen. But the church is an interesting thing. I mean, here I spent three hours on stage, the sun pouring in and I saluted 1,106 cadets, and that’s not easy. Even the general said, That’s amazing. Other presidents would never have been able to do it. Because usually they do the first 10. They do 10 honor rolls, and then they go home. I stayed there for hours. And what do I do? I get publicity about walking down a ramp. And does he have Parkinson’s? I don’t think so.
Owning The LIbs
As with any policy, it's reasonable to ask just what the enforcement mechanism is. I don't think cops (especially our glorious boys in blue who don't personally seem interested in any kind of responsible behavior such as mask wearing) should be arresting people for not wearing masks. Even if there is precisely zero enforcement of any kind, simply having a rule means that many people will follow it. Most people are rule followers! Signal people should wear masks, and a lot of people will wear masks! Though conservatives arguing one minute that black people deserve to be murdered for not obeying even the mental commands of cops, and then screaming TYRANNY over the unlikely possibility a cop might tell them to wear a mask is, well, you know what it is.
These people who aren't wearing masks specifically to OWN THE LIBS, the plague spreading version of rolling coal, are deeply fucked up individuals. Like most efforts to OWN THE LIBS it doesn't make us mad the way they think it does, because we actually aren't the triggered-by-stupid-shit snowflakes they imagine we are. It makes us a bit worried that people are going to die and the whole damn country is going to collapse into the hellmouth.
These people who aren't wearing masks specifically to OWN THE LIBS, the plague spreading version of rolling coal, are deeply fucked up individuals. Like most efforts to OWN THE LIBS it doesn't make us mad the way they think it does, because we actually aren't the triggered-by-stupid-shit snowflakes they imagine we are. It makes us a bit worried that people are going to die and the whole damn country is going to collapse into the hellmouth.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Your Moment Of Zen
My only request for coverage of John Bolton’s book is for news outlets to use this GIF of him in their stories. pic.twitter.com/BSUVVS7Jvq
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 17, 2020
Timing
The writers of this dumb show are drawing it out a bit too much, but they do know how to keep the drama going.
There were 450 new positive cases reported since Wednesday. This is the largest increase since the state's first positive case was reported on March 6.
Bold
Back the dark ages of the internet, even pre-blog time, there was a little online magazine called Slate, which over time got a reputation for "contrarian" thinking. They did do the "that thing you like is actually bad" kind of contrarian stuff, but mostly it was simply a rhetorical ploy, a way of presenting dominant mainstream positions as being rebellious.
You, reader, are exposed to some truly innovative thinking found nowhere else! Even billionaire Tom Friedman does this, pitching what are almost entirely the consensus views of our political system (perhaps slightly dated, now, as Tom is getting old), as revolutionary.
It's a commonly employed trick used to make your audience think their banal opinions are actually sticking it to The Man, instead of just being, well, The Thoughts of The Man Himself. Though to pull this off, The Man is cast as a sinister cabal of people and groups who don't actually have any real power. The Oberlin Student Council, antifa, the gay mafia, etc. The people who REALLY run the country.
The sinister part of this is not a little false flattery to your readers - that's innocent enough - it's convincing them that the actual power structure is the inversion of reality. Punching down is actually punching up!
Black people get all the advantages in this country, women have all the power, white men are the truly aggrieved, billionaires are no match for the Twitter mob. That kind of thing. These are wrong opinions, but also pretty mainstream ones! Go a bit further and the more marginalized people and groups are, the more powerful they become! People become convinced that by aligning themselves with the bullies, they are actually the bullied. See, for example, Yankees fans. That some people say, "Christ, what an asshole," when you are being an asshole, just proves the point.
Anyway, this piece from Brandy Jensen is good on the latest manifestation of the true bullies, trans people.
You, reader, are exposed to some truly innovative thinking found nowhere else! Even billionaire Tom Friedman does this, pitching what are almost entirely the consensus views of our political system (perhaps slightly dated, now, as Tom is getting old), as revolutionary.
It's a commonly employed trick used to make your audience think their banal opinions are actually sticking it to The Man, instead of just being, well, The Thoughts of The Man Himself. Though to pull this off, The Man is cast as a sinister cabal of people and groups who don't actually have any real power. The Oberlin Student Council, antifa, the gay mafia, etc. The people who REALLY run the country.
The sinister part of this is not a little false flattery to your readers - that's innocent enough - it's convincing them that the actual power structure is the inversion of reality. Punching down is actually punching up!
Black people get all the advantages in this country, women have all the power, white men are the truly aggrieved, billionaires are no match for the Twitter mob. That kind of thing. These are wrong opinions, but also pretty mainstream ones! Go a bit further and the more marginalized people and groups are, the more powerful they become! People become convinced that by aligning themselves with the bullies, they are actually the bullied. See, for example, Yankees fans. That some people say, "Christ, what an asshole," when you are being an asshole, just proves the point.
Anyway, this piece from Brandy Jensen is good on the latest manifestation of the true bullies, trans people.
Of course, bigotry always functions as an invitation to itself, so it’s not surprising that your friend has begun to explore other ways of being awful. The sneering malice of the transphobe is rarely satisfied with one target. And while this way of thinking is inwardly permission granting, it is outwardly permission demanding. The question presented to the world time and time again may be worded differently but it always comes down to: Why aren’t we allowed to say this? Why aren’t we allowed to think this way? Why aren’t we alllllllllooooowed?
Constantly whining about what you are and aren’t allowed to do is the preoccupation of children, and besides which, the answer is “you are.” In this world, you are always allowed to be cruel, and you always have been. It is no brave thing to stand with the powerful against those who dare live differently, it’s the easiest and most comfortable choice you can make.
Great Moments In Governance
Pundits always imagine that there's some Bipartisan Compromise We Can All Get Behind And Unite America. Perhaps there was one, between the "MUST OPEN THE ECONOMY" and the "LET'S ALL TRY NOT TO DIE" teams, which would have involved things like requiring masks everywhere. But the Trumpkins decided masks were for soy boy cucks and by not wearing them they could own the libs, and, welp...
LINCOLN — At his regular coronavirus press conferences, Gov. Pete Ricketts makes a point of urging Nebraskans to wear a mask when they go to a store.
But when it comes to the state’s 93 courthouses and other local government offices, he doesn’t want local officials to require masks. In fact, he’s told local governments that they won’t receive any of the $100 million in federal COVID-19 money if their “customers” are required to wear masks.
Up Up And Away
Florida...
Florida reported an additional 3,207 coronavirus cases Thursday, by far the largest daily increase yet and hundreds more infections than the previous record.Arizona...
PHOENIX — The Arizona health department reported a new single-day high of 2,519 coronavirus cases and 32 additional deaths Thursday morning.
Stop, Don't, Come Back
NEW: ATL Police Union spokeman Vince Champion tells me that officers around the city are protesting the charges announced against officers Rolfe and Brosnan. He says they're walking off the job, not responding to calls unless backup is needed, and going silent on the radios.
— Charlie Gile (@CharlieGileNBC) June 18, 2020
Bad Cops Bad Cops Whatcha Gonna Do
Pareene:
Too much of the debate over what to do about policing is abstract. If police abolition represents the radical boundary of our discourse, if “defund the police” sounds baffling to people who are rarely policed and scary to people who believe they depend on police for their safety, it might be easier to move from the general to the specific. What should be done about the Minneapolis Police Department? If you’re scared of what sound like radical demands, or on the fence about a slogan like “defund the police,” I urge you to read both of these articles, and think about “the police,” not in the abstract or even in the personal (who would I call if someone broke into my house?) but in terms of the currently existing institution of the Minneapolis Police Department. Maybe the question “Does Minneapolis need cops?” can be answered after a more urgent question: “Does Minneapolis need the Minneapolis Police Department?”
This is a police department in a very liberal city, run by a black man who once sued the department and who replaced a chief who had, during her own term, already brought in the Justice Department to study its practices. And yet, despite that leadership, it still could not rein in the Third Precinct—or implement a program that could’ve taken Derek Chauvin off the streets. As a result, it has lost its legitimacy as a civic institution and therefore its right to exist. Those demanding activists explain precisely and in great detail how public safety will be maintained after we “abolish police” in general should explain why maintaining the existing Minneapolis Police Department is preferable to disbanding it and building some sort of alternative.
Morning Thread
Tim Bousquet founder of the Halifax Examiner has just had the first two episodes of his podcased released, Uncover. The podcasts are based on his five year investigation into the murder of Brenda Way, a sex worker. Glen Assoun was wrongfully convicted of that murder. She was one of many sex workers who were killed in the Halifax area back in the 1990s. Most of the murders remain unsolved and now with the exoneration of Assoun, we can add her murder to the list.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
America's Worst George Mason University Economists
Robin Hanson.
So what food is appropriate to eat to celebrate Juneteenth? We actually like fried chicken & watermelon a lot.
— Robin Hanson (@robinhanson) June 17, 2020
Learning
Going to take a long time before our politicians respond meaningfully, but hopefully this perception persists as long as the problem does.
About half of American adults now say police violence against the public is a “very” or “extremely” serious problem, up from about a third as recently as September last year. Only about 3 in 10 said the same in July 2015, just a few months after Freddie Gray, a black man, died in police custody in Baltimore.
Can't Catch Up
It's trivial (or should be) for mortgage lenders to just add a few months of payments plus any added interest onto an end of a mortgage. No harm. Or should be.
Landlords have a bit of a trickier problem, as they're gonna have to eat some. But "skip payments for a few months and then make them all up suddenly" is not going to be an option for anybody.
Landlords have a bit of a trickier problem, as they're gonna have to eat some. But "skip payments for a few months and then make them all up suddenly" is not going to be an option for anybody.
As the United States continues to face record unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic, 30% of Americans missed their housing payments in June, according to a survey by Apartment List, an online rental platform.
That’s up from 24% who missed their payment just two months earlier in April and about on par with the 31% who missed payments in May. Renters, younger and lower-income households and urban dwellers were the groups most likely to miss their housing payments, Apartment List found.
I Got Nothin'
Maybe Donald Trump will become president today?
We joke that Trump just says the quiet part out loud, but I think when people say that they mostly mean something like, "they all hide the racism a little bit and Trump just does the racism out loud." But it's more than that. They're all Donald Trump in all ways, just a little bit quieter. They're sociopathic narcissistic solipistic idiots. OK, not ALL OF them (whispers: yes all).
We joke that Trump just says the quiet part out loud, but I think when people say that they mostly mean something like, "they all hide the racism a little bit and Trump just does the racism out loud." But it's more than that. They're all Donald Trump in all ways, just a little bit quieter. They're sociopathic narcissistic solipistic idiots. OK, not ALL OF them (whispers: yes all).
WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE
We aren't, of course, but I don't know what the hell places with case spikes, mostly but not all run by Trumpkins, are going to do...
Great Moments In Governance
One also bad, but less bad, option would be for Governor Reaper to let the cities do what they want and then get on teevee and shit talk them. Blame them for all the deaths, tell them how stupid they are for the useless mask policy, etc., but let them at least have the mask policy. That way he could continue to Own The Libs to Trump and the MAGA crowd while perhaps allowing some better policy to happen.
Despite Abbott's emphasis on the importance of masks, he has barred Texas cities from implementing any rules that would require face coverings.Oh well.
Abbott signed an executive order on April 27 that says while individuals are encouraged to wear face masks, "no jurisdiction can impose a civil or criminal penalty for failure to wear a face covering."
Don't Be Such A Bummer, Man
Nobody wants to hear about the event with the 10% chance of happening with the $10 trillion loss, when the sunny optimist is right most of the time, happily predicting the 90% chance events with the $1 million gain. The doomsayer is usually wrong, or at least the possible doom they point to does not actually come to pass most of the time, making them seem to be usually wrong, but ignoring that downside risk can lead to, well, ALL THIS.
Related:
Related:
https://t.co/961Pjrijxk pic.twitter.com/UGYHpCQVIU
— Treb (@treblaw) June 17, 2020
Filling Me Up With Your Rules
The sad thing is "Operation: Pretend There's No Pandemic" will work surprisingly well. 750 deaths a day? 1000? 2000? Even at these high numbers, unless there's an massive outbreak in a location where the guardians of our discourse live (New York, DC, their pandemic 2nd home locations), or a massive outbreak among beloved celebrities (we already used up Hanks), simply not acknowledging it can make it retreat from "our" beautiful minds. Not that it's ever evenly distributed this way, but even 3000 deaths per day would be, roughly, 1 per county per day, 365 per county per year, small enough for most of us not to notice if the Fake News Lieberal Media isn't pointing it out.
Of course that's a million per year, but, hey, a small sacrifice for stonks, and do not underestimate the number of powerful people who truly believe this is the great culling society needs.
Of course that's a million per year, but, hey, a small sacrifice for stonks, and do not underestimate the number of powerful people who truly believe this is the great culling society needs.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Cops Do Dumb Lies And The Press Believes Them
I'm not shocked the cops lie, but I am surprised that how readily they lie about totally dumb stuff even at a moment when they have as much scrutiny (in general) as they've ever had. And while I take a dim view of journalists sometimes, I still can't believe they choose to fall for things like "Shake Shack employee tried to poison us with bleach."
The antifa supersoldiers are real, however, and they are on the way.
The antifa supersoldiers are real, however, and they are on the way.
The DeSantis Miracle
And they have two friends and they have two friends and they have two friends...
and Arizona...
and Texas...
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's stay-at-home order expired May 4, there were roughly 680 cases being diagnosed each day in the state. As of June 14, Florida's seven-day rolling average for new COVID-19 infections, which accounts for fluctuations in the number of cases, was 1,661 per day. On Tuesday, Florida reported a record-high one-day increase of 2,783.
and Arizona...
and Texas...
TERF War
The US has its own issues with anti-trans bigotry, of course, despite yesterday's surprise ruling (it was a surprise, after all), but the way TERFs and anti-trans bigotry have dominated The Discourse in the UK is at another level.
The final domino to fall was the Guardian. To many trans people and trans allies, the one progressive broadsheet in the UK posting its editorial view on trans rights in October 2018 was almost as striking a landmark moment as the overall response to the GRA. Rather than support the fairly minor reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, the Guardian highlighted the differing rights of trans people and women. It concluded with something no one on either side would disagree with: “Social media have unhelpfully amplified the voices at both extremes of this argument. The current divisions are troubling.” Trans activists and allies noted that the editorial was fence-sitting: it didn’t entirely invalidate trans rights, but it did dodge the issue.
Faye – along with other trans writers and readers – was shocked. “That editorial was a slap in the face and a watershed moment for me too, because I knew I couldn’t, in all conscience, work with the Guardian again. I’m self-aware enough to know that people would think I’m a bit of a sell-out, and fair enough. It’s grim to be taking payment from somewhere that the next day may be running something transphobic.”
Armed Babies
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
"um...maybe it was bleach, sure, why not, just gonna throw that out there."
🚨URGENT SAFETY MESSAGE🚨
— Detectives' Endowment Association (@NYCPDDEA) June 16, 2020
Tonight, three of our fellow officers were intentionally poisoned by one or more workers at the Shake Shack at 200 Broadway in Manhattan. Fortunately, they were not seriously harmed. Please see the safety alert⤵️ https://t.co/D8Lywivhdu
Chapter 2:
(CNN)Three New York City Police Department officers have been released from the hospital after getting sick when they drank milkshakes from Shake Shack Monday night.Chapter 3:
The shakes may have been poisoned with bleach, according to a statement from the NYC Police Benevolent Association.
After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by shake shack’s employees.
— Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) June 16, 2020
"um...maybe it was bleach, sure, why not, just gonna throw that out there."
Monday, June 15, 2020
Textualism To The Rescue
I admit that at some point I decided that The Law was mostly silly and stopped bothering my beautiful mind trying to decipher the holy texts of Supreme Court decisions. There are people more qualified to do that than I am, obviously, but more than that I find the whole subject to be an elaborate pantomime to avoid acknowledging the fact that the important decisions are basically expressions of the political outcomes desired by a majority of the justices, tempered only by the minor restraint that they don't make themselves look like complete hacks by contradicting their previous decisions in obvious ways. Though that, too, is just a game for clever clerks to figure out. But here's some analysis for those who want it. And the (big pdf) decision.
Apparently Alito's dissent is funny. I don't have time at the moment to scan it but someone flagged this:
Apparently Alito's dissent is funny. I don't have time at the moment to scan it but someone flagged this:
But can it be seriously argued that one of the aims of Title
VII is to outlaw employment discrimination against employees, whether heterosexual or homosexual, who engage
in necking?
A Moment Of Suffering
Theirs, for once.
All those evangelicals who sided with Trump in 2016 to protect them from the cultural currents, just found their excuse to stay home in 2020 thank to Trump’s Supreme Court picks.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 15, 2020
Does Anyone Remember Good News
Twitter buzz from the smart talking law people (I'll link when something good is written) is this is pretty much an unambiguously good decision.
I've just been dreading all SCOTUS decisions and barely paying attention because good news seemed to be unpossible. I guess not!
I've just been dreading all SCOTUS decisions and barely paying attention because good news seemed to be unpossible. I guess not!
Held
An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII.I'll let the smart law talking people analyze the fine print, which seems to not be loading from the SCOTUS site, but that's a win. Gorsuch+Roberts+TheLibs
Yes That Was The Plan
.@JonLemire reports on @Morning_Joe that campaign officials were quite aware their rally was scheduled for Juneteenth. They just underestimated the blowback
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 15, 2020
In the middle of All This they were deliberately planning to hold a White Power rally on the site of a "just learned about by Stephen Miller because he watches superhero shows" massacre of African-Americans on the anniversary of Juneteenth.
Still, the question remains, are they racists? Impossible to see into their hearts.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Up Up And Away
The worst hit parts of the country locked down and then the rest followed suit, mostly reluctantly. Why do we have to suffer for what's going on in NYC?
Welp...
Welp...
Four states we've been watching closely—Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina—have not seen a leveling off yet in this new round of outbreaks. pic.twitter.com/P0Ht5xsI7P
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) June 14, 2020
Who Runs The Country
The parallels with the UK of the 1970s (or now) are not perfect, but a lot of the elite media debates can be best understood (like many things) as simply a question of power. From Yes, Prime Minister, though mentally replace "read by" with "written by" (or "controlled by," really).
No perfect correspondences with US media outlets, but you can imagine...
The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country; the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; the Financial Times is read by people who own the country; the Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country, and the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.The target readers might identify with the perspective of those in control, but...
No perfect correspondences with US media outlets, but you can imagine...
Wow Has The NFL Heard About The National Football League
Hope they can do something about those guys.
(CNN)The NFL announced it would pledge $250 million over the next ten years to help fight systematic racism.
The money will be allocated to a fund that will also "support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African-Americans," according to a statement issued by the league on Thursday.
Saturday, June 13, 2020
The DeSantis Miracle
Not looking good, folks.
JUNE 13: A daily update of the news you need to know about the COVID-19 outbreak in Jacksonville and the rest of Northeast Florida.
Florida once again shattered its record for new single-day positive tests in the coronavirus pandemic, recording 2,581 additional cases in Saturday’s report from the Florida Department of Health.
The state set its previous record in Friday’s report, when the health department added 1,902 new cases of COVID-19.
Juneteenth
I doubt Trump knew the symbolism of his planned white power rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, not because I put him above such a thing, but because his brain is pudding, he knows nothing, and he wouldn't get it even if it was explained to him. But Miller knew, of course, because he watches TV shows about superheroes like the rest of us.
Likewise shifting it a day wasn't caving into goodness, it was because someone not named Miller explained that if he did it on that day it would, at this particular moment (though not any other), overshadow the coverage of Trump.
Likewise shifting it a day wasn't caving into goodness, it was because someone not named Miller explained that if he did it on that day it would, at this particular moment (though not any other), overshadow the coverage of Trump.
Things Can't Shut Down Again
Mnuchin was wrong, obviously, but in a way he was probably right. We already know the trigger for lockdown, if it exists at all, will be much higher than the original triggers, because places are in the middle of reopening/just reopened despite having record numbers of cases. . And they have two friends and they have two friends and they have two friends...
Who is going to make the decision to shut down again in a timely fashion? It should be a hair trigger decision, but at best it'll come much too late
Who is going to make the decision to shut down again in a timely fashion? It should be a hair trigger decision, but at best it'll come much too late
Friday, June 12, 2020
That Effing Newspaper
Shot:
Chaser:
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 12, 2020
Chaser:
Donald Trump’s More Accepting Views on Gay Issues Set Him Apart in G.O.P.
By Maggie Haberman
April 22, 2016
Afternoon Thread
It was not a surprise that Trump fucked things up every single chance he had, but I admit the Feds just giving up entirely on any kind of comprehensive corona response was not something I predicted. Though it's Donnie from Queens and his son-in-law. I should have known.
Round 2
And they have two friends and they have two friends and they have two friends...
I have no idea what will happen, but it isn't looking good, folks.
Florida’s Department of Health on Friday morning confirmed a new daily record high of 1,902 additional cases of COVID-19 — surpassing the previous high of confirmed cases by 204, which was reported just a day earlier.Probably undeniable reality stomping on the fiction.
Fired scientist Rebekah Jones’ site shows thousands more people with the coronavirus, and hundreds of thousands fewer who have been tested, than the site run by the Florida Health Department.
I have no idea what will happen, but it isn't looking good, folks.
America's Worst Journalism Ethicists
Kelly McBride.
It isn't unique to journalism, but generally "professional ethics" are just descriptions of professional norms which are at best independent of anything that normal people understand as "ethics," and quite often fancy obfuscation for some some serious lack of ethics.
It isn't unique to journalism, but generally "professional ethics" are just descriptions of professional norms which are at best independent of anything that normal people understand as "ethics," and quite often fancy obfuscation for some some serious lack of ethics.
Why Won't The Protesters Take Advice From Me
Like many phrases of the moment, "stay in your lane" gets overused, but there is little point in keyboard warriors deciding to give advice to activists on the street. It is silly to judge their actions based on what you know are incomplete and biased-towards-authorities news reports, especially if you somehow imagine yourself to be "on their side," and a big error is judging the actions of normal people more harshly than those of the people we pay, supposedly, to keep the peace. One doesn't have to condone violence to understand that sometimes things get out of hand when there are large groups of people in intense situations, including sports victory celebrations, and the "mob" is not collectively responsible for all actions of all individuals. One thrown water bottle should not lead to tear gas and batons.
It's clear by now that while there unsurprisingly hasn't been some amount of opportunistic theft (looting is loaded word, also, too), the people escalating violent situations are the people tasked with preventing violence. Calls for "nonviolent protest" place the responsibility on the people who are almost entirely not responsible for any violence. Direct it at the people in power.
It's clear by now that while there unsurprisingly hasn't been some amount of opportunistic theft (looting is loaded word, also, too), the people escalating violent situations are the people tasked with preventing violence. Calls for "nonviolent protest" place the responsibility on the people who are almost entirely not responsible for any violence. Direct it at the people in power.
Hope Was The Only Plan
From the Feds, anyway, some state and local governments have done more. Maybe it'll all go away, but spiking infection rates in several states are not good, folks!
And it's quite clear there's no plan for what happens if you get a New York level outbreak (or anything close to it) somewhere else.
I have no predictions other than, "if it gets bad again, it's gonna be bad, because none of our systems can handle it."
And it's quite clear there's no plan for what happens if you get a New York level outbreak (or anything close to it) somewhere else.
I have no predictions other than, "if it gets bad again, it's gonna be bad, because none of our systems can handle it."
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Spoil The Barrel
Awesome.
Chicago police officers made popcorn and coffee in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office while nearby businesses were being looted last month, he announced at a stunning news conference alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Rush’s South Side campaign office was looted about two weeks ago during widespread civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. Looters also went into a nearby plaza of businesses, he said.
...
Rush looked at the videotape and saw eight or more cops, including three supervisors, with their feet up on desks, he said.
“One was asleep on my couch in my campaign office,” he said.
It'll Shut Down By Itself
It's reasonable to debate any specific lockdown provision/timing, but if infection rates soars, no amount of demanding or clapping will keep things open.
Obviously My President is that dumb.
“We can’t shut down the economy again. I think we’ve learned that if you shut down the economy, you’re going to create more damage,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer on “Squawk on the Street.”I honestly prefer to believe they're just evil, because it's almost more frightening if they're just this dumb.
Obviously My President is that dumb.
America's Worst Humans
Steve Huffman.
WATCH: Here was the moment when Ohio Sen. Steve Huffman asked if the "colored population" has a higher rate of COVID-19 because they don't wash their hands as much. pic.twitter.com/o8AiMg1q30
— Tyler Buchanan (@Tylerjoelb) June 11, 2020
Getting Better All The Time
I suppose there's little point in repeating myself so much about this (though what's the point of anything, really), but nightmarish levels of unemployment are going to be increasingly treated as the new norm and the only way to avoid that is if stonks crash, at which point the money cannon will goose stonk prices again on the off chance it will prevent the economy from deteriorating even further. Rinse, repeat.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
10 Points To Gryffindor
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) June 10, 2020
Bend It Like Abbot
BREAKING: For the 3rd day in a row Texas set a new record for hospitalizations. Texas has now seen hospitalizations increase 42 percent since Memorial Day.
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) June 10, 2020
The issue is not "oh well, let's open up, the cost of that is some more deaths but that's the price we gotta pay." The issue is that doubling rate. That whole exponential thing.
I don't think most of these idiots ever understood the whole "bend the curve" nonsense. It wasn't simply to lower the number of deaths, it was to prevent an explosion in them.
Maybe it'll be fine... and if not?
The Real Racists
They actually really believe this, that suggesting that either white people individually or power structures dominated by white people are somehow, maybe, possibly, racist in effect even if not intent, is the real racism.
White Louisiana state lawmaker tells black colleagues that their resolution to study policing is *the most racist* document she's ever seen. #lalege #lagov https://t.co/7cmS3JlQLF
— Bryn Stole (@brynstole) June 10, 2020
Nailed It
Understands the problem, and has a plan to solve it.
Undo systemic economic racism
For too long, black Americans have lived with a knee on their neck — not only institutional violence, but daily injustices like having the police called for sitting in a coffee shop or watching birds in the park. I support the proposal pending in New York to enhance penalties for making a false 911 call based on race, gender or religion. No one should be subjected to that kind of discrimination, ever.
We should also be directing our resources to actively undo the negative effect systemic racism has had on opportunities for black Americans. For example, African American entrepreneurs are rejected for loans at a rate nearly 20% higher than white entrepreneurs, and when they do receive funding, it's far less. So we should prioritize support for mission-driven lenders in low-income communities by doubling the State Small Business Credit Initiative. We should expand the New Markets Tax Credit to funnel billions in investments into communities that need it. And, the Small Business Administration should expand its programs that are most effective at helping launch black-owned businesses.
Nobody Holds Two Ph.Ds
Well maybe some people did a second one for a kind of hobby, but there really isn't any reason to get a second Ph.D. A dumb movie trope is something like, "Bruce Banner is so smart he holds 17 Ph.Ds." And that's... not how it works. Sure there are some joint advanced degree programs, MD/PhD type things, to make you a doctor and a research scientist, but that this wasn't already a red flag...
Dozens of scientific papers co-authored by the chief executive of the US tech company behind the Lancet hydroxychloroquine study scandal are now being audited, including one that a scientific integrity expert claims contains images that appear to have been digitally manipulated.
...
Claims made by Desai about his qualifications gained since his medical degree have been called into doubt, including his claims to hold two PhDs, a master’s, and affiliations with major universities and colleges. Some of these affiliations have now been removed from his website and online profiles.
That Fucking Newspaper
The ideal rule is, of course, "never tweet," but having a Brand is how young journalists, especially people of color and others from nontraditional backgrounds such as "not having a Dad who worked at the New York Times," get these jobs in the first place, and they are expected to promote their work and their newspaper. And then there are social media guidelines, which of course just means some journalists tweet whatever the fuck they want and some can't. You see the most opinionated assholes (not all from the New York Times) waxing dumb about JOURNALISTIC OBJECTIVITY and then 5 minutes later doing a racism and never getting punished for it, because racism is just objectivity.
Of course expressing opinions like "JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE OBJECTIVE" is just good journalism, while expressing opinions like "don't write stories about black people being genetically inferior" is just ACTIVISM and BIAS because that black people are genetically inferior is just SCIENCE according to editors, apparently.
People get mad that I'm so harsh about the New York Times. I think there are a lot of very good reasons to be very critical of it. One is that, yes, I do hold the New York Times up to a higher standard, if for no other reason than they certainly claim to be of a higher standard. Times brain is a hell of a thing.
Of course expressing opinions like "JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE OBJECTIVE" is just good journalism, while expressing opinions like "don't write stories about black people being genetically inferior" is just ACTIVISM and BIAS because that black people are genetically inferior is just SCIENCE according to editors, apparently.
If your newsroom doesn’t like to be described as racist, it’s bad to publish stories that suggest “Black people are genetically inferior.”Ah, yes, that's covering race, which is absolutely not her job.
When Kendra Pierre-Louis tweeted that newsrooms should not publish or uplift stories that do exactly that, she said the New York Times’ Standards Desk had a response, delivered to her by way of an editor:
“Don’t do it again.”
Pierre-Louis, a Black reporter who previously covered climate for the New York Times, said she was not asked to delete her tweet thread, which went on to critique American journalism’s failure to diversify and its failure to use the “R word.” But she was sanctioned for it, supposedly because it was not her job to cover race.
People get mad that I'm so harsh about the New York Times. I think there are a lot of very good reasons to be very critical of it. One is that, yes, I do hold the New York Times up to a higher standard, if for no other reason than they certainly claim to be of a higher standard. Times brain is a hell of a thing.
Tuesday, June 09, 2020
Burning Crossfit
Awesome
But during the Zoom call hours earlier, which had been between 16 affiliates and staff members, Glassman had repeatedly questioned whether systemic racism existed and questioned the motives of protests around the country.
“I doubt very much that they’re mourning for Floyd,” Glassman said on the call about protesters and CrossFitters who were looking for the company to speak out. “I don’t think that there’s a general mourning for Floyd in any community.”
He also recounted unfounded conspiracy theories on the call that included speculation Floyd was murdered to “silence him” due to a purported, baseless role in a criminal conspiracy involving counterfeit money.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)