Thursday, December 31, 2020
Top 18 of 18 Books I Read This Year - Final Batch
#3 Sandra Newman - The Heavens
#1 Sally Rooney - Conversations With Friends
Pivoting to Cuecat
Thoughts and Prayers
NEWS: David Perdue came in "close contact with someone on the campaign who tested positive for COVID-19" and will quarantine, per his campaign.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 31, 2020
The Georgia runoff election is on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/GYQ9c4MiFf
The Reeds And The Brass Have Been Weaving
And, yes, powerful people are bullies.
Vagueblogging, I suppose.
Dapper Nazis
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
As for full autonomy, Musk noted: "the software problem should not be minimized." He continued that, "it's a very difficult software problem." Still, he promised that Teslas will be capable of self-driving by the end of this year and self-driving robo-taxis will be on the road in 2020. Also, in two years, the company will be making cars without steering wheels or pedals at all.April 2020:Musk hopes to undercut Uber and Lyft with the cost per mile of a robo-taxi being less than $.18 a mile. Typical ride sharing costs are $2 to $3 a mile.
"If you fast forward a year, maybe a year three months, we'll have over a million robo-taxis on the road."
Number of Teslas robotaxis: 0.Functionality still looking good for this year. Regulatory approval is the big unknown.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2020
Assholes
The people complaining about a $2000 check (and, I know, this was likely never going to happen, but the people complaining about it are so frightened of the possibility that they won't even let it be used as a rhetorical club) are going to be responsible for what is coming, as is everyone who puts up even minor roadblocks to the few options that are available.
Maybe a miracle happens and the Dems take the Senate, but absent that there's this relief bill and there are things that Biden can do on his own, like student debt cancellation. Whatever one thinks about any of these policies on their merits in isolation, the options are "do this stuff" or "do nothing" going forward.
People who never met a tax cut for rich people they don't like have the nerve to lie and claim a $2000 check that phases out benefits wealthy people too much. Larry Summers, who spent the past 2 years trying to get "liberal cred" by arguing for more government spending, suddenly decided this relatively modest amount of money would 'overheat' the economy. None of this is about what they're claiming it is, and if you're really concerned that high income people are getting too much money, raise their damn taxes, including taxing back the 2 grand for people whose 2020 income didn't plunge. But sometimes $400,000 is "middle class" and sometimes $75,000 is "well of". How the fuck does this work?
(Another part of this is, again, all this "targeting" is based on 2019 tax data because that's the best they can do which says nothing about who got screwed in 2020).
They prefer the prospect of the cannibal hordes to the off chance a poor might get a chance to smile for one day. These are sick, sick people, and I'm so tired of the "civility scolds" who tell us we should pretend this is all some sort of high minded intellectual policy debate. Be respectful! Fuck you, rich guy. Go give another speech for $50,000 and explain to your audience how one ration of protein per week is way more than the poors deserve.
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
How Do We Resolve This Mystery
The people who would be 100% behind an ECONOMY BOOSTING TAX CUT for actual rich people, which would give most of them a lot more than two grand, are really upset about $2000 which phases out for higher income people because high income people might get it. Really can't see how to resolve this one.Supporting massive tax cuts for the wealthy because that will “create jobs” and opposing 2k checks on the grounds that someone who doesn’t need it might get it doesn’t make any kind of sense.
— Adam Serwer 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) December 30, 2020
Gotta Get Better At This
The Lincoln Project raised $4.8 million between November 24th and December 16th hyping the Georgia Senate runoff elections.
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) December 30, 2020
Since then, it has spent $1.1 million on independent expenditures in those races and paid Steve Schmidt $1.5 million. https://t.co/BT5roJBmCt pic.twitter.com/mCS1B7wsxF
Failures
Didn't expect anyone to care about Iraqis, but a lot of US troops died for that bullshit, and everyone came out of that a hero, too.
Old Is, What, Anybody Over 30?
Morning eyeballing it calculation, but roughly 19% of Covid deaths in the US have been people 64 and under. 8% have been people 54 and under.
Much better to be young, of course, but those aren't trivial numbers.
Morning Thread
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Is That You, Mary Rosh?
In 20 years we're going to be dealing with the return of Trump-era clowns during the President Miller administration.Hot off press, new Lott study estimates 11,350 absentee votes lost to @potus Trump in Georgia. Another 289,000 "excess (fraudulent) votes" across GA, AZ, MI, NV, PA, WI. As promised this a.m. on Bannon's War Room. Postpone GA Cesspool election!! https://t.co/geqEhnKqCR
— Peter Navarro (@RealPNavarro) December 29, 2020
But What If Jared Gets $2000?
Seems Bad
Officials are having problems getting the amount of oxygen needed by critically ill COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breathe as their inflamed lungs are being damaged or destroyed.Problems on Sunday caused at least five hospitals in L.A. County to declare an internal disaster, which closed the facilities to all ambulance traffic — not just certain types of ambulance patients, as is more typical.
It’s not simply a shortage of oxygen itself, county and hospital officials say. There’s a shortage of canisters, which patients need to return home, and aging hospital pipes are breaking down due to the huge amounts of oxygen needed to be distributed around the hospital.
That Seems Easy
Showing Their Asses
Most "respectable" center-left economists exist to define themselves as the acceptable left flank, to keep the barbarian hordes from the actual left from mounting a successful insurgency.Very funny to watch centrist economists on issue after issue tell the left they need to accept politically possible fourth best option since that is all GOP senators might agree to and now lose their minds when that is large checks and the left tells them to accept the possible
— Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) December 29, 2020
The Senate probably won't pass it and who knows if Trump will sign it even if they do, but it is quite telling that when an opportunity sorta presents itself to do something actually lefty they freak the fuck out.
Offer X, and they say "what about Y." Offer Y, they say "why not Z, you idiot?" Present them with Z and they burn the fucking house down.
BUT IT SHOULD BE TARGETED TO THOSE WHO NEED IT
Any means testing that isn't basically automatic will tend to exclude the people who are unable to leap over the hurdles. You know, the people who most need it. The "basically automatic" way of means testing involves having the IRS use the tax returns and bank information it has on file. It doesn't have everyone's bank information (though they can mail checks too), and for the first round of checks they had the problem that not everyone had yet filed for 2019. So "eligibility" for a pandemic relief in 2020 depended on income in 2019 or 2018. This was stupid then, but at least it was right at the beginning. It's absolute nonsense now, as your 2019 income says nothing about how the pandemic in 2020 has impacted you.
There's a simpler way to means test, if you must, which is just taxing some of it back later, but all these brain geniuses don't like that for reasons. The reasons are they don't like the whole idea at all. Better to boost banker bonuses so they can hire more servants, or something.
But assuming any of these people are operating in good faith, that brings us back to stupid. Maybe "we" didn't think of all of these complications months ago, but they're well understood by anyone who has paid any attention to things at all. Economists are going to economist. No need to educate themselves about practical issues.
Hard Work
Will cheer Onion Joe if he puts people in charge who actually know how to get things done, or more importantly know how to hire and manage the people who get things done.
Not a comment on anyone in particular and I have no knowledge, but in general people who fly high in certain fields, politics being one of them, are not necessarily people who have the necessary skills you think they should have. Getting good press is a skill, but maybe not the one we need.
Getting shots to 330 million people is hard work.
Morning Thread
Monday, December 28, 2020
Go Nigel, Go
U.S. House, in 275-134 vote, passed bill for $2,000 individual direct payments. House considered bill under expedited "suspension of the rules" procedure requiring a 2/3rds majority for passage.
— Greg Giroux (@greggiroux) December 28, 2020
D 231-2
R 44-130
I 0-2
No Comment
This is part because habits die hard, and part because the rule of the DC political press coverage is that we talk about whatever conservatives want us to talk about that day. For a little while, at least, that will be whatever Trump wants us to talk about.
"Coronavirus Task Force"
Dr. Peter Hotez on slow vaccine distribution: The Coronavirus Task Force 'may have underestimated some of the complicated logistics involved.'
Sure Why Not
VP Pence has been sued by Rep. Louie Gohmert and other House Republicans in a desperate lawsuit that says Pence should get “exclusive authority” to decide which EC votes to count at Congressional certification.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) December 28, 2020
Habits
It's Maggie's old employer, too, something "we" don't talk about enough.The edit board of NYPost, the president’s favorite paper, tells him to give it up and says his encouragement that pence do something he can’t on Jan 6 is “cheering for an undemocratic coup.” pic.twitter.com/VdNMemVcKD
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 28, 2020
An overlooked but probably more important trend than "the Ohio Diner Foreign Bureau Office" is the obsessive coverage of right wing media in the age of Trump. It was an understandable development, and probably good that our mainstream journalists actually paid attention to what went on at right wing outlets, instead of pretending to as they did for years, but it's also likely to continue.
We're going to get lots of coverage of what right wing media outlets think of Joe Biden for absolutely no good reason at all.
Morning Thread
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Heckuva Story
People long said about Woodward that if you talk to him, he makes you look good, if you don't, he makes you look bad. True of all these things, to some extent.
They Did This
The Bigger The Hole He Digs
I know lots of people want to just sigh with a relief and clap loudly for President Onion Joe. I really don't think it'll take much for me to clap loudly, either. Looking forward to it!
Morning Thread
Gotta respect our greatest poster!
Saturday, December 26, 2020
That Town
Books by the Foot, a service run by the Maryland-based bookseller Wonder Book, has become a go-to curator of Washington bookshelves, offering precisely what its name sounds like it does. As retro as a shelf of books might seem in an era of flat-panel screens, Books by the Foot has thrived through Democratic and Republican administrations, including that of the book-averse Donald Trump. And this year, the company has seen a twist: When the coronavirus pandemic arrived, Books by the Foot had to adapt to a downturn in office- and hotel-decor business—and an uptick in home-office Zoom backdrops for the talking-head class.The Wonder Book staff doesn’t pry too much into which objective a particular client is after. If an order were to come in for, say, 12 feet of books about politics, specifically with a progressive or liberal tilt—as one did in August—Wonder Book’s manager, Jessica Bowman, would simply send one of her more politics-savvy staffers to the enormous box labeled “Politically Incorrect” (the name of Books by the Foot’s politics package) to select about 120 books by authors like Hillary Clinton, Bill Maher, Al Franken and Bob Woodward. The books would then be “staged,” or arranged with the same care a florist might extend to a bouquet of flowers, on a library cart; double-checked by a second staffer; and then shipped off to the residence or commercial space where they would eventually be shelved and displayed (or shelved and taken down to read).
Only sometimes do Bowman and Wonder Book President Chuck Roberts know the real identity of the person whose home or project they’ve outfitted: “When we work with certain designers, I pretty much already know it’s going to be either an A-list movie or an A-list client. They always order under some code name,” Bowman says. “They’re very secretive.”
Every Row In That Spreadsheet Is A Person
Friday, December 25, 2020
That Fucking Newspaper
It’s remarkable how much better the @washingtonpost is than the @nytimes when it comes to accurately capturing the current moment pic.twitter.com/ZL6DQ2tlKK
— sam deutsch (@samdman95) December 25, 2020
Larry Is Lying
The important thing about this is that Summers is lying. It isn't that he's wrong about this, it's that he doesn't believe it. He does not think that $2000 checks relative to any baseline or other policies will "overheat" the economy.he’s right about there being conceptually better uses for the money, but the idea that we risk “a temporary overheat” of the economy from a round of $2k checks is just silly.
— Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) December 24, 2020
That was just a reason he grabbed for. If it was some other policy he didn't like he'd put on his frowny economist face and say it had a "low fiscal multiplier," arguing essentially the opposite, that the spending wouldn't boost the economy enough. For something else, he might go full concern troll and argue that the policy wasn't progressive, relative to some other policy he also wouldn't support if it was being offered.
Appeals to the astrological charts that only the economist possesses is common, but in this case it's bullshit that even he doesn't believe.
More great moments from a real genius:
I guess $2000 checks is just too fucking agressive (again, he's lying, he just doesn't want that kind of stimulus, he wants to make rich people even richer).I have the optimistic guess-but it’s only an optimistic guess-that the recovery can be faster than many expect b it has the character of the recovery from the depression that hits a Cape Cod economy every winter or recovery in American GDP that takes place every Monday morning.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) April 3, 2020
This you? pic.twitter.com/NxyfMaCCwP
— Drone Striker in Chief (@aturtlenamedbo1) December 25, 2020
Merry Xmas.
Thursday, December 24, 2020
The Beginning Of An Ever Closer Union
A Christmas Miracle
He'll die soon, and I guess I'm going to have to get the receipts ready for when people fake outrage when other people (me) are less than respectful.
Feelings
In switching four years ago from the politics beat to become The Times' first daily audio host, Barbaro has evolved into one of the newspaper's most recognizable stars. The Times says more than four million listeners download his podcast each day. It has won the paper new awards, subscribers and revenues....
Privately, Barbaro repeatedly pressed at least four journalists Friday to temper their critiques of The Times and how they framed what happened. I know, because I was one of them.
So was NPR host and former Middle East correspondent Lulu Garcia-Navarro, whom he admonished to demonstrate restraint and warned was hurting the feelings of people at the newspaper.
Washington Post media critic Eric Wemple also received multiple direct messages from Barbaro, especially about his use of the world "retract" on Twitter to describe what happened.
What's Happening Now
The story this morning:
— David Dayen (@ddayen) December 24, 2020
-Democrats released the CASH Act, which increases direct payments to $2000
-House GOP blocked unanimous consent on the bill
-Pelosi announced that the CASH Act will get a recorded House vote Monday, the same day they override the veto on the defense bill
All Of Them
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Top 18 of 18 Books I Read This Year - First Batch
18. Rumaan Alam - Leave The World Behind
17. Yu Miri - Tokyo Ueno Station
16. Margaret Grabble - The Dark Flood Rises
Release The Kraken
Washington (CNN)An executive for a voting machine company that has been the target of conspiracy theories in the aftermath of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss and been baselessly accused of swinging the results against the President is suing his campaign and conservative media figures for defamation.
LOL
*TRUMP VETOES THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 23, 2020
Afternoon Thread
Where's My Help
But that universe of people, while in need, is about 2-3 percent of the total workforce. By contrast something like 80 percent of the public, everyone making $100,000 or less, is getting the check. From a messaging standpoint of “what’s in it for me,” that’s just going to take precedence. Moreover, you can see the two payments, from CARES and this bill, as a leveler of decades of soaring inequality, and really the least you can do for a population that has had the rules of capitalism rigged against them. Even if they weren’t means tested, giving everyone thousands of dollars means more to those at the lower end.Make it happen, or if it doesn't happen make sure people understand why it didn't happen.The politics, then, argue for higher payments. It was Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans who kept them artificially low. Now here comes Trump asking for them to be nearly tripled. It’s amazing that he waited until after losing the election to flash the old-time populism and wedge both parties, but here we are. And then came the moment where Mitch McConnell’s head blew up like in Scanners.
Hint: it's those fucking Republicans.
If Only, Mr. President
Hell, I would have voted for him!
Later Skaters
..and they were told to disregard it.NEW: Despite Trump’s fight to stay, last night White House staff received a detailed email from his exec. office with directions on the departing process. Employees will start leaving the week of 01/04.
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) December 23, 2020
Note addresses everything from cleaning microwaves to ethics debriefing.
Cranky Me
I'm not dumb about THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON and I don't need lectures from people who put millions of dollars of campaign donor money into their friends' pockets in order to lose elections and then blame people who are mad because the cops are killing people and otherwise acting outside of the law.
No one thinks Trump isn't full of shit and of course if he isn't, temporarily, he will be distracted by a shiny tv spokeswoman tomorrow, but I love how The Advanced Politics Knowers are so goddamn bad at this but sure "defund the police" is their problem.
KISS
Pelosi should do this, but for real. Doing it by “unanimous consent” means any one member can block it. The House should actually bring a clean $2k checks bill to the floor, pass it and send it to the Senate. Do it with the intent of getting people more aid, not just as a stunt. https://t.co/3pzmnkyUZX
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) December 23, 2020
Morning Thread
NEW: U.S. sets single-day record with more than 3,350 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, according to an NBC News tally. https://t.co/6A1chi3auV
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 23, 2020
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Oh, Rudy
NEW: I'm told by a source directly familiar with the situation that SDNY does indeed have a large chunk of Rudy Giuliani's emails and texts via a cooperating witness. Investigators are looking into possible FARA and campaign finance violations.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) December 22, 2020
Oh, Stu
The 25th Amendment Option
[ETA: I just realized that we’re almost at the point at which Pence and a majority of the cabinet could put an end to this all by themselves. Section 4 requires Congress to assemble within 21 days to decide the dispute when the vice president has become Acting President and the president wants his job back. But: the vice president has four days after the president disputes the transfer of power (which is immediate upon transmission of the vice president’s letter to Congress, and remains in place during the period when the president is disputing it) to reply, which means in practice that the vice president can remain Acting President for 25 days without Congress’s ultimate assent, if just one house of Congress blocks by simple majority vote the legally required vote on the transfer for the 21 days that are permitted by the amendment]
Senator Padilla
SACRAMENTO — Alex Padilla, a Los Angeles Democrat who once developed software for satellites but later rose through local and state political office to become California secretary of state, was chosen Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve in the U. S. Senate — an appointment that tears down a barrier for Latinos that has stood as long as California’s statehood.
The Great Sanctioning
NEW: Michigan AG Dana Nessel says she will seek professional sanctions against Sidney Powell, Trump campaign attorneys who made “what we believe to be an intentional misrepresentation” of facts in recent election lawsuits.
— Jonathan Oosting (@jonathanoosting) December 22, 2020
Hassle
There are something close to 10 million people on PUA. There are a bevy of reasons people can be eligible, so no situation is quite the same. The kind of pay that many 1099 workers get—a check without taxes taken out—may not count, because they may need proof of net income. We actually don’t know yet what unemployment systems will require.It takes time (and free time, we’ve recently learned, costs about $19 an hour) to run this stuff down, especially if you didn’t need it when you went on PUA in March. More important, state offices will now be collecting millions of pieces of documentation, which they must process. If you thought application processing was slow before, wait until this clogs systems.
The thing is, the IRS has this information, employers have this information, credit bureaus or banks might have this information. The burdens could conceivably be placed elsewhere. But that never happens in our atomized country; the worker must suck up the tax on their time.
Help Is On The Way
But, hey, I'm not a highy paid professional earning millions on campaign ads for losing campaigns.
Morning Thread
Monday, December 21, 2020
The Celestial Hall Monitors
Let Them Refuse
Who's Afraid Of A Defamation Suit
Newsmax just aired this note to "clarify" its coverage of Smartmatic and Dominion. pic.twitter.com/I5XZ7CQpAk
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) December 21, 2020
Look Forward
WASHINGTON — The Democratic chairman of a House subcommittee issued subpoenas on Monday to compel Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Robert Redfield to produce documents related to the agencies' coronavirus response.And, you know, this isn't just stealing the petty cash, it's killing a lot of people.Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who is running a special committee created to investigate the government response to the coronavirus, is seeking details about what he says was HHS officials efforts to “interfere” at the CDC, claiming the actions were “far more extensive and dangerous than previously known.”
Lunch Thread
Reach For The Stars
Or at least pretend to! "If Democrats were in charge, everybody would get 2 thousand bucks. And a pony."If Democrats controlled the Senate:
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 21, 2020
- the cash payments would be $1200 not $600
- there would be $175 billion, not $25 billion, to help people pay the rent
- there would be flexible money for states and cities and bonus checks for frontline workers
Let’s win Georgia.
Normal Year
Boris Johnson will hold a press conference on Monday to outline his response to the UK being cut off from countries around the world due to fears over the new mutant coronavirus strain.
Help Is On The Way
Sunday, December 20, 2020
British Trump
You know everyone else can hear you, right...
The situation
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) December 20, 2020
London and the south east cut off from rest of the country
UK outward freight to Calais cut off
UK travel prohibited for a swathe of countries
More cases reported in last 24 hours than ever before
5 days til Christmas
11 days til the transition ends
The Good Doctor
WASHINGTON (AP) — As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.”Lives are complicated, but the people who rule us should at least try to pretend to set an example.For many Americans that guidance has been difficult to abide, including for Birx herself.
The day after Thanksgiving, she traveled to one of her vacation properties on Fenwick Island in Delaware. She was accompanied by three generations of her family from two households. Birx, her husband Paige Reffe, a daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren were present.
The Heroes Of This Story
Sure it turns out that all my friends and people I supported and whose critics I belittled were actually genocidal fascists, but the interesting part of this story is my intellectual growth.
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Look Forward
And why not?
Sure Why Not
During the meeting, the president asked about Flynn’s suggestion of deploying the military, those briefed said. That was also shot down.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 19, 2020
Atrios, WRONG
I didn't think he would necessarily quit out of misery/boredom, but I did think there was a nontrivial chance of that. That one I definitely got wrong for one simple reason. He was miserable and bored, but 24/7 he could turn on the teevee and have it be all about his favorite person. Best 4 years of his life. Can't leave it.
Not So Cocky Now, Lou
A little less bizarre when you remember Smartmatic sent Fox News a cease and desist earlier this week. https://t.co/eitYfWrEwV
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) December 19, 2020
Friday, December 18, 2020
Seems Bad
President Donald Trump's most powerful advisor, Jared Kushner, approved the creation of a campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent almost half of the campaign's $1.26 billion war chest, a person familiar with the operation told Insider.
Round and Round We Go
PENCE: "As President Trump often says, we are rounding the corner."
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) December 18, 2020
How'd This Work Out
President-elect Donald Trump named former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as an informal adviser on cybersecurity, according to the presidential transition office. Giuliani, who heads a cybersecurity consulting firm Giuliani Partners, will serve as an adviser on finding solutions to cyber-incursions in the private sector and to advise the government on possible responses.I know that with Trump it was a daily freak show of off the charts absurdity and corruption so you can't focus on one thing and say, "hey, wow, the press didn't pay much attention to this one." But Rudy was another example of a ridiculous, racist, evil person whose entire career coasted on the support of members of the press who liked his tire swing, who then dared to write "WHAT HAPPENED TO RUDY???" bullshit. This was published in March!
Why Does This Stuff Keep Happening
At the NYT this is combined with an extra dose of, "WE'RE THE FUCKING NEW YORK TIMES AND YOU'RE NOT AND WE ARE NEVER WRONG" so things fester.
Morning Thread
Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid. We are rounding the turn. 99.9%.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Sounds Bad
The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.
It Just Sounds Like A Big Number
Such politicians are thought to be the "serious" ones.Does it bother anyone else that sum of $1 trillion is still the mental event horizon for Senate moderates in current stimulus discussions, just as it was it stimulus & healthcare reform discussions in 2009, even though equivalent sum (adjusted for GDP growth) is $1.5 trillion?
— Carlos Mucha (@mucha_carlos) December 17, 2020
Well Then
Rand Paul rails on how Georgia was supposedly stolen — “but probably most importantly” absentee ballot applications being sent out for the Senate runoffs.
— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) December 17, 2020
“I’m very, very concerned that if you solicit votes from typically non-voters, that you will affect and change the outcome.” pic.twitter.com/J1TPaN02Us
Killing Our Own D00ds
LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Of course, act cautiously, but Christmas is meant to be spent with your family -- not isolated and locked down.
Hey, Maggie, Did You Tweet This One Out
Often, Mr. McGowan and Ms. Campbell mediated between Dr. Redfield and agency scientists when the White House’s guidance requests and dictates would arrive: edits from Mr. Vought and Kellyanne Conway, the former White House adviser, on choirs and communion in faith communities, or suggestions from Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and aide, on schools.“Every time that the science clashed with the messaging, messaging won,” Mr. McGowan said.
Episodes of meddling sometimes turned absurd, they said. In the spring, the C.D.C. published an app that allowed Americans to screen themselves for symptoms of Covid-19. But the Trump administration decided to develop a similar tool with Apple. White House officials then demanded that the C.D.C. wipe its app off its website, Mr. McGowan said.
150 Recoveries Of The Last 1
I'd like to believe Lessons Were Learned but all the people from that era have barely acknowledged that there was anything to learn. Here's Obama in January, 2010:
I'm absolutely convinced that was the right thing to do. But families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The federal government should do the same. (Applause.) So tonight, I'm proposing specific steps to pay for the trillion dollars that it took to rescue the economy last year.The unemployment rate was 9.9% when he gave that speech.Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. (Applause.) Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will. (Applause.)
We will continue to go through the budget, line by line, page by page, to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work. We've already identified $20 billion in savings for next year. To help working families, we'll extend our middle-class tax cuts. But at a time of record deficits, we will not continue tax cuts for oil companies, for investment fund managers, and for those making over $250,000 a year. We just can't afford it. (Applause.)
Now, even after paying for what we spent on my watch, we'll still face the massive deficit we had when I took office. More importantly, the cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will continue to skyrocket. That's why I've called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad. (Applause.) This can't be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem. The commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline.
Now, yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I'll issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans. (Applause.) And when the vote comes tomorrow, the Senate should restore the pay-as-you-go law that was a big reason for why we had record surpluses in the 1990s. (Applause.)
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Maybe Don't Say Dumb Shit To Axios
(anonymity is granted here because Axios's Swan perceives thinks these advisers are more important than Dillon)SCOOP: Some advisers close to Biden are frustrated over a Glamour magazine interview in which incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon referred to Republicans on Capitol Hill as "f*ckers."https://t.co/wBS7lhT53w
— Axios (@axios) December 16, 2020
He Has The Power
Let’s take these objections in turn. First, those who’ve called for executive action, and certainly those of us here at the Prospect, aren’t calling on Biden to trample the Constitution. Absolutely nothing in the Day One Agenda would violate constitutional authority. In fact, the agenda adheres directly to the Constitution’s Article II powers. A president’s job function is, by and large, to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. Everything in our coverage refers to actual laws the president has the authority to implement. The only exceptions to that are in areas like foreign policy, where the president has additional, enumerated Article II powers.Student debt cancellation, for example, is derived from the Higher Education Act of 1963. Lowering prescription drug prices comes from using provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, or Section 1498 of the U.S. Code. Effectively legalizing marijuana is achieved through the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Biden can alter the measurement of poverty because it’s an administrative function, and several laws tie federal benefits to that poverty calculation. Biden can shape federal procurement policy thanks to the 1974 establishment of a dedicated White House office for that purpose, and requiring contractors to pay living wages or proper benefits can meaningfully improve the lives of millions of workers.
I could go on, but you get the point. It is not tyranny or dictatorship to ask a president to do their job and implement laws already passed.
Genocide
A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a "herd immunity" approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to internal emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee and shared with POLITICO.This was the UK plan until Boris almost died and all the toffs realized an Eton pedigree didn't actually grant immunity.“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials.
"Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…" Alexander added.
"We are about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this country."
The old joke was that the stock market had predicted 9 out of the last 5 recessions, but now it's more like economists have predicted 47 out of the last 2 recoveries.
How Does This Keep Happening
At least three South Dakota lawmakers who attended Gov. Kristi Noem's budget address last week in Pierre have since been diagnosed with COVID-19.*Sorry Joe Biden, I just ruined the comity.Sens. Helene Duhamel (R-Rapid City) and Reynold Nesiba (D-Sioux Falls) last week confirmed they had come down with the coronavirus after returning home from their legislative duties, which included hours side-by-side other lawmakers at the capitol as well as a leadership dinner at the governor's mansion.
No Hurry
It'll be really disappointing when on the eve of the day they were planning to start working with Joe Biden, somebody at Atrios dot Blogspot dot Com said something mean about Republicans, and, well, sadly, they had no choice....Biden says that 7 Senate Republicans, “mostly senior,” have called him tonight. He spoke to “one of the most senior members” who expressed a willingness to work on China and infrastructure. It’s going to take 6-8 months but GOP will work w him, “you’re going to be surprised.”
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) December 15, 2020
Power
Not that this would ever happen, but they'd never grant me anonymity to trash the Biden people. They would (if circumstances ever warranted such a thing) grant a Biden person anonymity to trash me.
Wise man bows his head, that's just how it is, Atrios.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Eschaton World Industries Charities
MacKenzie Scott is giving away her fortune at an unprecedented pace, donating more than $4 billion in four months after announcing $1.7 billion in gifts in July.The world’s 18th-richest person outlined the latest contributions in a blog post Tuesday, saying she asked her team to figure out how to give away her fortune faster. Scott’s wealth has climbed $23.6 billion this year to $60.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as Amazon.com Inc., the primary source of her fortune, has surged.
You Can Win Me Over, Pete
It really isn't, and yet...
Not Quite A Supertrain Expert
I love to be wrong.
Whoever Has The Best Lawyers (And Most Crooked Judges) Wins
TREASON!!!
BREAKING: McConnell says that after the electoral college voted yesterday: "Our country has officially a president-elect and a vice-president elect."
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) December 15, 2020
"I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden," McConnell says.
The Herd
Also, again, the plan has not worked well in Sweden.
Also, again, with a very conservative fatality rate of 1%, a rate which requires a level of medical interventions not allowed by full hospitals, if half the population of the US gets Covid, that's about 1.7 million dead people. Only 1.4 million to go!
Only 8,000 dead in the Dakotas, I guess!
Monday, December 14, 2020
Meddling Kids
In another sign of the lingering unrest over President Donald Trump's election loss, an Arizona group sent the National Archives in Washington, D.C., notarized documents last week intended to deliver, wrongly, the state's 11 electoral votes for him.Copies of the documents obtained by The Arizona Republic show a group that claimed to represent the "sovereign citizens of the Great State of Arizona" submitted signed papers casting votes for what they want: a second term for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Mesa resident Lori Osiecki, 62, helped created a facsimile of the "certificate of ascertainment" that is submitted to formally cast each state's electoral votes as part of an effort to prevent what she views as the fraudulent theft of the election.
"We seated before the legislators here. We already turned it in. We beat them to the game," she said.
Joe Biden Must Unite The Nation
I'm sure Biden's going to give a bunch of speeches designed to appeal to "David Brooks" ("David Brooks" is just the stage act of David Brooks, who in reality also doesn't give a shit) about coming together and all that, and it'll only matter if he believes his own bullshit. Which he probably does. But it won't matter in the sense of UNIFYING THE COUNTRY because that's a stupid goal anyway.
Annus Horribilis
Modest Expectations
For an example, "we" shouldn't have to fight to stop a Dem president from cutting Social Security. And yet...
Some Good News
Sigh of relief: SCOTUS just declined to hear Box v. Henderson, a case in which the Indiana Attorney General was trying to strip queer people of equal parenting rights. The 7th Cir's decision striking down an IN law keeping same-sex parents off birth certificates stands.
— Sejal Singh (@Sej_Singh) December 14, 2020
Working Pretty Well For Me
A system that allowed me and mine to flourish despite our occasional massive fuckups is a pretty good system! The people for whom it doesn't work must be even bigger fuckups!
Happy Electoral College Day
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Could Be Funny
Incident comes shortly after Trump administration fired heads of DHS' Cybersecurity Infrastructure Protection Agency. There is also no current top cyber official.
— Chris Bing (@Bing_Chris) December 13, 2020
Multiple agencies wrapped up in the investigation.
Keep an eye on story (updating): https://t.co/r5BN9gxumC
Release The White House Visitor Logs, "President" Biden
Some of them will even be valid!
No Big Whoop
Nightmare Existence
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Hope I Die Before I Get Old
I know that wanting the kids to get off the lawn is an almost unavoidable phase of life, but it's a bit weird when you see "old farts" who are about 50 and "the kids" are approaching 40.
Tell Me, Joey, What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
But, no malarkey, folks, there are some serious challenges ahead! You gotta be nuts to want to be president, but if you're that nuts you should probably want to do something with all that power. Hopefully good things, but something, at least!
How Far
One hopes that, as with most things, his imagination can't conceive of too many options for "whatever he can."
Mr. President, fire Amy Coney Barrett!! She was very disloyal to you!!!
Morning Thread
We're winning the war on Christmas.At the White House Christmas Party, guests were informed about 10 minutes ago that the president won't be joining them to make remarks.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 12, 2020
Friday, December 11, 2020
I Bet Alito Really Didn't Want To Reject It
...I was kidding, but sort of!Bye Don.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) December 11, 2020
"Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State
conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed
as moot." pic.twitter.com/O4D1S01kyT
To explain the statement by Alito and Thomas: This is totally separate from the merits. They think the Supreme Court is required to hear suits between states, so they think they can't just deny the filing. But they also clearly say they would NOT grant relief to Paxton et al.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 11, 2020
Fuck Around And Find Out
Rep. Pascrell writes to Pelosi and Lofgren asking them to look into not seating the 126 amici in the new Congress, invoking Reconstruction era constitutional “safeguards to cleanse from our government ranks any traitors and others that would destroy the union.” pic.twitter.com/WR0lJEMepK
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) December 11, 2020