Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

We still have time to mess this up!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Silverman on Security / Covid-19 & National Security / Breaking News: Boris Johnson Has Been Moved Into Intensive Care To Treat His Covid-19 Infection

Breaking News: Boris Johnson Has Been Moved Into Intensive Care To Treat His Covid-19 Infection

by | 211 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been taken into intensive care in hospital with coronavirus.

He has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise for him, a No 10 spokesman said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, is a Brexit hyper-supporter who has a history of offensive comments and actions. The reason that Raab has been selected as the “designated survivor” is because there is no formal chain of succession in case of emergency established in law for the British government. Largely because successive prime ministers have been unwilling to see a formal chain of succession in case of emergency established in law.

10 Downing Street’s real lord and master has issued a statement:

Update at 3:35 PM EST

Here’s the update from The BBC:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms “worsened”, Downing Street has said.

Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise “where necessary”, a spokesman added.

The prime minister, 55, was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in London with “persistent symptoms” on Sunday.

The spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving “excellent care”.

A statement read: “Since Sunday evening, the prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.

“Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital.”

It continued: “The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.”

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

211Comments

  2. 2.

    Kent

    This is going to be interesting to watch.  The other shoe to drop will be how many older GOP leaders are already infected.  Gotta be a bunch of them

    President Pelosi is not outside the realm of possibility.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    there is no formal chain of succession in case of emergency established in law for the British government.

    “We need a decision right away. Trot over and ask him to cough once for yes and twice for no.”

    //

  4. 4.

    Ohio Mom

    I saw somewhere that Boris has a girlfriend who is several months pregnant. As a former pregnant person, I feel for her.

    As for there being no formal chain of succession, what’s a little more chaos in the world at the moment?

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    Here’s the update from The BBC:

    Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms “worsened”, Downing Street has said.

    Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise “where necessary”, a spokesman added.

    The prime minister, 55, was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in London with “persistent symptoms” on Sunday.

    The spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving “excellent care”.

    A statement read: “Since Sunday evening, the prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.

    “Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital.”

    It continued: “The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.”

  8. 8.

    hells littlest angel

    Should he be taking up space in intensive care? I mean, he just went in for routine tests.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    Suggest Piers Morgan and Nigel Farage rush to his bedside for a lengthy group hug.

    Too soon?

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise “where necessary”, a spokesman added.

    Hmm…Raab was one of the candidates for Conservative Party leadership. I wonder if he’ll take this as a sign he should be PM.

  11. 11.

    Sebastian

    That “lets infect everyone on purpose to create herd immunity and get it over with” doesn’t look so smart anymore.

    Wondering if Boris doesn’t regret his betrayal of country and people now. He has a lot of time to think about it. Well, maybe not that long anymore, I heard that lethality rate for ventilator ICU patients is very very high.

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    I’m old enough to remember when Boris’s admission was purely “precautionary” and for the purpose of running unspecified “tests.”

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yutsano: He already thinks he should’ve been PM. What will be interesting is the internal Tory fight between him and Gove. And Labour actually did something smart and kicked Corbyn’s hand picked successor to the curb and elected someone smart and politically savvy and not a Corbynite as the new Labour leader.

  15. 15.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    OT, but the Massachusetts office of the SBA has confirmed the rumor on EIDL applications – they’ve inexplicably tied the EIDL advance to the number of employees you maintain – you get a paltry $1000 Per employee.

    I’m going to get buried. I may as well take my remaining cash to buy bullets, pitchforks, glass jars, rags and enough gas to roll to see some Wall Street and DC lobbyist types…

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    Adam L. Silverman @6: 32 is young enough to be Boris’s daughter. Whatever. It’s a good age to become a mother.

    Kent @ 2: It always feel like a cruel tease to me when people predict Pelosi taking over the presidency. I wouldn’t bet on it but boy how wonderful would that be?

  18. 18.

    germy

    "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—" General John Sedgwick, 1864

    "I was at a hospital the other night where, I think there were… actually a few coronavirus patients, and I shook hands with everybody. And I continue to shake hands…" Boris Johnson, 2020

    — ? Anthony Policing (@nailheadparty) April 6, 2020

  21. 21.

    chris

    Raab? Great, we’ll finally get an answer to that old question: Are there no workhouses? Pictures of the little match girl to follow.

  22. 22.

    Catherine D.

    I see a wave of paternity tests in the near future …

    ETA – BoJo apparently doesn’t know how many children he has, just as Drumpf can’t count the sex workers.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:   Nope.  I am the bitch who hopes Nigel Farage gets COVIDed out of this existence, since he Brexited the UK with lies upon lies.

    Kind of hoping they kicked Nigel off a ventilator to make room for BoJo.

    As you all know, even if you survive a ventilator, you can have longterm health and cognitive effects.

    Although, with BoJo and Trump, analyzing their cognition ….

  25. 25.

    germy

    Because I am a bad person, I am assuming his worsening symptoms mean he’s gone from the sniffles to a mild, dry cough.   But he’s getting extra medical attention because he’s A Very Important Person.

    There’s a good chance I’m wrong, and there’s a good chance I’m right.  (But I’m a bad person either way)

  28. 28.

    The Thin Black Duke

    If BoJo winds up as a cautionary tale, it’d be the best thing he’s ever done in his treacherous career.

  31. 31.

    joel hanes

    @Sebastian:

    I heard that lethality rate for ventilator ICU patients is very very high.

    IIRC, only about 20% of those who go on a ventilator come off it alive, and those who do survive are often showing serious health deficits in lung function and cognitive impairment.

    I’m 67, fat, have high blood pressure.  I’ve found and completed a do-not-intubate order — that ventilator should be used for a patient with a better prognosis.

  32. 32.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sebastian: So, if he’s been moved to ICU, does that automatically mean he’s been placed on a ventilator?

    Because if so…holee shitsnacks, that is not likely to end well for the PM.

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    @satby:

    I have mixed feelings about Johnson’s fate. I would have none about that other scenario.

    Could Nancy SMASH become PM? That would be fun. Line of succession leads back to the original colonies!

  34. 34.

    germy

     

    “I was at a hospital the other night where, I think there were… actually a few coronavirus patients, and I shook hands with everybody. And I continue to shake hands…”

    So some of the patients had the virus, and some of them didn’t.  But he shook hands with everyone.

    What a thoughtless, superspreading asshole.

  36. 36.

    cain

    @Kent:

    President Pelosi is not outside the realm of possibility.

    Everyone is vulnerable including Pelosi. I hope our democratic politicians are practicing safety at all times even if our Republican folks are not (but should).

  37. 37.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elizabelle: What, Farage is on a ventilator too? How did I miss that piece of news?

    *checks notes* oh yeah, there seems to have been a lot of bad shit happening worldwide, lately…

  39. 39.

    germy

    @Miss Bianca:

    So, if he’s been moved to ICU, does that automatically mean he’s been placed on a ventilator?

    No.

    Although apparently a Russian news outlet (trying to create chaos) claimed a few days ago he was on a ventilator, his reps have denied it.

  42. 42.

    Momentary

    I do not quite have it in me to wish for his recovery, but if he does recover, I hope he takes the next opportunity to punch Dominic Cummings right in the face.

  43. 43.

    joel hanes

    @Miss Bianca:

    So, if he’s been moved to ICU, does that automatically mean he’s been placed on a ventilator?

    No.  Many COVID-19 patients spend substantial time in the ICU and are never intubated.

  45. 45.

    moonbat

    Having a hard time ginning up any sympathy here since his initial herd immunity “strategy” meant that a lot more Britishers would die than had to.

  46. 46.

    cain

    @Sebastian:

    Wondering if Boris doesn’t regret his betrayal of country and people now. He has a lot of time to think about it. Well, maybe not that long anymore, I heard that lethality rate for ventilator ICU patients is very very high.

    My understanding is that he’s in the ICU so that he can get ventilator support if needed, but he is not yet on it.

  48. 48.

    gvg

    I can’t believe Britain doesn’t have a clear legal emergency succession law. That strikes me as unwise for a nuclear power. Of even just a regular country. I hope they fix that asap. It’s a really really bad mistake IMO. Separate from Brexit and Covid and a liar as PM.

  49. 49.

    cain

    @trollhattan:

    Wondering if Boris doesn’t regret his betrayal of country and people now. He has a lot of time to think about it. Well, maybe not that long anymore, I heard that lethality rate for ventilator ICU patients is very very high.

    I would prefer the queen to run the govt. That would be excellent. Better, Prince Harry.

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    Would love to hear what Queen Elizabeth has to say about this turn of events, in private, although she is probably circumspect there, too.

    She looked healthy and resolute during yesterday’s address.  Which they moved up a bit, with BoJo’s health declining …

    I would assume BoJo is in the ICU so they can intubate him if necessary.  Also, patients can be on supplemental oxygen before or with never going on a ventilator …

  52. 52.

    sdhays

    Ramping up the “herd immunity” doesn’t seem to have been a great plan after all.

  53. 53.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @germy:

    Although apparently a Russian news outlet (trying to create chaos) claimed a few days ago he was on a ventilator, his reps have denied it.

    Imagine the kind of person that would use a virus outbreak, which doesn’t care about borders, to cause chaos that would make the pandemic even fucking worse

  54. 54.

    Splitting Image

    Boris the Fucker used the NHS as a club to get his referendum passed, then admitted the day after that he’d been peddling a bald-faced pack of lies. I hope he infected half of his cabinet.

    Riddance good to rubbish bad, as Yoda would say.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    @gvg:

    Parliamentary systems are somewhat used to having disruptions in leadership and are somewhat settled in how business actually does go on. When the king/queen ran everything there was a line of succession of course, but the responsibility of day to day governing is the PM. So the PM being incapacitated or dead would be an issue. But look at how well our line of succession/replacement has actually worked. In reality is ours better or worse?

  60. 60.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy: I don’t normally talk in emojis, but when I do, it’s because someone did something too stupid for words.

    ?‍??

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    @gvg: We don’t actually have a functioning continuity of government law or process either. We have one for keeping the executive branch going and that’s it. Norm Ornstein has been pulling what’s left of his hair out about this for 20 years to try to get Congress to set up a system so they can still function if they can’t come into session in DC so that the US doesn’t become a functional autocracy in case of emergency. For 20 years, no matter who he’s partnered with in Congress, no matter how many essays, reports, op-eds, and/or speeches he gives and testimony he provides on the topic, Congress can’t be bothered. And here we are in desperate need of a functional Congress, but with no formal system rooted in even congressional rules, let alone law, to actually have a Congress function remotely.

  63. 63.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: How about if he starts talking, and a bunch of stupid shit starts pouring out of his mouth?

    Oh wait…

    Thankfully, they now have that extra £350 million/week to find the NHS.

  64. 64.

    Uncle Cosmo

    FFS, Silverman, fix your goddamn title. It’s not “isolation,” it’s intensive care – which is about 100x more serious. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy,

  65. 65.

    Kent

    @cain:Everyone is vulnerable including Pelosi. I hope our democratic politicians are practicing safety at all times even if our Republican folks are not (but should).

    I have more faith (or perhaps hope) that our Dem leadership is being more serious and cautious than our GOP leadership has shown.  I guess we will find out if that is the case.

    I really hope to God that both Peloisi and Biden are taking all necessary measures to stay clear of this pandemic.  And of course RBG and the rest of the Dem SCOTUS.

  72. 72.

    Kent

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):Imagine the kind of person that would use a virus outbreak, which doesn’t care about borders, to cause chaos that would make the pandemic even fucking worse

    The Russians are going to get hammered by this too.   Perhaps worse than most other countries due to lack of investment in public healthcare since the fall of the Soviet Union.  And a very brittle command structure that is (theoretically) less resilient than here in the US).

  73. 73.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Maybe they will be bothered now?

    God knows, we even were bothered about a pandemic but we saw how voters have voted in folks that dont’ give a shit about that either.

  74. 74.

    Shalimar

    @germy: I would bet when Boris had minor symptoms, he was being treated quietly at 10 Downing Street.  They only moved him to the hospital because his condition became too serious for house calls.

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    In news of better people than BoJo, and their struggle with COVID-19.

    WaPost: Grocery workers are beginning to die of coronavirus
    At least four people – who had worked at Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Giant – have died from covid-19 in recent days

    … A Trader Joe’s employee with underlying health conditions died of covid-19 early Monday morning … The Scarsdale, N.Y., store where the employee worked has been closed until Thursday to give workers “time to process and grieve,” ….

    Trader Joe’s stores in Brooklyn and Philadelphia also were temporarily closed Monday, for additional cleaning and sanitizing.

    Retailers furloughed nearly 1 million workers this week. But the industry’s troubles are just beginning.

    … In Maryland, Leilani Jordan, 27, a greeter at the Giant’s Campus Way South store in Largo, died last week.

    “She said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to work because no one else is going to help the senior citizens get their groceries,” her mother, Zenobia Shepherd, told The Washington Post. “She only stopped going to work when she could no longer breathe.”

  76. 76.

    cain

    @Splitting Image:

    This man was proud to shake hands regardless of COVID-19 – how many people did he infect by doing so? I’m wondering how many Tories are in deep shit right now?

  77. 77.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @joel hanes: Indirectly you point out the flaw in that 20% survival rate – the population that ends up on ventilator is skewed toward older victims and those with pre-existing conditions, who are far less likely to survive a bout of COVID-19 than someone younger or healthier. One wonders what the rate is amongst them once on the ventilator. Probably higher than 20%.

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Sebastian: But it’s no worse than the chicken pox, or the flu, or……aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

    Move over sweet 16!  Sweet COVID-19 parties are in town now!

  79. 79.

    cain

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Putin is probably already going to be very busy with his own pandemic spread. You know it is happening and it’s probably wide spread by now.

    I’m hoping that it will incapacitate his bot farm so that they can’t be effective during a critical time in our elections.

  81. 81.

    The Pale Scot

    @BGinCHI: Don’t forget Varney, dog I hate that guy. I’d say send Jeremy Clarkson too, but then you’d have to push Cleese in too. I guess you have to draw the line somewhere

  82. 82.

    EthylEster

    I did a bunch of reading on the web yesterday and somewhere I encountered a careful description of the various symptoms and general course of covid-19. I was struck by one statement about the read and white blotchy face the patient gets right before the disease really gets bad. When I saw the pic of BoJo today, I understood exactly.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    Parliamentary systems are somewhat used to having disruptions in leadership and are somewhat settled in how business actually does go on. When the king/queen ran everything there was a line of succession of course, but the responsibility of day to day governing is the PM. So the PM being incapacitated or dead would be an issue.

    The UK is interesting. The prime minister forms a government, which is separate from the Parliament, which supposedly is sovereign.

    But, the Civil Service carries out the day to day operation of the government. You run into a problem if new laws are needed to get something done.

    In Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Parliament had been suspended for some time over some political wrangling, and yet the Civil Service continued to operate, even though it was clearly hampered by a lack of leadership.

    Most of the major decisions regarding BREXIT, especially those relating to Northern Ireland, happened when there was no formal government there to respond or comment.

    But I suspected that if Johnson were unable to continue as PM, a replacement would soon be found.

     

    ETA: I think Prince Charles had also tested positive for the virus. Hope he’s OK.

  85. 85.

    Barry

    @Kent: “The Russians are going to get hammered by this too. Perhaps worse than most other countries due to lack of investment in public healthcare since the fall of the Soviet Union. And a very brittle command structure that is (theoretically) less resilient than here in the US).”

     

    And an older population?

    And massive levels of alcoholism?

    And a healthcare system likely to be even more corrupt than HealthCare by Jared?

  86. 86.

    The Pale Scot

    I’m pretty sure Boris is part of “can’t save everyone” policy group. A fellow traveler at least.

     

    Well Boris, (shrugs), we can’t save everyone.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: Based on what Norm has been tweeting and writing over the past three weeks, all signs point to no.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elizabelle: Ugh. Only a matter of time, I suppose, but so sad and disheartening all the same. : (

    btw, you or any of the jackaltariat who knows – I thought Washington Post was making their COVID-19 coverage free for the time being, but I’m getting paywalled every time I try to access one of those articles. I had given up my subscription in disgust for a while there, wondering if it’s time to re-activate…

  89. 89.

    sdhays

    @cain: I’m wondering how many Tories are in deep shit right now?

    They have a large, recently elected majority. They have plenty of time to let propaganda do its work. It worked for them with their double dip recession.

     

    ETA: Unless you were referring to potential infection, then yeah, they should be worried.

  90. 90.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Ohio Mom: He’s popularly known in the UK as Bonking Boris. His dalliances with the fairer sex are legendary, the number of his offspring unknown. It became clear to most political observers he was going to make a serious run for the leadership of the Tory Party when he divorced his wife around this time last year to get his “bimbo eruption” problem out of the way.

  91. 91.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Elizabelle: Last Friday was shopping day (day #15 of hermiting). My first stop was the Giant Food supermarket on 33rd St. in Baltimore. Not a single employee was masked, up to & including the store manager, who told me that the corporate HQ in Landover was supposed to be sending them over. About half of the clientele wore masks.

    Next stop, Safeway at 24th & Charles. No masks in evidence here either, though there were shields up at the checkouts. Couple of 20-something females (Hopkins students probably) came in, no masks, no social distancing. I thought to myself, Maybe we should make the kids carry with them names & contact info for all their relatives over 70 – & then, if they catch COVID-19 & need a ventilator, we could poll their elders as to whether any one of them is willing to give up their place in line for one of the kiddies. (Haven’t been to see Granny in years? Die!!)

    Next the Save-a-Lot and Dollar Tree in Dundalk. Not much masking of anyone, or social distancing. I did a double take at what the Dollar Tree manager was wearing – Is that a sleep mask? I asked. Sure enough. And it worked well enough for her.

    I have a bad feeling about where we’re going to end up & how long it’s going to take – & how many funerals.

  93. 93.

    EthylEster

    @Adam L Silverman: Norm Ornstein is getting a lot blunter also. His recent tweets leave little to the imagination. Good on him. This guy has been fighting the good fight for decades.

    Ah, I see you have referenced his twitter account above.

  94. 94.

    JPL

    @The Pale Scot: I think you are right but when told of the numbers of those afflicted he then  said stay home.  If he survives after receiving hydroxychloroquine, trump will campaign on it.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    You said it better than I did but this was my point. Their system is not totally top down. Right now ours isn’t either, the states are having to do all the heavy lifting because the federal government is like a 240 yr old ceramic vase that got dropped off the top of the Empire State building. Shattered by incompetence. Rethuglicans held that vase over the side and dropped it because they were too stupid to foresee what would happen if they did, or because they thought that would fix the chip in the handle. Either way, the vase is fucked.

  98. 98.

    ziggy

    Much as I don’t like BoJo, this looks very bad. I we sure he is not on a ventilator? I suspect he will be on one soon if he is in the ICU. Only about 15-20% of ventilated patients make it through. It is insane that they don’t have a formal chain of succession, that will change.

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    @Miss Bianca: I think you have to subscribe to their free coronavirus newsletter and access the articles through there, or that’s how they started off.

  101. 101.

    Tony Jay

    It says a lot about the Funny Fat Man’s (lack of) credibility that opinion is split between those laughing bitterly at the thought of his steamed potato face squashed behind a too-tight ventilator and those who think he’s taking advantage of an opportunity to play the victim while avoiding the basic requirements of his job. Let Peanuthead Raab field the Media barbs during this period of intense scapegoating, then emerge after the worst of the death-spike caused by his Government’s deliberate policy of delay and denial to “take charge” and “manage the recovery”. It’s entirely his M.O. and straight out of the Dominic Cummings PR For Psychopaths handbook.

    Whatever, the Media handjob he’s going to receive if he doesn’t die is going to be as disgusting as it is inevitable.

    The country is fucked, and a lot of that is down to the shameless bullshit produced by our Press and TV News. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    @Miss Bianca:   Bummer re the paywall.  Yeah, subscribing to the WaPost would be good.

    Today, you would get to see a feature on the wonderful Kiara, Norwegian volleyball playing pupper.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/05/kiara-volleyball-dog-is-very-good-content-we-all-need-these-days/

    Kiara the volleyball dog may be a retriever mix, but she’s also a heck of a setter.

    The talented pooch has become a viral sensation by starring in videos that show off her remarkable volleyball skills. Kiara is not just keeping balls in play for fun, though — she is helping her human with his training while the professional beach volleyball tour remains on hiatus amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
    … According to a social media account set up in her honor, Kiara is named after a central character from “The Lion King II.” She is described as a mix between a flat-coated retriever and a black Labrador, and she clearly has a nose for the ball.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    @Miss Bianca

    Just between us, the WaPo paywall is exceedingly easy to bypass with a bit of browser reconfiguration.

    Never even was aware they had one until someone mentioned it here.

  108. 108.

    Geoduck

    @germy: Just for the record, Sedgwick did not get shot mid-sentence. He finished his comment, had a short exchange with a more cautious underling and then got shot.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    I don’t think Dr. Haseltine will be asked back to Fox News any time soon!

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    @Robert Sneddon: What I can’t understand, since BoJo’s as ugly as a baboon’s ass and about as charming, from what I can tell (apologies to any actual baboons, who might reasonably be offended by the comparison), is: how the hell he gets all that action? I mean, seriously. He’s not as physically or mentally gross as Trump, maybe, but he’s definitely on that end of the scale.

  116. 116.

    cmorenc

    @Ruckus:

     look at how well our line of succession/replacement has actually worked. In reality is ours better or worse?

    Well, let’s see specifically how our line of succession has worked over US history:

    William Henry Harrison => John Tyler (probably a wash)

    Abraham Lincoln => Andrew Johnson (absolutely terrible downgrade, the negative consequences of which echo even to this day)

    James Garfield => Chester Arthur (a wash?)

    William McKinley => Teddy Roosevelt (BIG WIN)

    FDR => Harry Truman (probably a wash, but good to good)

    JFK => LBJ (probably a wash good to good, but not without significant tradeoffs)

    …and the one that *almost* happened – Reagan to Bush, Sr (would definitely have been a timely big trade up at the moment so early in Reagan’s presidency, before Reagan could do so much lasting ideological damage).

  122. 122.

    Martin

    @cmorenc: Gotta add that Nixon -> Ford (terrible to okay) only happened because the DOJ prevented a terrible to more terrible situation from developing by shoving Agnew out.

  125. 125.

    Jinchi

    @Ohio Mom: Boris has a girlfriend who is several months pregnant

    And also infected with the coronavirus. Fingers crossed for the baby.

  128. 128.

    jimmiraybob

    @BGinCHI:  I thought Al Haig was in charge if things got screwy.

    Who will be Trump’s Al Haig?  Is there a line of succession for “I’m in charge” guys?  Jared?  Daughter?  I’ll bet Navarro makes a run at it.

  129. 129.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Miss Bianca: How did Trump get alongside Ivanka?

    There’s an attraction to power, it is said (see examples in the US Presidency such as Bill Clinton, JFK and FDR). Boris is not the buffoon he acts in front of the cameras and the Press, he is intelligent, driven and generally capable as a retail politician. That does not make him nice or good.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    @Miss Bianca

    Never saw pix of Henry Kissinger with arm candy of the evening?

    ;)

    @cmorenc

    Arthur did change (well, modify) his stripes after he became prez, standing up to and abjuring the likes of deep-rooted political weasel and power broker Roscoe Conkling but was no Garfield, who was on his way to being one of the great populist presidents.

  135. 135.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    You said it better than I did but this was my point. Their system is not totally top down. Right now ours isn’t either, the states are having to do all the heavy lifting because the federal government is like a 240 yr old ceramic vase that got dropped off the top of the Empire State building.

    The cynic in me says that the British system is based on the idea that they had to formally submit to the idea that of a ruling aristocracy and monarch, while informally understanding that these people were idiots and you needed competent commoners to get things done.

    But the UK did not have states that had some power to govern before the federal government was organized.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @cmorenc:

    How is ours working as of this writing?

    England has a longer history than we do so their system at the very least does function. And yes there has been a lot of change in the last 50 yrs.

  141. 141.

    Miss Bianca

    @Uncle Cosmo: Oh, dear God. Henry Kissinger, Right-Wing Love Machine?

    If brain bleach is in as short supply as regular bleach, I am hosed. Curse yoouuuuu….!

     

    @NotMax: And you too, Red Baron!

  143. 143.

    StringOnAStick

    A friend’s god daughter is a respiratory therapist.  According to her, what they are seeing is if patients remain on a ventilator for longer than 10 days, they come off it at 20 days because that’s about when they die.

  144. 144.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Martin: And it was the DOJ in the person of USAG Elliot Richardson who made the call. MD US Attorney George Beall (scion, BTW, of one of the most prominent GOP families in the Free State) has Spiro dead to rights, he and his staff were en fuego to see him in “the bars & stripes forever” (the 1970s equivalent of the orange jumpsuit – h/t to Rocky & Bullwinkle), & were Orlando Furioso when USAG traded a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card to VPOTUS in exchange for his resignation. Richardson judged it more important to get that small-time crook out of the line of succession than to pursue a long drawn-out trial – in hindsight, rightly so,

  145. 145.

    The Pale Scot

    @Miss Bianca: If you turn off javascript you can still read the articles. But you can’t turn it off and reload, you have to turn it off and use a bookmark or google search. NYT you can reload.

  147. 147.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Ruckus: The British system is “we make it up as we go along” with nothing, NOTHING written down in stone. We’ve seen what that has done to you guys in the US, and we’re having none of that. An Electoral College?! What were they smoking back then…

    The one core feature of British politics is that Parliament is sovereign. Sure we’ve got the Royal Family but it would only take a single Act of the aforementioned Parliament to kick them out and make the UK a Republic like the US or France but, as I said we’ve seen what you guys have had to suffer with and generally folks here say “no thanks, and God save the Queen.”

  152. 152.

    James E Powell

    @Martin:

    My theory, at the time, was that they had the goods on Agnew the whole, but only went after him once they realized Nixon could be going down.

  153. 153.

    cmorenc

    @Martin:

    @cmorenc: Gotta add that Nixon -> Ford (terrible to okay) only happened because the DOJ prevented a terrible to more terrible situation from developing by shoving Agnew out.

    Speaking of Gerald Ford, one of the great conundrums of US history is whether the country would have ironically been better off long-term had Ford squeaked out a win over Carter, as good a man as Carter was and is.   The stag-flating economic conditions in the late 1970s would have made it difficult for any President to successfully deal with and win re-election in 1980, and likewise the Iranian revolution / hostage crisis would likely have occurred whomever happened to be President at the time – and the democrats (likely under Teddy Kennedy) would have been the “change” voters were yearning for instead of Reagan.  And we’d likely have had some form of universal health care back in the 1980s under Kennedy, and the Supreme Court would have been radically different for the better over the last 40 years.

  154. 154.

    Martin

    BTW all, after a series of head bash into desk conversations with my mom, I’m taking a day or two to check out and do some therapeutic Minecraft and therapeutic edibles.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @trollhattan: For some unspeakable reason, this reminds me of one of the more remarkable one-panel cartoons I ever saw. From Playboy:**

    A couple is walking down a hotel corridor diagonally away from the reader. The man looks back over his shoulder at the open transom above the door to one of the rooms.

    Caption: Suck, Marsha, suck! Blow is just a figure of speech!

    (For many years I have collected, in a desultory fashion, tidbits of humor, and FWIW – quite apart from the blatantly suggestive content – that’s one of the cleverest mise-en-scènes I’ve ever run across.)

    ———-

    ** I did in fact usually read the articles, but I always took in the cartoons – after visiting the Grand Tetons & other awe-inspiring staple-laden panoramas…:^D

  162. 162.

    Martin

    @Uncle Cosmo: One aspect of institutions that we normally rely on quite a bit is the presumption that they are not suicidal and will at least do some degree of internal self policing. The modern GOP have really thrown that theory completely in the garbage. They are full ride-or-die.

  165. 165.

    Sloane Ranger

    There is no designed successor established in law is because the Prime Minister is the person who commands the confidence of the majority of MP’s. In practice, this is the Leader of the majority Party. Party Leaders are selected in accordance with various arcane rules and procedures laid down by each Party.

    A PM can designate someone to sub for them when they are temporarily unavailable or incapacitated but, if a PM was to die or become permanently incapacitated,  the designated individual would only act as PM until a new Party Leader had been selected and might not even do that if a sufficient number of MP’s of the majority Party preferred someone else.

  167. 167.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax:

    Trivia: Tyler (born 1790) is the grandfather of two men who are for the moment, as far as we know, still alive in the age of coronavirus.

    FTFY. Both in their 90s & reportedly not in the greatest shape, so that could change hourly.

  170. 170.

    Geminid

    Hey Adam, I am wondering if sometime you would discuss the dynamic between Trump, Deutsche Bank, and the German government. Trump owes DeutscheBank a lot of money, but it is chartered and regulated by the German government, and I assume Chancellor Merkel et al  view Trump as a clear and present danger. Could the Merkel and the Finance Minister force the bank to drop the foreclosure hammer on Trump? Would they? I am hoping you have some understanding of the relationship between the German government and German big business. I sure don’t.

  171. 171.

    Jinchi

    @Uncle Cosmo: Maybe we should make the kids carry with them names & contact info for all their relatives over 70

    Don’t knock the kids too hard. Up until two days earlier the CDC had been explicitly telling the general public that there was no need to wear masks.

  172. 172.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Brachiator:

     

    The cynic in me says that the British system is based on the idea that they had to formally submit to the idea that of a ruling aristocracy and monarch, while informally understanding that these people were idiots and you needed competent commoners to get things done

    In my view the system began with the idea that if you has a competent monarch or individual aristocrat, great but, you can’t rely on that so you need a system flexible enough to promote competent commoners to the aristocracy to keep things going if necessary and slowly developed to a position where we no longer had to create peerages for competent commoners.

  175. 175.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @NotMax:

     

    @rikyrah: Not since the assassination of Spencer Percival.  Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigned due to illness in 1908 and was succeeded by his hand-picked successor, with the general consent of his party.  Harold Macmillan resigned in 1963 due to what turned out to be a false alarm (he lived on until 1986); his successor was selected by a Party process.  The difficulty with codifying a succession is that it necessarily involves a Party process that ought not be elevated to statutory standing.

  176. 176.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    We were just discussing her yesterday in BG’s thread, and sad to say Honor Blackman–Cathy Gale, Pussy Galore–has left this mortal coil.

    Very sad. Her character made quite an impression on me. Later I caught episodes of her in The Avengers, and enjoyed her as the tough, smart Cathy Gale as well.

    RIP.

  177. 177.

    Feathers

    Adam – I want to say thank you for bringing up the Fox News/NFL connection the other night. I knew there was a piece I was missing, things were too loosely connected. The thread was long dead when I came back to check it.

    It really is becoming clear how committed Murdoch is to the path of destruction and hard to see how this danger will be stopped.

  179. 179.

    Sloane Ranger

    @rikyrah: Spencer Percival was assassinated in office but at the time it happened the Monarch still had a significant input into who would be his successor.

  181. 181.

    Brachiator

    @Sloane Ranger:

    RE: The cynic in me says that the British system is based on the idea that they had to formally submit to the idea that of a ruling aristocracy and monarch, while informally understanding that these people were idiots and you needed competent commoners to get things done

    In my view the system began with the idea that if you has a competent monarch or individual aristocrat, great but, you can’t rely on that so you need a system flexible enough to promote competent commoners to the aristocracy to keep things going if necessary and slowly developed to a position where we no longer had to create peerages for competent commoners.

    I have my obvious biases as an American, and do not claim to be an expert on British history. But I running into this notion that the aristocracy were not only noble, but capable by birth. And yet, the system had to make room for the fact that this not only was not the case, but that aristocrats could often (usually, typically) be woefully inadequate and yet expected to be leaders.

    In reading about the British Navy, I read that aristocrats and children of the nobility, could enter as young naval officers. But nobody was foolish enough to put an incompetent in charge of a big ship, and so these people would have to train and demonstrate competence. But especially here, commoners could rise to ranks of authority based on demonstrated competence because it was obvious and necessary that this be the case. Otherwise, you simply could not operate a ship of the line.

    I see something similar developing in the British Civil Service, which is a permanent part of the government, I think, separate from the government and the Parliament.

    I also get the impression that even more than here in the US, UK senior civil servants are expected to serve ministers nominally in charge of their departments who may not have a clue about the organization they they are nominally in charge of.

    But obviously this largely works, so I am not knocking it, but just seeing it as an outsider.

  183. 183.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Brachiator: Yes, Prince Charles is fine. He’s out of isolation and back to normal social distancing at Balmoral. He recently opened the new temporary COVID 19 Nightingale Hospital via the internet.

  185. 185.

    Subsole

    @cain:  I read that Putin flat out said Russia is too big for them to effectively fight this. Which is to say, his imperial majesty’s government is too feeble.

    Also read that they were selling PPE to us while their hospitals have literally nothing.

    I bet that news did not go down smooth when it hit the streets…

  186. 186.

    Brachiator

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Yes, Prince Charles is fine. He’s out of isolation and back to normal social distancing at Balmoral. He recently opened the new temporary COVID 19 Nightingale Hospital via the internet.

    Good to hear.

  191. 191.

    debbie

    @BGinCHI:

    I worked at the publisher of his biography. We literally had to stand when he walked through the room. And I mean literally.

  193. 193.

    Calouste

    @debbie: One thing I’ve heard is Guilliani, but it might also be worth looking into anyone who recently made an investment in a producer of hydroxychloroquine.

  195. 195.

    debbie

    @germy:

    What I’ve heard is that his fever is still going strong at 10 days. That would be an alarming symptom whatever the situation.

  196. 196.

    L85NJGT

    Don’t know if this has been posted.

    CDC: Coronavirus is more prevalent in young boys than girls

    The research, released on Monday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found a higher prevalence of COVID-19 in males across every pediatric age group — including infants.

  198. 198.

    Sloane Ranger

    @debbie: Yes, at Windsor. Apparently when they filmed her address there was only one cameraman in the room and they were dressed in full PPE and stayed well away from her.

  199. 199.

    Zelma

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    Re Prime Minister succession:  I’m sure Tony if he is around could explain in better, but essentially the Queen “appoints” the PM, but she invariably chooses the head of the party which controls the House of Commons.  In typically British fashion, this is tradition not law.  So what matters is who is the leader of the party which has the majority in the Commons.  Well into the 20th century, this was decided by a vote of the members of the House, but that changed in the latter part of the 20th century.  Now, the party has an election among its members.  Being a party member involves more than just saying so; you have to formally join and pay dues.

    When May resigned, she remained in office until the party election was held.  As is often the case in American primary elections, party election voters are often the most dedicated and the most radical.  After an amazingly convoluted process this past summer, Boris emerged as the winner.  I think a grand total of less than 100,000 voted in the Tory Party elections.

    So should Boris leave this mortal coil, the Queen will ask someone to be PM, taking the advice of the party leaders.  That person will then, I assume, have to undergo a Party election to officially become party leader.

    This would be uncharted territory but the key would be if said person can get a majority of the Commons to support him.  The important thing is to be able to get that majority.

    s

  201. 201.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Zelma: The key phrase for a candidate for Prime Minister is “confidence and supply” — does the candidate have the confidence of a majority of the House of Commons hence the “vote of confidence” test for a sitting PM, and do they have enough support to pass supply bills, basically Budgets and bills to fund the work of the Government. Whoever can credibly claim that level of support in the House gets the position from the reigning Monarch. This almost always devolves down to the leader of the Party with a majority of MPs. Recently, between 2010 and 2015 it was a coalition of Tories and useful-idiot Lib Dems that kept Cameron in power since there were more of them than the icky Socialist Labour MPs.

  202. 202.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: I’m sorry, Martin.  I know things are rough with your daughter, and adding head-desk conversations with your mom is enough to put anyone over the edge.

    If there’s anything I or we can do, please let us know.

  203. 203.

    TriassicSands

    @satby:

    Boris is like a philosopher king when compared with Trump (where Trump would be a 250 pound coprolite).

  205. 205.

    Zelma

    @Robert Sneddon:

    Yes.  One of the great disappointments of my long distance view of British politics was the failure of the Liberal Democrats.  Their alliance with the Tories was a disaster.  As someone who did quite a bit of research on the early 19th century Whig Party and who viewed Lloyd George as one of the great figures in modern British history, I have been dismayed by the “The Strange Death of Liberal England.” (One of the great historical studies of the 20th century.)

  208. 208.

    horse dave

    @joel hanes: I’ve been watching “med cram” youtubes and the narrator, a doctor, says that the survival rate once on ventilator is about 50/50.

  209. 209.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    I worked at the publisher of his [Al Haig] biography. We literally had to stand when he walked through the room. And I mean literally.

    No job worth that. I would have stayed seated, and if Al tried to lift me out of my seat, I would have done my best to break his family jewels into a million billion pieces.

    Mr. “I’m in charge, now!” Arrogant, Incorrect Ass!!!

  210. 210.

    artem1s

    @jimmiraybob:

    Who will be Trump’s Al Haig?  Is there a line of succession for “I’m in charge” guys?  Jared?  Daughter?  I’ll bet Navarro makes a run at it.

    Mother?

  211. 211.

    Another Scott

    @J R in WV: Pregnant pauses did him no favor.

    My recollection is he said:

    “I’m in charge, here, at the White House, pending the return of the Vice President.”

    Could have been expressed better.

    But he stuck his foot in it when he tried to mansplain (roughly):

    “Constitutionally, you have the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State…”

    Anyway, when he ran for president (as of course his hubris told him he should) and his campaign imploded (as hubris demanded), then he found out how entitled he was to have the big chair…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

Comments are closed.