Job One for the Biden administration is controlling the pandemic. The economy won’t recover until people feel safe going shopping, to restaurants and movies, and all the rest. We can’t effectively work with other countries until we can think beyond full hospitals and people sick and dying and losing housing and going hungry. The justice system can’t work well with Zoom hearings and prisons as hotbeds of infection. We need to sort out priorities among education, bars, gyms, and yoga classes.
Simultaneously, the Biden administration must repair the government, hiring back to full agency capabilities and reversing malign policies. Assessment of the situation has already started in the transition. We need a fully staffed government, not hobbled by ridiculous policies, to control the pandemic.
In Congress, Mitch McConnell can be expected to continue obstructing legislation to deal with the pandemic. More than half the Republicans in the House have signed on to Donald Trump’s anti-Constitutional program.
The rest of the world does not stop for the presidential transition. Russia continues to hack us. Britain is negotiating (badly) with the EU over Brexit.
The characteristics needed to deal with the pandemic are different from what would be needed to run fully operating agencies in normal times. The Biden adminstration will have to hit the ground running the afternoon of January 20.
Biden is choosing people he is comfortable with and who have extensive experience, some from the Obama administration. Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, was Obama’s White House Ebola response coordinator.
Lloyd Austin has Biden’s trust from his work in Iraq. Biden sees Austin’s oversight of the withdrawal from Iraq as a logistic project indicating that he can take leadership of the logistics of distributing the vaccine, a task delegated to the Defense Department by Donald Trump.
Vaccine distribution is an enormous job. The first shipments went out from the Portage, Michigan, Pfizer plant on Sunday and were put into use on Monday. They were accompanied by US Marshals. The first vaccine doses will go to frontline health workers and people in long-term care facilites. After that, the priorities and identification of people in prioritized categories become more difficult. Additionally, many more sites for getting vaccinations will be needed. Vaccine, equipment, and the right people must come together on time. That’s logistics.
Public health messages must go out from all departments of government – mask up, distance, and wash your hands, for starters. There will be other messages, about the vaccine’s likely side effects and no, it can’t give you COVID-19. The Housing and Labor Departments must see to people’s needs because of the pandemic. The Department of Agriculture stands at the intersection of immigration and pandemic issues, with immigrant workers suffering the pandemic in meatpacking plants and essential workers harvesting vegetables and fruit.
The foreign policy team must rebuild a badly damaged State Department and relations with the rest of the world. We’re not going to have a war with China, sorry Great Power™ wargamers.
The economics team must pressure Republicans in Congress to vote for relief to ordinary people and will have to keep things going when the Republicans don’t. A double win in Georgia will make their job less impossible.
Other overlays on Biden’s cabinet choices are his pledge that the cabinet will look like America and the need to build back better, meaning vision to do things in new ways rather than simply restoring the status quo. Taking people from the Senate and House is undesirable because of voting margins. Putting all these requirements together will result in choices that are disapproved by some.
For example, David Ignatius wants vision. But vision alone will not get us out of the pandemic. Ignatius also ignores the obstruction that Republicans in Congress will put up. Others want or don’t want particular people in particular jobs.
As the pandemic comes under control – and it will – the administration can increasingly move forward. At that point, initial cabinet members may move on, with new faces coming in.
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner
gvg
Buttigieg was just nominated for Transportation. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/15/joe-biden-pete-buttigieg-transportation-secretary/6262566002/
Kristine
I’ve read commentary that some current Cabinet picks may leave after two years b/c exhaustion/stress. They’ll get us (knocks wood) to the other side of the pandemic and repair/start repairs on whatever Trump’s low-quality hires broke. Four years would be too much.
Wondering if we don’t take the Senate this time around but do so in2022, Biden goes forward with acting secretaries in some slots and replaces them with the more visionary choices who are more skilled at moving forward than maintaining.
Mary G
@gvg: Pete dropped out at the right time, so he deserves something big
ETA: Also, groundbreaking!
Kent
@gvg: Transportation or Commerce were the two best spots for him I think. Both are techie-agencies that can use streamlining and updating. And both have central roles in climate change policy.
As I said on the other thread, I can support Pete for DOT.
narya
Greg O’Lear posted something that says that Harris is officially & constitutionally president of the Senate, so can bring bills to the floor w/o changing a single rule. THAT would be interesting.
Mary G
Big turnout first day in GA Senate races:
CaseyL
The people who oppose Austin on the basis that “norms must be obeyed in order to repair 4 years of norm destruction” don’t take into account that fixing something doesn’t mean automatically reverting to a status quo ante. Often the damage done requires extraordinary procedures to repair before you can get to restoring the norm.
Got a wrecked car, you don’t jam replacement pieces on top of the crumpled ones. You gotta remove the crumples first.
jl
Biden’s covid task force is looking good. Osterholm is a world expert in infection control in health care systems, and he is far better that what we’ve seen so far at any level, on prioritizing risk assessment for reopenings, and creative ways to get society and the economy back to semi-normal without disastrous resurgences. He doesn’t have any recent experience with in the field epidemic control.
Gawande is an expert at effective policy implementation.
They appointed an expert in occupational health and safety, but I don’t recall the name right now. The inability of the US to protect essential workers has been a moral, equity, and practical epidemic control disaster, because superspreader events at worksites of all kinds may be what is driving the US resurgences. It also may be the reason why the shutdowns in CA and NY have been so disappointing, which state and local public health officials have admitted. The US could bend the curve, but when prevalence got low, no place could go the last mile and get it low enough to make reopening safe, though CA tried to forge ahead anyway, and failed twice.
I think they need more expertise on health education and public information campaigns, how to get the population engaged. People like us can leer and sneer at the Trumpster anti-maskers, but it is the health authorities’ job to try to get them on board, even if it seems hopeless at this point. But research shows that groups can change their attitudes rapidly after experiencing devastation from an epidemic, with adequate health education and outreach.
The only people I’ve seen who seem to know how to deal with the public are Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and also the only ones I know of who have experience in on-the-ground epidemic control.
Adams is kind of a Koop type. He’s a Pence protege, so has a dubious provenance. But while Pence was trying to pray away a hepatitis outbreak in Indiana, Adams had put his moral qualms aside and was pestering Pence to start a needle exchange program, and Adams got it started even though the legislature passed a bill that seemed designed to make the program fail. But I just know what I read, if anyone from Indiana knows different let me know.
Julia Marcus is an expert at population response to epidemics and best practice in infectious disease public communication and engagement programs, and would be a good addition.
Leto
I’m putting this here because I had a medical friend reach out to me yesterday explaining some of their doubts about the vaccine. I’m going to say upfront: no they’re not an anti-vaxxer. They’re a front line health worker who’s been engaged with this since day 1. But within their medical community, some are wary about this vaccine.
The Promise of mRNA Vaccines
I’m not trying to scare monger, or cast doubt, or say, “OMG VAXXINES ARE THE DEBIL!!!” It’s just that it seems this is a step into the unknown and I hope it works. I hope it’s everything we need it to be. When the time comes that they offer it to the public, I’ll be first in line to help do my part. But I just thought it was something that should be brought up.
Kent
Anyone else read this Washington Monthly article about a never before used recess appointment strategy for getting Cabinet Appointees through McConnell’s obstruction?
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/12/11/why-biden-might-not-need-mcconnells-permission/
Recess appointments last until the end of the next session of Congress (up to 2 years) unless confirmed in which case they would be permanent. In the past decade or so, the Senate has not recessed but someone in the opposite party has always stayed around in some pro forma role to prevent an actual recess from happening. But the Washington Monthly points to an obscure constitutional provision that allows the President to call a recess in Congress if the two houses do not agree. Their argument is that the House could declare a recess and if the Senate doesn’t go along, the President can force one to happen and then make all his recess appointments then.
The maneuver seems legal on its face and would be a way for Biden to get his Cabinet into place for 2 years if they don’t get through the normal way. Better than going the “Acting” route which is what Trump did on purpose as these would be legal cabinet secretaries and other appointees, not acting appointees.
LongHairedWeirdo
The other thing that needs to be done is messaging.
Biden can’t be shy about talking about Republican demands, like demanding protection from liability for everything except deliberate exposure.
Lawyers might say “you mean, except for gross negligence”. Thing is, the gross negligence standard is roughly equivalent to deliberate exposure, as long as there’s community spread. That’s one of the reasons there’s a term in the law for gross negligence – it essentially states “you did so little, we can’t tell that you *weren’t* deliberately exposing people.” (Yes, I know, Republicans said Clinton might have been guilty of “gross negligence” for her use of a private e-mail server. They lied. I mean, you knew that there was a lie in there, right? Maybe you just didn’t realize it was made up of whole cloth, but you did know they were lying somewhere, right? Gross negligence would have been something like leaving her unlocked laptop in the hands of, well, anyone, really, while logged in to her server (or when any classified information was available to a user of the unlocked machine).)
He should avoid sounding like Trump – but he shouldn’t be shy about making sure the American people know that Republicans are blocking aid.
(He should also investigate and find all the serious, significant crimes committed by Trump and the administration, and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, the Republicans will scream and froth at the mouth and insist its a witch hunt, but it’s far better for them to scream about sound, lawful, well supported criminal charges than to keep making up lies about other topics. Derail their attempt for Tea Party 2, by keeping them busy doing real work, like trying to cover up for their own crimes.)
jl
An example of problems with public health response to the epidemic is the inability to deal with population behavior during holidays.
Science drop on BJ: did you know that the date of holidays can be predicted in advance? Yes, scientists can use what some call ‘electronic brains’ to calculate the date of future holidays.
So, people like Birx, and some local public health officials in CA, recently complaining that they have been worrying about holidays since March is not reassuring. We can worry, they should have come up with a plan to solve the problem by now.
Leto
@Mary G: I’m hoping that Dems can sustain the level of turnout needed to change the Senate for the better. I feel like the people of GA are really motivated to do this.
Evap
@Kristine: the Senate map in 2022 looks quite good for Team Blue. I’m afraid that the House will flip, so no trifecta even if the Senate flips
Raven Onthill
I think the problems of controlling the pandemic are underestimated. I don’t see, for instance, how we get the good citizens of Idaho to go along. Do Oregon and Washington close their eastern borders? Do we quarantine all flights out of the Dakotas?
jonas
@Kent: When I saw the news about Buttgeig going to DOT, I was like “huh?” but then when I started thinking about what the agency actually does, and it makes a lot of sense given his skill set — military intelligence, management consulting, running a small city. Hopefully Biden will be rolling out lots of *actual* Infrastructure Weeks during his term and mayor Pete will be good on that front.
Leto
@Kent: I’ve seen it discussed in the Post, or someplace else. Biden might go for that if we don’t control the Senate and Yurtle just absolutely blocks everything. At this point, do it and let them scream. Fuck’em.
Lyrebird
Thank you Cheryl.
I wanna add helping the traumatized refugee families and stopping instead of spurring on the executioners…
I totally respect your and Adam’s and others points about civilian vs. military leadership and so forth, but I sure wish I heard anything like your understanding from the Ignatiuses and the “not progressive enough” folks. It’s not just that our house is on fire, it’s a whole city on fire, there are white supremacists lacing enforcement agencies, there are more emergencies that will fit in one blog post, and Mr. Ignatius says these are “comfort” choices? Going for horribly difficult positions, trying to revitalize totally demoralized agencies without which the country doesn’t function? Can I wish to slap him and Mr. Epstein with votes now?
Al Z.
Get the Pandemic under control and then it’s welcome to the Roaring 20s. (So when do the fascists trigger WWIII?)
jl
@Raven Onthill: I disagree. Handling population response and resistance to public health guidance in epidemics is a long standing field of study. It has been a known and big problem in epidemic control for decades, and been studied. It was a big problem in Ebola, Zika, HIV/AIDS, drug resistant TB epidemics, and other more obscure outbreaks of scary and deadly diseases in the last few decades.
Look up Julia Marcus on twitter.
There is a lot of expertise from people who go out in the field and manage emerging disease epidemics on the ground, have to do real time control. I don’t see that they have been used much at all in the US. Ranu Dhillon is an expert with in the field experience with Ebola control, for example.
UncleEbeneezer
“For example, David Ignatius wants vision. But vision alone will not get us out of the pandemic. Ignatius also ignores the obstruction that Republicans in Congress will put up. Others want or don’t want particular people in particular jobs.”
It seems to me that this is almost always the case, no? Calls for Vision always seem to define “Vision” in ways that ignore structural/electoral realities that would constrain said Vision. The more detailed and realistic, the less Visionary it is.
Kent
@CaseyL: I agree. I don’t have an opinion on Austin as DOD is pretty far from my areas of expertise. But fuckit. He is either the right person for the job at this time or he isn’t. We are way past “norms” and honestly I’ve never been convinced that corporate manger types like say….Robert McNamara or Donald Rumsfeld, were ever a great idea for Defense anyway. I’m not convinced that putting CEOs in charge of our armed forces is a better idea than putting soldiers in charge.
Roger Moore
@Leto:
A few points about this:
West of the Rockies
I’m optimistic. We have competent, moral people coming in. Vaccines are here. The economy could blossom. Science and climate change will be taken seriously. DeVos will no longer be shitting on teachers and students.
Yeah, there are serious questions and concerns, but I’d way rather be where we are now than where we were a year or four ago.
cain
@narya:
How come Biden didn’t do that during the Obama years?
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
I’m so excited to see him oversee the FAA, where I used to work!
Kent
DOT Isn’t just highways. It’s also the FAA which includes the woefully-in-need-of-modernization Air Traffic Control system and management out our nation’s system of air travel. And the safety reviews of new aircraft like the 737-MAX fiasco. Plus getting airlines and air travel up and running again after Covid.
Pete is going to have plenty of work to do.
Doc Sardonic
@Lyrebird: Maybe better to use a baseball bat?
narya
@cain: I suspect Obama was still trying to Get Along. And the current shitshow of the past four years has turned everything up to eleven.
Kent
Because the House was GOP from 2010 to 2018 so what would have been the point? Put any bill you want on the floor of the Senate but it still isn’t going anywhere as long as John Boehner or Paul Ryan were Speaker of the House.
From 2008 to 2010 the Senate was Dem so also, no point.
Kristine
@cain: Obama was too mindful of norms to try something like that? When was it last done?
narya
@Kent: O’Lear’s point wasn’t that things would get passed–they still may not–but they will at least get a hearing, where now they are blocked at every turn.
narya
A link to the piece: here
pamelabrown53
@Kent:
I agree with your analysis re: Buttigieg. He has vision, verve, smarts and exemplary communication skills. He may just be the person that elevates the DOT to the level it deserves.
Kent
I agree it makes sense to think about in a Biden Administration if there are GOP Senators like Romney, Murkowski, or Collins who might vote for something if faced with a vote.
It never made sense as a strategy during the Obama years because the Senate wasn’t the only obstacle. The House was a bigger obstacle and spent most of their time from 2010 to 2016 voting to repeal Obamacare and doing Benghazi hearings.
Calouste
@Roger Moore: It’s very likely that most people will get a more conventional vaccine eventually, because the Pfizer one needs to be stored at -80 C, and that has some practical consequences that more conventional vaccines that only need -20 C don’t have. Your local pharmacy probably doesn’t have a -80C freezer, but they can get a -20C one from BestBuy if they don’t have one already.
Kent
The Moderna vaccine has more normal refrigeration requirements and it is up for approval this week. It might pass the Pfizer vaccine in the upcoming months, especially for more remote or retail-level distribution.
sab
@jl: I am on your side on this.
I deeply admire Dr Fauci as a scientist, but he sucks at public communication. He is too nuanced.
There are many many specialists in public health who are trained in communicating with the public. The public doesn’t understand nuance. It also doesn’t understand changes in advice: masks bad in March, mandated in July, huh!? It’s easier to get people to back off on health measures than to get them to start doing now what you told them was unnecessary months ago. Public health communication professionals know this. Fauci got beyond his area of expertise.
germy
Leto
@Roger Moore:
True, but typically these vaccines need an additional 3-8 years of human trials to determine long term side effects/efficacy. I understand we don’t have that kind of time, but it’s something to keep in mind and that we’re going to discover as we go along, rather than through the normal process. Also we don’t know if these vaccines will further prevent the transmission of the virus. Your #2 (people holding out), I don’t know if that will work. Especially with public pressure bearing down on us to gtfo of this mess. Will public health workers, who understand this better, be able to opt out if they don’t feel this is safe? I don’t know, nor is it my place to make that call.
From the article:
Scientists still remain really optimistic about the results, but there’s still a lot of questions. I’m simply raising this as another data point for us to keep in mind, not as a cudgel or anything. Also not from a quack point of view, just there are still some legit questions/concerns.
jl
@Leto: There is good, though very limited evidence on the mRNA vaccine front. Even though they have never been used on a large scale, there are several thousand people who’ve take them in trials for over a decade. No long term health problems have emerged yet in that group from the mRNA vaccines. Around 10,000 people is not much evidence, but it is some.
Florian Krammer, a vaccine expert has discussed this on his twitter account.
lowtechcyclist
Oh Lord.
This Cabinet is also going to be the climate change Cabinet, and transportation will be a major part of that. So we’re throwing a fucking neophyte into this job.
Swell.
Leto
Kent:
That’s from the article I linked upthread.
UncleEbeneezer
@germy: But I’ve been ASSURED that nobody will make a serious effort to hold Trump accountable…
jl
@sab: It’s been a long time since Fauci has had on-the-ground experience in controlling an emerging disease epidemic. But he is better than the others.
Fauci has two faces. One is his media interviews, where he acts like an overly nuanced expert. But I’ve only seen Fauci and Adams take questions directly from the public, do social media appearances. Fauci was on a youtube channel that does goofy slow mo videos, and he did a fun slow mo sneeze with and without mask segment.
But Fauci and Adams have done practical how to pieces, like how to make a mask at home. So they have been the best, but we need some real experts on that front.
Edit: I can imagine the ridicule and contempt that would come from the WH if Trump saw those two do their social media PR pieces. Probably didn’t look like central casting medical experts. Fauci laughing and doing a jovial ‘the slow mo guys’ youtube segment probably was deemed low class. But that kind of thing is necessary to get population engagement and buy-in. So, Fauci and Adams have shown real expertise there even if not ‘central casting’ type.
Leto
@jl: Yeah. From reading about mRNA vaccines it seems their ability to be very flexible, in how they can be arranged to combat different viruses, is one of the key points in their success. Hoping this can lead to more federal investment in science/technology/education. If we’re always talking about the most bang for our tax bucks, here we go.
Also mind shooting a link for that person’s discussion?
Kent
My own personal pick would have been Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who is a very long-term transit and cycling advocate and basically the grandfather of Portland’s light rail system and cycling network.
But I can live with Buttigieg. And maybe we need to stop eroding our House majority even though the Oregon 3rd (Portland) is about the safest Dem seat in the country.
pamelabrown53
@narya:
I’ve seen more and more in the press about the point of view that the VP has more constitutional legitimacy to bring bills to the senate floor.
I hope this is tested because the acquiescence to McTurtle’s “absolute power” to deny bringing anything he doesn’t like to the floor needs challenging.
IMHO, he’s right up there with Trump with the pain and suffering he’s caused every day Americans.
Chyron HR
@lowtechcyclist:
Why aren’t they giving cabinet posts to people who deserve them like (checks notes) Krystal Ball and Nomiki Klonst?
jl
@Leto: Research and clinical trials on mRNA vaccines for both preventive and therapeutic (mainly for cancer) vaccines has been ongoing for over a decade.
So, some limited evidence that there are no long term health effects.
Leto
@jl: it’s part of the issue we have with being able to recruit/retain SMEs in the government. Especially with Republicans relentless onslaught of destroying the government’s ability to function at every turn. Trumpov sent that into overdrive but it’s something we (Dems) have to address and somehow fix.
jl
@Leto: What I don’t understand is why the US, with its professed worship of ‘git ‘er done’ practical experience, has so single mindedly shut out those with practical expertise in population PR and education, and field experience in controlling actual epidemics of dangerous mystery diseases.
We need to find out what happened. The destruction of the nation’s standing and ongoing pandemic task force may have had disastrous effects beyond delaying the initial response. Needed expertise may have been scattered, and the dismantling is producing an ongoing deficiency that has lead to ongoing disaster.
Doc Sardonic
@lowtechcyclist: Got a better suggestion
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
The Moderna vaccine is approved for storage at -20°C, so it should work with normal cold chains. FWIW, I would bet a good local pharmacy already has a -20°C freezer, but it’s a specialized one with a tighter temperature control range and much better temperature monitoring than a household appliance.
Frank Wilhoit
@narya: IANACL, but I have seen people who looked as if they knew what they were talking about argue that one both ways.
H.E.Wolf
1. Buttigieg is a nominee, not an appointee. There will be a Senate vote to approve or reject his nomination. His credentials and his fitness for the job will be discussed in detail, especially as the husband of the current Secretary is the Senate Majority Leader.
2. During the past 4 years, global climate change has also needed addressing. How do we rate the accomplishments of the current Secretary (aka Mrs Mitch McConnell) in that area?
Frank Wilhoit
@CaseyL: The bitching about Biden appointing “cronies” — alias people whom he knows well and has learned to trust and to collaborate with — neglects the fact that he must not (against all temptation) spread himself too thin and must therefore surround himself with the people who will take up the least of his time in the process of getting their instructions.
cain
@Kent:
That’s true – wow, what a shit sandwich – it seemed like it would have been best if we had the house and they the senate at that time.
Frank Wilhoit
@LongHairedWeirdo: Accountability/unaccountability is a very simple message and the simpler it is kept, the more powerfully it resonates. in my view it is THE message.
Lyrebird
@Doc Sardonic:
More effective, yes, and I guess I just said “want”.
As you probably know, the “..with votes” was part of Wonkette getting turned around from permitting some pretty yuck level comments. And I want those folks to live long but maybe not prosper so much until they get more of a clue.
raven
The prez-elect is taking it to em in Georgia. It must be extra tough for the secret service with this car rally.
Roger Moore
@Frank Wilhoit:
Real cronyism is about appointing people to positions of power based predominantly on who they know rather than what they know. As long as the people Biden is appointing are competent for the jobs they’re being asked to do, accusations of cronyism are just another disingenuous excuse to say no.
raven
Frank Wilhoit
@UncleEbeneezer: Not either/or. If politics is the art of the possible, it is also the art of the necessary. The latter has been neglected. The “visionary” markers are those that say “these things shall be ( — someday)”. Then what is possible must be interpreted and prioritized within the vision. Vision alone is no use; without vision, priorities are impossible, and that is where we have been for living memory.
Baud
@Frank Wilhoit:
In the Baud! administration, I will only appoint people I distrust to avoid any appearance of cronyism.
@raven:
I hope there’s video. Can’t watch now.
raven
@Baud: I’m sure there will be plenty of coverage.
sab
@jl: I do remember Fauci during early AIDS. I am a straight woman, and I lost so many friends to AIDS in the 1990s. My sister says “why didn’t you keep in touch with your high school friends? ” Because most of them died.
Ruckus
@jonas:
I had a discussion on Twitter about the VA appointment, to replace the shithead that shitforbrains put in and her point was that it needed to be a veteran. My point was that would be great, but they still have to have the skills and concepts of the job and only 7% of the population are vets, some like raven or myself, too old, some not old enough to have enough and the necessary experience. The point is that we need people able to get the job done, not just act like they are thinking of going in the office today.
taumaturgo
@UncleEbeneezer: Ignore David the classic neocon chickenhawk clamoring for Biden to waste more blood and treasure to please the perpetual war machine. I hope somebody asks, “How are we going to pay for this?”
raven
@Ruckus: I want someone who can get the job done. The overwhelming veteran support for fuck face is a clear indication that being a vet doesn’t mean shit to a tree!
Brachiator
Mayor Pete at Transportation is ok. Good to see him rewarded. Something more substantial might have been interesting too. Not that transportation is bad.
zhena gogolia
Nice:
Ruckus
@Kent:
Agreed. It’s the person and the job given to them by the boss. The expectations, the process to get there, the possibilities, the restrictions, the laws allowing or restricting and how to find a way through all of these. These are not jobs where there are thousands of possible people to do this well.
Ruff the Dog
Ruthless defense of democracy, or any policy gain is just so much intestinal gas in a hurricane.
The President-Elect had some great turns of phrase last night, but I found myself very worried that “reconciliation” and “we’re all Americans” signals that they’re not going to nail the seditious bastards to the wall.
They’re coming at us – “us” being the United States of America – again. Hell, they’re not even pausing.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Nice jab, but what’s it referring to?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@UncleEbeneezer: interesting that Ignatius, whom I have always considered moderate but right-leaning, listing racial justice and economic inequality as his top two priorities
to be fair, I’m not a regular reader
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Both Perdue and Loffler supported Texas’s lawsuit to overturn the Georgia election.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Kent
After 8 years in the Obama Administration and seeing his son dragged through the muck I doubt there are very many people alive with less illusions about what the institutional GOP is all about.
You have to parse Biden and understand what he is saying. When he talks about reconciliation and governing the whole country, not just the blue part, he is talking to ordinary people who lean GOP. He is not talking to Mitch McConnell or Ted Cruz or whoever. It’s really a plea to welcome ordinary moderate Republican-leaning folks into the tent. And it is the right thing to do if the Dems want to hold their gains and expand them.
Mart
@Leto: A whole lot of Doctors are RWNJ. Just putting it out there.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Mayor Pete is a good guy. I loved how he ripped Fox News to shreds.
randy khan
@narya:
So, interesting idea, but it won’t work.
One thing you learn if you are conscientious presiding officer who reads and pays attention to the rules is that you are not actually in control of the agenda or of the body in general. You’re a traffic cop, and that only if the people in the meeting let you do the job. In the long run, the majority always can get what it wants.
Here’s what happens if the Republicans keep their majority and Harris recognizes Chuck Schumer to bring up, say the HEROES Act or its equivalent in the next Congress: Senator Cornyn or Senator Thune moves to table the bill. The motion passes 51-49 or 52-48, depending how many Republicans there are. The bill goes away. (Technically, it’s still alive, but you need a vote to remove it from the table – the presiding officer can’t do it on her own.) (Sure, there may be bills that some Republicans want to pass despite McConnell, but he controls committee assignments and whether their own pet bills reach the floor, and you can be sure that he would enforce party discipline on any motion to table a bill that didn’t come through him.)
If this happens often enough, McConnell changes the rules about what can be brought in front of the Senate to require everything to pass through committee first. This is a majority vote; it’s the same way they changed the filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominees. If Harris recognizes a Democrat to bring a bill to the floor that hasn’t gone through the committee, the Republicans raise a point of order and win (again, because they have 51 or 52 votes).
There is a tiny chance that it wouldn’t play out this way if it’s a 51-49 Senate, but really that’s only if someone like Murkowski or, in theory, Collins decided she’d had enough of McConnell for some reason and was willing to leave the party if McConnell tried to punish her for disloyalty. You can tell me what you think the odds are on that.
sab
@Brachiator: It is pretty substantial for those who rely on it, particularly in urban midwest.
zhena gogolia
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
He was brilliant on Fox. He would do that “gish gallop” thing, but it was so much more effective because everything he was saying was true!
Starfish
@Raven Onthill: They will go along when you threaten the funding of something that is important to them. That is how it is done.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Where was he, do you know? Metro Atlanta, I’m pretty sure, but metro Atlanta covers a lot of territory. Didn’t see anything on tv that gave much visual help.
Cheryl Rofer
Thinking about this, and reading the comments, makes me feel how grateful I am that we will have people in charge of the Executive Branch who actually want to get things done for the citizens of the United States.
Not fill their pockets
Not destroy their agency
But make those agencies produce for the people.
S. Cerevisiae
I am most curious about who he will pick for Interior, that and EPA are personal to me.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: There is a ton of climate change expertise out there. Buttegieg doesn’t have to be an expert, he just has to hire and listen to experts. It’s not some arcane field of knowledge. And thanks for providing a link to that Robert Pollin article the other day. What did you think?
The Moar You Know
@narya: Bolded part is, sadly, utter fiction. The Senate has the power (and uses it) to write their own rules, and one of those rules is that the office of “President of the Senate” has no power whatsoever save to cast tiebreaker votes, and call Senate sessions to order. That is all.
Fair Economist
@Leto: I’d say attempts to raise concerns on mRNA is just FUD spreading. The Pfizer and Moderna trials were large and professionally run and exclude even uncommon effects in the short-term. In the long term – well, every time you have a cold you’ve got the same kinds of bits of viral mRNA floating around in your body, so the long-term risk is about the same as that for catching a cold. IOW, no big deal.
narya
@randy khan: I see what you’re saying. As a long-term strategy, I also think you’re right–but it’s also something useful to have in the back pocket to make a point or two, if need be. The optics then can become, we tried to bring this up for debate and got nowhere, the Republican senate does not want to discuss [some big thing that has broad-based support].
Doc Sardonic
@Lyrebird: Not really familiar with “with votes” as I haven’t really read or looked a Wonkette much since Anne Marie Cox left. However, I understand what you are saying, unfortunately, the last 4 years have left my garden of politeness, comity and tolerance for most pundits and republicans plowed under, salted and seeded with nuclear waste, so baser instincts tend to hold sway.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne:
Biden will headline the Dec. 15 drive-in rally for Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock at Pullman Yard, the Business Chronicle reported, citing Atlanta City Councilor Natalyn M. Archibong’s post on the Kirkwood Neighbors Organization Facebook page. The event, according to the post, is scheduled to run from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rose twitter has been bitching about Biden’s gray-beard Obama retreads for a while now.
ETA: also, too
Barbara
@Leto: That is why they do the trials. Nearly every new drug is something that has literally never been used before. It’s weird that a doctor wouldn’t stop and realize that. Vaccines are different in that they are given to healthy people, but we are talking thousands upon thousands who received the active vaccine, which is many more than typically receive a drug that gets all the way to approval.
raven
@S. Cerevisiae: Postmaster General!
Bill Arnold
@Roger Moore:
I’m a little worried about the virus vectored vaccines (e.g sputnik), but mainly because I don’t see how they work year after year if annual shots are required unless a new vector virus is used. Not a big deal for round one though.
https://theconversation.com/from-adenoviruses-to-rna-the-pros-and-cons-of-different-covid-vaccine-technologies-145454
Steve in the ATL
@Kent:
If it was published in the last five years, then no.
Bill Arnold
@UncleEbeneezer:
Trump will be a wrecking ball tearing holes through America (especially Republicans, but heh) until he’s neutralized, so he needs to be neutralized, or made to focus entirely on the Republican Party with no collateral damage.
jonas
@Ruckus: Absolutely — these massive government agencies require exceptional managerial and political skills, not necessarily total expertise in whatever it is the department does. That’s what career staff are for.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: People other than Generals and CEOs exist.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Kirkwood, that’s excellent. Thanks for the cite.
sab
@Fair Economist: I personally want Richard Engle off the NBC MSNBC air. They let him on the air to discuss Covid in Europe. Instead he babbled some crap about concern about the vaccine changing our DNA. WTF! Straight off QANON websites.
Since it was the illustrious Richard Engle, nobody cut his mike.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is not an mRNA vaccine but a relatively conventional one (by early-21st-century standards) built on a chimpanzee adenovirus. It sounds like a fine vaccine but not notably better than the mRNA ones, except in that it should be easier to handle because of the refrigeration requirements.
There are some confusing reports about its efficacy because of the several different dosing regimens tested in its field trials–the most effective one was discovered by semi-accident.
Steeplejack (phone)
Is Twitter—the site, not the app—being balky for anyone else? Thought it was my Internet connection at first, but it seems to be just that site.
Ian
@narya: Every time you see these goofballs posting articles about the vice presidency and the senate, stop and think for a second. Why has no Vice-president done this before? Was it because they lacked the fortitude? Or are there institutional rules to the senate that these flyball posters ignore?
Omnes Omnibus
@Ian: No, clearly some rando on the Internet is more knowledgeable about the Senate than anyone who has ever lived including LBJ and Harry Reid.
Geminid
@randy khan: Why wouldn’t Collins leave the Republican Senate Caucus? She just won her last election, and fellow Maine Senator Angus King sits with the Democrats as an Independent already. As for Murkowsi, she probably wants to run again. But she won reelection as an Independent write-in candidate in 2012, and that’s not easy. And my understanding is that Alaskans care less about party and ideology than they do about their reps bringing home the bacon, and Murkowski brings it. McConnell can’t push his his caucus members around but so much. Senators are like medieval Barons, very jealous of their prerogatives. And Republican have to defend 22 seats in 2022. Their core political tenet is: “I must be reelected!” And McConnell, unlike trump, lacks the party following to punish the non-compliant.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus: you know
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: in the shadow of the site of the Battle of Atlanta!
Bill Arnold
@sab:
Yeah, there is some polished anti-mRNA vaccines disinformation being pushed in a clear disinformation influence operation; motives and backers not clear. (Since these are US vaccines, one can reasonably have suspicions about non-domestic actors.) It’s scientific and factual bullshit (of the “not even wrong” sort) and scientists go all medieval/wrathful whenever they spot it, but it’s still out there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven: If I weren’t typing on my phone I would have thrown it in for you. He still knew a lot of shit about the Senate.
sab
Commenting daily I think there are only about 50 of us. Then we touch on a touchy topic, and suddenly the gazzilions of lurkers give voice.
I love our lurkers.
Ken
So am I the only one who saw the post title and immediately assumed that another half-dozen prominent Republicans caught COVID after being in the White House?
Brachiator
@Bill Arnold:
But I’ve been ASSURED that nobody will make a serious effort to hold Trump accountable…
I just had this awful thought. Trump is gone, but he might not let go
What if he continues to insist that he is president after January 20?
This is a problem for Republicans and a nuisance for anyone else. This is why the GOP needs to stop playing games and cut Trump loose.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@narya:
I’ve been saying this for weeks. Some are talking about some sanctified notion of Senate rules making any such statutes or bills extralegal, but I say go ahead and test it – get every GOP Senator on record.
Each bill jammed this way needs to be trim and aimed at middle earners and small business – nothing for the hackey sack, knit cap “the homeless are so wise and wonderful” crowd in order to establish a substantial groundswell of support for the precedent before it is expanded.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus: He knew a lot about Beagles too!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You don’t often read about McConnell having to “plead” with his caucus, and I doubt he had to plead with Ron Johnson– the one I’ve seen mentioned as most likely to get show-boaty with the election results. I imagine Cotton, Hawley and Cruz all eying each other as would-be heir apparent to trumpism. Maybe goofy-ass Rand Paul, who may actually be goofy enough to think he might be President some day.
sab
@Bill Arnold: But why was Richard Engle, the semi-qualified foreign correspondent, not at all qualified medical correspondent allowed to comment on this. Famous yes. Moron, apparently also yes.
Raven
Another Scott
@randy khan: I suspect you’re right.
The Constitution says the Senate (and House) make their own rules. It doesn’t say anything (much) about the duties and powers of the President of the Senate. Kamala won’t be able to run the body if the majority doesn’t want her to.
This search for “one weird trick” to solve our problems with Moscow Mitch and the GOP is wasted time. If it were that easy, it would have been done already.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
Because it was an accident, there were fewer people who got that dosing regimen, so the confidence is lower than one would want. Also, the higher efficacy is in part because the control arm for that subset had a higher COVID rate than the control arm for the main study, and it’s hard to explain how that could be related to the dosage given to the trial arm. Derek Lowe has a summary of their results.
JanieM
@randy khan:
@Geminid:
Why in the name of actual reality would she leave the Republican Senate caucus? I mean the real Susan Collins, not the one that has apparently taken root in some people’s imaginations.
The idea that she would ever leave the R party is a fantasy, apparently born of the notion that she really thinks sort of like us, and has just been faking it for the past 25 years. There is nothing in her history to suggest that she thinks like us, or that she isn’t deeply attached to her identification as a Republican, the need to get elected be damned.
There is nothing in her history other than a carefully, cynically cultivated reputation for moderateness that should make anyone think this is even a remote possibility.
I would love to hear from any of the other Mainers who hang out here what they think about this. It keeps coming up, and I think it’s just wildly disconnected from the reality of who Susan Collins is.
Sorry for the vehemence – it’s born of my intense dislike of Collins, and my utter frustration with actual people I know who voted for Democrats right down the ticket, and yet still voted for her and not Gideon. I can’t even.
randy khan
@JanieM:
Note that I said “in theory.” I don’t think there’s any meaningful chance of it in practice. The only – extremely small – caveat is that she might not get any golden tickets in a 51-49 Senate, but it’s not clear that she needs them unless she plans to pull a Feinstein and stay in the Senate until she dies.
randy khan
@Another Scott:
The one weird trick is to win the Georgia runoff elections.
JanieM
@randy khan: Yes, you did. I was just quoting you because your comment was what led to Geminid’s. Geminid was the one who said “Why wouldn’t she?” with no qualifier and no apparent irony
Edited to respond to this:
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what she intends. The first time she ran she promised not to stay for longer than two terms. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Brachiator
I have been away from the Internets working. Did anyone already see and comment on this?
Damn.
This guy is worth more than every lying weasel Republican.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JanieM: for years I bought into Collins’ act as a sincere if not very bright moderate, the trump years have made me see that she is actually, if not the brightest light on the tree, smarter than she seems and far, far more partisan, and cynical. I wasn’t banking on her loss last month, but I thought it was gonna be a much closer race than it turned out to be. She won by seven points, I believe? I would’ve loved to see her phony as booted out on the street.
randy khan
One thing that I think is not getting enough coverage in the stories about the Biden team is how many of them have deep interest and experience in climate change. Kerry, of course, but Yellen, Vilsack, and a bunch of others are very strong on the issue.
Omnes Omnibus
I just got a text saying Jennifer Granholm for Energy. Woohoo!
JanieM
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes. I am just baffled by this. My little town voted for Democrats by margins from about 7% to about 14%, counting everything from president on through the Maine legislature. But — for Collins by I forget how much: not a slim margin.
I don’t get out much at the best of times, and I’ve been incredibly isolated during the pandemic. But this town could be the poster child for “the two Maines” — a split running right down the center of people’s psyches, apparently.
ETA: And yes, I think you’re exactly right that she’s smarter than she seems, and far more cynical, and immeasurably partisan. I’ve argued with people online about this for years. Some of it is just obvious–as you’ve found–after you pay attention for a while. For some of it I think you’d have to know more about the politics of the parties within Maine, about which I know more than I want to and less than I would need to to give a lecture about it. People have suggested over the years that she might even become a D someday, which is even more wildly unlikely than that she would emulate Angus King.
randy khan
@JanieM:
Oh, I see. No problem.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Yup!
Kent
Insist to who? If they want to spend the next 4 years with Trump as president-in-waiting I say “please proceed Senators”
WaterGirl
@narya:
Does that mean she can bring bills to the floor for a vote? And Mitch can’t stop it???
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Drunk Jennifer Granholm?
Roger Moore
@jonas:
I agree, though it’s often helpful to have someone who has domain expertise in addition to managerial competence. It’s the same way that, for example, Ford will hire a car guy to be their new CEO rather than the successful CEO of a consumer products company. Knowing the field matters.
Kent
As I see it, the only way to get rid of him and some of the worst of the board of governors is to put their asses into a full microscopic colonoscopy via House hearings and DOJ investigations until they say fuckit and cry uncle and go away. I don’t know about the other board members, but DeJoy is horribly compromised and has all manner of IRS vulnerabilities that might just go on the back burner if he is the former postmaster general.
That is the sort of hardball Trump would do.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Anne Laurie had it in her morning thread, but I don’t think it was discussed. It should have been. It is a powerful statement.
Ruckus
@pamelabrown53:
turttle is actually worse, he’s been pulling his crap a lot longer. And a president can’t sign a bill that never shows up on their desk.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: One hopes.
Geminid
@Brachiator: If republicans cut trump loose, it won’t be until after the Georgia Senate runoffs. They desperately want those two seats. They’ll shine trump on till then. After that, I don’t know. But trump the 800lb gorilla becomes a 400lb gorilla once Biden is sworn in. Then, to mix metaphors, I think he’ll be like a particularly toxic radioisotope with a half life somewhere between 10 and 30 months. It will take a long time to undo the damage trump has done, and he is not yet finished. But after Inauguration Day I think trump will be a Republican problem, and a big one. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy probably would poison trump if they thought they could get away with it.
Roger Moore
@Geminid:
Because her “Ms. Reasonable” act is just an act, and she’s actually fully on-board with McConnell’s agenda.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I would to convince Trump to get mad at the GOP for not having his back when he gave them all those beautiful judges.
Brachiator
@Kent:
What if he continues to insist that he is president after January 20?
With each passing day, Trump’s infantile rant about having won in a landslide becomes more and more ridiculous. Similarly, GOP defense of Trump increasingly become unsustainable.
I noted that this is merely a nuisance for the sane world. But after January 20, I would love seeing Republicans have to explain why they were still pretending that Trump had a case for having won the presidency.
They will have to either come up with some tortuously bullshit explanation for their behavior or, more likely, pretend that they never doubted the election results.
Gin & Tonic
My dear wife just SMS’ed me a picture of her dose of the Pfizer vaccine defrosting for 10:00 am tomorrow (yeah, she’s a hospital pharmacist.)
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: ?
Kent
Take the Commerce Department (my former agency). What kind of subject area expertise do you think is necessary for running the Commerce Department? It contains
NOAA, which contains the National Marine Fisheries Service, National Weather Service, National Ocean Service (underwater mapping and ocean science) and National Satellite Service (weather and climate satellites)
NTIS (national technical information service) which is sort of a tech publishing and information coordination agency which coordinates scientific data collection and publishing across the government
Census Bureau
Patent and Trademark Office
Small Business Administration
Office of Export Enforcement
International Trade Administration
NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology)
And a whole bunch of smaller data and trade related bureaus and offices.
Every single one of those agencies also has its own expert directors or administrators and executive level staffs. The Secretary of Commerce isn’t writing or reviewing commercial fisheries regulations, or reviewing patent submissions. He/she is looking at budget priorities and settling budget disputes between agencies, and evaluating large-scale initiatives like climate mandates and things like that. As well as sitting in cabinet meetings, doing diplomacy with foreign counterparts in similar agencies in Germany, Japan, China, etc. dealing with legislative proposals before Congress, and dealing with inter-departmental turf fights that arise between Commerce, Interior, EPA, etc. etc.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
When they make the movie about the election, this moment undoubtedly will be included.
Maybe they can get Daniel Day Lewis to play Joe Biden.
debbie
@Leto:
I think this virus is diabolical enough that we will need to step into the unknown to beat it.
Even more diabolical is McConnell saying Congress won’t adjourn until there’s a pandemic relief bill. What is he up to?
Frankensteinbeck
@Kent:
No, it isn’t. It’s the sort of hardball Trump would have no ethical regrets about doing. Trump is far more direct and stupid than required to do any of that. His strategies for the last four years have been ‘fire someone’ and ‘whine’. Even the firing has been a bizarre and pathetic circus of cowardice where he tries to avoid looking anyone he fires in the face.
Kent
Honestly the House shouldn’t pass a funding bill that doesn’t contain Covid relief. No Covid relief? No government. Shut down all those damn Christmas parties the White House is doing. I know government shut-downs are hell on the economy. But so is not doing Covid relief.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What a joy it would be to see McConnell defied!
Brachiator
@Kent:
I would like to see a Commerce Secretary work with Biden and the Treasury Secretary in getting the economy going again. So, from my view, maybe someone especially strong in these areas that you noted.
Patent and Trademark Office
Small Business Administration
Office of Export Enforcement
International Trade Administration
ETA: But obviously a big agency with a hell of a lot of responsibilities.
germy
“Has the NYT always been like this?”
“Yes.”
Helen
The world changed as a result of WWII. I wonder if this pandemic will result in permanent change in government or society.
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott:
It’s the trillion-dollar coin.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Great!
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Hope satby sees your post.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@randy khan:
Then you burn Robert’s Rules of Order and hold the vote anyway. Let McConnell howl piteously while you have his caucus vote down sensible legislation; break the logjam under the principle that EVERYTHING gets a vote.
You can’t let useless procedural niceties to continue wrecking the lives of large swaths of people.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Oh, nice!
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
I’m trying to figure out how best to revenge that lawsuit. Texas must pay!
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
My sister and I were joking about someone getting a vaccine “icicle” injection.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
I used to work for SBA too (as well as FAA, now Pete’s bailiwick), so I hope they get somebody good. God, I hate Linda MacMahon.
Kent
Yes it will. The world economy is like nature. If you push things too far in one direction nature doesn’t just snap back to where it was, it reaches a new equilibrium. People have gotten used to doing a lot more things online and via delivery. That isn’t all going to snap back to mom and pop shops after the pandemic lifts. Habits will have changed. People have adjusted to working from home. That also isn’t going to snap back to a sea of cubicles after the pandemic is over.
We will reach some new equilibrium but it won’t look like the 2019 equilibrium.
zhena gogolia
@Kent:
Our church is all about how this is going to have to change all sorts of things, some of them for the better.
I find myself to be more patient now. I guess that’s something.
Kent
Agreed, but as a former Commerce employee with NOAA I see the job as largely executive and diplomatic. Getting your line agencies all pointed in the same direction. Dealing with all your international counterparts. Working with Congress. Serving on the Cabinet. Making quick decisions and solving internal agency disputes about budgets. That sort of thing. It is very much a CEO type job and requires lots of good agency heads beneath you that you trust to run all those agencies.
Is Pete up to the job at DOT? I expect so. I also expect all the line agency career staff are breathing a giant fucking sigh of relief that they don’t have Mrs. McConnell and hall her lackeys to answer to anymore.
Kent
Hopefully the eye-opening experience of seeing world-wide clear skies and fresh air for the first time in a century when the world locked down in March won’t just fall into the memory hole. I’m afraid it already has. As well as all the extra stuff some cities did to facilitate outdoor activity like biking and walking and sidewalk dining and such.
Geminid
@Roger Moore: my comment was directed towards the contention that the Majority Leader had the power to make Senators like Murkowski and Collins “toe the line.” Collins may follow McConnell’s lead, but it will be, as you said, because she wants to. As to McConnell’s power over his caucus, the most important vote the Senate had all year was the the vote at the end of trump’s impeachment trial. Trump and McConnell wanted a straight republican vote for acquittal, and Romney voted to convict. And what did McConnell do to punish him? Nothing. Republican senators did not advocate for sanctions either so far as I saw. And no one gave Romney a “pass;” they wanted that party line vote.
satby
@debbie: ??? I did!
Roger Moore
@Kent:
I accept what you’re saying, though I will point out that some departments (e.g. Veterans’ Affairs) have a tighter focus. Some, like Commerce, are a grab bag, and some, like Interior, have a great deal of tension between their different missions. But for those less tightly focused departments, and especially for the ones where there’s some conflict, choosing the leader is about setting departmental priorities. So if you choose a Secretary of the Interior whose background is in land conservation, you’re setting a very different priority from if you choose someone whose background is in mining. But either of those would make more sense than choosing someone whose previous background was CEO of Conagra, even though the CEO of Conagra might have a better managerial background.
Dan B
@Lyrebird: You were glad to gear about high CRI LED’s for reasonable prices. CREE is a great manufacturer but most of theirs are just okay.
Two to try are:
1. Long Neck PAR30, 3000K, CRI 90+, 800 Lumens, $4.82 1000 Bulbs, SKU CREE 10194
2. Short Neck PAR 30, 3000K, CRI 93, 1000 Lumens, $11.09
1000 Bulbs, SKU CREE 10257
Both of these are 40 degree and dimmable to 5%!
Case discounts available, 12 per case.
In h High CRI LED’s I find 3000K to be very warm and pleasing light for the home. 2700K are a bit murky until you get into the $30 – $40 range.
CREE calls their high CRI lamps either “High CRI” or “Color Corrected”. If they are not labeled either they are probably second rate 80 CRI.
Brachiator
@Kent:
Totally see your point, but we need something more than business as usual as we come out of this pandemic. Under the malign Trump administration, Treasury worked closely with the Senate in drafting tax and relief bills. A largely half-assed job. But I was also dismayed at the lack of innovative thinking coming from the House and the Democrats, particularly an early focus on unemployment compensation that seemed to leave out small business and independent contractors.
Some of the mumbling about infrastructure investment strikes me as insufficient. I am very happy that we have Yellin at Treasury, but we need other heavy hitter advisors on the economy, and I think that Commerce could play a big role.
I think you are very much right about this.
Dan B
@sab: I agree with you completely! The public doesn’t understand nuance. I hate to say it but Rove taught this to W who lost his first election in Texas. He spoke like a policy wonk (there are recordings) with no drawl.
And mass communication is lucky to reach 1% of the desired target. Fauci did a good one by reaching out to a black woman researchers. Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett. It’s crucial when black people are almost 3btimes as likely as white people to become seriously ill and/or die. 14% of black and brown people trust vaccines and modern medicine.
If 86% of your target audience doesn’t want to get vaccinated it doesn’t matter if your vaccine is 99.99% safe and 95% effective. Medicine doesn’t work if it is not taken.
I was in a cab in Delhi when we passed a hospital. The driver, from Bhutan, said that “hospitals poison people. They are dangerous.” I was traveling with two physicians who were attending a reunion at that hospital.
Assume that your target audience has zero knowledge or negative opinions and information.
Dan B
@jl: I remember an article about communication about epidemics / pandemics that stated:
Rule 1. Medical experts should communicate, not politicians. People see politicians as serving their own interests and ideology.
Rule 2. Politicians should say: Follow what the experts say and shut up. Otherwise it becomes a political battle.
Rule 3. Use cultural and culturally relevant ways to communicate
(Oh… I made up Rule 3 but Fauci is already doing some of it on YouTube and with Dr. Kizzy.
sab
@Dan B: Wow. Bhutanese immigrant community in my city has been utterly devastated by Covid. They should have stayed in Maine, where Covid rates are lower. We sort of welcomed them, then we killed them with bad working conditions.
narya
@WaterGirl: Probably a dead thread, but my sense from the piece was that she couldn’t call a vote but could call on senators who would bring bills to the floor. Yeah, they wouldn’t necessarily go anywhere, but even bringing them to the floor would call attention to them and help un-both-sides the arguments, possibly. He gave some history, basically said the power has been ceded to the majority leader, but that was before the republicans broke the Senate. It’s been thoroughly pooh-poohed in this thread, and I’ve been Put In My Place About What I Read On the Internets, but I also think about Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail” and his words about part of McGovern’s success was based on deep knowledge of the convention/nominating rules. We’ve let the GOP rewrite the rules over the last 40 years; time to claw some of that back.
Lyrebird
@Dan B: Wow, thanks!
That is very useful, and yep at some point investing in a case or two is gonna be necessary whether or not I like to admit it.
My eyes really don’t like the very blue and probably very cheap LED lights. Based on your recommendation I will try a single 3000 bulb and see what it’s like.
@Dan B:
Lyrebird
Not sure what to say other than,
Yup!
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Excellent!
Dan B
@Brachiator: I saw Mr. Ahrends. The Republican Secretary of State was crying. If you are not blown away by the video you have zero mirror neurons. Otherwise it’s an amazing testament to public service and unbending faith in democracy and humanity.
jl
@Dan B: ” Rule 3. Use cultural and culturally relevant ways to communicate ”
No, that is important and in the official epidemic communications rule book. Too bad you haven’t been on the covid task force. It could have used you arguing for Rule 3.
randy khan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but that won’t work because the minority doesn’t get to set the rules and the majority does. The Constitution actually says – not that it probably needed to – that the House and Senate set their own rules. Presiding officers aren’t gods, and if they violate the rules they get smacked down.
Another Scott
@narya: Thanks.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens in January. With luck, with two new Georgia senators!
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@randy khan: also, under the best Georgia scenario, Angus King will decide just how weird out tricks can get, and my sense is: Not very.