ETA: 4 pm EST with Press Secretary and Dr. Fauci
I had to (happily) subscribe to Whitehouse.gov again in order to track these.
I suspect these are going to be daily for a while, and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to post everyone, but I’ll do what I can.
I have lots of feelings….so many feelings…but don’t really have the time to write them all down for you. But can I say, my Twitter feed this morning was a completely different landscape and I’m here for it. This was only one of many of my favorites:
In January 2017 my then 8-year-old asked if the Muslim Ban meant we had to leave?
Yesterday my now 12-year-old asked if I thought his 5-year-old sister could also one day be Vice President or President?
Justice matters. Compassion matters. Representation matters.
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 21, 2021
Open thread.
Baud
Via reddit, gif.
ALurkSupreme
What an outstanding tweet. Makes my day.
Poe Larity
Now if they could just do something with that Congressman from Bakersfield too.
zhena gogolia
I just hope Joe can speed up the vaccine, mainly so I don’t have to hear all my old geezer friends complaining that they can’t get it yet.
WaterGirl
This isn’t playing yet, right? Or am I experiencing technical difficulties?
The Moar You Know
@zhena gogolia: I’m in my early fifties. Don’t know if that makes me an old geezer (probably yes) but I complain about it every day.
HumboldtBlue
My Twitter feed is dramatically different as well. I wish I could attribute the quip but it came across my feed last night: “Ted Cruz thinks Frank Burns was the Hero in MASH.”
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
I’m watching on MSNBC, not the link. But I believe he started only seconds after you posted.
Peale
@Poe Larity: Bah. Moderate GOP these days means “It wasn’t Antifa, that’s crazy, but I hope they succeed in killing Pelosi next time, the losers.”
mali muso
Can I just say that I appreciate him listing tribal leaders when he talks about mayors, governors, etc.? It’s the little things sometimes.
Leto
I posted this downstairs but it belongs here too:
WATCH LIVE: House to vote on waiver for Biden defense secretary nominee Lloyd Austin (PBS stream)
Calouste
Just like to see again that the GOP has a single digit number of members in the Senate of the most populous state in the nation.
TaMara (HFG)
How wonderful is it that I suddenly feel like I no longer need to obsess about the Covid response or our President? I know the adults are in the room and they are on top of it all.
SiubhanDuinne
How can we know these EOs are legit if Biden won’t even use a Sharpie, or hold up his HUUUUGE signature for the cameras, grinning like the Joker?
Phylllis
Ok, what was the dipshit question at the end that had him say ‘gimme a break man’?
arrieve
@TaMara (HFG): How wonderful is it to just hear a list of Things We Are Going To Do, and have it be just an intelligent list of things that should be done, and then have him sign the orders and go back to work? The adults are indeed back in charge.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. But the President actually said that! He didn’t say we’re turning the corner!
Leto
@SiubhanDuinne: his signature is legible: IMPEACH! Where are the Goya products on the Resolute Desk? IMPEACH!
CaseyL
@TaMara (HFG): I’m very glad to see the honesty about how long this will all take, that things will get worse before they get better.
(And hoping the Biden Covid Response team can “pull a Scotty”; make it happen sooner than expected.)
Villago Delenda Est
Someone at Wonkette commented (sarcastically) that Joe Biden is some sort of attention hog.
Meanwhile, Donald is suffering from the shakes.
TaMara (HFG)
It sounds like Fauci will be speaking in an hour. There is not a feed up for that yet, I’ll post it up top when it’s available.
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
Living in a blue state Republicans love to hate I look forward to being treated as though we have 40 million citizens and not just 6 million Trump voters. That should extend to the number of vaccines shipped here (admittedly, it is really far, y’all).
JoyceH
Bless his heart, Qasim Rashid was my Democratic Congressional candidate in 2020 – I gave him money, but I suspected that a Pakistani-born Muslim community organizer might be too heavy a lift for the ruby-red 1st district. Maybe next time – Robb Wittman voted against certifying the vote after the Capitol invasion, so that could be a talking point…
Villago Delenda Est
@zhena gogolia: I’m in the old geezer category, and the VA tells me I’m in the third priority class for the vaccine. Which I’m fine with, because first priority is caregivers, second priority is vets over 75 and homeless vets, and third priority is below 75 in CDC “at risk” categories. That’s just initially, of course. Assuming they get the vaccine sometime in the next three to four months, since until yesterday afternoon there was no vaccine distribution plan at the federal level. Thanks to the most incompetent chief executive ever.
Leto
Honestly I’m really enjoying the House debate on Gen Austin’s selection. Most of the Republicans are just kind of a blanket yes, moving along; Dem side they’re asking pointed questions about mil/civilian divide/control, as well as this waiver for retired military personnel. They’re saying yes on the nomination but also asking us to re-evaluate this policy. Just more of the continued difference between people who want to govern and a fucking rump party.
patrick II
Greta Thunberg:
Serious snark skills for one so young.
SiubhanDuinne
@Leto:
I remember reading some analyses of Trump’s handwriting back in the day, so thought I’d take a look at a graphological analysis of Biden’s fist. This is from about a year ago when the Dem primaries were still lively:
Kent
I’ve been watching the daily covid vaccine numbers here:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
We are getting very close to 1 million doses administered per day. I think it was 911,000 doses administered on Monday and we should cross the 1 million/day threshold this week. Compared to about 350,000 per day just 2 weeks ago.
It has been a slow rollout, but it looks like the momentum is accelerating. If they can keep it over 1 million per day and higher then we’ll be meeting Biden’s goal of 100 million vaccinations by March.
Leto
@Villago Delenda Est: My VA provider has said the same thing. I’m fine with waiting to make sure that first responders, medical personnel, teachers, front-line workers are all ahead of me, and taken care of first. Avalune and I have essentially been in lock down since March of last year, and it’s nothing to wait a bit longer. As we all know the pandemic has been catastrophically mismanaged since the beginning so it’s going to take just a bit to get everything up to snuff and moving along.
TaMara (HFG)
@CaseyL: Someone on MSNBC (I was working and just listening, so don’t quote me on this) said Dr. Nancy Messonnier has been quietly working on a vaccine rollout and it should give us a jumpstart. She’s the Dr. who gave a dire warning in Feb 2020 that earned the orange one’s wrath and was silenced at the CDC
Skepticat
It’s the little things all the time, especially when you don’t have a small, nasty, deluded person saying them. It’s good to have someone who understand that you have to manage the details before you can go on to the yuge stuff.
Benw
@Leto: I just want my folks and my wife’s folks to get it ASAP
TaMara (HFG)
@TaMara (HFG): Press Briefing video with Dr. Fauci is now pinned up top. Starts at 4/3/2/1 pm
Skepticat
My health care provider emailed me yesterday saying that I can get the vaccine now. As my skinny arm isn’t long enough to cross the Atlantic, one of you can feel free to go to Maine and take my shot.
Leto
@SiubhanDuinne: Haha! Basically astrology but always worth a giggle.
Leto
@Benw: same here.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
Joe Biden and Joe Friday do share a lot of traits.
Benw
@Leto: aw thanks for thinking about my folks
LOL
(Hope yours get it soon!)
zhena gogolia
@Leto:
I’m also in the fortunate category of being able to wait and continue living the way I’ve been living. I just get filled with anxiety when all my friends keep talking about it! From the first I was thinking that I’d be happy to get it in April. The problem is that some people are getting it and others are being told they have to wait, and there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason why.
randy khan
@Poe Larity:
That’s 9 out of 40. 22-1/2%. I like it.
Eunicecycle
@Phylllis: Someone asked him if 100 million vaccinations was enough. He replied that when he first proposed it, they (press I guess?) said it couldn’t be done.
Martin
This is all the equivalent of ‘The house has been on fire for a year, what if we were to pour water on it?’. None of this is esoteric, radical stuff. It shows just how inept the response has been so far.
The 100 million doses is almost impossible to fail. My guess is their real goal is 200M based on the other actions announced, but they just haven’t had access to the information needed to know what’s possible. The actions are designed to build out the infrastructure should supplies accelerate, but I don’t know if they can get more vaccine out of the companies making it. All of these efforts are designed to remove all other constraints, leaving just that one.
Matt McIrvin
I notice that now that Biden’s in office, he’s not trying as hard to control his stutter, so his speech also speeds up and becomes more forceful. He’s getting warmed up.
sab
In 2016 America voted that they did not like a woman who reminded them of a schoolmarm.
( I am the biggest Hillary fan ever, but I believe that.)
In 2018 we voted “Oops.”
In 2020 we voted “Really oops. We meant it last time.”
randy khan
@Kent:
This makes me think that Biden hopes to get way more than 100 million by his deadline. If we’re at a million a day now, it’s not hard to see ramping up to 2 million in the next month or so.
sab
@Eunicecycle: Are you housebound, or out in the world at risk?
randy khan
@Martin:
This.
Matt McIrvin
@Martin: I’ve heard people complaining about the modesty of the 100M dose goal–that’s not far beyond the rate at which people are being vaccinated now. But… I get the impression that the existing dose allocations are pretty close to running out, so they do need to get cracking on acquiring more supply.
sab
@JoyceH: I have blanked out. Where (approximately) do you live? I should know and I probably do know but I forgot.
Eunicecycle
@sab: I’m able to go out, but I don’t very much. My husband and I will just continue to hunker down until we can get vaccinated. We are over 65 so it should be in the next month or so.
karen marie
@SiubhanDuinne: Jenna Ellis was on twitter expressing astonishment that a president could cancel EOs of the preceding president. I guess she’s another who was in a coma until October 2020.
Her fellow travelers are back to claiming that EOs are bad.
aliasofwestgate
@randy khan: That’s my theory too. Getting the chain pharmacies in on this ASAP is also good, and i knew they’d be part of the rollout eventually. The key is making sure there’s enough vaccine for them to dispense and that is in the plan too. They’re making sure it’s all set before they do so. The J&J vaccine will make a huge difference on its own, but using the DPA to ramp up what’s been approved already? Will be a major difference. Much less all the supplies needed for the varying dosages and whatnot. It’ll get us to that next stage far quicker than i think many realize. I know that well just from how pharm supply chains work. Max of a month to get everything moving and in place, and we’re on the way to 200m by the end of 100 days. Or damned close to it!
Gravenstone
Here’s hoping the DTs end him.
Kent
The wonderful thing about 2021 is that we don’t need to pay the slightest bit of shit to anything Jenna Ellis or anyone else of her ilk is tweeting.
hueyplong
@karen marie: I’d hate to be the one tasked to catalogue the things Jenna Ellis doesn’t know.
Roger Moore
@Poe Larity:
I just wanted to repeat this because I like it so much. We have reduced the Republican caucus in the CA state senate to single digits.
randy khan
@aliasofwestgate:
From your lips to God’s ears!
sab
@Eunicecycle: I whine a bit but I shouldn’t. Stepkids have to be out in the world to pay rent and feed themselves.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Looking forward to the phrenological analysis.
SiubhanDuinne
@karen marie:
Chuck Todd was poking at that earlier today.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: well if CHUCK TODD is concerned then suddenly it’s credible!
Matt McIrvin
@karen marie: I don’t like government by EO, but it’s what you get when Congress is perpetually deadlocked and laws can’t be passed.
Roger Moore
@Kent:
1 million vaccinations per day is an OK short-term goal, but it would still have us waiting until late in the year for every adult in the country to get vaccinated. Once we get to 1 million/day, we need to set our sights on 2 or 3 million and then see just how high we can push it.
Nora Lenderbee
@SiubhanDuinne: @Leto: How delightful to see jackals joking lightheartedly again.
Steve in the ATL
@Leto: I used Goya lemon juice on the salmon I grilled for lunch today. I felt guilty about it, so I assuaged said guilt by opening a bottle of Double Diamond. Which I needed to do anyway, as there was none left of the bottle of Double Diamond I opened yesterday for the inauguration!
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: 1 million doses a day would mean about a year and a half to cover the entire adult population of the US. Hopefully, once J&J, AstraZeneca, and Novavax are available, we can cut that by a factor of two or three.
Steve in the ATL
Also, need a jackal in the Eatonton/Greensboro Georgia area to come fix the automatic document feeder on my HP scanner. What time can you get here?
Nobody in particular
@Poe Larity:
Unbelievable. CA isn’t immune from nutters. Unity messaging is really for the independents and Democrats.
Will Rogers’ famous line about belonging to no organized political party – he was a Democrat.
From my perspective, the most unity we’ve experienced in some time is in a great part due to Trump himself.
Now it’s time to listen to that great “progressive” and founding father.
Eunicecycle
@sab: Oh I understand. My daughter who is a nurse is due next week for her second dose, and her husband just got his first (he works for the same hospital but nonmedical). But my other kids and spouses are young and low-risk so will be getting theirs after everyone else. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see them in person. Thank God for Zoom and Skype.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Silly G&T! Everyone knows that numerology comes after graphology, then palmistry, then phrenology. Sheesh. Get it right.
Steve in the ATL
@sab: BTW, IIRC you mentioned the other day that you are a Kenyon grad. Great school! Have a nephew–very smart and accomplished–who graduated from there a few years ago. At a family get together he and his dad were complaining to me that he had gotten waitlisted at Washington and Lee; the subtext was (1) if you got in, he should have gotten in, and (2) if you donated more money, he would have gotten in!
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m a big fan of Terry Pratchett’s idea of retro-phrenology. Want a particular personality trait? Hand me that hammer and hold your head still…
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: I have a trial next week; scheduled it for when my biorhythms were peaking. I’m no fool!
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
LOL.
Nobody in particular
@Gin & Tonic:
Phrenology? It brought this idiot jarhead to the interview with Ronan Farrow.
West of the Cascades
I love listening to Fauci Unchained.
SiubhanDuinne
There are a couple of reporters questioning Dr. Fauci who would love to get him to say something bad about the previous administration — so that can be the headline instead of what the Biden admin is doing. I think one of them is the son of the Fox guy; the other is a woman whose affiliation I don’t know. Are they still letting in the OANN person?
Nobody in particular
@SiubhanDuinne:
Don’t knock graphology. It’s not pseudoscience. The rest might be. But some Docs still use leeches.
trollhattan
@randy khan:
When they dose-count, do we divide by 2 to account for the second shot required when figuring out the population fraction that have received the complete course? I get sidetracked by the gross numbers. (And I do understand that even the first shot reduces susceptibility by a whopping percentage.)
sab
@Steve in the ATL: Kenyon was a great secret when I was there. Not a secret anymore so greater now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and because the writers start every day with too many edibles, she’s Rod Rosenstein’s sister.
This press conference is annoying me cause they all want Fauci to say how much trump sucked. We all know how much trump sucked. you don’t need clicky quotes
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
Just make sure your morning coffee tasseography aligns, or you’re in real trouble, mister.
The Moar You Know
Never seen Fauci smile before. That speaks volumes.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Dunno if it has ever happened to you gals and guys.
A total stranger* comes up and grabs me in a hug, saying something along the lines of “Your aura needed realignment.” Not a trade-off I would have chosen, but COVID has put an end to that.
*Invariably dressed in colorful attire; sometimes but not always wearing bells.
Mary G
@TaMara (HFG): I’ve been hoping that some of the career federal employees have been sneaking around behind the Trumpsters’ backs and secretly doing substantive work that the Biden administration can use to propel the building back better, so it’s encouraging to see this. I always wondered how Dr. Messonnier managed to stay on after she got in so much trouble for accurately describing the danger of the pandemic back when “it’s only one case from China” was the official line, and it looks like she shut up, probably with groveling, and did what she could do.
SiubhanDuinne
@Nobody in particular:
I’m actually not knocking graphology. I think it can reveal a number of significant personality and character traits. But I expect it’s as prone to charlatanism as anything else.
sab
@Eunicecycle: My granddaughter age six lives next door. We wave at her over the fence but that is it.
My stepkids are essential workers and years away from vaccination. One already had covid. His fiancee ( caught it from him) might be a long hauler. My other stepson is also an essential worker exposed in his workplace. Shouldn’t have happened (idiot co-workers.) His fiancee is a very frontline retail worker (gas station convenience store.) She has been so careful within the perameters of retail work. God I hope she doesn’t catch it from him. She has no insurance, of course.
raven
@Nobody in particular: “Marines for six years, rising to the rank of corporal,” big fucking deal
Barbara
@aliasofwestgate: I suspect that the DPA is more important for manufacturing syringes, vials, etc. than it is for the vaccine itself. The thing is, manufacturing vaccines is even trickier than manufacturing regular drugs. It’s not clear to me that DPA would save time over other measures that might help companies ramp up. However, I do trust that Biden’s team is extremely smart about this and other topics. If J&J vaccine gains approval, the situation will change dramatically. It will not only give us three vaccines to work with, but one that will be logistically much easier to distribute to areas where vaccine distribution is already difficult.
West of the Cascades
Shorter Psaki: “We’ll tell you tomorrow precisely how Mitch has tried to obstruct getting help to the American people.”
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: Huggers. Yeah. It has happened. The first time I was too shocked to do anything. The second and third idiot who did that I punched in the solar plexus as hard as I could. I’m a damn big guy and I had every intention of hurting them badly. Hasn’t happened in a while but the one’s going to land in a hospital.
I have serious issues about being touched without permission which I am not going to get into in a public forum. If any of you do this to people, stop it immediately.
Martin
@Matt McIrvin: I suspect we’ll know soon enough. I get the sense Fauci is free to speak to where the problems are, which I don’t yet think they know.
I can’t say strongly enough how valuable the ‘one person assigned to each state’ is. I’ve run parallel critical activities at work – a dozen or more concurrent events. And when you start the planning phase of that, you do exactly this. One member of my team is assigned to your event and you will hear from them every day. You will know when they have a day off or out sick, and they will know when you are. As you get to the operational phase, you hear from them at the start and end of the day, and maybe often. For really critical events, you’d talk hourly – even if the conversation was ‘Everything good? Yeah, it’s good.’
You don’t want problems to be saved, or ‘I don’t know if this is important’ to not be spoken, or ‘I don’t want to waste their time’. No, the whole point is to make sure the folks in DC are as informed as the folks in Sacramento, or Albany, or Tallahassee, and vice-versa.
Because one of the real problems with parallel operations is that it gets very hard to differentiate between systemic problems and random ones. Florida is running low on needles – is that a problem of allocation, or is it a waste problem that will affect every state? If it’s allocation, that’s probably easy to solve, but if it’s a systemic problem, you need to call up who makes the needles and tell them you need 20% more than expected, and get started on that today.
Bureaucracies can move very quickly when there is adequate communication. It’s not the volume of communication that tends to be the bottleneck, but the latency of it. Knowing there’s a person in DC whose sole job is to take your call empowers you to call them all the time. I can’t overstate how important that seemingly simple thing is. And if that person is able to call Fauci’s assistant, or Biden’s, then you have a government that is responsive and functional.
rikyrah
Fauci seems FREE.
dmsilev
@NotMax: I once told someone that my research work involved studying magnetic crystals (true!). She lit up and started babbling about energies and auras and so forth. Then I mentioned that the crystals in question were manufactured by the defense industry for military uses (also true! (*)) and the look of horror that ensued made the whole thing worth it.
(*) The crystals in question are lasing rods for infrared lasers, used for things like rangefinders on combat vehicles. They also have interesting magnetic properties when cooled to near absolute zero, which is more what I’m focusing on.
Alison Rose
WHO IS THIS FUCKING WHINY BITCH ASKING ABOUT BIPARTISANSHIP?
aliasofwestgate
@Barbara: That’s the main issue yeah. It’s always going to take extra time to make more vaccine. But making sure everything is set to roll out once they DO get it. Including approval of the other companies’ versions? Will make a huge difference. This is why I’m heartily glad to see chain pharmacies sending out notices for pre-registration so when things start moving along, appointments can be made ASAP. The mass vaccination sites will help immensely to start out, though. Holy shit this is a huge task any way you look at it.
Barbara
@The Moar You Know:
It shocks me when I find that there are people who think an unprompted hug with a stranger is appropriate. Never, ever.
Ken
I’m have this nagging worry that some people will refuse the vaccine in an idiotic attempt to prevent Biden from reaching the 100 million goal. Also that when the other anti-vaxers are added in, we won’t hit the numbers needed to get the pandemic under control.
Not that I mind if all those people get the virus, but there will be a small but significant number of people who can’t take the vaccine for medical reasons, and it’s grotesquely unfair to them.
FelonyGovt
That Qasim Rashid tweet is beautiful. An Indian American friend of mine posted a photo of her darling little granddaughter, who insisted yesterday on dressing in Indian attire to celebrate Kamala Harris and her own Indian heritage.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Not in precisely that way, and not for many, many years, but I am indeed familiar with the phenomenon.
(To be fair, my aura has always been kind of fucked up, so…)
The Moar You Know
@Alison Rose: post-natal abortion needs to become a thing. That was fucking horrific.
West of the Cascades
Psaki slaps down “what is Biden doing to make concessions to the Republicans?” Any reporter that includes in the question “why didn’t Biden appoint a Republican to the cabinet” after the prior administration not even imagining doing that is asking in bad faith. Margaret Sullivan had a good article in the WaPo on the threat of Return to Journalistic Laziness today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-media-can-be-glad-for-the-biden-white-houses-return-to-normalcy-but-lets-not-be-lulled/2021/01/20/ea444ac6-5b81-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax: hasn’t happened to me, so the clear, and only, takeaway is that my aura is perfect
Ken
Surrounded by a circle of Fred Trumps, all shouting “Failure! Failure! Failure!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax:
wait? what
@West of the Cascades: that whole question was astounding. Michael Shear or Shearer?
West of the Cascades
Fucking questions about the filibuster. Fuck you. Why won’t Mitch agree to not filibuster any bills for the next six months in the spirit of “unity”?
dmsilev
@Alison Rose: Proper response: “In the last four years, did you ever once ask the Trump administration what their plans for reaching out Democrats were? No? Why not?”
I would probably not make a good press secretary.
NotMax
@dmsilev
Guffaw. :·)
Ken
@NotMax: Not a total stranger, but I have some friends who are more “huggy” than I’m comfortable with. They’re aware of that and we’ve reached a frequency we can both live with.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He lives up the road from Haiku!
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
I will happily knock it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
all these questions about where Biden stands on Senate business…. “The President believes that the Senate is part of separate and co-equal branch of government, and that it would be inappropriate to comment on the rules and procedures determined by the majorities there”
Alison Rose
@dmsilev: My response would have been “Oh, you mean the Republicans who supported a fucking insurrection and an attack on the Capitol, where people wanted to literally murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House? Those Republicans? Yeah, they can fuck off into the sun any day now, and you can go with them.”
I would also not be a good spokesperson. Wait, no. I’d be an AMAZING spokesperson, but not a proper one.
hueyplong
“We don’t negotiate against ourselves at press confernces. Next? Yes, go ahead, Caitlan.”
Nobody in particular
@SiubhanDuinne:
Not his MO. Not “Uncle Tony.” Not my real uncle but trained and mentored by my actual uncle, as 1000s of medical students at Cornell over the years. They were lifelong friends until my uncle passed in 2004. He was Chair of the Pharmacology Dept. at Cornell for 27 years, so Executive Faculty when Fauci Graduated from Cornell in 65, was it? He held other distinguished professorships. Extremely popular with students and me as well, after my father passed in 1962. No students went to Cornell’s shrink, preferring to talk to my Uncle, instead. If you like Football, he was the first medical/drug director of the NFL, back in 1973. Many funny stories about that and Tony and all of it. He was more active during the days of HEW under Califano in terms of testifying or consulting, but he remained in Academia like Fauci remains in Civil Service. He’s a gem, and if I met him, and probably did, I was still a kid, not even 15, and had no idea who he was. We had big family gatherings back in the 1950s and early sixties. Fauci would still have been a Med student. I don’t take after either of them. I’d have harangued them for an hour about what a puke Trump is. NYTimes had a good obit as well.
https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2004/03/in-memoriam-dr-walter-f-riker
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
One of the perils of being congenitally irresistible.
:)
The Moar You Know
The sheer gall of these reporters is fucking unbelievable. Nothing but “how is Biden going to reach out to the abused Republicans and religious fanatics that supported the last guy 110%?”
The double standard here is unbelievable and must be stopped. Trump never once got a question like that. Not once.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
A different tack than “let’s march on the Senate with murderous intent,” but I’m willing to give Biden some leeway here.
Martin
@Mary G: We always do that.
Career professionals do have some superpowers. There are things we can do that political appointees can’t – and the political appointees never seem to understand that. My boss (basically a political appointee) has often stated in a meeting that ‘we can’t do this because I’ll never get the agreement’ and I’d have to go to him in private and tell him ‘I can get that agreement’. If Joe Biden goes to the president of Mexico with an idea, they’ll both rightly suspect ulterior motives. But if I as a career professional go to my career professional counterpart and we agree that this would be mutually beneficial, and my counterpart makes that suggestion to their boss, it can be a much simpler process.
And that’s what the State Department is there for. When Biden goes in on something like the Iran deal, people like me have already delivered the staff for the partners to support this.
So yes, part of our job is to go silent and deep during situations like this, do as much as we can without drawing attention to it, and preparing for when it’s safe to surface again. A HUGE part of the stability of the US is the civil service act. The political appointees can make a lot of noise, but not as much action. They have to convince the civil service ranks of the urgency of the action for it to really go.
Leto
@Steve in the ATL: had taken the dog for a walk just now getting caught up; I still have a bottle of Goya Adobo seasoning that I’m working my way through. Bought it before the brouhaha but it’s the last one I’ll buy. I have the same feeling, but the money is already spent and I’m not going to just chunk it. But from here on out I’ll just make my own.
Ken
Have you chosen your supervillain name yet?
Patricia Kayden
Alison Rose
What is this dick talking about? When was Biden not wearing a mask when he was in a crowd? Not that I saw…
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
This seems like a great way for people claiming they were only sticking around in the Trump Administration to make sure adults were still in charge to show their work. If you can pull out something valuable you were doing behind Trump’s back, it’s solid evidence that you really were the adult in the room. If the best you can come up with are crazy ideas you allegedly prevented Trump from implementing, not so much.
Amir Khalid
Continuing their run of dreadful form, Liverpool trail 0-1 to visitors Burnley in the English Premier League. They are on the verge of losing their three-year undefeated home streak and falling out of title contention. Woe is me!
dmsilev
@Ken: I only use my powers for good.
(*) I reserve the right to define “good” as I see fit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Alison Rose: the Bidens were wearing masks while the two of them stood on the WH balcony watching fireworks, weren’t they? What the hell moments is he talking about? Was that the Doocey spawn?
SiubhanDuinne
I really like Jen Psaki, but JFC, these so-called journalists! These are some of the stupidest questions I’ve ever heard. They’re not in any way designed to elicit information. They’re designed to provoke, to get a sound bite, to embarrass the President or his Press Secretary. The nicest thing I can call them is unprofessional.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Heathers on the Potomac.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Feel free.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Heh.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
I agree. Psaki has been totally professional. But the press corps looks like it hasn’t adjusted yet from four years of Trump’s press secretaries.
dmsilev
“Is there an attempt to purge Trump officials?”
“YES“
“It’s not just an _attempt_.”
Martin
By the way, Jen’s face suggested that DC statehood is definitely under consideration.
Understand too that there’s a bit of horsetrading here. Some of the ‘stupid questions’ are softballs for Jen to have an opportunity to reinforce a point. Some are just stupid.
The current one I was curious about as well – mandating mask wearing on federal land means Jen should be wearing a mask right now. I don’t know if it’s intended to be ‘gotcha’, but there’s some rule-writing around that directive that the public should know. If I’m in the Mall, and I want to eat my sandwich, will I be arrested if I take my mask off to do that provided that nobody is around? The real answer is that it’s a judgement call, if you are making a good-faith effort to prevent spread of Covid, you’re good. If you are being defiant, prepare to deal with the cops. That’s basically impossible to rule-write around. Jefferson wrote:
Biden is giving law enforcement permission to be lenient. There’s another EO that says that leniency needs to be equitably administered.
NotMax
@The Moar You Know
I have a suspicion it was a deliberate choice for her to be outfitted in red.
;)
Nobody in particular
@Brachiator:
Not so much a science as an art, and not unlike diagnosis. And graphologists are expert witnesses whose testimony is admissible in court, like other doc examiners, while polygraphy is not. That’s how my uncle, a football fan, did his job. He watched the games from home with his evening scotch. The cameras would pan to the bench from time to time and he’d do what we all do spot the tweakers and the dopers. Call Pete and have the tested or benched. This enraged Don Shula who braced my uncle, a diminutive gentleman, one day somehow. Lifted him off the ground asking him where he got off by benching his players from his couch at home while watching TV. My uncle, never one to lose his cool, and hanging there in mid-air, responded don’t you watch films after the game, Video Recording was still new. My uncle told me Shula’s eyes glazed over and he gently put him down, brushed him off, turned and walked away — mumbling to himself. Football coaches are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, are they?
Martin
Jen is doing better on the ‘um’ front today. Yesterday was probably just nerves, which is entirely understandable. I think she’s doing great. I didn’t intend that to be a criticism, just wondering how she got to where she was with that really basic habit still in place. Knocking that out is public speaking 101 stuff, so I was surprised to see it.
I’m looking forward to Karina getting her opportunity.
Calouste
@NotMax: If a stranger hugged me in public I’d assume they did that to pick my pockets (either themselves or an associate) and I would react accordingly.
TaMara (HFG)
@SiubhanDuinne: I had to walk away, so as not to break my new Christmas TV.
Every answer should be, what are Republicans doing to promote unity. Like, you know, acknowledging Biden won in a free and fair election. By. A. Lot.
Roger Moore
@Barbara:
My understanding is that one of the limiting factors for the mRNA vaccines is availability of starting materials, and that’s the kind of thing the DPA could help with. It would let the government commandeer all of those starting materials it could get its hands on, which would help immensely.
Martin
Be thankful they aren’t being elected to the Senate. Wait…
Martin
@Roger Moore: That’s my understanding too.
Steve in the ATL
@Nobody in particular:
They run about 99% republican. What other data do you need to complete your analysis?
Miss Bianca
I can’t believe it. I just watched a President acting Presidential. Laying out a plan. Signing actual executive orders that aren’t just bullshit on toast.
Holy fuck. It just blows me away how much it’s blowing me away.
Brachiator
@Steve in the ATL:
Kinda like the werewolves of London…
I saw a werewolf drinkin’ a piña colada at Trader Vic’s
And his hair was perfect
Na!
Villago Delenda Est
@raven: Wow! E-4! Impressive!
Steve in the ATL
@Brachiator:
I saw a lawyer drinking a premier grand cru at his lake house
And his aura was perfect!
LadySuzy
It’s inevitable. With a COMPETENT administration that is HONEST and answers questions, the journalists are reduced to question little details.
Brace yourselves. Journalists want to feel good about themselves, And they ALL have a secret wish to be the next Bob Woodward. So, since the Biden administration looks like it will be as “scandal-empty” as the Obama administration, they will search and search for every tiny little bit of controversy that could make “news”.
@The Moar You Know:
The Moar You Know
This is probably more of a “me” thing, as nobody’s remarked on it, but Ms. Psaki is absolutely lovely. The smart, professional ones are my kryptonite. I may be watching press conferences for a while.
StringOnAStick
I recall reading that at least Pfizer and maybe Moderna too bad approached the prior administration asking for help in procuring supplies needed to speed up vaccine manufacturing and got nothing but dead air in response. They also presented the prior idiots with the option to order more doses, got dead air again and so started selling that future capacity to other countries. Anyone else remember that? If sure like to see those stories get more coverage.
TS (the original)
@Martin:
Whenever we have mask mandates in my part of the world, politicians/press secretaries/medicos etc are exempt while talking at press conferences. This is to provide access for those who lip read or to allow facial expressions to be used when explaining the issues.
Doc Sardonic
@Martin: This came up yesterday and due to the sudden out break of competence and the beginnings of a
returnnew normal left me too shell shocked to comment. I think she may have been using the Umm as a placeholder while she came up with something other than “That is the stupidest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard. How many times did your mama drop you on your head when you were a child?”Eunicecycle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: yes I think it was Peter Doocey. He is the WH correspondent for Faux. With the mask it’s hard to tell but the question also aligned with Faux priorities-trying to start something. The only time I saw the Biden’s not wearing masks was maybe when taking a few family pictures. They weren’t wandering around maskless.
Nobody in particular
@Martin:
Are any indoor food courts in an enclosed mall even open? Depends on the state, I imagine. It’s bad government, and when it comes to legislation, there is no crime like a bad – or badly written – law. There is a reason the constitution is largely vague and ambiguous – it was intended. So much so Mason, Randolph, and Gerry demanded a BoR. There are a variety of elements to the law that are morally ambiguous. In the 70s there was a study done. Researchers dressed up the BoR to disguise, presented it to folks as a petition to be signed. Most people thought it was “too liberal.” As we look back on it now, we can see how just the first two amendments have been perverted. Full disclosure, I support both but I want reasonable gun control, like Wyatt Earp, and I want some more activist first amendment scrubbing and cleaning: Libel and slander, shouting fire in a crowded theater not on fire, etc. No rights are absolute and your personal God has nothing to with rights and law. Weaponized narratives, like Nazism, are WMDs, inmho. Some Americans still think GOD makes the laws. Many of them couldn’t tell you the 10 commandments.
For every right, there is a remedy; where there is no remedy, there is no right.
The Moar You Know
@raven: That is “getting promoted” in the same way that getting a D-minus is passing a class.
Roger Moore
@Nobody in particular:
Graphology is useful for things like determining if a signature is genuine. The part about inferring people’s personality from their writing style is not even remotely scientific.
Martin
@LadySuzy: Jen has some control over this. If the administration wants better questions Jen can start calling news outlets and telling them there are more substantial issues the public needs to know about and if they want their reporters called on, they need to ask better questions.
It’s not that she needs to be prescriptive here, just telling them there will be competition for who asks informative questions which will get the outcome they want. That assumes that Jen wants tougher questions. So, give it some time and see where it goes.
Doc Sardonic
@The Moar You Know: If she were green I’d be in deep shit
Ken
It’s only been four years since you last saw it. Strange how quickly something can become “normal”.
OGLiberal
@The Moar You Know: Because they, their editors, or both of them don’t want to admit that almost all Trump supporters were in his camp because of racism/white supremacy. They want to make it about some mythical steel mill shutting down and forcing KKK dudes to go to the local diner every morning to bitch about anybody who wanted to do anything that might, just might, help a black person. That’s not a story editors want to publish, but it’s reality. And the reporters don’t stand up to that shite. They may as well just be racist $180K/year landscaping contractor dude using undocumented folks as his labor force as the folks they find in those Midwestern Diners.
Jesus, who the fuck was in those stupid boat parades? Factory workers? Those were mostly boats that require a) maintenance and b) a slip and c) maybe offseason storage. Beyond that cost of the boat, that shit is very expensive. These were people of means, not salt of the earth yeoman farmers. I hate that the media always falls for that shit when it comes to GOP voters. These are racist, hateful, aggrieved for no reason people of moderate to beyond moderate means….they ain’t folks on the assembly line. But Dem voters are just elitist or lazy brown folks who want free stuff.
Fuck them all.
Chris Johnson
@The Moar You Know: regarding the punch in the solar plexus as hard as you can: Houdini literally died that way, and he was not a fragile snowflake.
I’mma say you’re BOTH in the wrong if you mean it anything like literally. It is not unlike saying that a person should not be subject to immediate execution by vigilante if they are shoplifting. How about, don’t do that or figure out how to at least not punch as hard as you can, there? How about a face slap if you’re going to be that way? That is not nearly as likely to be lethal. That said, I think you’re saying you have no control of yourself if provoked.
Sucks if true, but that’s fair. Anyway I would not be trying to hug random people…
Martin
@Nobody in particular: I mean the National Mall, which is outside.
Shopping malls are all private land, so they can do what they want. I don’t think we’ve seen an EO that targets public spaces, things like that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
sorry, not sorry, I’m glad to read he was escorted out by guards
Nobody in particular
@Doc Sardonic:
In my case, a few times, but in her defense, I was balling so hard I’d turned blue and she was hanging me upside so I could… breathe?
Witzelsucht
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witzelsucht
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5798973/
bluefoot
I am interested that the COVID pandemic plan is the “Biden-Harris” plan. I am interpreting that to mean that Biden is intent on Harris having a large partnership role in his administration. And long-term (because Joe is a political animal who knows how to thing long term), getting the American public used to Harris being a leader. It also wonder if it hints at Harris overseeing the pandemic response for the Executive branch once the program really gets roling. I can see that – CA has a large biotech and pharma sector; I’m sure she’s very familiar with it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Eunicecycle: he also tried to suggest that some new Amazon news about a partnership with the administration– I’m assuming vaccine distribution but not seeing anything in the ‘tubes yet– was a conspiracy– because they didn’t offer to help trump distribute the vaccines that were announced and approved after he lost the election ?
bluefoot
@Martin: I still like my penalty box idea. Ask a vapid question, you’re ignored for a month. Too many in a row, and you’re red carded. If I can mix my sports officiating metaphors….
Miss Bianca
@bluefoot: I like that idea!
Ken
But she’s not blond. And it doesn’t look like she’s ever had Botox injections.
(Do I need to say that I’m kidding?)
bluefoot
Dr. Fauci is looking less beleaguered. Of course, he’s a professional who is now being allowed to do his job, even if the situation is serious as hell, so not surprising he looks less at the end of his rope.
Also, listening to Fauci is always a pleasure – he really knows what he’s talking about. (I work in biopharma so he speaks my language. :))
bluefoot
@Miss Bianca: It would be hilarious if the Press Secretary had an assistant who would hold up and hand out yellow and red cards to members of the press. They (the press office) would have to keep a list so they’d know how many yellow cards a specific journalist has received thus far, or over a specific amount of time.
Nobody in particular
@Martin:
They may do what they want to a point. Here in CA, you’ll get shut down damn quick if you violate any emergency order, and fined. This has less to do with federal vs. state regulation than you suggest, I think. Unless your state provokes disobedience to a public health emergency, you’ll be forced to come to heel (Heal? That’s my witzelsucht, see!) There has been no federal order, yet. Yet. I recall a discussion I had with a glibertarian once, something I avoid because… I asked him about PUBLIC HEALTH. He vacuously responded : “No, we don’t support state sponsored health care and insurance.”
These morons are all in a chandelier with candles that have all burned out
They either want to reinvent the flat tire or convince us riding on the rims is a good idea.
Nota bene: This refers largely to the ALP, and that is what is left in the current GOP
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Anybody who was to observe the vast changes in my handwriting because of changes in pen/pencil, writing surface, where I am, time of day, cycle of moon, etc. would see that it’s either not dependable or I have a dozen or more personalities in play. We can’t advise on the second thing.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: The last person I talked to who was really into graphology thought it went both ways–not only could you infer things about your personality from handwriting, you could alter your personality as desired by changing your handwriting!
Nobody in particular
@The Moar You Know:
I’ve been like that at times. The autism spectrum is broader than we think, perhaps. And I’m a contented RSI. Not suggesting you are on the spectrum. It is what they used to call “taking liberties.” Positive and negative liberty is difficult for bible thumpers and French pastriots to grok. Framers used the term “liberty” almost 100% of the time
And “limited government.” I will punch anyone in the solar plexus who uses either informal fallacy of either construction, “BIG or small gummint.” Twice, I’ll punch them. Hard.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan:
Graphological analysis completed; dossier updated.
Nobody in particular
@Steve in the ATL:
https://www.drexdoclab.com/is-handwriting-analysis-admissible-in-court/
It is, in certain instances. Results of polygraph tests are not, but a polygraphy expert might be called to testify on the discipline itself. Lawyers will try to anything to get it entered or blocked, whatever it is.
Nobody in particular
@Steve in the ATL:
https://www.drexdoclab.com/is-handwriting-analysis-admissible-in-court/
It is, in certain instances. Results of polygraph tests are not, but a polygraphy expert might be called to testify on the discipline itself. Lawyers will try anything to get whatever entered or blocked, whatever it is.
Nobody in particular
@Matt McIrvin:
Behavior, personality, identity… it’s all very murky. Someday, if they haven’t already, they’ll scan the brain while writing, because we can do that now. Ain’t western science wonnerful!
Nobody in particular
@Roger Moore:
You are entitled to believe what you believe, but I’m not sure I would agree today. 40-50 years ago, your belief and opinion was quite common.
Like witzelsucht, it is no longer an “inside joke.” Get it?
It’s hard science now. Which, in your opinion, is the hard science? Psychiatry or Psychology?
Nobody in particular
Determining whether a signature is authentic, not a forgery, is really what a forensic document examiner does. They may very well have had some training in graphology, there is overlap, but they are two different specialties. A shrink does what a graphologist does, with your dreams! Your thoughts! At least the graphologist has actual material evidence you can examine in a court.
The psychiatrist is practicing the softest science there is. Psychology is the hard science now. Technology. The shrink still does the prescribing. That’s about it.
Nobody in particular
What’s really cool is that the mentions of the great orange satan have almost disappeared from threads already. That’s progress. Enjoy the day, the week, and the weekend, friends.
Matt McIrvin
@Nobody in particular: Daily Kos?
ThresherK
Someone on the intertubes has mentioned that Dr. Fauci looks like he just got rid of a toxic boyfriend.
I can’t argue with that observation.
scav
I am thrilled to report that I scientifically and apparently legally possess no personality whatsoever as I haven’t handwritten since halfway through high school — it’s all increasingly degenerate drafting-inspired printing. Must add though that even without said personality, I will nevertheless likely punch anyone that touches me unexpectedly — that part must be hardwired into the nervous system or something. I have civilized my response into swift evasive maneuvers if given advance warning of incoming tactile invasion.
Nobody in particular
@Matt McIrvin:
I signed up at DKos in 2005. I rarely go there. I was at Eschaton mostly, until about 2011. I was around here when John Cole left the Dark Side. 2005? I remember it well, if not the year. Ran into Adam at Colonel Lang’s around that time. Adam was looking for a specific Jefferson quote. I knew it well by his description and knew immediately Adam was a very smart and intelligent man. It’s on Panel Four at Monticello. TJ was a “progressive.” A bit of a radical at times in his rhetoric, but an excellent POTUS and executive officer. Read the whole letter. I know… a “progressive” who owns slaves? At least by comparison.
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/quotations-jefferson-memorial#Panel_Four
The poor Col. has gone round the bend since.
Nobody in particular
@scav:
I’m Zelig.
Nobody in particular
@scav:
I’m Zelig.