Somewhat overlooked yesterday in the celebration of the protection of LBGTQ rights under Title VII, but also important:
Trump loses effort to overrule state “sanctuary city” efforts.
States can continue to refuse to be conscripted into helping ICE and CBP with deportation sweeps. https://t.co/dyemqmkaZH
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 15, 2020
(Full details here.)
Joe Biden pulled in $81 million for his election effort in the month of May, a massive sum that shows the extent to which Democrats have unified behind the former vice president as he seeks to defeat Republican President Donald Trump. https://t.co/mnHStwzChb
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) June 16, 2020
Please say Death Star… please say Death Star… https://t.co/Yz4Dp2YOxP
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) June 15, 2020
They may give it a catchy name, but it’s just doubling down on the BS:
… Trump wants to run as the candidate of “law and order.” But one reason Trump 2020 is not analogous to Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign — based on the same theme — is that Nixon wasn’t president while he exploited fear of violence in American cities during that volatile year. Nixon was campaigning against a chaos for which voters could not conceivably hold him responsible.
Trump, however, leads a nation roiled by protests and bursts of looting and violence. Trump’s aides say he needs to paint a picture of what a Biden presidency would look like. So, naturally, he grabs onto what he considers the most unappealing excesses of the left and tries to brand Biden with these images…
The Biden campaign’s response: “As he exacerbates crisis after crisis, Trump has stepped on his own message so much that he no longer even has one,” said Andrew Bates, Biden’s director of rapid response.
“Any politician who tear-gasses Americans peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights for a cynical photo-op, who defiles the Department of Justice by treating it as an extension of his re-election campaign, and who has leached untold millions off of taxpayers into his own pocket while still refusing to show them his own tax returns has no business saying that he stands for either ‘law’ or ‘order.'”…
No social distancing, masks optional: Here is what President Trump's Tulsa rally will look like https://t.co/GbmdZh9rEQ pic.twitter.com/AJDtLOqQaq
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 15, 2020
On Planet Trump, Daddy needs a dopamine hit:
…The rally will take place at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has a capacity of just under 20,000. The campaign says it is expecting a full house.
“It is a Trump rally, the arena will be packed,” said Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign. The BOK Center has canceled or postponed every other scheduled event through the end of July.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted on Monday that the campaign plans to check the temperature of everyone who enters the venue. They will also be providing hand sanitizer, and each attendee will receive a mask provided by the campaign, although they will not be required to wear it. Trump has notably declined to wear a mask in public…
There was a “meaningful increase” in cases of coronavirus last week in the city, according to the statement. As of Friday, there had been 1,443 total confirmed cases of coronavirus in Tulsa County, and 62 deaths.
Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Bruce Dart told the Tulsa World newspaper over the weekend that he wishes the campaign would push back the date of the event.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, specifically warned about the dangers of gatherings like the rally.
“When you’re in a large crowd, if you have the congregation of people that are much, much closer to each other, you definitely increase the risk that you will either acquire or spread infections,” Fauci said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday night.
Campaign officials tell CNN they have not considered postponing the rally and are actively exploring a second venue somewhere in Tulsa for the President to appear in person to satisfy those who were interested in seeing the President speak. During a roundtable at the White House on Monday, the President said that his campaign had secured a nearby venue that will allow for an additional 40,000 people to see him speak.
The campaign is actively encouraging as many people as possible to RSVP to attend. The RSVPs are not tickets, and a ticket is not required for admission. Entry into the rally is first come, first serve, and the campaign is expecting rallygoers to begin lining up outside the venue well in advance of the Saturday event.
if trump is not on that stage encased in a plexiglas bubble I will eat a shoe https://t.co/7CmyBQtsLn
— kilgore trout, a ramp with no steps (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 15, 2020
Baud
Policeman, arrest thyself.
debbie
That last paragraph of the first block quote should be the next Lincoln Project ad.
debbie
I heard yesterday that attendees would also have to answer questions about their health before getting in. If the questions are anything like the questions I was asked at the dentist’s office yesterday, the show will get started very, very late.
danielx
One can only hope he doesn’t stroke out on stage (he says piously).
Actually that would be a really bad scenario.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
beth
@debbie: and we can rely on Trump fans to be truthful. After all, their idol sets such a good example.
My daughter had the virus (recovering now) and never had a fever or cough…just saying.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
PsiFighter37
Sounds like Kilgore Trout secretly likes the taste of shoe leather.
Punchy
@debbie: I can imagine the questions…
1) ever had this hoax virus that’s really just the flu?
2) how much do you love Donny? Bigly or super bigly?
3) how many libtards have you threatened today with your oversized gun and undersized junk?
Kay
If you’re wondering, today’s false police report was about Shake Shack employees intentionally poisoning police officers.
I’ve been looking to find ONE of these outlandish claims that turned out to be true. I’m still at “100% false”
It’s a crime to file a false police report or make a false statement in a police report. Ordinary people are charged with this all across the country, every day, probably hundreds of them. A charge of “falsifying” (any of the many variants of the charge) is a serious problem for ordinary people, because it can affect their ability to borrow money, rent housing, or get a job. Will the officers responsible be charged?
NotMax
As a precaution, all ramps within a half mile in every direction to be removed or hidden from view.
//
Turning to the positive side, a 96-year-old gentlemen in NYC whom I know, hospitalized for over a month after suffering a stroke (found unconscious on the floor in his apartment) PLUS confirmed at the same time as having the virus is now back home.
Jeffro
Did anyone see Dana Milbank’s column in the WaPo about how other countries are legitimately able to open back up, travel, and welcome travelers from other countries since they’ve done so well in crushing their Covid-19 numbers? But not us, so we’re not welcome in those countries.
It’s a ready-made Biden or Lincoln Project ad. Especially since things are about to get so much worse in several states.
”So much for America First…”
Baud
@Kay:
Doesn’t NYPD have an internal affairs department? The TV cop shows make internal affairs look like the cops worst enemy.
Barbara
I am sure there are some people who are predisposed like Trump to seize on any episode of looting or violence they can associate with a protest as a reason to escalate violence against citizens. No matter how much Trump wishes, however, it is not 1968, and his calls for law and order when people don’t feel viscerally threatened seem increasingly desperate. I can’t be the only person who thinks he is actively hoping for violence.
SFAW
@Barbara:
You aren’t
debbie
@Kay:
Look to the FOP.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:You beat me to it Kay, was just gonna post this. Gonna do it anyway.
satby
@NotMax: That’s good news. Wonder if the stroke was a result of the virus’ coagulation effects on the blood.
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
Kay
@Baud:
The milkshakes again. Remember the “concrete milkshakes”?
WTF with these liars and milkshakes? It’s not even an ordinary drink.
Barbara
@Jeffro: Apparently neither Trump nor his supporters have considered the impact of reduced foreign commerce in every sense as an economic hit to the US that will not be offset for a long long time. The governor of Florida might have considered this but he really does seem to be an idiot.
Baud
@Kay: It brings all the boys to the yard?
NotMax
Nixon has become synonymous with “law and order” in ’68 but the way this codger remembers it that emanated more stridently and regularly from the George Wallace campaign.
Kay
@Baud:
You start to understand why they’ve been AWOL on the looting when you realize they’re all investigating milkshake related crime. The false allegation that protestors were throwing concrete made in “ice cream containers” is related to the dairy product crime wave.
PsiFighter37
@Kay: Ironic as well because Shake Shack’s milkshakes are called…concretes.
Baud
@Kay: First they came for the half and half, and I said nothing because I drink my coffee black…..
It’s all wheels within wheels, Kay.
lee
Little tidbit for this morning: Yesterday I was going back and forth on twitter with a green party supporter on the math behind FPTP voting and how a vote for the green party functionally supports Trump in competitive states. Overnight they threw a twit fit and pretty much outed themselves as a Trump supporter.
That makes me wonder how many Trump supporters have decided to mask themselves as green party supporters.
Ken
A possibility, if they don’t fill up those 20,000 seats.
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
Totally different context but flashed back to Godfrey Cambridge.
“Shut up and drink your concrete.”
:)
TS (the original)
@Jeffro:
But it doesn’t take much to get the virus back.
New Zealand ends Covid-free run with two cases from UK
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: A week or so ago there was a picture going around Twitter of REAL LIVE GENUINE cement milkshakes!!! All the people who had dismissed these claims had to immediately retract!
Until somebody explained that those were concrete samples from a construction site, used to test the properties of the cured concrete. It seemed difficult to convince some people of this.
yellowdog
@Ken: The venue hasn’t been used in months. Pity if something’s happened to the air conditioning.
OzarkHillbilly
rikyrah
rikyrah
@Kay:
They lie about everything
rikyrah
So,
The doctor called about me going in for a mammogram.
I was supposed to get it in March, but….
I have a family issue with breast cancer. Been pretty vigilant about getting tested.
But, I am terrified of going into the office ??
I don’t know. I don’t see it getting better-COVID 19, and I don’t want to put it off. I am paranoid about it until I get the results back.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
Say the hall has 10 entrances, and answering the questionnaire delays entry into the hall by 20 seconds. My very rough calculations say 19,000 people (assuming Trump sells the place out) will need around ten more hours to get in and find their places.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Four years ago, I could go anywhere in the world, and did, frequently. That’s been retrenching every year since, and now, I can’t even go to Canada. Were I to lose my passport to a fire, I couldn’t get it replaced.
Four years ago, my working-class clientele could readily pay for my services, and my credit lines would never seize up due to exterior events. I can’t say that now – gross revenues are way off compared to 2016.
Four years ago, I didn’t have to worry daily about the steps my government was taking to make my life more expensive and awful.
Four years ago, while race relations weren’t perfect, we had a government willing to listen to those harmed by injustice and could be expected to move toward an albeit slow, but just solution.
Feathers
As someone who reads lots of mysteries and tried my hand at writing one, I must say the bleach accusation sounded strange. Bleach/chlorine is caustic, so the effects are felt immediately, starting with a burning of the mouth and throat. You don’t get sick, you are injured. It’s instant, so the first cop would be in pain immediately. Why the fuck would the other two then drink their shakes?
Apologies if wrong. My copy of A Writer’s Guide to Poisons didn’t make the cut last time I moved.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
I saw that. The protestors carefully noted the mix ratios on the side of the samples.
You have to WANT to believe these claims. They fall apart under the slightest scrutiny.
I think it’s pathetic that police have to invent these threats – it seems clear to me the objective is to make the job look more dangerous. “Falsifying”, although a misdemeanor, is one of the charges that follow people for years. People go to jury trial on it because their lawyers tell them not to plead or it will become an issue on every rental application, loan application, or job interview. Understandably. The charge is essentially “this person is a liar and cannot be trusted to provide accurate information”
NotMax
@rikyrah
Perhaps I’m naive but seems if there’s anyplace that’s going to be super vigilant about safeguards, it’s a doctor’s office.
(Real doctors that is, not the Dolt 45 quacks.)
Jeffro
@TS (the original): Right…but when you’ve ‘flattened the curve’ right into the ground, you can test/trace/isolate these things, no sweat.
But not here, where we have long since failed our “marshmallow test”.
different-church-lady
@Kay: Childrens’ ice cream, Mandrake!
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
Go. Wear a mask, keep a social distance from others, mind your personal hygiene, but GO. Our other health issues are not taking a break for the pandemic, and we shouldn’t take a break from dealing with them.
Kay
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
My son is freaked out that the US passport is a red flag. He can’t leave Denmark without extraordinary effort and Danes can. His employer regularly sends him to Berlin and now it’s an issue, but just for him, as an American.
I think this is a big story. The Trump Administration is a long decline for the US, but they’ll be a jerking lurch downward periodically and this is one of those times. Every couple of months we drop a couple pegs all at once.
Low quality hires. It all comes back to that. You can’t fix it unless you get rid of them. It will never be good as long as the people involved are so bad.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Depends on the Doctor I think. My recent ER experience was good. The follow up Doc appt, mixed. Good social distancing but the Nurse Practitioner was maskless.
Raven
@Amir Khalid: I’m sitting in the dermatologist office now
Kay
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Trump’s working and middle class supporters don’t travel overseas, but tens of millions of his high income, well educated supporters do. Maybe this will impact them. I hope so.
NotMax
@raven
Spirit, Mr. Skin.
;)
Raven
@NotMax: weird fucking song on12 Dreams
Jeffro
@Barbara: Yes – foreign commerce, Americans’ inability to travel to much of the world without having to quarantine for 14 days, the impact on K-12 schools, seniors realizing that they are essentially sheltering in place in definitely, all of it.
If properly laid at trumpov’s feet all summer and fall, we just might get him down to that fabled 27% support.
Kay
Reality keeps intruding on the Trump Administration. His problem is that while a lot of people ARE invested in perpetuating and promoting his lies, many, many more people are not. And they won’t.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Laurence Tribe should stay within his lane.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Amir Khalid: This is Trump people, you really think they will actually do that or just hand prefilled form to hand in?
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
I think it’s a safe assumption that everyone involved with that spectacle is and will be lying about it.
OzarkHillbilly
Kay
@Jeffro:
I think most of major media and the Trump Administration are way too optimistic on the economy. The federal supports helped a lot, but you can’t get past the fact that for that three months a lot of people and companies weren’t making any money. I feel like once again we have forgotten what an economy is. Apparently it’s difficult to stay tethered to some basic facts, like people have to MAKE money. It has to come from somewhere.
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting Techniques
Everybody’s temperature will be checked.
“Do you have a fever?”
“No.”
“Okay, go on in.”
//
rikyrah
@TS (the original):
Close the borders.
Force Everyone arriving to do a 14 day quarantine before they are allowed into the general public
OzarkHillbilly
I’m gonna go with Richard.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I feel for your son,.but if I am the rest of the world, I am not letting any Americans in.
Period
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Wife thinks it’ll be at least a year, maybe two, before we’re allowed back in Australia and New Zealand.
Timelines on entries to Caribbean countries keep getting pushed back, and with stringent testing, numbers of booked passengers won’t support resuming flights – and Caribbean travel has always been assumed to be the first sector to resume.
Kristine
@rikyrah: I had my rescheduled screening last week. I had to wear a mask. My temp was checked, and I was asked the usual list of questions. They eliminated the changing room step—I changed in the examination room. Tech wore a mask as well.
iirc, you’re in the Chicago area? My exam clinic is part of North Shore. I’m guessing the others are just as thorough. You could call first—if you haven’t already—and ask about their procedure. Best wishes.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Protocols of the Elders of the Internet some time back settled on Kyle.
thalarctosMaritimus
@rikyrah:
In addition to Amir’s excellent advice, see if you can get the first appointment of the day.
Other people won’t have touched the surfaces yet that day. It may not be a huge difference, but it certainly can’t hurt.
dnfree
@Kay: from what I read, the shakes tasted like bleach and the officers were taken to the hospital. The investigation showed no “criminality”. It’s entirely possible that something went wrong in the dishwashing process or that a step was skipped. Remember the old Murphy’s Law corollary, never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Or that’s how I remember it, anyway.
Kay
@rikyrah:
He’s bored in Denmark. I could have told him that. He belongs in Chicago. It’s the perfect city for him. When you find your home, stay there!
I miss him. I hope they move back.
Kay
I’m on a school council and we’re looking at the Covid wreckage. 20% of our students stopped participating in distance learning a month into it. Teachers “lost” many students- their phone contact numbers didn’t work. No one said it but it will be clustered in the low income 50%- the students who were behind to start with.
Absolute disaster.
PsiFighter37
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Australia and NZ – almost certainly won’t be until 2021 at earliest. The governments there will have to do something about screening / tracing if they want to capture the Southern summer season, or else pass decent stimulus to support folks who will have far fewer visitors.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: But but but you can’t shorten Kyle to Dick!
dnfree
@rikyrah: Medical offices seem pretty safe and conscientious right now. I was supposed to have a blood test in an urgent care facility in March, with no appointment, and I wouldn’t do it. I got it done in May and they were making appointments, checking you in the parking lot, and escorting you into the building through one door and out through a different door. No one at all in the waiting room—you wait in your car until called and are taken directly to an exam room.
Anya
@debbie: I saw on twitter that they’ll also take their temperatures. They’ve been hyping the plague rally so much and calming millions of people signed up for it. The vulgarian must need major ego boost. His sagging poll numbers must be causing him to be even more erratic and needy than before.
NotMax
@Kay
He won’t experience authentic Burning Love in Chi-town.
;)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@PsiFighter37:
ScottyfromMarketing never has been accused of being real smart, and to me, demonstrates that sort of smug white boy grudge from having been sacked from Tourism Australia nearly 15 years ago from multiple financial frauds. He’s practically a character from Rake. Besides being a Trumpist evangelical, hes also too stupid to understand good fiscal policy.
I figure New Zealand will support their vendors well.
dnfree
On the temperature checking, it’s a myth that everyone’s normal temperature is near 98.6 F. Mine runs significantly lower than that, in the 97 range or even lower. So if you take my temperature and it shows 99, I have a fever but I would be allowed in. My whole family is like this, and I don’t think it’s rare.
At one place I went, the thermometer they used on my forehead just said “lo”, on multiple tries. The woman kept looking at the thermometer as if it had broken, and I told her it was probably correct.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I like Derek as the male Karen analogue.
StringOnAStick
I sent my passport in for renewal in mid February, I wonder if I’ll ever get it back? Obviously I won’t be using it anytime soon but I want back, I feel nervous without it. At the time I sent it, I figured I was just being super cautious since it didn’t expire until this coming November; now I’m wondering if I’ll have it back by then. It’s put a big kink in my plan to change my last name (after 16 years I want to honor my husband’s family for many reasons) because I’ll have to send it off again, so that project is on hold.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: I like hearing about old people who recover from the virus because our odds are bad. Mr DAW says our odds of getting it are low but if we do, it’s bad.
@lee: “twit fit” LOL
@yellowdog: As I recall, air conditioning can spread the virus in a confined space.
@rikyrah: I also had one postponed from March and got it two weeks ago. I had it at the hospital outpatient clinic and they took great care to keep patients masked and separated. I saw other patients only as I walked past the changing rooms. I’d been worried too, but the results were negative and it’s a load off my mind. I hope that’s what happens for you too.
zeecube
@rikyrah: Schedule your appointment first slot in the morning. I went in last week for an MRI. All employees wearing masks and gloves. While the equipment and room is disinfected between each procedure, it’s likely cleanest at start of day and you as first patient. As for office visits, my physician’s office is only allowing 1 patient in the building at a time. (I wait in the car/outside until called in.) No one in the waiting room.
BruceFromOhio
@rikyrah: MrsFromOhio has been there and done that. Got the port scar she doesn’t hide. She’s had two office visits in the last month, including a mammogram. The screening was very thorough, and everyone (including her) was masked. She was also concerned about close contact in closed spaces. Afterwards, she said her only real challenge was finding a bathroom, as most of the offices in the medical building were closed, and the office she visited did not have guest facilities available.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Is there carpentry involved?
dnfree
Why do we have to use the names of actual people to characterize white privilege? The other day in an online comment I pointed out a factual error to someone, because I’m a very fact-oriented person, and to me it makes a difference. The other party then accused me of nitpicking and not caring about the larger issue of white privilege and asked if she could get me a manager. It can become a facile response.
PsiFighter37
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Morrison is a tool. The Australian Labour Party is almost as incompetent as their British counterparts – the constant backstabbing between Rudd and Gilliard cost them dearly.
That said, I wonder how many people became slightly nervous about visiting Australia given the fires from last time.
Soprano2
@Feathers: A long time ago I had a co-worker who accidentally ate some lye in an ice cream sundae because the dishes were incorrectly stored below where the soap powder was stored. She knew immediately something was wrong because her tongue and throat were burning caustically. So yeah, they would have known immediately something was wrong.
BruceFromOhio
@dnfree: This. I know Karen’s, Kyle’s and Richard’s in real-life, and none fit the characterizations. It’s annoying.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I have to admit that both Kyle and Derrick are whiter than white.
Ken
You have just put more thought into the logistics of this rally than anyone involved, guaranteed.
No, I take that back. The venue may have considered it, but since
I expect they decided to keep quiet and take the money. Though if the Trump campaign sticks to its usual standards, it may be some time before they are paid.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Me too. That was for a trip that was to be taking place right now. We would have been in Leipzig this week.
My wife’s came back ridiculously fast, just two weeks later.
Mine was showing as “In Progress” forever on the online status check. But now it shows as “Not Found”, which as you might imagine has me slightly worried. My old passport which they have, has expired by now.
There’s an email contact and I actually got a response telling me my application is in the system, but I’d feel better if I didn’t keep seeing that “Not Found” message.
Also I don’t have a Real ID, never bothered since I had the passport. That may eventually become kind of an issue.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Why not?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Amir Khalid: They’ve only just begun.
Mike in NC
@Barbara: Trump is just itching to shoot some unarmed demonstrators like they did at Kent State (Nixon called them ‘bums’). It’s just a matter of time since Fat Bastard has picked “Law and Order” as a lifeline. Could be as soon as Saturday when he holds his Tulsa hate rally.
P.S. – Local newspaper today reporting that many local restaurants that reopened around Memorial Day are closing again because many employees are testing positive for the virus.
Good times.
O. Felix Culpa
Cheryl Rofer wrote about the removal of the Oñate statue in Rio Arriba yesterday. That was followed by protests in Albuquerque last night and attempts to remove another Oñate statue there. The New Mexico Civil Guard – a rightwing group – showed up and someone got shot. Our Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s response:
https://www.abqjournal.com/1466626/one-man-shot-during-protest-in-old-town-albuquerque.html
zhena gogolia
@Mike in NC:
Hmmm. I don’t think that’s happened here. But it’s been very careful here, only outdoor dining.
sheila in nc
@Amir Khalid:
@rikyrah: I just had mine. Good protocols. Prescreening by phone. When I arrived, they didn’t like my homemade mask, so they gave me a new surgical mask. Hand sanitizer at the door and two thirds of the seats in the large waiting room blocked off to keep everyone distant. No shared dressing room, just a quick change in the actual exam room, which is resanitized after each patient. Everyone masked. I had no worries.
Amir Khalid
@dnfree:
We discussed this in a thread here not long ago. 98.6°F is the conversion from a worldwide notional norm of 37°C. It’s perfectly normal to have a resting body temperature slightly below that; many people do. I myself usually test at around 35°C to 36°C at the supermarket entrance
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly:
Chad.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Mike in NC: Someone cleverer than me could probably write a verse to “Blowing in the Wind” to capture these oh-so-predictable moments.
How many ICU beds does it take, before they believe it’s for real?
PST
@rikyrah:
I appreciate that way of thinking about Tribe’s remark. I don’t agree with his opinion that his friend and colleague Warren is the best veep choice, but it’s not an outrageous statement. He was consistently clear about how good the African American women on the short list are, and he apologized promptly and without weasel words for using the term cosmetic. I can hardly believe the virulence of the many tweets calling him a racist. Fifty years of good work, such as on one of the briefs for the great new decision on employment discrimination against gay and trans people, doesn’t go up in a puff of smoke with one dumb statement. Tribe is one of the good guys, someone whose brain we need for the next five months.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr. DAW is no slouch when it comes to being correct.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: Oooooooo, that’s good too.
Matt McIrvin
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: MAXIMUM Derek!
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: That’s just what my wife says about me.
PST
@rikyrah:
I had to make four doctor visits Thursday and Friday. I was very impressed with the way these were handled, both at Northwestern Memorial and IBJI. I mention this because I think we are both in Chicago, so it may be a little bit reassuring. All the visits were crappy for one reason or another, but at least I felt safe from contagion. I believe our state, our city, and our medical institutions have handled the COVID-19 crisis as well as anyplace in the country.
Jeffro
Agreed. They act like 13% unemployment is no big deal, or that 60%+ of the population dialing way back on going out to eat, shop, vacation won’t be a huge hit once the ‘relief’ stops (which it’s about to).
Getting our act together for 6-8 weeks this summer, seriously locking down nationwide, getting everyone to wear masks indoors – the cost of that would have been minuscule compared to the money already spent, much less the feeble growth we’re going to have for at least a year. V-shaped recovery – NOT
NotMax
@Ceci n est pas mon nym
If your DMV is open and anywhere near up to speed, you should be able to go in (or make an appointment to go in), with acceptable documents, and update your driver’s license with the magic gold star.
Omnes Omnibus
Because “middle class or above white woman who simultaneously abuses and is unaware of her privilege” takes too long to type.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Something I’ve been noticing this week, all the fight seems to have gone out from Trump. Bullys for you, when the victim fights back the bully rolls up and cowers.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
If we’re going the route of suggesting names, Biff.
Emma from FL
@dnfree: They attributed it to malice. The police union was all over the place with righteous pr bulletins.
billcoop4
Male equivalent of Karen?
Brett.
BC
TS (the original)
@rikyrah:
Which is what they were doing in NZ – and then for compassionate reasons they broke the rule. IF we are going to recover from this virus taking over our lives it needs 100% rules that are followed. Even where it has been eliminated – if the rules are broken, back it comes. The plane carrying the ladies to NZ touched down in my state of Australia – which is also almost covid-free but not doing as well as New Zealand.
It is hard to imagine when the US will be able to declare itself covid-free – although I did listen to Cuomo yesterday (or maybe the day before) and he was congratulating NY (and himself) on how their numbers continue to go down, while many other states are going up.
Amir Khalid
Some good news from Britain. Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has succeeded in persuading PM Boris Johnson to extend into the summer school holidays a free lunch voucher programme for poor children. BoJo had extended the programme for the Easter break, but wasn’t going to extend it again at the end of the school year. Rashford, who grew up in a poor family himself, has been raising money during the pandemic to provide food aid to poor families.
Matt McIrvin
@Amir Khalid: I’ve long thought of that as the prime example of fake precision, where the number of decimal places retained gives a misleading impression of how precise the value is.
Immanentize
@Jeffro: V shaped economic recovery required serious inverted V shaped infection rates. Oh well.
It seems I will be ordered to teach f2f this fall semester. I am not happy at all.
Tenar Arha
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ll never make common cause with her because of her disgusting enabling of fascism, but she’s 100% Jewish. She did the full conversion mikvah & everything else. She’s Jewish. Her kids are 100% Jewish, & they could even become Israeli citizens if they wanted to be treated as doubly jumped up parvenus. (Because even if American Jewish people have layers of problems around conversion, Israelis are infinitely worse as they don’t view all conversions as valid).
ETA The second part of being a parvenu is she’s inescapably DJT’s daughter now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tenar Arha: I wouldn’t know one way or the other. Slava being Jewish my assumption is that he is more sensitive to these things than I.
Betty
@dnfree: Why drink it if it tasted like bleach? You spit it out at the first taste!
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
But the scansion is askew for “Hey, 37.”
:)
Jinchi
He’s not just hoping, he has literally ordered it. He was very proud of ‘dominating’ the protesters outside the White House when he went for his short stroll across the street to hold a bible.
TS (the original)
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Describes him so well. he actually did well with the financial aid/stimulus at the beginning of COVID-19 but is now desperate to withdraw all the financial aid and open up the country. He is wildly annoyed with the states that still have control at their borders re other states & attacks their premiers non stop. He wants interstate & interNZ tourism sooner rather than later – which could well cause both countries grief.
I think the opening up of business/activities in Australia is going too fast so can’t imagine what is happening in the US. Can only hope that Trump’s rally/rallies wake a few more state governors up about what he is doing to the country.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty: Never having drank bleach, I have no idea what it tastes like. Absent any immediate reactions my initial response would be, “This tastes kinda funny.” Unless it tasted horrific of course.
Jinchi
That would be hilarious considering they’ve claimed to have had 800,000 tickets ordered.
Denali
My son lives and works in Hungary(I know) and we cannot visit him or our two granddaughters. This is a situdation we never anticipated in 2007 when he first went there to work and Hungary was a new member of the EU and looking for economic boosts. The future simply cannot be imagined. We are updating our will, and he is the executor- a task he simply could not fulfill right now.
NotMax
@Jinchi
Perhaps they’ll attempt to take a cue from Spanish fútbol.
And flub it up royally.
“My God, aren’t those colorized crowd shots from Triumph of the Will?
;)
Kay
Cannot catch a break even with his own (gross) outlet who call themselves “American Greatness”
These people. Just the name clues you in they’re horrible.
Barbara
@Jeffro: More to the point, the inability of people to travel to warm and/or interesting places in the U.S. — from the UK to Florida or from France to Yellowstone and the Arches. I was struck by how many French people I ran into when I visited those places. Even people who never travel frequently count on others traveling to where they live and work.Whether it’s Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon no one is going to visit if the price is a 14 day quarantine on the back end. And that’s not even counting the impact on foreign investment.
ETA: If you want to visit the Rockies this year from somewhere foreign, maybe you will go to Jasper or Banff in Canada instead. I sometimes can’t believe how many people in the US take so much for granted.
Ken
@Jinchi: Tulsa’s population is 200,000 and Oklahoma’s 4 million. Somebody’s messing with the numbers. I suspect a combination of people falsely registering to troll the event, and the usual lies from anything associated with Trump.
If they do have over 40 times as many tickets ordered as there are seats, are they telling visitors that when new tickets are ordered? Silly question of course, since the point of their website is to gather names of potential donors.
Tenar Arha
@OzarkHillbilly: LOL True. Sorry. I’m just making sure that all us jackals understand converts are 100% Jewish.
(Unfortunately Slava is being openly wrong on the Twitter, which means their mentions are already full from airing their wrong doctrinal opinion. Especially bc if they say Ivanka isn’t Jewish how do you think POC converts get treated?)
Kay
I love that the rocks on the hippie bus were “amethyst crystals”.
NotMax
@Barbara
Didn’t occur to me before but there used to be several companies which specialized in bringing foreign youngsters to the U.S. to work as summer camp counselors.
Dunno if there are still as many but for any left I imagine this year’s business isn’t enough to keep the lights on.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: & @PST: Not anywhere near Chicago, but this morning, I took care of the first routine medical appointment that has come up for us since the quarantine began: taking Badger in for his shots, etc. I was worried about it but came away impressed by the processes they had in place to keep everything sanitized, minimize contact, etc. I assume medical facilities for humans are at least as diligent if not more so! Badger looked worried, but we’re fine! :)
zhena gogolia
@Tenar Arha:
I’m not impressed with Slava.
artem1s
@lee:
It’s rampant in Ohio. the Green Party is left over Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich supporters who favored those candidates because they essentially were silent on race relations and womens’ rights. And big on the things that matter most to those white males left standing around after the 60/70’s civils rights movement wound down – no draft; more weed; free college for them; let the states decide everything else. Their platforms were designed to attract privileged white kids with a modicum of college education. Just smart enough to know how to use the internet and market to donors just like them. Too dumb to understand that those platforms were designed by lifelong politicians who would never stick their necks out enough to lose their seats – big on sound bites and no substance whatsoever. And their small donor grift goes on and on and on as they fail time after time to win any delegates in their Presidential campaigns. The national Green Party has been a joke since Nadar who invented the long con Presidential campaign grift; who got a little too greedy for the limelight in 2000 and stuck us with a never ending chain of con men and Steins ready and willing to take up the ’cause’ and keep the grift going.
Jinchi
I suspect it’s so that Trump can claim to have had rallies with ‘nearly a million’ people.
NotMax
@Jinchi
“There’s over a million more people lined up outside who we couldn’t fit in.”
Count on it. (Camera shot shows parking lot with a few random knots of people milling about.)
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: My vet makes you stand outside (or sit in your car, I just happen to walk) and they come out and take your pet inside with them and then bring them back out when they are done. No one is allowed in. They will call you on your cellphone if you want to be “present.” Maybe the fact that one of the owners is from New Zealand has had an impact. And of course, they or their staff could have medical issues that I would not have any idea about.
PST
@Betty Cracker: When I took Bernie in for shots a couple of weeks ago only pets were allowed in. We made the transfer out on the sidewalk, with masks. Good thing Bernie loves the vet, but she still jumped up and put her paws on my shoulders when she came out, something she’s never done before (fortunately).
Omnes Omnibus
@artem1s: If the Green Party wants to be seen as a serious party, they should start running candidates for election in local races on local issues in cities that would be friendly to them. They could run to left of Democrats in cities like Madison, WI where the majority of voters are well to the left of center. The fact that they don’t is a sign.
Betty Cracker
@Barbara: & @PST: We had that option too. When we set up the appointment last week, the vet asked me to call from the parking lot when we arrived and said they could take Badger in and return him to the car when they were done or that I could come in with him as long as I wore a mask.
I opted to accompany him. He tends to act up at the vet’s, and I figured my presence would be a comfort. I didn’t encounter anyone but the vet and the tech, both wearing masks. It felt really safe to me, the way they handled it.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: San Miguel County (where Telluride is) had one Green Party elected official – County Commissioner Art Goodtimes, poet, raconteur, mushroom festival devotee. And a good public servant, from all I can tell, altho’ like most other Greens he ran to cranky anti-Democrat BS during the ’16 election, which made me lose a bit of respect for him (but then, I lost even more respect for so many white lefties round about that time). Certainly, however, I give him props for being the only Green I’ve ever met who actually did the work of running for local office, and then did the actual work of governing.
bluefoot
@OzarkHillbilly: Some people call that a “Chad.” But I think we should go with “Brett” as the male Karen, like Brett Kavanaugh. His entitlement, and his reaction when questioned is the epitome of that sort of attitude.
ETA: I see billcoop4 got there before I did.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay:
In what way is the American passport a liability? I don’t think you need a visa to travel to Denmark if you have an American passport.
schrodingers_cat
@Barbara: Our vet did the same thing when we had to take our kitteh for blood work.
Baud
Via Reddit, funny.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Maybe a little warning next time. I was having breakfast. Was. Bastard.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
A little late for breakfast. You sleeping in these days?
Peale
@Matt McIrvin: It’s just silliness. This idea that there needs to be secret manufacturing sites for things to hurl at policemen in cities. Like there’s ever a brick and rock or even a tomato shortage. But that’s what we’ve come to. You can have almost any number of automatic weapons and explosives in a cache and not much can be done. But loose bricks sink ships.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I was working out before. I didn’t have anything on my calendar until 11:00 today.
artem1s
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
They probably will have an online form when you RSVP. no actual questions on site. In any case, I have never been to a political rally that didn’t start a good hour after getting in the hall. Usually that time is filled with music and lower level pols speaking about the main candidate. If they actually have a screening it’s only going to mean people inside packed together for an even longer period. And you know that Vain Asshat isn’t going to make an appearance until the hall is packed. They’ve weaponized their Super Spreader event.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: In normal circumstances you don’t, but many countries have travel/quarantine restrictions based on where you’re coming from or what country you’re a national of.
Ukraine, for instance, doesn’t normally require a visa of US passport holders, but now they have entry restrictions based on each country’s *per-capita* rate of infection. The US, unsurprisingly, is in the world’s top 5. So if I were to enter with a US passport I’d have to quarantine, and they have very firm checks on that.
So, yes, a US passport is in many cases a liability now.
Jeffro
If you have any sort of condition that would make you higher-risk that the general population, and medical documentation of that condition, your institution almost certainly has to let you teach remotely or work in some other capacity. Everyone’s legal offices (whether in higher ed or K-12) are going into overdrive trying to get this across to policy makers.
Good luck.
Jeffro
@Barbara: Yes. As a country, for potential vacationers, we have all the appeal of a cruise ship right now. It’s sad.
It’s the Covid-19 equivalent of what trumpov & Co did to our extremely lucrative foreign college student influx. But then again, it’s no surprise – everything trumpov touches turns to crap.
schrodingers_cat
NY primary for Eliot Engel is going to be interesting. HRC just endorsed him while his challenger was endorsed by AOC, BS and EW.
Another test for the roses and the so called “progressives” we will see if they can green tea party their way in the leadership.
*Sits by the sidelines with a huge bowl of popcorn
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: Got it thanks!
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Badger is ADORABLE :)
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Was wondering if you saw the letter by 100 people urging Biden to make EW his VP.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: He is right to be worried, nothing good happens at the vet. He has such an expressive face.
BTW blog fper goddess, can we has a thread to discuss politics and things that are not necessarily uplifting.
cain
@Barbara:
I’ve been talking about that back in April or so. None of us are going to be welcome, our U.S. passports will be useless because our federal govt is useless. As soon as these businesses realize that travel is either going to be very burdensome or non-existent if you are a U.S. citizen it is going to cause a lot of heart burn.
Trump’s response is just more grievance peddling – he has no solutions. HIs party has no solutions. They will give the 1% a tax cut though! I’m sure that will fix the commerce problem for business!
cain
Huh.. for me Nixon was synonymous for crook with some benefits.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
Look who the gov of FL supports, strongly. Can’t be too sharp with that on your record. He’s just proving it.
mad citizen
@dnfree: I agree with you dnfree. Using “Karen” is no different in terms of right or wrong as any other derogatory shorthand term.
Jeffro
In the next Open Thread, I wanna talk about this report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century.
It’s excellent. The only thing it is missing is higher requirements for the presidency, and the only thing that sucks about it is a passing favorable mention of David Brooks. Which, granted, was almost a deal-breaker. But still. =)
(h/t to Jen Rubin for mentioning it before moving on to her next slam of the GOP)
Barbara
@Jeffro: As Paul Waldman said in the WaPo in what might as well be the defining epithet for Trump: “Any problem he didn’t create he made worse.”
Gary K
You have to admire the delicacy of substituting the word “message” there.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
actual Nu@NotMax: Odd, the actual Nuremburg stadium was meant to hold “only” 400,000. Leave it to Trumpov to try to outdo Hitler.
CaseyL
@Ken:
I saw an ad for actors (particularly Black folks) to fill out the arena, and I wonder how much of a response they’ll get. Will economic desperation overcome concerns about getting sick?
Also: interesting that they feel a need to pay people to attend. I thought people were lining up to get tickets!
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: I. Drink. Your. CEMENT MIXER! I drink it up!
Geminid
When I hear that there are 800,000 reservations for the Tulsa rally, I can’t help thinking that there is one set of trump campaign people generating hundreds of thousands of requests made to another group of campaign staffers. May be another example of trump and his people spoofing themselves.
Bill Arnold
@Barbara:
He is. It is part of the far-right-wing playbook; deliberately stoke disorder, then run on law-and-order.
Doesn’t work as well as it used to even a few years ago. Now many/most influence operations (which can include government actions) are analyzed in real-time. Maybe not always well, but the narratives being pushed are countered early, including in parts of the press. We need to encourage this throughout the leadup to the election, while strongly encouraging intellectual rigor – it is far too easy to pollute the minds of Americans with fictional narratives.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: BADGER! ♥️
Just One More Canuck
@Barbara:
don’t count on Canada opening up to tourism from the US this summer
Miss Bianca
@Just One More Canuck: Altho’ the border is now open, yes? Two of my former neighbors are headed up to family in BC as of late last week.
Origuy
@rikyrah: My housemate is medically complicated, and I’ve had to go with her to several doctor’s appointments since the lockdown. This is at Stanford Medical Center. The usually routine is to get a temperature check, answer questions about your health and possible exposure, and get a fresh mask if you are wearing a cloth mask. Like at the grocery store, there are marks on the floor indicating where to stand. Many of the seats are removed or blocked off. Generally, no visitors are allowed. I think they are doing everything they can.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: Every day you wait, there’s more infected people out there. Do it now. You won’t be able to by September, I’m betting (I’m trying to get in to see my dentist ASAP for the same reasons)
Bill Arnold
@Kay:
Well, to be fair, the police are focused on anti-police protests. They have their priorities. (That focus gets some of them overtime pay, as a bonus.)
Geminid
@Geminid: actually, probably not staffers, but contractors.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
She is Jewish because she studied and worked to convert, so she could marry the “wealthy real estate magnate” who fathered her children. Mr. Kushner, who needed to sell the security of the United States to an Arab soverign wealth fund to save his horrible and inept investment in 666 Park Avenue.