I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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JULY 10, 2020
Kuttner on TAP
Donald, It's Not About You
Trump looks at every issue through the lens of whether it makes him look good or bad. And he projects this premise onto his critics. Thus, the Democrats are delaying school openings in order to make him look bad.
As the Twit-in-Chief tweeted, "The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families."
Actually, the nation's governors, mayors, and school officials (many of them Republicans) are trying to balance agonizing choices. On the one hand, kids need face-to-face learning. And their parents rely on schools as safe places for their children while they go to work.
On the other hand, a reversion to normal school schedules obviously isn't safe.
Trump isn't making these awful trade-offs any easier. He's denying schools extra funding in the face of a collapse of state and local revenues. And he's doing nothing to relieve the extra pressure on child care systems, as more learning is necessarily done remotely.
So this is not about Democrats trying to make Trump look bad. It's about doing what's safe for America's kids, in dire circumstances.
One thing, however, is about Trump—the election. And it takes no extra help from Democrats for Trump to look bad. He achieves that all by himself.~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy.0 -
He loves passing his kind of love....a disease!
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The problem is that for those dummies who do opt to attend the RNC they are returning to states that have 14 day quarantine rules in effect for states identified as "hot spots". Florida is defintely a "hot-spot and your governor needs to go. He's an idiot. Who will re-enforce the quarantines since many will opt to go maskless at the RNC? I do not care if they opt to "mask it or casket" but I am concerned that if our numbers are down, then there will be a serious spike on their return. We will never get out of the first phase at this rate.
As far as DT having an outdoors convention. His orangeness would melt and I don't care how much hair spray or gel he uses, his hair will disintegrate into a droopy tangle. I guess he can control it with his MAGA hat to some extent. Women who wear the same hairstyle for decades meet with criticism and are told how it "dates" them. Can we say the same about his since it seems to be a lifetime hair style and unchanged since before his marriage to Ivana?
It is pouring rain here and we desperately needed the rain. It has been very dry lately with high heat and humidity. After an over 8 month delay, the contractors are starting to repair the damage to the house that occurred on Halloween. They are finishing work on replacing half the roof struts and beams. Once they finish enclosing that end of the house, the A/C guy may get permission to start work. So we have no A/C yet and there have been days where I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West melting into a puddle of sweat. Not sure what the timeline is until completion because we have multiple ceilings that need to be replaced as well as windows, gutters, etc. This wait seems longer than either of my pregnancies and in a less than 2 weeks, I would be at term. Haven't seen some of my belongings that are being stored offsite for over 8 months including clothing, furniture from the master bedroom and living room and contents from those rooms are either offsite or stored in boxes throughout the remaining house. Never thought it would require living like this for so long.
Hope everyone has a pleasant weekend.
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New Hampshire would be having a huge party over this, if not for its due to the virus and no one showing up.
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So another great Friday night dump night.
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Might be rating that IQ a bit on the high side here.
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Some days I want to think someone made this up --- except I know it is the orange loon through and through.
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What do you make of the coronavirus? My two sisters older than me in their sixties flew to Atlanta and back to Ohio several times in the past couple months. While in Atlanta they went shopping with my sister’s two year old grandson. They had a birthday party for him with numerous neighbors and kids in attendance. Then one sister had a 4th of July party here with about 20 people. She's having another party on the 25th for the grandchild of her friend with all ages attending. My niece plans to fly in from Atlanta with her two year old for the party, No ones getting sick.
My neighbors go to Lowe's and church and elsewhere. When getting grocery pickup, I see most people going into Walmart, no masks. Getting bloodwork at Express Care, same thing. I see people everywhere going about doing stuff and acting like there's no coronavirus. They aren't getting sick. There are 26 active cases in my county of about 65,000. I take oral chemo so I practice all the guidelines. But at times I feel like I am about the only one.
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Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting. -JohannWolfgang Von Goethe
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Divine, I do think there are pockets where the virus has just not been brought in enough to get a true foothold. I actually think all those people you've talked about are fortunate. I would feel a big risk -- but then my motto about sooo many things has been " rather safe than sorry". It is hard to see soooo many people apparently un-concerned. I do wonder if some of them may not totally believe the danger. When I went to get my hair done -- social distancing was being practiced, but no masks. I sort of felt my friend was not totally sold that we here had to be so worried. We do -- it is such an insidious thing. I won't feel safe till their is something ( vaccine ) pharmaceutical to help you get well without harsh after effects or not get it at all. Going to be awhile so I'll play it safe.
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Divine, Some people play Russian roulette for a while before losing. I'm with you. I'm not taking any chances given my age and health. Our rate here is 50.3 per 10,000 residents. Seems small when you look at it, but if you get it it's 100%. They haven't found a spike here from the protests. All the photos in Seattle show 98% wearing a mask while demonstrating.
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DivineMrsM I'm glad you brought this up. It's certainly related to our political situation.
TO EVERYONE ON THIS THREAD: I love this thread, although I rarely post on it. However, I feel supported in my values by checking it occasionally!
Because of a lung issue, I'm in a high-risk-if-I-get-Covid (=likely to be one of the people who dies). Recent research confirms
- lots of cases (30-60% is one guess) are from transmission by asymptomatic people
- masks help
- distance of about 10' is pretty safe/good, 6' is okay, less is not okay
- sharing inside air at a close distance with lots of time+exposure is how most people get it
- also via HVAC circulation, unfortunately
- being outside 10' apart is probably fine (I don't wear a mask outside when I'm 10' apart from someone, visiting in the yard, because air circulation disperses molecules. I hope. I think. )
- it's Russian Roulette, for sure, since some people barely get sick, and others die
- More and more 'sequelae' (=after you recover, new issues and problems) are being identified: neurological, cognitive, circulatory, organ issues....
- The 'immunity tests' are unregulated and unreliable and not in evidence-based-medicine protocols as a result---this is due to FDA's hands being tied by the federal government---definitely political reasons for this messy problem
Borders are porous. People travel, so one neighborhood or region or county or zip code or state that has few cases might have a lot of new ones tomorrow. This has definitely happened all over the NW, where I live.
I have read recent interviews with epidemiologists ---one said she'd get on an airplane 'only if there were a gun to my head' right now.
Until we have a vaccine, or a ton of available testing + tracing, or a really good treatment, or cases drop down to zero or close to it, we're all still at risk.
My son-in-law is an ER doc. He guides me to be ultra careful. He is intubating patients, seeing the worst of this, as are several other friends of mine who are ICU docs and ER and ICU RN's. It's hard to have an invisible enemy. It's hard to have a global emergency when national leadership isn't setting things up to save more lives. It's hard to have a whole sector of our country that disbelieves science.
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Same here in LA, Wrenn44. My youngest daughter took part in a couple of protests and she told me that they were all wearing masks, social distancing and there were people in the crowds with hand sanitizer for anyone who wanted it. They were well organized and thoughtful.
Both my daughters are new teachers, so I really appreciate all of the information our experienced teachers, Ruthbru and exbrnxgirl, share. It's a crazy time to be teaching, but hopefully our small, progressive district will do the right things to protect them and their students.
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I have to rant a little bit about Trump his threats about opening schools, and sending all the kids back inside a building.
I am horrifically anguished about the children who are being 'left behind' when schools aren't operating. Those include children of social dysfunction, poverty, who might live with abuse, neglect and food insecurity. All of this is what public schools have always helped with, in various ways. I am retired now, but I taught public school for 37 years.
In every district, every building, there are many adults who are in the 'high risk' category. Will they end up being bullied into risking their lives, going back into crowded environments with poor ventilation, scant access to hand-washing? The horror of this situation is unspeakable. As is the terrible and tragic truth that without schools being open, the cracks in our society's separation of the Haves and the Have Nots widens to an ever more horrific chasm.
All public school districts that I'm acquainted have met these challenges with enormous commitment and a can-do attitude. They are continuing to deliver food boxes, checking in with vulnerable kids, and this spring, they all delivered Hot Spots and Chrome Books to homeless kids wherever they lived, including in cars. Paid electricity and phone plan bills. Helped families through all manner of pandemic crises.
The government seems to be able to bail out corporate giants. But, not schools? The money it takes to figure out distancing solutions, run more buses, figure out staggered schedules, add more staff, accommodate disabled children, and keep the adults safe, will be a huge economic cost, for sure. Other countries are managing this because their new cases % is lower, and due to national investment in physical infrastructure (plexiglass shields, etc.) and other support.
All my teacher and professor friends are resourceful and committed, and they all worked many extra hours all spring to make education as successful as possible. There is no simple answer, but a candid discussion about how many adults should die, in order for us to open schools needs to be in the conversation.
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HikingLady, you make a good point. “It's hard to believe an invisible enemy."
My sisters don't allow me any special treatment. Meaning, even tho I deal with metastatic breast cancer, so what. In addition, one sister's son who graduated medical school last year is interning at a WV hospital. Where he's at, COVID numbers are very low so he's not sounding any alarm. The two sisters, who adore him, use that as sort of ammunition that the virus is no big deal. You know.....because his word is gospel. (I'm super proud of him, went to his graduation, etc., He is not arrogant in any way at all; it's my sisters' attitude that gags me. On a personal note, this is a control thing with the sisters. They pressured me to go to the 4th picnic—I did not. They want me to do what they tell me. They want that power. Big boundary issues.)
The school situation is overwhelming. I cannot imagine how it's all going to work out. One local school leader mentioned kids wearing masks when they were in the hallways and taking them off in class. Um, kids lose pencils, papers, books, jackets, you name it. A class of 25 elementary age kids (multiplied by classrooms across the U.S.) all keeping track of their masks on top of everything else? And what happens when teacher gets the virus? All kids in the class quarantined at home 14 days? Are subs who get less pay, no benefits and are not represented by a union going to come in to work the schools? How will this work?
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DivineMrsM your moniker on this site is so great!
A quick search to see how Ohio is doing on daily new covid cases shows that three weeks ago, it was usually around 300 per day, and the past week or so, more like 1000 per day. Obviously, the risk is much higher than a few weeks ago. That's true for all of us, since people are traveling around quite a bit now.
That's really rough that your sisters are so cavalier about this. You'll just have to do what is right for you, and accept the fact that they have a different mindset about this than you do.
I haven't read anything that supports the idea that parties and gatherings are really a safe thing to do. The more people, the more risk, even outside, even distanced. I feel comfortable at teensy outdoor gatherings with just 3-4 people total, staying quite far apart. As your situation vividly shows, other people aren't necessarily making decisions with our best interests at heart.
It's so different from any other risk we've ever had to weigh in our lives. We might UNKNOWINGLY transmit it to someone who could die from it, and we might die from it ourselves. There's just no knowing. So, I really think it's a question of watching out for each other, and doing whatever we can to keep each other safe!
In Oregon, the governor has said to wear masks inside public spaces. In Portland, most people do and some don't. I just stay 15' away from those people, and I avoid places where this rule is being ignored. A large portion of our state's big outbreaks have been either at care facilities (!!! horrible---), and because of social gatherings with quite a few people sharing air space.
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My county has mandated mandatory masks inside any building. Spookie groomer won’t even let you come inside her shop, mask required for curbside service. But our wonderful R gov won’t require masks state wide. Ass.
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Trish, I have no clue as to what schools should do. Teachers, probably more than anyone else, would LOVE to be back in the classroom. It's all the fun and excitement, and the Field Days, and group projects, and pep rallies, and band concerts, and class competitions etc. etc. that make our job fun. But how, at this moment, can any of that happen? It would be nice to have a president and Secretary of Education who were empathic to how HARD this is and would be leading the effort to find solutions instead of threatening to cut off the money. I wonder if Betsy DeVos would be willing to walk into a classroom for 8 hours every day, or Donald would be willing to send Baron off to a school with no protection in class. Maybe they should have to put their money where their mouth is. I still sub at my old school and love it; but, although I will keep my name on the list, I don't plan to go in until I have a better idea how things play out. The only plus for new teachers is that they grew up in the world of technology so will be better able to adapt to online learning (or whatever plan states come up with and/or have to switch to) than someone who has been teaching 25 years.
Divine, don't let anyone bully you into doing something you aren't comfortable with. They can pooh-pooh it all they want but no one can have the slightest clue as to how their body will react. North Dakota has lots of testing & (so far) a low transmission rate; but I always wear a mask indoors, shop early in the day & only when I really need something (and turn around go home if a store's parking lot is too full), I've eaten outside at restaurants only twice (during off hours), and anything I've done with even a few people has been outdoors. When this is under control, I really want to be around to do some more of the things on my Bucket List! AND, I for sure, want to be alive to VOTE in November!! I'd say that cautious people are the smart people at this particular time in history.
Here's what someone put on Facebook, addressed to people whining about wearing masks:
"If you believe masking has anything to do with what Trump says, government control, or politics in general, raise your hand. Real high. Like, on your tippy toes as high as you can.
Now, as hard as you possibly can, bring that hand down and slap the absolute shit out of yourself. Repeat as necessary until you've slapped the stupid out."
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trishyla,
Are your daughters teaching in public schools in CA? Our union, the California Teacher’s Association (CTA) is awesome and is really focusing on teacher health and safety issues
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If these Governors ( DeSantis is not the only one ) insist on insanity like this, they should be held responsible for the results of their actions. What good can you claim if you close adult arenas and leave kids out in the cold. Knowing of course, those adults around them will be impacted along with their own families, friends, and whomever else they may interact with along the way.
Do these Governors actually ( yes, I know they could ) expect to be re-elected? I know Trump could too, but I do keep hearing about an actual blue tsunami as things are going and Trump hasn't done much of anything to reverse that. In fact, he is off the rails so often I'm not sure he would listen long enough to anyone to make many attempts to do different helpful strategies. He is so hell bent on payback. I just think those that continue to kiss up are taking a huge chance which by the day looks worse.
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Thanks, everyone, for your support with my sisters dilemma. It truly helps!
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Divine - In Montreal we have reduced the size of the outbreak, but as more places open, we are experiencing more infections. It is so frustrating when people don't think they are at risk of being infected and spreading it.
Here was a former Trump supporter in Ohio who thought masks were a big hype and went out to bars all through June. I say former because he just died of covid-19 at the ripe old age of 37.
https://www.insider.com/ohio-man-veteran-died-coro...
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While I do feel sorry that his stupidity resulted in his death and at such a young age, this will help others realize that poor decisions can result in poor outcomes. He is not the first to die because he opted not to wear a mask, considered Covid 19 a "hoax" thanks to our feckless leader and now leaves a family and friends to mourn him. Hope they do not label him a "victim" because the true victims are those he willfully exposed to Covid.
The one mask that said "mask it or casket" is oh so true. So if you do not like a mask, you most certainly will not like a ventilator.
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July 9, 2020
Jul 10
Today was a big news day, so this is longer than usual. Sorry about that.
The day began with three Supreme Court decisions.
The first is a major victory for indigenous peoples. In a 5-4 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, the court upheld the claim of the Creek Nation that a large chunk of Oklahoma, including much of Tulsa, remains a reservation for the purposes of criminal prosecutions. This means that natives on the land cannot be tried by state court; they must be tried in tribal or federal courts. While this will affect state convictions of Creeks, tribal leaders say it will have little impact on non-natives.
Oklahoma had argued that while Congress had initially established a reservation for the Creeks, it had ended that reservation when it pushed Creek individuals onto their own farms in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But Congress had never explicitly gotten rid of the reservation. Neil Gorsuch joined the majority and wrote the decision, saying "Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word."
The decision details the history of U.S. and Creek interactions, and notes that the federal government often went back on the promises it made to the Native Americans. The decision holds the federal government to the treaties it negotiated with the Creeks, and as such, the decision has the potential to affect a number of other conflicts in which federal agreements were overruled by other state or federal actions, but were never explicitly ended. The decision certainly has the potential to apply to four other reservations in eastern Oklahoma whose histories mirror that of the Creek lands.
The other two decisions handed down today concerned whether or not Congress and a New York prosecutor could gain access to Trump's financial records from before he became president. Trump's lawyers had argued that a president could not be investigated while in office, no matter what crimes he might have committed. A 1973 Department of Justice memo established that presidents could not be indicted while in office, but Trump's lawyers have pushed this concept to say that a president cannot be investigated, either.
The Supreme Court disagreed. By a vote of 7-2, in Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court upheld a criminal subpoena issued by Cyrus Vance, Jr. of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on behalf of a grand jury that wanted financial records to look into hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and a Playboy model Karen McDougal. In an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court rejected the argument that a president cannot be investigated for a crime. "In our judicial system," Roberts wrote, "'the public has a right to every man's evidence.' Since the earliest days of the Republic, 'every man' has included the President of the United States." Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
The decision left room for Trump to challenge the subpoenas on specific grounds, and it is likely he will do so, but he has lost the main point.
Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, involved whether Congress had a right to investigate the president. Three House committees-- the House Committee on Financial Services, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the House Intelligence Committee-- issued subpoenas to Trump's accountants and bankers for financial information relating to money laundering and foreign interference in U.S. elections. Trump had sued Mazars to stop the firm from handing over the information.
Again by a 7-2 vote, with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting, the court decided that Congress did, in fact, have the right to subpoena information from the president, but because Congress had to observe the separation of powers, the conditions under which Congress subpoenaed presidential information must be limited to legitimate lawmaking needs rather than attempts at law enforcement. The court sent the case back to lower courts for further review to consider whether the subpoenas met the criteria required to preserve the separation of powers.
The Supreme Court noted that Congress and the president had always in the past found a way to resolve their differences over issues of subpoenas, and that "this dispute is the first of its kind to reach the Court," so the justices wanted to be careful not to mess up a system that had worked well for 200 years (and yes, it sure seems like there's a dig at Trump there).
Curiously, the decisions give more leeway to state prosecutors than to Congress in investigating a president.
It is not clear that either case will force the production of Trump's financial documents before the election, although that production is not impossible if the lower courts, which will now see reworked subpoenas, move quickly. Law professors and former government lawyers Neal Katyal and Joshua A. Geltzer argued in the Washington Post today that such speed was both possible and likely.
Still, the decisions are huge. Trump has argued that the president is untouchable. The Supreme Court, including two of Trump's own appointees, has repudiated his argument entirely.
After the decisions were announced, Trump melted down on Twitter. "The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!.... Courts in the past have given "broad deference". BUT NOT ME!" He took shots at South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a key supporter who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, for not prosecuting members of the Obama administration for allegedly committing crimes against him.
Former federal prosecutor and legal commentator Renato Mariotti responded: "No court has ever held that a president was 'immune' to a grand jury subpoena or Congressional subpoena. Your lawyers raised absurd arguments that were soundly rejected by seven out of the nine Supreme Court justices, including two justices you appointed."
Phew! But that was not all that happened today.
Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman testified today before the House Judiciary Committee about the circumstances surrounding his firing. Berman said that Attorney General William Barr had pressured him to resign on June 18, offering him a number of other government positions and warning him that if he did not take one of the other jobs, he would be fired and his career wounded. When Berman refused, in the interests of continuing the cases on which his office was working, Barr simply announced on June 19 that Berman had resigned. Barr seemed desperate to install a new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Democrats in Congress will want to know why.
Also today, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee and took a stand against the Confederate flag, Confederate statues, and Confederate names on U.S. Army bases, in strong opposition to Trump. Talking of those Confederate generals whose names are now on U.S. bases, Milley said, "those officers turned their back on their oath…. It was an act of treason, at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the US Constitution."
At the same hearing, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed that he had, in fact, been informed that Russia had offered money to Taliban fighters to kill American and allied troops in Afghanistan, so it was not a "hoax," as the president has insisted. While Esper tried hard to speak carefully enough that he did not antagonize the president, defense officials have told CNN that both Esper and Milley are worried that Trump is politicizing the military, and are determined not to let him drag it into the election campaign.
It appears Trump's position is weakening. This week, a number of Republican senators announced they were taking a pass on the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, next month, and this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that he, too, might skip it. Earlier this week, his spokesman had said that McConnell "has every intention" of attending the convention, but last week, a Republican source told Reuters that unless Trump's performance improved by August, McConnell might have to advise Republican Senate candidates to keep their distance from Trump in order to try to hold on to the Republican majority in the Senate.
It seems that McConnell might be making that call earlier than expected.
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He died at home. No vent for him. He went quickly, but not pleasantly.
I have no sympathy for him. He chose to risk death and lost. I'm frustrated that he carelessly helped the virus spread.
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