Sep 02 2020

Blue Flu

As it turns out, Joe Biden said a true thing.

Covid-19 has killed more police officers this year than all other causes combined, data shows
By Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post
September 2, 2020

In a speech this week in Pittsburgh, Joe Biden linked the Trump administration’s mismanagement of the coronavirus to its handling of protests and riots with a surprising statistic: “More cops have died from covid this year than have been killed on patrol,” he said.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s claim is true, according to data compiled by the Officer Down Memorial Page and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, two nonprofits that have tracked law enforcement fatalities for decades.

As of Sept. 2, on-the-job coronavirus infections were responsible for a least 100 officer deaths, more than gun violence, car accidents and all other causes combined, according to the Officer Down group. NLEOMF reported a nearly identical number of covid-related law enforcement deaths.

NLEOMF reported a nearly identical number of covid-related law enforcement deaths. It also noted that fatalities due to non-covid causes are actually down year-over-year, undermining President Trump’s claims that “law enforcement has become the target of a dangerous assault by the radical left.”

Both organizations only count covid deaths “if it is determined that the officer died as a result of exposure to the virus while performing official duties,” as the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund put it. “Substantive evidence will be required to show the death was more than likely due to the direct and proximate result of a duty-related incident.”

In addition to the 100 confirmed coronavirus fatalities listed on the Officer Down website, the nonprofit said it is in the process of verifying an additional 150 officer deaths due to covid-19 and presumed to have been contracted in the line of duty, said Chris Cosgriff, executive director of ODMP, in an email.

“By the end of this pandemic, it is very likely that COVID will surpass 9/11 as the single largest incident cause of death for law enforcement officers,” he wrote. Seventy-one officers were killed in the attacks on the twin towers, one officer was killed on United Flight 93, and more than 300 have passed away since then as a result of cancer contracted in the wake of the attacks, according to ODMP.

At the state level, Texas stands out for having the highest number of law enforcement covid fatalities with at least 21, according to NLEOMF. At least 16 of those represent officers with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which manages the state’s correctional facilities. Louisiana has 12 covid-related officer deaths. Florida, New Jersey and Illinois round out the top five with eight each.

Sep 02 2020

Cartnoon

I understand that bags of soup are now a weapon of deadly intent. My handy ‘This is how you build a machine gun out of replacement parts and scrap’ sites were unhelpful but I did find this-

Sep 02 2020

The Breakfast Club (Established By Law)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

This Day in History

Japan signs surrender, officially ending World War II; Union forces occupy Atlanta during the Civil War; A great fire ravages medieval London; Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh dies; Wreckage of the Titanic found.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

I should see an enemy of my country in any one who would change by force that which has been established by law.

Louis Bonaparte

Continue reading

Sep 01 2020

Pondering the Pundits

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Paul Krugman: Trump Had One Good Response to Covid-19. His Party Killed It.

Aid to the unemployed saved us from disaster. Now it’s gone.

For the most part, America under Donald Trump’s leadership has offered an object lesson in how not to handle a pandemic. Delay and denial deprived us of any chance of containing the coronavirus’s early spread; impatience and further denial led to a huge second wave of infections.

It’s true that employment and G.D.P. plunged, which was inevitable given the need to shutter activities that were spreading the virus. But the employment decline was concentrated in sectors like leisure and entertainment; it didn’t spread to the economy as a whole. And despite huge wage losses, poverty didn’t soar — some estimates suggest that it may even have declined slightly.

But notice the past tense. The Republican National Convention may have pretended that the pandemic was over, but the virus doesn’t agree. That effective economic response, on the other hand, is over. Trump, you might say, did one good thing this year — but now he’s stopped doing it.

And it was Trump’s own party, responding to his leadership or lack thereof, that killed the only praiseworthy aspect of his coronavirus policy.

Eugene Robinson: Scared that Trump can come back to beat Biden? Good.

Anyone who is hair-on-fire alarmed that President Trump might lie, cheat and steal his way to reelection should hold on to that attitude through Election Day. Joe Biden is much more likely to win if he and his supporters act as if he’s losing.

So yes, be paranoid that Trump’s encouragement of right-wing violence in Kenosha, Wis., might tip that vital swing state in his favor. Worry that Democrats are not paying enough attention to Michigan and Pennsylvania; that Biden’s polling lead in Florida might be a mirage; and that states such as Georgia and Arizona might not really be as purple as they now appear to be.

Then act vigorously on those concerns, and be confident that if you do, Trump is toast. [..]

Historically, it takes at least a week or two to know whether the conventions had any lasting impact on voters’ intentions. And Biden’s present lead in the national polls — an average of 6.9 percent, according to RealClearPolitics — remains massive by recent election standards. But it is good to remember that no lead is unassailable, and that the race is considerably closer in swing states.

John Brennan: Trump will suffocate the intelligence community to get reelected

As America’s intelligence professionals seek to carry out their responsibilities to brief Congress on foreign efforts to interfere in this November’s election, they face far greater challenges than ever before in striking the right balance between sharing intelligence with Congress and preventing its misuse.

In 2016, I was fortunate to work for a president and with a director of national intelligence who had no personal or partisan agendas that affected the ability of the intelligence community to fulfill its statutory obligations to keep Congress “fully and currently informed” on national security matters, including Russian interference in our elections.

In 2020, however, the situation is far different, as President Trump has shown utter contempt for the independence, objectivity and apolitical integrity of the intelligence community. And, since he has made no secret of his intention to do whatever necessary to stay in office beyond January 2021, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that he will attempt to suffocate the flow of any intelligence to Congress that could upend his ruthless ambition.

Amanda Marcotte: Donald Trump’s hunger for violence isn’t just about politics — it’s fuel for his bloated ego

Donald Trump loves it when his supporters get arrested, hurt or killed on his behalf. But they just keep doing it

There are a seemingly infinite number of stories about how Donald Trump is the worst kind of person in every possible way, so readers can be forgiven if they missed or forgot this one: In 1991, Trump, ever the soulless troll, took his then-mistress, Marla Maples, to Aspen, Colorado, to spring her on his then-wife, Ivana Trump. Accounts of the specific details vary, but converge on one central fact: The two women had a very public fight while Trump looked on, apparently with pleasure. Trump’s main memory of the event was to bask in the envy of another man who witnessed the fight, because every story Trump tells about himself (most of which, of course, aren’t true) is about how everyone else wishes they could be as awesome as him.

That story has always stuck with me because it was a shining example of one of the most predictable aspects of Trump’s character: His ego comes first, always.

Trump is more than willing to harm people who care about him — his wife, his mistress, his supporters — if doing so feeds his endlessly hungry ego. Furthermore, he will actively do harm to his own self-interest, as in that instance, when he chose the ego boost of watching two women fight over him over material concerns, such as how much he might lose to Ivana in a divorce for engaging in such abusive behavior.

I think about that Ivana vs. Marla fight a lot these days, as Trump is openly and unsubtly encouraging his followers to get injured, arrested or even killed on his behalf. Trump has been egging on caravans of right-wing goons to descend on cities where Black Lives Matter protests are occurring going on, in hopes they will start fights with protesters.

Catherine Rampell: Trump boasts about a great economic record. Too bad it’s Obama’s.

In recent days, President Trump and allies have offered a fulsome defense of a presidential economic record.

Alas, the presidential record they’re describing isn’t Trump’s. It belongs to his predecessor, Barack Obama. And perhaps also to Obama’s second-in-command, Joe Biden.

Team Trump, in promulgating the myth of Trump’s economic genius, has recently doubled down on a false narrative: that Trump inherited a recession and magically turned it into a boom. This is almost the exact reverse of events of the past 3½ years. In reality Trump inherited from Obama an expansion — one that, in retrospect, turned out to be the longest in U.S. history — and converted it into a bust.

Not just any bust; a possible depression, at least for the working class.

Now, my standard disclaimer applies: Presidents generally get too much credit when the economy is good and too much blame when the economy is bad. They don’t control the business cycle and can affect things only on the margin. For example, they could bungle the response to an existing downturn (by, ahem, appointing incompetent aides, discrediting real experts, increasing distrust in government statistics, alienating crucial allies — that sort of thing).

But Trump has asked to be judged by cold, hard economic metrics. So let’s indulge him.

Sep 01 2020

Wow

I’m sorry about the source and also the content but this interview is an eye popping brain bleach spectacular admission of incoherent fail.

I mean, it’s truly amazing. Even with Laura coaching him he can’t put together a sentence (never mind the alarming nature of his sentiments).

Debates? Bring them. He’ll find a way to bail because Joe will crush him (not exactly a high bar of accomplishment actually).

This is just Part One. If the meltdown continues (and I can”t imagine it won’t) I’ll inflict Part Two tomorrow.

Sep 01 2020

Cartnoon

My Aunty Mame (the one with the Clown dots) digs the Cirque videos. They’re very big in Vegas though not quite as popular as wayne Newton and this is a sampling of some of their shows.

Sep 01 2020

August 14, 2019

2019 Folks! One whole year ago!

Yeah, that Tom Arnold.

Sep 01 2020

The Breakfast Club (Need To Complain)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

This Day in History

Nazi Germany invades Poland, start of World War II; Beslan hostage crisis begins in Russia; Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky for world chess crown; Boxer Rocky Marciano and singer Gloria Estefan born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.

Lily Tomlin

Continue reading

Aug 31 2020

Bring It On Hat City

It’s not that I have a personal beef with Danbury, I find the Streets and Highway Interchanges confusing and frustrating.

John Oliver says he’ll donate $55,000 if Connecticut city names sewage plant after him
Associated Press
Mon 31 Aug 2020

John Oliver has upped the stakes in his spat with the Connecticut town of Danbury, offering to donate $55,000 to charity if officials there make good on a promise to name their sewage treatment plant after him.

The Republican mayor, Mark Boughton, said last week Danbury would rename the facility the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant, in response to an expletive-filled rant against the city on a recent episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

“Why? Because it’s full of crap just like you, John,” Boughton said, though he later said he’d been joking.

Oliver’s first Danbury diatribe came on his 16 August show, in which he explored racial disparities in the jury selection process, citing problems in Hartford and New Britain, other Connecticut cities.

Apparently at random, the bespectacled Anglo-American funny man then went off on Danbury.

“If you’re going to forget a town in Connecticut,” Oliver said: “Why not forget Danbury? Because, and this is true, fuck Danbury!”

He also said “Danbury, Connecticut, can eat my whole ass” and added: “If you’re from there, you have a standing invite to come get a thrashing from John Oliver, children included, fuck you.”

It wasn’t clear what prompted the outburst but this Sunday Oliver said he was surprised and delighted by the city’s response. After playing a video of Boughton saying it was just a joke, however, another rant ensued.

“Wait, so you’re not doing it? Aw, fuck you, Danbury. You had the first good idea in your city’s history and you chickened out on the follow-through. What a classic Danbury move.

“Listen, I didn’t know that I wanted my name on your fucking factory but now that you floated it as an option, it is all that I want.”

Oliver offered to donate $55,000 to charities, including $25,000 to the Connecticut Food Bank, if the city renamed the plant. If not, he said he would make donations to “rival” towns including Waterbury and Torrington.

Boughton said on Monday city officials planned to respond by the end of the week. He said the council would have to approve any renaming of the sewage plant.

“I think it’s very generous and we appreciate that,” the mayor said. “It’s just a great distraction for people to get laughs.”

Danbury, Waterbury, and Torrington are semi-notorious Republican strongholds. Bloomfield and East Hartford (whole different place) are largely Minority, not that we don’t have hurting communities even on the Gold Coast like Norwalk (you wouldn’t think, would you?) and Fairfield/Bridgeport/Stratford/Milford. Things are tough all over and not every place is as fictional as Stars Hollow.

Aug 31 2020

Pondering the Pundits

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news media and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

Margaret Sullivan: Fact-checking Trump’s lies is essential. It’s also increasingly fruitless.

Daniel Dale met President Trump’s convention speech with a tirade of truth Thursday night — a tour de force of fact-checking that left CNN anchor Anderson Cooper looking slightly stunned.

The cable network’s resident fact-checker motored through at least 21 falsehoods and misstatements he had found in Trump’s 70-minute speech, breathlessly debunking them at such a pace that when he finished, Cooper, looking bemused, paused for a moment and then deadpanned, “Oh, that’s it?”

So, so much was simply wrong. Claims about the border wall, about drug prices, about unemployment, about his response to the pandemic, about rival Joe Biden’s supposed desire to defund the police (which Biden has said he opposes). [..]

Dozens of organizations, from Snopes.com to FactCheck.org and many others, are kept busy chasing political lies, so many of which come from the current White House. But here’s the rub. More than a decade after the innovative, Florida-based fact-checking organization Politifact.org won a Pulitzer Prize, fact-checking may make less of a difference than ever.

Charles M. Blow: Trump, Vicar of Fear and Violence

He continues the old practice of stoking white victimhood for votes.

The use of white fear and white victimhood as potent political weapons is as old as the country itself. Donald Trump is just the latest practitioner of this trade.

As Robert G. Parkinson wrote in “The Common Cause,” his book about patriot leaders during the American Revolution, politicians used fears of insurrectionist enslaved people, Indian “massacres” and foreign mercenaries to unite the disparate colonies in a common fight.

Does this sound similar to Trump’s rhetoric on Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, Black Lives Matter and supposed anarchists?

Even the founding fathers used white fear of the “other” for political benefit. And when they didn’t have the facts, they were not above fabrication.

Robert Reich: Feeling the consequences of Trump’s rotten presidency, first hand

It’s one thing to understand climate change in the abstract. It’s another to live inside it.

My wife and I have been warned that we may need to evacuate because of fires ravaging the Bay Area.

The climate crisis is to blame for these fires, which are growing in number and intensity every year. It’s also to blame for the increasing number and virulence of hurricanes now hitting the Gulf and Southeast, flash floods along the Eastern seaboard, and fierce winds across middle America.

wo hurricanes are now threatening the Gulf coast. The Gulf has never before had two hurricanes at the same time.

In early August, Illinois and Iowa were hit with winds of up to 110 miles per hour. Homes were leveled. At least 10 million acres of crops were destroyed. Many people are still without power.

Trump isn’t singularly responsible for climate change, of course. But he’s done nothing to stop it. In fact, he’s done everything he can to accelerate it.

No one speaking at the Republican convention mentioned Trump’s abandonment of the Paris Agreement, his rollback of environmental regulations, or his boundless generosity to the fossil fuel industry.

Yet, facing possible evacuation, I’ve been thinking about all this in a newly personal way. So have many others, including, I suspect, some people who voted for Trump last time, who reside in the Gulf states, the eastern seaboard, and the Midwest.

It’s one thing to understand climate change in the abstract. It’s another to live inside it.

Amanda Marcotte: Team Trump whines about “cancel culture” — but they’re the ones who want to crush free speech

Trump and his supporters play the victims of “cancel culture,” while urging violent crackdown on peaceful protest

If there was one major takeaway from this week’s Republican National Convention, it’s that conservatives live in mortal terror of “cancel culture,” their shiny new term for what they used to call “political correctness.” Even though Donald Trump controls the White House, conservatives control the courts and Republicans control the Senate, speaker after speaker insisted that the real power in this country belongs to a shadowy liberal elite with all-encompassing powers of censorship.

“The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated and driven from society as we know it,” pronounced Donald Trump during his interminable acceptance speech on Thursday night. “The far left wants to coerce you into saying what you know to be FALSE, and scare you out of saying what you know to be TRUE.” [..]

So what is this nefarious “cancel culture” that conservatives believe threatens the basic right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution?

Well, let’s talk about what conservatives don’t mean when they complain about “cancel culture.”

“Cancel culture” is not Trump sending out federal troops to tear-gas a bunch of peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square because he’s so afraid of hearing hecklers that he must silence them with violence.

Heather Digby Parton: Trump’s signal to his followers is clear: Violence and chaos are my only hope

Armed men in pickup trucks are “Great Patriots!” according to our president. He’s drooling for mob violence

President Trump was having a normal one on Sunday morning, tweeting and retweeting 89 times over the course of three and a half hours. Many of them were tweets of polling numbers from obscure firms showing him in the lead after the Republican convention. But most of the tweets and retweets were incitement to violence among his true believers and complaints about “Democrat cities,” an ongoing mantra which he seems to think is a slam dunk to get him re-elected.

He repeatedly insulted and mocked Joe Biden, of course, and Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler will undoubtedly have to change his phone number after the president of the United States posted it on Twitter so his followers could call and demand his resignation.

He also showed support for one of his fans in Wisconsin:

It was a manic tweet spree and one that couldn’t have show the president’s state of mind any more clearly. Biden has said Trump is “rooting for violence,” and I don’t think anyone can reasonably argue with that.

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