Scott W. Atlas, just another goober of the Hoover Institute being paid to peddle misinformation for corpoations by using fake science has turned in his resignation! Bye bye Dr herd
mentality.
I claim David Berglund as my newest best friend.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Atlas Shrugged
And tens of thousands died.
Dr Scott Atlas, like Dr Michael Levitt, a non-expert in epidemiology from Stanford, resigned today. He was Trump’s hand-picked man on the coronavirus task force. Like Levity Atlas had his head up his ass, or in concrete, and advocated that TrumPlague was no biggie, that the mask-ists and social distancers were just being hysterical. Back to Stanford!
Dr Scott Atlas, like Dr Michael Levitt, a non-expert in epidemiology from Stanford, resigned today. He was Trump’s hand-picked man on the coronavirus task force. Like Levity Atlas had his head up his ass, or in concrete, and advocated that TrumPlague was no biggie, that the mask-ists and social distancers were just being hysterical. Back to Stanford!
267,987
The mothers of two of my son's boss' best friends both died on the same day, Sunday, of COVID-19. One was just diagnosed five days ago and was hospitalized three days ago. Thanks Trump!
826 were reported Sunday to Johns Hopkins as Killed. That is the lowest day's report in two weeks.
It's hard to get a read from Thanksgiving week's stats on where we're headed in the next week, counting tomorrow, Tuesday, as the start of the reporting week. Sunday and Monday, today, are the reporting "weekend" days, when reporting lags. It is going against the reporting periodicity but my gut is overruling my head: I don't think the stats for today, when they come out in a few hours, are going to report fewer than 826 Killed. My gut tells me it's going to be over 1,000.
The New York Times' 14-day changes:
+8% Cases.
+36% Hospitalizations.
+26% Deaths.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Two, Finis
David Brooks largely absolves the internet of blame for the knowledge gap through the spread of disinformation and the creation of echo chambers. "Why would the internet have corrupted Republicans so much more than Democrats, the global right more than the global left?" is his rhetorical question and answer to J'Accuse the www. Brooks' column is informed by three scholarly sources, the 2020, with "limitations", Lynn University study on which the previous post paused, a 2019 Niskanen Center paper called "TheDestiny Divide" and "The Constitution of Knowledge" published in 2018 at AEI with which Brooks starts and which has the most weight in his thought.
Curious though, for Jonathan Rauch, author of Constitution of Knowledge, decidedly does not absolve the internet. Brooks' rhetorical question is too facile, insufficient. There simply is no doubt of the key role of alt-right outlets like Fox and Breitbart as sources, and as amplifiers, of the alternative reality that resulted in the undemocratic Trump getting 63M votes in 2016 and 74M in 2020.
Anyway, David Brooks likes everything else that Jonathan Rauch wrote in The Constitution of Knowledge. Check this out and see Dave have to change his underwear:
...We need an elite consensus, and hopefully also something approaching a public consensus, on the method of validating propositions.
A critical mass needs to agree on what it is we do that distinguishes truth from falsehood, and more important, on who does it.
A more convincing explanation of the variance--and please, it is not right-left, it is democratic-undemocratic--is that the Establishment's gates did keep out hare-brained alternatives, it was "The End of History!--there was elite consensus on issues such as globalism, social democracy, interdependence, climate science, and ascriptive characteristic inclusiveness. Were those not the hot button issues of today and of 2016? The problem was that the Establishment's gates did not prevent the growth of a populist, undemocratic, unscientific, anti-knowledge, disinformation sub-universe outside the gates. Ascriptive "Identity" politics and faith-based nationalism have had their adherents throughout modern Western history. For godssake Trump's "America First" approach was lifted in toto from the 1930's. It has always been in the American people, in other words. What happened in 2016 and 2020 was the emergence of a Leader who, by sheer trial-and-error, tapped into that historical strain.
I remembered to question Dave's sources. Right after discussing the happiness study conducted at the Harvard of Boca, Dave writes,
People need a secure order to feel safe.
In brackets by me: WHO SAYS THIS? Not the happiness scholars. In fact, the exact opposite:
If Americans without a college degree – who remain the majority of the population – are increasingly unhappy, politicians who promise change may be more attractive, [BROOKS SAYS THE OPPOSITE “SECURE ORDER” BELOW!] and there will be growing class polarization in views of political candidates. Growing dissatisfaction among those with less income may also make political systems such as socialism and government policies such as universal basic income more popular. [bracketed comments mine]
I also read closely the entirety of Jonathan Rauch's twenty-one page article and didn't remember reading that. I then searched the document for "security","Social Security" came up, Social Security for Elvis, and for "secure" the word does not appear, "order," ditto. I did not read Density Divide soup to nuts, that's the 79-pager, but last night I did the same search of that article. Dave's sentence is Lippmann-esque, Stalin-esque. Nothing like it appears in any of the sources cited. I can see a Jewish elite thinking that's what he read or putting it all together and inferring it but it's really not there, nothing even close. In other words, the fear may be Dave's, not the average Joe's. This is from Density Divide:
Declining public faith in democracy and the rising global tide of populist nationalism have kindled a widespread and mounting sense of dread that the liberal order is unraveling.
The "dread" is among the elites! Notice also "declining public faith in democracy." Democracy is not faith-based, it's fact-based. Of course, evangelicals don't place their "faith" in democracy but up until 2016 they accepted democratic facts.
Anti-knowledge: In the Lippmann-Dewey debate Dewey argued that expanded education was the only solution necessary for the masses to vote in their rational interest. More instruction from the consensus manufacturers. Lippmann believed that no amount of education could prepare the masses to understand modern economics. It's a full-time job. The average Joe has got a real job to go to, a family to care for, baseball to watch, beer to drink, and so on. As I wrote yesterday, I agreed with Lippmann's diagnosis but not with his prescription. Since 2016 I also disagree with Dewey's prescription. Look, we have had a century of Dewey's civics classes; those without college degrees have still been instructed in responsible citizenship in a democracy. And 63M and 74M are proof that the instruction didn't take. Trump voters at a church in Iowa in 2016 heard Trump say that his followers were so loyal he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and not lose their support, but that did not make the impression on them that another Trump statement did, that in a Trump presidency, "Christianity will have power." That was talking their language! That is Christian Identity politics, Christian Nationalism, faith-based politics. If politics is based on faith, what is politics not based on? Facts. Voters in the Bible Belt know their civics, they reject knowledge for faith and power.
Which is the gravaman of The Density Divide. Population density; city versus rural. Black and Brown versus White. Harvard versus Iowa State. Power versus impotence .
the rise of populist nationalism a [is]a surprising and overlooked side-effect of urbanization...self-segregation of the population, I argue, created the polarized economic and cultural conditions that led to populist backlash.
Brooks:
People need a secure order to feel safe. Deprived of that, people legitimately feel cynicism and distrust, alienation and anomie. This precarity has created, in nation after nation, intense populist backlashes against the highly educated folks who have migrated to the cities and accrued significant economic, cultural and political power. Will Wilkinson of the Niskanen Center calls this the “Density Divide.”
That can properly be inferred from Wilkinson. But he wrote something more nuanced also. An inconvenient fact of current White attitudes is that uneducated Whites are not bad off! Wilkinson massages this as yes, they're doing okay; yes, a rising tide lifts all boats, yes, they are not living hand to mouth, yes, they have Social Security, Medicare, etc., but they're unhappy because those Black and Brown and non-Christians in the cities are really doing well: so it "can feel like loss." You see what he did there? Reality: they're not losing but they feel like they're losing. Their feelings become their reality. Wilkinson is conceding their alt-reality. It's bullshit. This is about White power.
Brooks:
For those in low status groups, [conspiracy theories] provide a sense of superiority: I possess important information most people do not have. For those who feel powerless, they provide agency: I have the power to reject “experts” and expose hidden cabals. As Cass Sunstein of Harvard Law School points out, they provide liberation: If I imagine my foes are completely malevolent, then I can use any tactic I want....
In the fervor of this enmity, millions of people have come to detest...the [elites in the cities],... who appear to have it so easy, who have such different values [democratic], who can be so condescending.
It is self-isolation, it is knowing un-knowing, it is undemocracy achieved through democratic means, it is about White Christian power.
Oh my God will the media please lose the concession and transition obsession. There is no law that a defeated candidate must concede! No law that there must be a transition. No law that the defeated candidate must attend the inaugural of his successor! Give Trump and his supporters some space to deal with this. He’s going to leave, he said he would, his supporters have behaved fine, just leave them alone.
City won a short pants foo’ball game yesterday. In style at Etihad. Riyad Mahrez did the hat trick with net rattlers in the 6’, 22’, and 69’; Ben-Men had one in the 41’ and Ferran Torres got one in the 66’. City “up” to eighth in the table, Burnley are in the drop.
‘Pool are first. They drew at Brighton yesterday. I admire Jurgen Klopp for taking every opportunity to criticize the league and broadcasters over the schedule. EPL clubs play a lotta matches and the schedule is more compressed with COVID restrictions. The result is injuries. ‘Pool had another one yesterday, Jimbo Milner. Ex-City lad, Jimbo. Everytime Jurgen does his post-match he mentions it to the network interviewer and he did yesterday. “Yeah, congratulations” he said to Sky’s guy when asked about the Milner injury.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
266,014
That's the cumulative number Killed by TrumPlague. That is more than the entire population of Jersey City, the 80th largest city in America.
1,406 Dead were reported out on Nov. 27, a little more than on Nov. 26, way lower than the recent high on Nov 25 of 2,297, long Thanksgiving recording lag is my best, semi-educated guess.
205,557 new cases reported on Nov. 27! A new record. Remember when Dr. Fauci predicted 200k daily cases? Well, we hit it and then some for the first time today.
Interestingly, the NYT 7-day Cases line, which flattens the daily jags, has been down the last two days, iterations covering Nov. 15-26 and Nov 16-27. The Times' 14-day changes, which doubles the look:
+17% Cases.
+40% Hospitalizations.
+36% Deaths.
Somebody can make a liar out of me but I do believe those are lessened increases than the past couple of iterations But the 205,557, +'s and -'s, in two-four weeks you're going to see that mass move through the belly of the beast and get evacuated as a new all-time daily high in corpses, sure as shootin', just in time for Christmas.
Part One
There is a shitload to unpack in David Brook's most recent column and I have spent the last few hours unpacking. Dave cites to three scholarly sources, I read each except the 92-page article which I skimmed, and one of the scholarly sources, a tweet, cited to another which I also read.
Dave's topic is Republicans disconnect from reality which he frames as "We live in a country in epistemological crisis." Not believing experts, "Fake News!" allegations, "The election is rigged!", distrust, uneducated White disaffection. So, it's a crisis of knowledge and that is rooted in distrust which is rooted in getting burned by experts who the uneducated Whites did trust, disaffection: feeling uneducated, unappreciated, rooted in or resulting in, I'm not sure which is chicken and which is egg, unhappiness.
Now, Dave is a proud member and booster of the Establishment. He is an intellectual heir of Walter Lippmann, of elites "manufacturing consensus" among the great unwashed. Government in the early 20th century had just gotten too goddamned complex for the average Joe to make heads or tails of. Lippmann argued that elites like hisself should be gatekeepers of knowledge and should instruct the great unwashed on correct thinking. He recommended to Franklin D. Roosevelt a dictatorship. Lippmann debated the perpetually sunny democrat, John Dewey, on this. We had a pandemic the experts couldn't control in the early 20th century; we got into the Great War, we had the Great Depression that we couldn't figure how to get out of. There was nothing great about the body of work the experts performed for the average Joe in the early 20th century and he came to distrust them.Sounds like rational voting behavior to me! but not to Lippmann, who sided squarely with the experts The parallel to the early 21st century is subtle as a two-by-four between the eyes. I was insulted by Lippmann's prescription and sided firmly with Dewey (although I had to agree with Lippmann's diagnosis). Until 2016. All to say, Dave Brooks is a consent manufacturer.
This is a telling graph and I'm going to have to leave it with this telling graph and unwashed commentary on same on accounta I'm too tired:
This study was limited by several factors. First, the measure of happiness was a single item rather than a more psychometrically vetted multiple-item scale of well-being or mental health symptoms. Although we were able to use four measures of SES, all were self-reported rather than objectively verified. In some cases, n’s were too low for Black Americans to perform
certain analyses.
Which then confused me. I initially thought "n’s were too low for Black Americans to perform" meant like the happiness problems Blacks were asked to perform on this "test" were too difficult for them or something. However, n there refers to sample size: Among U.S. adults ages 30 and over in the nationally representative General Social Survey (n = 44,198). In clearer language it means "On some measures we could not perform certain analyses because Blacks were under-represented in our survey group.” Which conflicts with "nationally representative" and with the number, 44,198, which is humongous, of respondents in the survey.
But Dave Brooks loves learned people--Who amongst us does not love learned people?, learned people are one of the core groups of experts Dave puts his trust in (another is columnists at elite newspapers) and I must say that I am surprised that the Boca Raton News would have made Dave's grade, for the article that contained the graph is co-authored by a Lynn University professor, Lynn being based in Boca, and is published by lynn.edu.
When I pick up tomorrow remind me to mention that David Brooks once cited to something that didn't support what Dave wrote the cite supported. I do believe I found this problem recur here. Apologize for any inconvenience.
more
Misery Loves Company
Who ever came up with that adage? I don't. Dabo won, Dino lost. I don't want to talk about Pitt and it's not my schadenfreude talking in noting that Syracuse lost again, again at home, have lost seven straight, and are now 1-9 on the season. I have some other stuff to write and my back is getting sore and I don't see anything else in college tackle football that prompts me, so that's it for sports.
Friday, November 27, 2020
I am very proud of Pennsylvania. I have not always been so. I would not have been had 81,000 votes gone differently two weeks ago.
I have heard Pennsylvania pronounced so often in the past couple of months that I hear a tinkle in it now that I had never heard before, a light, soft, vowel-y, music-y sound, like a small stream tumbling over stones. Penn-syl-van-i-a. It’s a beautiful word.
Pennsylvania to Trump: GET LOST!
An appellate court can grant or deny relief. Whichever it does it usually does with polite language. Then there is the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit opinion delivered today by Trump appointee Stephanos Bibas for the three-Republican-judge panel of the Third Circuit in the case of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., et al v Secretary Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et al. You don't have to be a legal eagle to read the weariness in Judge Bibas' words at the Trump Campaign's legal bunkruptcy and as-inept-as-pro-se lawyering.
BIBAS, Circuit Judge.
Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.
...
The District Court ended these volleys...
...
6. We commend the District Court for its fast, fair, patient handling of this demanding litigation.
...
That is conclusory. So is the claim that, “[u]pon information and belief, a substantial portion of the approximately 1.5 million absentee and mail votes in Defendant Counties should not have been counted.” Id. ¶¶ 168, 194, 223, 253. “Upon information and belief” is a lawyerly way of saying that the Campaign does not know that something is a fact but just suspects it or has heard it....
III. NO STAY OR INJUNCTION IS WARRANTED
We could stop here. Once we affirm the denial of leave to amend, this case is over. Still, for completeness, we address the Campaign’s emergency motion to stay the effect of certification. No stay or injunction is called for.
...
A. The Campaign has no strong likelihood of success on the merits
As discussed, the Campaign cannot win this lawsuit.
...
These claims cannot succeed.
...
Seeking to turn those state-law claims into federal ones, the Campaign claims discrimination. But its alchemy cannot transmute lead into gold.
...
Calling something discrimination does not make it so.
...
We will thus affirm the District Court’s denial of leave to amend, and we deny an injunction pending appeal. The Campaign asked for a very fast briefing schedule, and we have granted its request. Because the Campaign wants us to move as fast as possible, we also deny oral argument. We grant all motions to file overlength responses, to file amicus briefs, and to supplement appendices. We deny all other outstanding motions as moot. This Court’s mandate shall issue at once.
264,838
That's the cumulative number Killed by Donald Lame Duck with TrumPlague since Feb. 6.
"St. Petersburg Florida--Things to do": DIE
The daily Deaths reported out by Johns Hopkins for Nov 25 were 2,297 and the undersigned epidemiologist made the bold statement, and I quote, "I will still be extremely surprised if Thanksgiving's stats are anywhere near this high."
The undersigned stumbled uncontrollably onto Truth. There were 1,232 Deaths reported by Hopkins today for Thanksgiving. Reporting lag.
Trump also Infected his 13Mth victim sometime today. There were "only" 110.6k new Cases reported for T-giving
Infections are up 23% in the last fortnight, hospitalizations 43%, Deaths 46%. An anaconda is swallowing a beast.
294k-321k COVID-19 Deaths by Dec. 19: CDC
- This week’s national ensemble forecast predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely increase over the next 4 weeks, with 10,600 to 21,400 new deaths likely to be reported in the week ending December 19, 2020. The national ensemble predicts that a total of 294,000 to 321,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by this date.
Thursday, November 26, 2020
They Worked Yesterday!
The counters at Johns Hopkins were busy as beavers yesterday, logging (oh, nice dooblay there)
2,297 Deaths while the lame quack Manslayer in chief was pardoning Flim Flam Flynn and other turkeys. Wow. 2,297 in one day. Dear God. The Nov. 23-25 trifecta looks, and is, nearly identical to May 4-6's:
..you get a virtually indistinguishable symmetrical image. Which is not good 't'all! Fuck, that is crazy.
2,297 Deaths while the lame quack Manslayer in chief was pardoning Flim Flam Flynn and other turkeys. Wow. 2,297 in one day. Dear God. The Nov. 23-25 trifecta looks, and is, nearly identical to May 4-6's:
May 4-6 Nov. 23-25
Which is not good! In fact, if you flip the May-November graph 180 degrees horizontally...
..you get a virtually indistinguishable symmetrical image. Which is not good 't'all! Fuck, that is crazy.
181,490 Cases November 25 per the Johnnies. The 14-day changes per the Quasi's, formerly the Ex-Quasi's:
+38% Cases
+46% Hospitalizations
+57% Deaths
I will still be extremely surprised if Thanksgiving's stats are anywhere near this high. Johnnies gotta have turkey and punkin' pie too.
I love Dr Darwin Buschman
New York psychiatrist Darwin Buschman, 64, is among those for whom bridging the gap with die-hard Trump supporters, is just a bridge too far.
"This is not an alternate viewpoint. This is racism, hate, lying, demagoguery, sociopathy, what else can I say. [They are] bad people. I will not sit at a table with them. I will not have a conversation with them."
"This is not an alternate viewpoint. This is racism, hate, lying, demagoguery, sociopathy, what else can I say. [They are] bad people. I will not sit at a table with them. I will not have a conversation with them."
(NPR)
Trump supporters, Happy Fuck You Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
261,971, Oh God
Yep. 2,146 were recorded by Johns Hopkins Killed Nov. 24. More than double Nov. 23rd's 918. You can't explain, and shouldn't try to understand that as anything beyond 1) those are dead people 2) Their Deaths were recorded and reported out by Hopkins on Nov. 23 in the one and Nov. 24 on the other 3) 2,146 is the most recorded/reported Killed by Hopkins since May 6. Maybe the recorders and reporters at Hopkins were getting as much as they could get out before they broke for Thanksgiving. Maybe they took today off. We'll see when today's stats are reported tomorrow. Tomorrow's, Thanksgiving's, stats will be reported on Black Friday, Nov. 27. Thanksgiving's stats will be a fraction of yesterday's.
The New York Times' 14-day average is a far better map of the stretch of road we've been on and the percent increase in Deaths has exceeded that of Cases, as is expected as Deaths trail Cases by two-four weeks. We have seen exponential increases in Cases in November. It is now Nov. 25, ergo:
Cases are up 43% in the last two weeks; hospitalizations are up 48%; and Deaths are up 61%. As President-elect Biden said today we have "a long, hard winter" on the road ahead.
"Elias believed women play an important role in disseminating peaceful forms of conduct, in part through socializing children.
...
"Murder and promiscuity tend to be male specialities."
-European Sociological Review Vol. 10, No. 5, 499-518 (503, 506).
-European Sociological Review Vol. 10, No. 5, 499-518 (503, 506).
My gender. .
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
259,874. Boy oh boy
913 Monday. That's one of the two historically low reporting days. That's not low.
920 Sunday. That's the other low day. No low ditto.
171,462 new Infections Monday. That's be the high any damn day of the week a month ago.
Greatest man-made disaster in American history. Not even close. An unmitigated disaster.
Why does the District of Columbia Have Three Electoral Votes?
Electoral votes are a combination of the number of a state's Representatives in Congress plus their two Senators. D.C. doesn't have Senators.
Élancée
Sculptures in light, "Penelope," from Myyour.eu, and in bronze and wood by Sylvie Mangaud. Magnifique.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Bad Day: 257,651
Killed by Trump since Feb. 6. More than the population of the beautiful city of Chandler, Arizona, 
84th largest city in the U.S.A.
which fucking looks like Chandler, Arizona but it's not, it's Syracuse. Syracuse is the 187th largest city in the U.S. Too bad they're all sick. Oh, you see the Carrier Dome in upper left, so it really is Syracuse, maybe using the Elvis-on-velvet filter, but that is Syracuse. Sucky football team plays there. I didn't even know but that sucky football team of "Orangemen" lost agayne Friday night at Lewisville 30-to-goose egg. Lew was a sparkily 1-6 going into the game, the "Orangemen" the same 1-6. Now Lew is 2-6 and the 'Cuse 1-7. Dumbo Babers, you'll be lucky to escape this season with your hide and your contract intact. Maybe PSU is looking to do a switcheroo of Fourth Down Franklin for Dumbo I said maybe. Syracuse has lost every goddamned game by d-d's except one. Not to worry, they have NC State at home and at Notre Dame du no lac. They'll probably score a point or three in those games. Syracuse is just PATHETIC.
921 Killed by Trump Nov. 22. On the recent graph that number looks like a pipsqueak. It's not.
12.411M Infected by Trump since Jan. 20, 2020.
142,732 Infected by Trump on Nov. 22. As many people were infected by TrumPlague as live in Syracuse, New York,
'Pologize for that digression. Syracuse is sick and Chandler is dead, and Trump doesn't care, that's the point.
A Great Election, Against All Odds
(NYT Editorial Board)
I agree with that too! Said, or wrote, so. Commended Trump supporters, in fact.
The 2020 election was not simply free of fraud, or whatever...the president is braying about at this hour. It was...a resounding success. In the face of a raging pandemic and the highest turnout in more than a century, Americans enjoyed one of the most secure, most accurate and most well-run elections ever.
Yep, every word. But this thing is not over. As Chris Krebs said the purpose of an election is to get the loser to acknowledge (s)he lost. That has not happened yet and there is no indication it ever will happen. But I also think the brilliant Indi Samarajiva is, more likely than not, correct that we are being "coup'd" and don't know it yet. It sure looks like we are. Mr. Samarajiva believes to a moral certainty that we are and that we should be scared, very scared. I am scared.
So before we get callouses patting ourselves on the back, let's consider that we might be too close to the trees to see the forest; that we've got 59 days to go until Inauguration Day, that a lot of scary stuff can happen in those 59 days, but probably will not, that we don't have the big picture, that the big picture will be what happens after Jan. 20.
Mr. Samarajiva doesn't like the term "constitutional crisis," it's a coup d'etat! Well, no it's not, not yet, and it will not be a military coup. I don't think there will be an armed attempt, much less a successful one, by any body of civilians either. Granting Mr. Samarajiva's objection to "crisis" and giving him his mot juste I could call what we're having, if we're having it, and I think we are, a "constitutional coup." You have to put constitution in there it seems to me, that's our traveling document, our Law. The constitutional coup-sters have taken no extra-constitutional, illegal actions. It's an insult to coup-sters everywhere to call filing lawsuits and protesting and "braying" a coup d'etat. They have been verbally violent in assailing the election as "fraudulent," etc. etc. and those verbal assaults have have exposed the crumbly wormwood in the Constitution, there is no doubt of that, but they have not taken arms to destroy it.
The greater concern, to summarize the previous post on this subject is when President Biden takes office. If the Republicans stonewall every damn thing that he attempts, if Trump is still out there "braying"--and I defy the New York Times or anybody form getting all rosy-fingered dawn about those--then the Republicans will be, by constitutional means, prohibiting the election winner from governing, thereby not conceding that they are the election losers, the purpose of an election, and then the election will not have been "great."
Sunday, November 22, 2020
256,746 Killed by Trump Since Feb. 6
An amount greater than the population of Buffalo, NY, the 85th largest city in America.
177,552 Infected by Trump.
8,896 Killed for reporting week Nov. 17-21
This thing is not over
I Lived Through A Stupid Coup. America Is Having One Now
I cannot refute this, in fact I think it's correct. Look, Trump is going to lose in court, as he already has lost in court. That's not why this thing isn't over. It's not over because:
-73.8M voted for undemocracy.
-70% of Republicans believe Biden is illegitimate.
-Fox has lost audience share to Newsmax because Fox isn't telling the 73.8M what they want to hear.
-Republicans in the House and Senate will not let Biden govern. They are going to do to him what they vowed to do the night of Obama's Inaugural Ball: refuse to pass anything that he wants; refuse to fill 300 federal judgeships; refuse to grant a hearing on Obama's Supreme Court nominee. They will oppose any TrumPlague relief President Biden sends up.
-What the Republicans did to Obama, are doing now (for the most part), will do to President Biden, are lawful. Legally, Trump does not have to concede. Trump will not concede, ever.
-Legally, Trump does not have to agree to a transition. He won't (I'm not so sure about that as to append "ever" to it.)
-There are 59 days to President Biden's inauguration. Legally, Trump does not have to show up.
-All Trump has to do is vacate the White House at 12:01 p.m. on January 20. When he does, there will be thousands and thousands of Disgusting people around the White House who do not want him to leave, ever. They will give Trump an armed, friendly au revoir escort and, since they'll already be there anyway, an armed, not-so-friendly "welcome" to President Biden.
-Trump immediately will go into 2024 campaign mode. He will continue to hold rallies, have his own media. He will hold onto those 73.8M and to the Republican Party apparatus. He already has a loyalist as chair of the RNC. His hold on the 73.8M and on the Party will prevent any other serious candidate challenging for the 2024 nomination.
There is now a permanent, immense--I'll be optimistic, let's say 40M--who knowingly voted for undemocracy and who will continue to support, fervently, an undemocratic person.
(I hereby give Mr. Samarajiva notice of my intent to steal this brilliant line from him: "American commentators say 'we’re like the third world now'...The third world from the Sun is Earth. You live here too.")
Saturday, November 21, 2020
255,823 Killed by Donald J. Trump, Illegitimate
Which is the near equal, in fact almost the exact, population of Lubbock, Texas, the birth place of Buddy Holly and our stand-in death place for over a quarter-million others. Lubbock is the 86th-largest city in America.
1,878 Killed yesterday, Nov. 20. This is the last full day of the reporting week, as reminder. Tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday the numbers will nosedive. The first four days of this reporting week have already made it a banner week for Trump. While he was losing over 30 lawsuits, including a biggie in Pennsylvania today, 7,300 people have lost their lives. When today's numbers are added in he'll have Killed ~9,000 in five days. Nice! Just eyeballing Hopkins' graph this five-day cluster will be Trump's best shootin' since May 5-9. It's an awful thing to look at, really. The four days so far look like a robust beast rearing up out of fire.
195,542 Infections yesterday. So close to the 200k Dr. Fauci predicted we could see months ago.
It is getting worse, far worse, Trump isn't doing anything about it, of course, and +'s and -'s, as I wrote just a couple days ago, you ain't seen nothin' yet. There are exactly sixty days until a real man takes charge. We're heading into Winter, into the holidays, people will ignore CDC's plea not to travel, they will not mask up or social distance. It is going to be a Black Christmas.
Pitt crushed Virginia Tech, just powderized them. 47-14 was the final. The "Panthers" were a three-point favorite. Three. Beat them by thirty-three. I don't know how they did that but I'll tell you what: You don't want to play Pitt right now.
PSU 0-5. First time EVER--in 134 years of playing tackle football--that they have ever started 0-5. 0-5!
I am in shock at both of those. Maybe more so at Pitt (happy shock, don't get me wrong). Pitt played like shit earlier in the year. With Kenny Pickett, without Kenny Pickett, just played like shett. Now they get him back (coronavirus and ankle, I think) and they just fucking DESTROY a not bad team! Va. Tech has beaten NC State, Duke, BC, and Louisville. Those are four decent teams! Go into Pittsburgh and get pickled. That has to be at the very tip-top of largest margins of victory by Pitt over Va. Tech....I just looked it up, it is Pitt's most lopsided win in the nineteen games the two schools have played.
It looks like we can say Indiana is for real. As is Ohio State, but what else is new. Indiana went to 'Umbus today to play the top-ranked "Buckeyes," ran a half-dozen plays on their first possession, punted, and OSU took two plays to score. Ah jeez. The "Hoosiers" went three and out their second possession but then intercepted Justin Fields. They went for it on fourth down from the OSU 36 (no bitch about that, that's a 53 yard FG), didn't make it, and at that point you'd be forgiven for thinking it was gonna be 56-0. But then they forced OSU to punt, had to punt their ownselves, and intercepted Fields again. Now you'd be forgiven for thinking that in this crazzzy year Indiana was getting some big luck. But they had to punt. But then they forced OSU to punt. Hmm. Then they went 84 yards and tied it. Whoa! Then it got out of hand. OSU touchdown, IU punt, OSU touchdown, IU fumble, OSU touchdown and voila! it was 28-7 at the half. So I went and did something else.
35-7 after the first series of the 2H.
35-14.
Intercepted Fields again. But had to punt.
Forced OSU to go three-and-out. Then scored. 35-21. (?) What is going on here.
OSU then missed a FG(!) IU then threw an interception for a TD :( 42-21.
42-28.
Punt. 42-35 (!!!!)
Ohio State turns it over on downs! IU has to punt.
OSU punts. :35 left in the game.
Somehow, Indiana is able to run 7 plays in 35" but on the final play play hot potato with the ball and OSU recovers. Ball game.
Helluva ball game. Indiana's got guts. They never got down, never gave up, got some breaks! but didn't capitalize. They scored 35 points on their own, without any help from the "Buckeyes" and had the ball with a chance to tie or win. Yes, there is victory in defeat, and Indiana did that today.
Nebraska lost again and lost bad, at home, to similarly dreadful Illinoise. Hang on to beat PSU and then get fairly blown out on the same turf to Illinoise. What does that say about how lost PSU is? Nothing. Not in the Lost Year. What does it say about Scott Frost? It's all bad. It looks like Frost is gonna fail. As I asked last week about Jim Harbaugh, I can ask this week about Scott Frost: "What Did Nebraska Do Wrong?" Into his third season Frost is 10-18 in Lincoln. Every time I've written about "'Huskers" football I feel pain for I love Nebraska, I love Nebraska people, I love Fauxpelini, I love Nebraska football, and I feel so sad for them. Where would Nebraska plausibly go after Scott Frost? That's the bitch of it, there's nowhere else for them to go. So sad.
God, what a waste of time and 1,000 pages Kristen Labransdatter was. I haven't thought of that book in months but as I was re-reading Pilgrim's Way again I thought, "What amazing luck that I happened onto this book," and then I thought of its opposite. Something from the lost year of MMXX that made it more MMXXZZZ.
IHME: 471,000 Deaths by March 1
Remember IHME? The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Chosen by Cucky Kushner as the model of preference because their estimates were "less catastrophic." They were always low. Don't know if this one is going to follow IHME's pattern but it sure is not "less catastrophic."
Elite Strike Force Team Confuses Georgia (state) with Georgia (country); Michigan with Minnesota, Loses All
The Trump Law Firm, dye-headed by noted transvestite Rudolph/Rudolphina Giuliani, noted transsexual Sidney/Sydney Powell, noted idiot Joseph "Joey the Nut" diGenova, and some girl named "Jenna" suffered slight upsets yesterday in service to Il Duce. First, Georgia certified its election for President-elect Biden over a seemingly compelling affidavit submitted by an individual in Texas. The affidavit swore to a set of suspicious voting numbers in certain precincts, viz:
Votes/SOS
Precinct Township Est. Voters
BENGHAZIA TWP 350%
MITIANELLO P-1 144%
MITIANELLO P-2 138%
ADJARAVILLE P-2 138%
ADJARAVILLE P-1 136%
BRADFORDILI TWP. 104%
VELD TWP. 104%
COLCHIS TWP 104%
KARTLI CITY 103%
ZUGDIDI TWP. 102%
KANDIYOHI TWP. 102%
LAKE LISI TWP. 102%
HOOKAH TWP. 102%
KAVERMO CARTELI TWP. 101%
KURA RIVER TWP. 101%
SHIDASIDE TWP. 101%
SHALIKASHVILI TWP 101%
OZLO 101%
AKHALTSIKHE TWP. 101%
An ethnic Georgian, native of Tbilsi, on staff at the Washington Post recognized the names of the voting precincts from his country of origin also they appeared in the affidavit written in Cyrillic.
Then, later in the day on Friday, after a meeting with Il Duce in the Oval Office, a delegation of elected Republicans from Michigan announced that they would certify the election according to "the will of the people" as evinced in their "votes" and had requested aid for Coronavirus. Trump asked how Coronavirus had voted.
Friday, November 20, 2020
The American Nightmare
Twenty-four hours ago the undersigned posted that the undertaker had taken charge of 252,484 Americans. Twenty-four hours later, as the soon-to-be-indicted Manslayer in chief and his soon-to-be-disbarred lawyer tend to their hair 254,383 have fallen to criminally-negligent homicide. When the figures are entered the ledger tonight 2,000 more will be entered under the name, Trump-the-Criminal.
Once Out Of Office, Trump Faces Significant Legal Peril
"Clearly, the president enjoyed immunity when he was in office," said Danya Perry, a former state and federal prosecutor in New York. "And it's possible, as a matter of law, that he could be indicted on January 21."
"His legal risks increase immeasurably come Jan. 21st, both on the civil and the criminal side," Perry said.
...
[Federal] Prosecutors...referred to the president in court papers as "Individual 1."
...
"Ordinarily, had the target not been a sitting president with immunity, I think 'Individual 1,' as he's referred to, very likely would have been prosecuted along with his aider and abettor, Michael Cohen," Perry said.
...
What is clear about Trump's pardon power, however, is that it does not extend to crimes at the state level. And that could prove problematic for Trump in his former hometown.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has an active criminal investigation into Trump and his businesses. The exact contours of the probe are not clear, but court papers suggest he's investigating possible insurance or financial fraud.
"That looks like it's the most likely place where he could have some criminal liability around taxes, for example."-Kim Wehle, University of Baltimore Law School.
...
"It's hard to imagine that Cyrus Vance would have put this kind of effort into investigating Donald Trump while he was president if he was just going to drop that investigation and anything that could come out of that when he is a private citizen like anyone else," Wehle said.
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