COVID-19 BIDEN+253

Ah-ah-ah...AH! Whew.

Lookee here--excuse me while I pull my pants back up--deaths declined by 2% over the last two weeks.

Deaths. Declined. 2%. Over the last two weeks.

You good or do you need a moment?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

It's too strange man. Deaths have fallen compared to -2 weeks for the first time in many, many weeks. The relentless pounding, pounding, pounding down of cases, -26%, and hospitalizations, -17%, have caused death to bow.

Look at that baby hanging straight down like Trumpie's limpy dick.

I saw it comin! Just give me that, I did see it coming. Yesterday, today--"The Worm Hath Turneth."

But MORE, MUCHO more, give cases a hand!

Get up!

Hospitalizations!

Ladies and Gentleman, The President of the United States!

Hitler-Trump Comparisons

You know…I know! there are a lot of similarities. I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich again, I see them, I get it, okay? But have some respect, okay forget respect, have a sense of proportion. Hitler was very rude, but you don’t make a point by stretching it out of all shape. I mean the man's dead already. Arguing that he was worse than Trump is piling on.

I got tired of pink and lavender so I decided to paint my balcony a soft gold tonight.

I can’t believe ONE guy from ONE small state gets to set a “Limit.” “Senator Manchin, we elected you president, what’s your limit?” It’s just unbelievable.

Sinema's Betrayal

That is how "many" Democrats feel in Arizona. Betrayal is an emotion so visceral because it is so personal. When you think you know a person, especially when the person seems so much like you, and you support them and identify with them and then they become unrecognizable in a new position...you feel betrayed. 

I have written the following many times. I loved Barack Obama, still love him, will always love him. I knew the guy, in the sense used here. I know people, one in particular, like him. Obama and I are close in age; both lawyers, I knew what that guy was thinking. Lawyers think in a certain way. Everything that Obama did and didn't do I either agreed with or I could understand how he could have done or not done it because I could have done or not done it. Lawyers have to make decisions. You don't have the luxury of endless study, as an academic does, for example. You have to make a decision. This is the case. You do your research, making sure you're thorough, get feedback from colleagues, whatever. Now it comes time to try the damn case. You have to decide. I knew Obama was never going to "do stupid shit." I knew it. And he never did. Never had a mind meld with a president like I had with Obama.

"A Republican in Democrats' Clothing"

 

Kyrsten Sinema Is at the Center of It All. Some Arizonans Wish She Weren’t.

The centrist senator is key to President Biden’s agenda in Washington. Her positions have angered some Democrats back home.

Jade Duran once spent her weekends knocking on doors to campaign for Senator Kyrsten Sinema...But no more.

When Ms. Sinema famously gave a thumbs down to a $15 minimum wage and refused to eliminate the filibuster to pass new voting rights laws this year, Ms. Duran, a Democrat and biomedical engineer from Phoenix, decided she was fed up. She joined dozens of liberal voters and civil rights activists in a rolling series of protests outside Ms. Sinema’s Phoenix offices, which have been taking place since the summer. Nearly 50 people have been arrested.

“It really feels like she does not care about her voters,” said Ms. Duran, 33, who was arrested in July at a protest. “I will never vote for her again.”

I celebrated Sinema's election passionately. She has turned out to be a disgusting disappointment.

...Sinema, a onetime school social worker and Green Party-aligned activist...vaulted through the ranks of Arizona politics by running as a zealous bipartisan willing to break with her fellow Democrats. She counts John McCain... as a hero, and has found support from independent voters and moderate suburban women in a state where Maverick is practically its own party.

Then we should break with her.

But now, Ms. Sinema is facing a growing political revolt at home from the voters who once counted themselves among her most devoted supporters. Many of the state’s most fervent Democrats now see her as an obstructionist whose refusal to sign on to a major social policy and climate change bill has helped imperil the party’s agenda.

Why did she run as a Democrat? To "break" with Democrats? To break with the Democratic presidential candidate who won her state?!

Little can proceed without the approval of Ms. Sinema...she has balked at the $3.5 trillion price tag and some of the tax-raising provisions of the bill, which is opposed by all Republicans in Congress, Democrats in Washington and back home in Arizona have grown exasperated.

Manchin...has publicly outlined his concerns with key elements of the Democratic agenda in statements to swarms of reporters, Ms. Sinema has been far more enigmatic and has largely declined to issue public comments.

Mr. Biden, White House officials and Democrats have beseeched the two senators to publicly issue a price tag and key provisions of the legislation that they could accept. But there is little indication that Ms. Sinema has been willing to offer that, even privately to the administration.

So she's just breaking to break. No more specific reason. What bullshit.

In the closely divided Phoenix suburbs that were crucial to Democrats’ recent wins in Arizona, some...voters...said they had been calling and writing Ms. Sinema for months and now worried that the Democrats’ best chance to advance major policies was slipping away because of their senator.

Over the weekend, the state’s Democratic Party threatened a symbolic vote of no confidence against Ms. Sinema. Dissatisfied donors and activists are starting a Primary Sinema political action committee to raise money to fund primary challengers in 2024 if she blocks the Democratic agenda in Washington.

...

Many of the youngest activists now agitating the loudest against Ms. Sinema said they felt betrayed because she seemed so much like them. At 45, she is practically a teenager by the Senate’s octogenarian standards. She is an Ironman triathlete, the first openly bisexual member of Congress...

“I believed in what it would mean to have a queer representative who believed in the climate crisis,” said Casey Clowes, 29, who has demonstrated outside Ms. Sinema’s offices with the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led group focused on climate change. “I knocked on doors for her. I was an intern for her campaign. I really believed.”

Mary Kay Yearin, a lifelong Democrat...[said] “Her vote matters so much. She seems like a Republican in Democrats’ clothing.”

A Green bipartisan, bisexual. She's used to cross-dressing.

...

And to what end? Is a queer Greenie going to get Republican votes? 

“I appreciate that she’s not way left-leaning like the rest of them,” said Pat Odell, a retired court clerk and conservative. Ms. Odell said she wanted to see a total closure of the southwestern border and wanted Ms. Sinema to reject the $3.5 trillion Democratic social-spending bill outright.

But even if that happened, would Ms. Odell actually vote for Ms. Sinema or anyone with a D beside their name?

Probably not, she said.

Probably not.

 

Congress Expected to Avert Government Shutdown

The House and Senate are both expected to pass short-term bills to fund the government...

Could Sen. Kyrsten Sinema face a primary? These progressives are trying to make it happen.

The Arizona moderate has frustrated Democrats on a wide range of issues, and a new PAC backed by big money is launching an effort to replace her.

👏🏻 That’s what we have to do.

The Arizona moderat has frustrated Democrats o range of issues, and a new PAC backed by big money is launching an effort to replace her.

COVID-19 BIDEN +252: The Worm Doth Turneth

Smallest increase over 14 days in deaths in a long time. First time the 7-day daily average has been under 2k since Sept.17.

An inchworm but an inch of a turn downward.

COVID-19 BIDEN+251

In the last few iterations of the 7-day daily average we are beginning to see the first modest, tentative, rebellious signs of deaths falling in line with the sustained, substantial declines in cases and hospitalizations.

Cases

Hospitalizations

Deaths

The woodchopper is running out of wood to chop.

In the two most complete surveys of historians on the greatest British Prime Minister of the twentieth century, the first, by the BBC in 1999, ranked Winston Churchill first, David Lloyd George second and Clement Atlee third. In the University of Leeds 2004 survey Atlee was first, Churchill second, and Lloyd George third. Churchill served nine years over two terms of office, with an interregnum of six years by Atlee; Lloyd George served six years from the middle of World War I through 1922.

I was surprised when I first saw these polls that anyone could be ranked ahead of Churchill. Atlee had agreed to serve as Lord Privy Seal in the wartime coalition government with Churchill. He was an able, loyal second on whom Churchill depended greatly and was never let down. Atlee was also a spectacular Prime Minister in his own right. He employed Keynesian economics, laid the groundwork of the modern British welfare state, passed the National Insurance Act of 1946, established the National Health Service in 1948, and nationalized the utilities and major industries. In foreign affairs he urged a robust vigilance toward the Soviet Union which resulted in the Truman Doctrine, supported the Marshall Plan, the creation of NATO, and sent British troops to fight in the Korean War. Ample, more than ample, justification for Atlee being rated second-best, but first? I agree with the sentiment of the  English workingman at Churchill's funeral: "Don't ge'me wrong, I'm Labour all the way. But if it wa'nt for 'im I woul'n't be 'ere."

I am sure that I have told these two anecdotes of the Churchill-Atlee relationship before but for this post tell them again. Atlee was in personality the opposite of Churchill. "Modest and unassuming" is Wikipedia's description of Atlee. In the 1945 campaign, won by Labour in a landslide, Churchill said of his opponent, "He is a very modest man, with very good reason to be modest." And during his premiership in the great Commons debates over nationalization, during a restroom break, Atlee used the urinal right next to that where Churchill stood. Churchill moved down a stall. "What is the matter Sir Winston, feeling a little standoffish today?" "No", Churchill grumbled, "it's just that everytime you see something big you want to nationalize it."

It was Sunday evening...[Ambassador John G.] Winant and Averell Harriman were alone with me at the table at Chequers. I turned on my small wireless set shortly after the nine o'clock news had started. There were a number of items about the fighting on the Russian front and on the British front in Libya, at the end of which some few sentences were spoken regarding an attack by the Japanese on American shipping at Hawaii, and also Japanese attacks on British vessels in the Dutch East Indies. There followed a statement that after the news Mr. Somebody would make a commentary, and that the Brains Trust programme would then begin, or something like this. I did not personally sustain any direct impression, but Averell said there was something about the Japanese attacking the Americans, and, in spite of being tired and resting, we all sat up. By now the butler, Sawyers, who had heard what had passed, came into the room, saying, 'It's quite true. We heard it ourselves outside. The Japanese have attacked the Americans.' There was a silence...I got up from the table and walked through the hall to the office, which was always at work. I asked for a call to the President. ...

In two or three minutes Mr. Roosevelt came through. 'Mr. President, what's this about Japan?' 'It's quite true,' he replied. 'They have attacked us at Pearl Harbour. We are all in the same boat now.' I put Winant on to the line...We then went back into the hall and tried to adjust our thoughts to the supreme world event which had just occurred, which was of so startling a nature as to make even those who were near the centre gasp. ...

The Second World War, The Grand Alliance, chapter 32 Pearl Harbour! (484-5), Winston Churchill (1950).

Churchill was a most deserving recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature.

My Girl Child Got Sponsored :)

https://www.tiktok.com/@dionthepeon/video/7013370166549482758 

 

Barcelona financial crisis deepens as LaLiga cut €300m from spending cap

This is a sport tragedy. LaLiga is punishing that iconic club into bankruptcy. They had to sell Messi. Now:

...six clubs in the Spanish top-flight [are] permitted to spend more than them.

The bar for operating costs for Barca for the 2021-22 season has been reduced to €97m, which is almost €650m less than rivals Real Madrid, whose limit has been fixed at €739m.

And here’s to you Philadelphia
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you
Boo, Boo, Boo
What’s that you say Philadelphia
Ben Simmons has left and gone away
Boo, Boo, Boo,
Boo, Boo, Boo

Still got it! Twisted and turned to my heart’s content in bed, didn’t ONCE fall out WOO-HOO!

Go Nuclear

President Biden needs to declare a national emergency, sign executive orders, Whatever. It. Takes. to keep the government funded and raise the debt ceiling to avoid U.S. default. There is No. Way. that the president and the country should be held hostage to antidemocratic, authoritarian, pro-COVID, anti-vaccine Republicans from slave states. They will shut down the United States government and default on its debt, throw the country and the world into economic crisis, in order to make this president fail. 

The president should personally target slaver senators and representatives by name, go into their states and districts, primary them, general them, refuse to communicate or even acknowledge them, have leaders strip them of committee assignments. FDR did it. President Biden's disgraced predecessor who wasn't even an American president did it. The bully in the pulpit is the President, not some concussion syndrome-compromised senator from Coal; not some sun-stroke addled, callow, first-termer. Go to Kentucky! and make the turtle snap his head back into his shell in Fear. 

We didn't have a government shutdown in the first 204 years after Independence. Since 1980 we have had nine. Enough. With the potential exception of the de minimis 1980 shutdown which affected one federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, for one day--all were caused by Republicans. These Republican shutdowns lasted a combined eighty-two days, the longest, under President Biden's illegitimate, disgraced predecessor, lasted thirty-five days.

We are being attacked from an enemy within. The president has the power to crush this enemy. He needs to use Whatever. It. Takes. McConnell said recently "Now, we're going to see if Democrats can govern." President Biden should show McConnell that we can.

There it is. Messi. Paris lead 2-0 in the 74'. See, now the game is out of reach for City because we are not prolific scorers this season.

 10m ago

16:24

63 min: Mahrez, crossing from a deep position on the right, aims for Silva on the other flank but only manages to flay the ball out for a goal kick. A few frowns and gesticulations. City have been on top since the restart, but for a

16m ago16:16

56 min: City continue to pass, pass, pass; they continue to press, press, press. Walker then passes the ball straight out of play, giving PSG some respite from the runaround. Nice of him.

"You cannot pass the ball into the net." That's what I'm afraid this City team are going to be this season.

Man, it's still 1-0 PSG in the 60'. The only goal was Idrissa Gueye in the 8'. Paris have Leonel Messi for crissakes. City don't have a go-to striker. Joah Cancelo is playing. I've noticed his name in other matches early this season. But then he played early last season. One of the Guardian's soccer writers wrote at one point he thought Cancelo was the most valuable player to his team in the EPL. Then, no Joah. 

Without the ability to win shootouts with other teams, are City more attentive to defending? I haven't read anything to that effect but here we are, now in the 67' in Paris against a PSG team with Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi, coached by Mauricio Pochettino, and it's still one nil.

We're already playing the Champions League? That's what it says. Paris leads City 1-0 in the 28' in Paris. Real marquee time slot for PSG-Manchester City, huh?

 

 

Man at Play, Man at His Best

I see the 10,000 villages of Russia, where the means of existence was wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are still primordial human joys, where maidens laugh and children play…

-Winston Churchill on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, June 22, 1941

Don’t suppose any of you have had the experience of turning over in bed in the middle of the night and rolling completely out of bed onto the floor.

 After a short visit to the Althingishus, to pay respects to the Regent and the members of the Icelandic Cabinet, I proceeded to a  joint review of the British and American Forces. There was a long march past in threes, during which the tune "United States Marines' bit so deeply into my memory that I could not get it out of my head. 

It is a catchy little piece.

Henry Kissinger described Zhou Enlai with an uncanny similarity to this description, by Churchill, of Zhou's Soviet counterpart.

Vyacheslav Molotov was a man of outstanding ability and cold-blooded ruthlessness. He had survived the fearful hazards and ordeals to which all the Bolshevik leaders had been subjected...He had lived and thrived in a society where every-varying intrigue was accompanied by the constant menace of personal liquidation. His...comprehending eyes,...his verbal adroitness and imperturbable demeanour were appropriate manifestations of his qualities and skill. He was above all men fitted to be the agent and instrument of the policy of an incalculable machine. I have only met him on equal terms, in parleys where sometimes a strain of humour appeared, or at banquets where he genially proposed...conventional and meaningless toasts. I have never seen a human being who more perfectly represented the modern conception of a robot. And yet with all this there was an apparently reasonable and keenly-polished diplomatist...[With the Japanese Ambassador] One delicate, searching, awkward interview after another was conducted with perfect poise, impenetrable purpose, and bland, official correctitude. Never a chink opened. Never a needless jar was made. His smile of Siberian winter, his carefully-measured and often wise words, his affable demeanour, combined to make him the perfect agent of Soviet policy in a deadly world.

There was another long, delicate, searching, comprehending interview. One between Molotov and former champagne salesman Ribbentrop. The latter was trying to sell the former on the bubbly prospect of dividing the spoils upon the imminent liquidation of the British Empire and said, through translator, "And you will have a natural outlet to the open sea," meaning the Arabian Sea. Without waiting for the translation, Molotov interrupted, "Which sea?"

COVID-19 BIDEN +249

Hospitalizations, which deaths sync better with than cases have fallen from a high on Sept.4, three weeks ago, of 102,781 ave/day to 86,403 today, Sept. 26, an immense drop in the numbers of those on death's door. But that's a revolving door or a screen door that death has, you can check out any time but you can never leave, and a daily average of 2,031 have checked out in the week ending today. That is down a damnation-by-faint-praise of three from the Sept. 25 iteration, which was down eighteen from Sept. 24, which was UP 24 deaths/day from Sept. 23. Putting it more clearly, from Sept. 23 through Sept. 26 we have saved a grand total of seven lives/day. One finger salute to that. The death interval from hospitalization is not holding. It's oblivious.

Social Democrats Narrowly Oust Christian Democrats in Germany

Angela Merkel's party has lost (she was not a candidate after 16 years). The winning S.D.P. only got 25.7% of the vote so it's Coalition Time in Kraut. According to the American quasi-official New York Times,

...in the complex equation that can be required in Germany to form a government, it is possible that if the winning party fails to get others on board, the party that placed second could wind up leading the country.

It could take weeks if not months of haggling to form a coalition,

I don't know if Germany like patterned their system after Israel's, I think not, and surely hope not, as Israel needs four elections to decide every one. Most goddamned unwieldy system, I can't see why it's so magnetic. 

I may be totally wrong but "Social' sounds more left-handed than "Christian". I like "Social" more than Christian anything but I have no idea if Christians hate Germany the way Christians hate America.

A Tale of Two North Londons

Man, I have been dereLICKED. I knew there'd be a game or two today in the Premier League and so checked in with ESPN. Yeah, there was a game. Pretty effing big game. Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur. 3-1 the Espen feature box blared at my sorry ass. I read that article first but quickly noticed a side article, "Nuno: I made bad decisions in Arsenal loss." (?) Who the fuck is Nuno? to self. Nuno Espirito Santo is Spurs new coach. (Yes, that means I didn't know who Spurs new coach was.) Never gave it a thought, actually. I don't know why.

I knew that Spurs owner refused to sell club icon Harry Kane to Manchester City over the summer; knew that that left City without a "true nine" since we left Kun Aguero go, didn't sign Messi, nor Ronaldo, all of which SUCKED; knew that 'Arry issued a statement to Spurs fans saying the summer drama was all behind him and he would never disrespect the fans by giving less than full 100 effort; knew that City had lost the opening match of the season to Spurs on a goal by the sublime Son Heung Min; figured that that meant 'Arry hadn't scored. (I'm clever that way.); and figured, that figures. That's when I crowned ManU presumptive 2021/22 champeens. and went back to ignoring Spurs. 

So, catching up on my reading today I learned that Arsenal and Spurs have had exact mirror image results in the first six games of the new campaign: Arsenal lost their first three, including a pathognomonic 5-0 loss to City, which prompted me for the first time in eighteen years of being a City fan to call for the ousting of an opponent's manager, Arsenal boss and former Pep lieutenant Mikel Arteta. I didn't notice until just a couple of hours ago that Arsenal then won three straight, including today's destruction of Spurs. Nor did I know that Spurs did the exact opposite, won their first three, earning "Nuno" Manager of the Month honors, and then lost three straight, including today's. Huh.

I've read a few articles on Spurs now and was surprised to read that Harry Kane has not scored a single, solitary goal in these six contests, and just flabbergasted that two weeks in a row 'Arry has had a want away look about him. Shocked, I'm talking SHOCKED. And, according to Asshole Roy Keane, Son also displayed bad body language on the pitch last week against Swine Chelsea. Oooh. You know, it's not really the Harry Kane Club, it's the Harry Son Club. 

I read that Spurs had a rather shambolic coaching search, which would not be a mood enhancer, before settling on Nuno, and that Nuno thoroughly fucked up today's game plan. The ESPN article said something like, I'll find the exact quote, but something like "played without a midfield." (?) Here's the exact language, "...a bizarre game plan in which they seemingly attempted to beat Arsenal without playing a midfield." So I got that one pretty accurate. And that Nuno acknowledged an effed up game plan. Who the F is this guy? to self. So I looked him up. He coached Valencia (big club, Valencia) for one season before "resigning"; coached his playing club Porto (big club, Porto) for a year before being fired, and nine days later signed to coach Wolverhampton Wanderers (not a big club) and coached Wolves for four seasons before leaving "by mutual consent" with management. Three weeks later Spurs hired him. So, Nu no light the world afire in his managerial career and Spurs players and fans can be forgiven for thinking, if they do, I have no idea as I think I have amply demonstrated in this post, that they got Wolves sloppy seconds. Not exactly the pedigree they're used to, the player whisperer Mauricio Pochettino, or the charismatic Jose Mourinho. Could cause some dressing room knife play. And apparently has. Players have been complaining behind Nuno's back. As well as some bad body language in games. Which it has. 

So in conclusion I am caught up and Daniel Levy has fucked up. 

Out.

COVID-19 BIDEN+248

It’s weird, isn’t it?

We’re not impressed Pitt, Ohio State, Miami, Texas (for the second week), Temple. We’re disgusted. You’re disgusting.

The sun had gone down and it was dark when I left my son's yesterday. As soon as I stepped out I noticed the strange air: a thick, warm soup that strangely did not feel cloying. Rather, it was an enveloping comforting. I didn't perspire, my skin was not clammy. And when I got home and the thermostat read 78 degrees in my unit I did not turn on the air conditioner. I was not warm. Rather, I opened the balcony windows. Later, I opened the solid front door to get more of the night air's envelope.The air was sensual on my skin and I stripped naked. I slept all night with no air conditioning, the first time I had ever done that when it was 80 degrees outside. When I awoke at 5:54 the thermostat read 80 degrees inside. But I was not hot or clammy and had not soaked the bed sheets nor my night clothes with perspiration.

The sky chastens us daily now. It stormed off and on all the daylight hours yesterday and the day before. It is a school teacher brooding over us, angrily muttering, occasionally shouting that we have a big test coming and better be doing our homework. It is always hot. The high yesterday was 91 and the low 75. When I left to go to my son's it was 80 degrees out. From 7:23 p.m. until 11:53 the temperature range was 76 degrees to 78 degrees and the humidity 87% to 97%. From 9 p.m. onward there was "no wind," the air did not stir. All of those numbers do not add up to "comfortable", have never, to me, added up to "comfortable," yet that is how it was last night. The old schoolmarm was probably right. We do have a big test coming. But last night her brooding was comforting in a way that I had never experienced before. 

Strange Country

Arkansas is strangely very good.
Ohio State is strangely not great.
Texas A&M is strangely not great.
Oklahoma is strangely not great.
Clemson is strangely not very good.
Wisconsin is strangely not very good.
Oklahoma is strangely not very good.
Minnesota is strangely not good.
Iowa State is strangely not good.
North Carolina is strangely bad.

Five teams from the preseason top ten strangely will not be in the top ten after five weeks, and a sixth, Oklahoma, are the ricketiest of top ten teams. North and South, East and West, this is strange country for scholarly tackle football.

Schadenfreude Saturday Final

Minnesota 10 Bowling Green 14. OUCH!

Purdue 13 Illinoise 9. HA-HA!

Duke 52 Kansas 33. *clap*

#4 Oklahoma 16 West Virginia 13. "Let's Gooo Mountaineers!"

Georgia Tech 45 #21 North Carolina 22. The Mack Brown Era Parte Deux ends in failure.

Georgia Tech 38 #21 UNC 22, 3:41 4Q

 

OT/FT Michigan State 23 Nebraska 20

 

Nebraska at #20 Michigan State-5. I could see this game going like NU's game at Colorado a few years ago. Excruciating overtime loss for Corn. Ruined their whole season. Spartak-5 is consistent with that. I just don't believe in Scott Frost. Gang Green murdered UMG last week in the Garden. Not betting.

FT Florida 38 Tennessee 14

 

Lord, I was born a gamblin' man,

Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can.

And when it's time for leavin',

I hope you'll understand,

That I was born a gamblin' man.

31-14, 2:04 3Q

Man, I should just retire and take up gambling. Wait.

FT Incorrect Word 31 McNeese State 0

#11 Florida 24 Tennessee 14, 12:21 3Q.

#4 Oklahoma 7 West Virginia 10 HT. My goodness.

The AP write-up on the Notre Dame game was understated, not effusive at all. It's conclusion: "Notre Dame might squeeze into the top-10 depending" on what other teams do. Notre Dame is TWELFTH. They just beat the 18th ranked team who were a six-point favorite by FOUR TOUCHDOWNS on a neutral field. AP is not falling for Irish blarney anymore. Wisconsin has got some real problems. In addition to the FOUR INT's and two pick-sixes their QB threw they also gave up a 96 yard kickoff return for touchdown. PSU's 16-10 win at then-#12 Wisconsin is not looking near as impressive as it did.

#11 Florida 17 Tennessee 14 HT.
#20 Michigan State 13 Nebraska 10.

Schadenfreude Saturday

Okay, I just took a break to go watch my boy play Rocket League, let's see what we have...

#5 Iowa did come back to beat Colorado State 24-14.

#16 ARKANSAS(!) did beat #7 Texas A&M 20-10. I don't even know who Arkansas' coach is but that's the biggest win by the "Hogs" in years. Congratulations, "Hogs!"

Holy hell. NC State beat #9 Clemson. 27-21 the final in Raleigh. Clemson. Is. Fucked. Up. 

Fucking Baylor beat #14 Iowa State. Arrgh!

Inspired showing by Rutgers at the Big House. "Wolves" prevail 20-13 but Rutgers is doing real well. *clap*

#23 Auburn shook their hangover to come from behind and beat Georgia State 34-24. With as incredibly as Auburn played at PSU last week it would have been unjust to their quality to lose this game. I'm happy for them.

Wyoming came from behind to beat UConn. 24-22 the final. The "Cowboys" were something like 30-point favorites. Best UConn has played in years. Shame they couldn't get the W.

FSU made it close, can't believe I'm typing that, but still lost at home to Louiville 31-23. "Seminoles" now 0-4. Unbelievable.

#11 Florida leads Tennessee by only 10-7 early in the 2Q. That was my other investment play of the day. I bet a dime FU would cover -19. Not lookin' too good early.

#20 Michigan State leads Nebraska 7-0 at the start of the 2Q.

Schadenfreude Saturday

#23 AUBURN 12 Georgia State 24, :50 HT! Happy Valley hangover?

#5 Iowa 7 Colorado State 14, 9:40 3Q. I will be gabbersmocked if Iowa loses this one.

UConn 13 Wyoming 10, 10:10 3Q.

Still 7-7 NC State and #9 Clemson, 10:45 3Q. My oh my.

Florida State 13 Louisville 31, HT. Lord.

Hog Heaven

Woo Pig Sooie! Arkansas leads Texas A&M 17-0, 10:01 2Q. Not over by a long stretch but Jumbo Fisher in a deep hole in Arlington, Texas.

Holy shit. Baylor's "Raping Bears" lead #14 Iowa State 21-10, 5:30 HT.

UCONNLEADSWYOMING13-3! :o 

#9 Clemson is tied 7-7 with North Carolina State in Raleigh. Man, that Clemson offense is offensive. Dumbo's gonna have to switch O coordinators or fire the one he's got. 

Lewisville now 24-7 on FSU, 3:58 HT. God the Semi-Holes are baad.

Michigan has jumped on Rutgers. It's now 17-3 just before HT.

FT Brentford 3 Liverpool 3

Man, what a great game. I just had a chance to watch extended highlights. Brentford played extremely well with great intensity and their stadium was electric. Six goals total and early on there were two moments, one each by the teams, where the goalkeeper was out of net and field players made miraculous saves:

A “Bee” just gets back to the hive in time to deny Mo Salah his 100th goal in the PL.

And then four minutes later Alisson is caught out and a Liver steps in to save.

Marvelous game.

Lord. Wisconsin threw three INT's in the last five minutes of the game, two of which were returned for TD's, and #12 Notre Dame stormed out of Soldier Field in Chicago with a 41-13 humiliation of #18 Wisconsin. The "Irish" scored 31 points in the 4Q. I'm going to predict that Wisconsin will go into a season-long funk over this. Good a coach as Paul Chryst is I just don't see him or his team recovering from this. So I make some money and unfortunately ND is going to scale the rankings heights again and get in position for another appearance in the CFP where they will again get humiliated.

Boston College beat Mizzou 41-34 in OT. "Pigeons" scored on their first possession in OT and then held the "Tigers"...What Missouri is doing in the SEC I don't understand. I have never gotten used to them not being a Big 8 Big 12 team.

#16 Arkansas has scored first against seventh Texas A&M to lead 3-0 with 6:30 left 1Q.

#14 Iowa State is 7-7 at Baylor, 5:30 1Q.

Lewisville continues the hurt on Florida State. "Cardinals" lead 10-0 4' 1Q in Tally.

Rutgers has got on the board in Ann Arbor. They trail #19 Michigan 7-3 1' 1Q.

Oh my goodness, Missouri hit a 56-yard field goal with :03 left in the 4th Q to send their game against BC to overtime tied 34-34. Dum-hinger in Chestnut Hill.

On the other hand, #18 Wisc. missed a 52-yarder that would have brought them within one score of #12 ND. “Irish” lead 24-13 with the ball and 6:14 on the clock. Payday for me!

Schadenfreude Saturday

Oh my goodness, little Brentford held Liverpool 3-3. Wow. Livers get stung three times by the bees.

Everton did beat Norwich 2-0. Once again the cases are made against the relegation system and against a twenty-team PL. Norwich has played six matches, lost all six, have scored two goals and given up 16.

Liverpool tops the table with 14 points on an equal number of matches played with the rest of the top five. City, Chelsea, United and Everton are second through fifth tied with 13 points; City own second on +11 GD, the same as Liverpool, then Chelsea +10, United +8, Everton +5. Damaging results for Liverpool and United today. 

#2 Georgia is just murdering Vanderbilt in Nashville. 55-0 and the 4th Q has just started.

The "Lakers" and "Boogers" are 10-10 ~4' left 3Q. This is my investment parley of day.

I didn't see this game. 2-1 Missouri at 3-0 Boston College. Very innteresting matchup."Pigeons" lead 27-24 early in the 4Q.

Schadenfreude

 Ooh, Bruno Fernandes missed a stoppage time PK!

The picture paints a 1,000 words, don't it?

Schadenfreude

The Villians beat the Chevies at RayJay? They did. Kortney Hause scored the match winner in the 88'. Wow. Where's City in the table now? Second, level on points, but having played one more game than 'Pool who play at "Brentford" at 12:30 Normal Colonies Time. Oh my gosh there's a five-way tie on points for first. 'Pool, City, Chelsea, United, and Everton separated only by goal difference. Everton is winning 1-0 over the Tweety Birds amidst the row houses.

Freude

Whoa! City already played and already won. Beat Swine Chelsea 1-0 on the Archangel's 53' goal. At the Bridge, too! 🎵I love you Ci-it-ty oh yes I do-o, I love you Ci-i-ty, I do, Oh Ci-i-ty I am blue🎶

Things that bother me

What was Max Ehrmann's cause of death? How hard should that be to find? Mr. Ehrmann was 72 years old when he died in 1945. Peacefully of natural causes at his home right? No, at least not at home, in a hospital, Saint Anthony's, in his home town, Terre Haute, Indiana. Usually, you know, you go to the hospital with some condition and then you die. You don't usually die and then go to the hospital. But I've run into this before. George Merrick, the racist founder of Coral Gables, Florida. Died in 1942 at age 55 in hospital. What brought him there I never found out. Cause of death just too personal for the '40's I guess. 

Know when Mr. Ehrmann got married for the first time? In 1945, a few months before his death. Ehrmann was a good-looking man, was good-looking as a young man, good-looking in middle age. Good, kind, deep man. Woulda thought the Terre Haute hotties woulda been all over that catch.  Didn't find the right girl for seventyfuckingtwo years. When he did, Bertha Pratt King was 66 years young. Practically robbing the cradle! That is just fucking weird to me. It'd be a weird fucking life's history (or not) if we knew anything else. Bothers me.

The other thing that bothers me tonight, and has for some days, is the Bogle-Kalitzke double murder in Montana in 1956. I posted a breathtaking panorama of Patricia Kalitzke's death scene several days ago. The case was solved in 2019 when DNA from a sperm cell on a vaginal swab taken from 16-year old Patricia's body was matched to that of surviving relatives of Kenneth Gould who died and was cremated in 2007. So it was a double murder with rape as the motive. Both victims had been shot execution style in the back of the head. Duane Bogle's hands were bound behind his back; he was found on the ground outside the driver's door to his car in a lover's lane near Great Falls. The car was still fucking running, in gear, the radio and headlights were on--after three days of sitting there!—How is that possible? What gas mileage did that car get? Christ, was it a Tesla?—The emergency break was the only thing holding it back. Patricia was found the next day about seven miles from Bogle's body. Okay so Gould ambushed them at night, sometime after 9 p.m., on January 2, 1956, ordered Bogle out of the car at gunpoint, made him lie on the dirt road, bound his hands with Bogle's own belt, executed Bogle,

took Kalitzke in his, Gould's, car, probably raped her in the car, ordered her out afterwards, executed her and rolled her body down over a cliff. 

That, or something very like it, would have to be the police theory, right? In fact, at the time Gould lived just over a mile from where Kalitzke lived and, Gould was a horse trainer, "kept" horses about 600 yards from her house, and rode the horses all around the area. So Gould had opportunity. And he MOVED away (still within Montana) shortly after the murders. Why wasn't he then a suspect in 1956? Or '57 or '66 or '76 or '96 or 2006? He had to have been one of the few people who lived near Patricia Kalitzke in 1956. I don't know why Gould wasn't a suspect. They had about 35 suspects over the years according to the Great Falls gendarme, including Whitey Bulger (no lie), but Kenneth Fucking Gould wasn't one of them.

Now, this is in my blood, you see, homicide investigation is in my blood, it's what I did for almost forty years. And I know from my life's work that you have to keep cutting back to the chase when you do what I'm doing here. This is not Milman Parry, a scene confined to a closed hotel room. One possible suspect. There, I knew everything that I needed to know. This is not the Zodiac, murders so fucked up by police mishandling and evidence contaminating that you're never going to figure it out. You gotta know when to fold 'em.  Here, I know hardly anything but I know that there was a fucking sperm cell found in a murdered girl's vagina at autopsy in fucking Montana in 1956. That is conclusive, or damn near. But then why were there these headlines in 1956?

"Autopsies fail to yield clues", yeah, except for the jizm of the rapist-double murderer who lived right down the pike from her.

"MOTIVE A MYSTERY", huh? And dig the statement attributed to Cascade County Sheriff D. J. Leeper, "Sex Ruled Out", Patricia apparently had not been attacked. I read very early on in my reading about this case that cops didn't mention rape in 1956. Because you just didn't mention rape in 1956. Okay, whatever, we'll play along, omitting rape is one thing, if Leeper had said something like, "Can't comment, active investigation," okay, we underfuckingstand. But to affirmatively lie that rape had been ruled out as a motive, that Patricia had not been physically attacked in any way, when, in 2020 Leeper's descendant cops addressed the media and told them that Patricia had injuries consistent with a struggle--THAT is quite another thing for the cops to do. Honest to God, Leeper's contemporaneous statements to the media made me question the chain of custody on the vaginal swab glass slide. There are close to a zillion ways to fuck up chain of custody over sixty years. This DNA would be conclusive as conclusive gets, if the Cascade Cowboys didn't fuck up c-o-c. Is that DNA match to relatives as good as from the suspect? I am almost positive that it is.

The first thing that bothered me about the circumstances of these murders was Bogle's car. Look at that crime scene photo. How was Gould to get his car down that dirt road? Maybe he came at them in the opposite direction? Had to be, right, cuz you're not going to pull along side of them. Were there any other fucking tire tracks coming from the opposite direction? Dunno. Everything looks like an ambush, a lover's lane, Bogle's car still with everything on...Maybe Gould came at them from the side? It doesn't look like it but that is a tight photograph with no terrain context. Gould had to have driven Patricia out of there and there sure appears to be only two ways, in the direction Bogle's car is facing and in the opposite direction from the rear of Bogle's car. Did Gould own or have access to a car? Had to. The theory is not that he ambushed them on horseback, is it? Don't tell me that if it is.

Other things that bother me:

-Gould had never been arrested before. NEVER. This a pretty brutal, cold, calculated double, no? Helluva way for a virginian to break into the crime biz. That's why the cops focused on Whitey Bulger, and another rapist in Montana.

-Wouldn't it have been easier to rape-murder Patty alone? He lived near her. Or was he going for the gold medal in his first try in Olympic murder? "Crime of passion, man. You take your opportunity when it presents itself." No. This was no crime of passion. These victims were stalked over at least a couple of hours. This was purposeful and goal-directed. Patty may have been an afterthought, "Oh well, might as well." Was Bogle the main target? "Shit, he's with a girl. Oh well." And if so, Attorney Harris? Right. They're still both dead and it's Gould's DNA.

-Gould was married. His wife was 16 when they wed. Dum-Dum-dum-dum. Dum. Had a taste for young flesh like Max Ehrmann, eh? This is what bothered me about the marriage: Gould and his wife, "Lulubelle" Brown, had a baby girl born one fucking month before Gould committed this rape-fucking-double murder--on a girl the age of his wife when he wed her! Does the police theory include that this is the world's worst case of male postpartum homicidal psychosis? 

Gould had to have stalked the kids that night. He had to have left Lulubelle alone with their newborn for a few hours at night the night after New Year’s in rural fucking Montana. “Honey, have to attend to a filly on lover’s lane. Back in a few.” Had to have seen the kids at “Pete’s Drive-in” in Great Falls at 9 p.m. Had to have left Lulubelle at…8:30’ish? Had to have followed them to the lover’s lane on Vinyard (sic) Road. You’re not just going to run into two teenagers necking in rural Montana in 1956. How long did it take them and him to get to lover’s lane? I don’t know, 15-30 mins? You whack Duane, take Patty, have your way with her seven (or eight) miles away and then kill her. The cops say they believe Patty was killed about an hour after Duane. An hour? What, did he have a cigarette after? How do they even think that? That seems like an awfully long time when Ken wouldn’t wanna linger know what I mean? But that’s what the cops say, an hour. Fine. Now we’re at about 10:30. He’a already been gone two fucking hours. How long does it take him to get back to Lulubelle, 15-30 mins? Now we’re pushing 11 o’clock. "Ken, where you been so long?"

-Finally, you're going to laugh at me, but this interview really bothered me. Edgar Wilson. "I just plain do not believe it." Mr. Wilson is not lying. Cutting back to the chase that and fifty cents'll get you a pack of gum, but honestly, I listened to that old codger and it shook me. They've got Gould's DNA on a fucking SPERM cell inside the vagina of a dead 16-year old! That is the bottom line. But Mr. Wilson’s recollection of the Kenneth Gould he knew shook doubt from that bottom line and so the case still bothers me. 

Both Max Ehrmann's life and death and this one bother me, this one much, much more. I know why, and that should remove bother. It's that I don't have enough information about either and I know from my life's work that a lack of info is not a reason for bother. I am bothered by unknowns known by others with a right to know. I have no right to know. I know from my work that you either find out the info you're missing or you move on. It's not intelligent to be bothered by a lack of information. I wasn't intelligent tonight.

Out.

Investment Plays

 Innteresting games, or lines, tomorrow.

#12 Notre Dame du lac vs #16 Wisconsin-6.5 in Chicago. No. This is one of those games Brian Kelly gets his "Lakers" to win. If I was a betting man (and I am) I would put multiple shekels down on ND to cover.

#7 Texas Agricultural and Mechanical-5.5 and #16 Arkansas on a neutral field in Arlington, TX. Interesting game. I don't know how good the "Hogs" are to take a position on the line.

#9 Clemson-10 at NC State. I don't know how bad Clem's O is so ditto.

Ruptures at #19 Michigan-20.5. Rup is 3-0, "Wolves" 3-0. I don't know if Mish will cover. Greg Schiano has the "Scarlet Pimpernel" playing well.

Tennessee at #11 Florida-19. Think the "Alligators" will cover that. Not putting any money down on it but...boy, that is tempting. Tenn SUCKS, FU gave the Super Bowl champs a good game. And they hate Tennessee. I'm gonna do it. A dime on FU to cover.

Nebraska at #20 Michigan State-5. I could see this game going like NU's game at Colorado a few years ago. Excruciating overtime loss for Corn. Ruined their whole season. Spartak-5 is consistent with that. I just don't believe in Scott Frost. Gang Green murdered UMG last week in the Garden. Not betting.

'Eers at  #4 Oklahoma-17. Nebraska put some doubt in bettors minds about OU! Not mine. Not betting but I'd take OU and the pernts if I had to.

#21 North Carolina-13.5 at Georgia Tech. Not betting but UNC will cover that.

Sheep not to blame for 

Ronaldo move

 

We are all children of the universe.

Man at Play, Man at His Best

Even twenty-three thousand years ago, and in the shadow of death, children splashed in the water delightedly. For 300,000 years we have not just survived, we have enjoyed. Play is what sets Man apart.

 

Barry, Central Park owl 

killed by truck, had 

'potentially lethal' levels 

of rat poison in her system

Wild footage shows great blue heron swallow giant rat in Central Park

"A great blue heron was caught eating a rat in the middle of Central Park on September 5, 2021. It is being hailed for helping the City’s rat problem."

I Mock New York

 

Man Found Dead With Rope Tied Around Neck in Central Park: Police

Hand count in audit affirms Biden beat Trump, as Maricopa County said in November

…Trump lost by a wider margin than the county’s official election results. 

And did those feet in ancient times...

Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum--Science.org

Not a sexy title. How about this?

A frigging footprint. A goddamned fossilized footprint. And there are thousands of them. The importance of this find is that it antedates the human presence in the Americas by 10,000 years. There are footprints of one person walking a mile and a half. Others show a mother carrying, and setting down briefly, a baby in an environment co-inhabited by giant sloths, Mammoths, and dire wolves. 

NPS AND BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY

The New York Times characterizes the footprints as providing "snapshots", but no, no, no, it is not just a snapshot, we are seeing a motion picture with these trails of footprints. 

This find is evocative of deep emotion. What images come to the minds of we laypeople when we think of ancient archaeological finds? Tools, pre-historic weapons. "Wow," we say but are thinking "I'll have to take your word for it." There is no having to take archaeologists' words for it with FOOTPRINTS! It is deeply stirring, moving indeed.

Other tracks were made by children. “The children tend to be more energetic,” said Sally Reynolds, a paleontologist at Bournemouth University in England and a co-author of the new study. “They’re a lot more playful, jumping up and down.”

They look like goofballs, archaeologists always do. But their work, this work: "...this is probably the biggest discovery about the peopling of America in a hundred years. I don’t know what gods they prayed to, but this is a dream find.” God's work. 

Congratulations and a million thanks to the team in White Sands National Park, New Mexico.

COVID-19 June 1 Through Sept. 22

This is kinda weird, kinda not. This is just a relative comparison of the graphs on the three categories over that three-month-three-week period. The rules of thumb are cases precede hospitalizations by one week and hospitalizations precede deaths by two to three weeks. The graphs should be right-shifted, one week hospitalizations from cases, two-three weeks deaths from hospitalizations, 3-4 weeks from case to death.

This is the cases graph between the two dates:

Hospitalizations

Deaths

Now granted, there is reporting lag and we Americans can't count anyhow but you can see there is no apparent right shift between C's and H's. There is a very accurate right shift in D's from H's, not from cases. 

On July 5, 7-day average daily cases bottomed out at 10,608.You'd expect hospitalizations to have bottomed out on July 12. But they didn't. H's bottomed before cases bottomed out, which is like impossible. H's low was 16,790 on June 29. On July 12 (expected crater) H's had already begun their climb and stood at 19,910.  

Deaths' low, 175, was July 7, two days after cases' low. Pause. 175. Know what our average was for the week ending Sept. 22? 2,075. Unpause. Given a three-four week cases-death interval deaths should have bottomed out July 26-Aug. 2. July 26 deaths were 275 ave/day. Not ridiculously far off their actual low. On Aug. 2 though deaths were at 341 ave/day, almost double their actual low twenty-six days earlier, and deaths were already on their climb up which, with the exception of one little hiccup, continues to present. 

Deaths line up better from H's actual low on June 29. Given a two-three week H->D interval D's should have cratered July 5-12. Deaths were 186 ave/daily July 5, very accurate to the low end of the rule of thumb and 258 July 12.

Deaths continued rise is deeply troubling when cases and especially hospitalizations have declined for many consecutive iterations of the 7-day average and the 14-day change. You look at the deaths graph in isolation and you conclude, “Cases and H’s are UP!”, and it’s not so. Eyeballing the graphs cases are about where they were Aug. 1; H’s look to be at the level of mid-August and both categories have been down for all or nearly all of Sept. We’re now well into the third week of Sept. By either the three to four week case-to-death interval or the seemingly more accurate two to three week H-D interval we should have seen deaths drop before now and continue to drop and we’re nor seeing that.

There is a nail that Frank Bruni appears to be attempting to hit right on its head in this column: That President Biden deliberately is being "Trumpy". To that end:

-"Biden and his advisers know it"; 

-"They know the political danger of...an open borders policy"; 

-"They have surely calculated that French outrage isn’t a serious political liability"; 

-"They no doubt divine ample electoral rationale for some America First maneuvering".

I don't know if Bruni intends to hit that nail so squarely. He rejoices, "Hallelujah", that Biden is so un-Trump.

Biden, this seems to be as direct a hit as Bruni can bring himself to land, is trying to triangulate the Scylla of voters, like me, who "voted excitedly for Biden, even more excitedly against Trump" and the Charybdis of the 46.9% who voted for Trump. When Bruni says Biden's advisers "no doubt divine ample electoral rationale...in America First," that means that is what Bruni thinks, not what any Biden adviser has advised him. I do think however that Bruni is right to think that they think that. I see also a kinder, gentler Biden America First. That doesn't mean what they think is smart. How many times has that worked out, trying to be all things to all people? I can think of only one in my political lifetime, Bubba Bill Clinton. Clinton though lacked majority support; never did get it. Getting to 50.1% was kinda important for survival. Biden has no such problem. All he has to do is hold his own. Especially with Trumpists why try to stretch to reach that far cliff on Deliverance shore? How's that outreach, if that's what it is, gone, by the way? "Fuck Joe Biden" is the chant that unifies both fan bases at college tackle football games across the slave states. It is keener electoral strategy to withdraw from the slave states as determinedly as he withdrew from Afghanistan. I'll take an electorate divided 51.3% blue 46.9% red all damn day.

I struck a blow on the wooden plank a yard from the nail when I wrote that Afghanistan and COVID-19 are not going to hurt Biden. Trump was pro-withdrawal; Trump and his party are pro-Covid. Biden withdrew from Afghanistan, prompting Ann Coulter to write "You have my vote" (if you just build The Wall *eye roll*). Trump Disgustings don't want to get vaxed. Spanish Flu Conquest Day was not mourned in Trump World, it was proof that the U.S.A. was still #1 in something. We broke our own record. Biden's stumbles and bumbles are unintentional lure to the one man who can guarantee Biden's reelection: the real McCoy. That is as far as I am willing to go.

You remember, this was very early on, some of the Best People speculated that Trump was crazy as a fox. He didn't really mean a wall, a nice fence would do, or even a beaded curtain. Don't take him so literally! In his button comparisons with Kim Jong-un, Trump "didn't really mean" he was going to unleash "fire and fury". Well he did mean both. We have Steve Bannon's word for it that Trump says exactly what he means. He's too dumb to play crazy, he is crazy.

I see the same problem in attributing three-dimensional chess to Biden's Withdrawal from Hell. He didn't intend that. He stupidly left the details to his staff and went on vacation to Camp David. They about had to get a warrant to get him back. He didn't call Macron and Johnson and Merkel from calculation. He done forgot. Called them soon as his aides dragged him back.

He thought he was DONE with COVID, had killed that sucker dead. Didn't notice Delta dawning over his shoulder, scorching the path he had just trod until it was nipping him at his heels.

He left the Aussies to notify the French that their sub deal was canceled, to American biz' benefit. That would be consistent with leaving the details to subordinates. But his staff said they tried to have a meeting with the French. Then said we and the Aussies deliberately didn't give them advance notice because they were convinced the French would "sabotage" (French word, sabotage) the new deal. Those are the type of conflicting, mutually exclusive explanations we got from Trump. I just don't think it was important enough to Biden to try to tell the French ahead of time. Calculation never entered into it. But to Bruni this was the art of the steal: "They have surely calculated that French outrage isn’t a serious political liability." Used in that way "surely" means nobody told Bruni that, it had to be that because the alternative is that Biden didn't care. They have "calculated" after the fact that French outrage isn't a serious political thing. And that is where Bruni and I come to agreement from the most divergent paths. None of these things is hurting Biden, COVID may yet bite him as it bit Trump fatally.

So aside from a pastel American First I don't think Biden is being crazy as a fox, that he is wrapping competence in incompetence to throw 'em the old curve ball, I think Biden was just being himself, somewhat "Trumpy", too Trumpy for me.

France’s foreign minister...said that Biden’s decision to negotiate a secret submarine deal with Australia that nullified a lucrative French arrangement reminded him “a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do.”

And nothing about Biden is ever supposed to remind anyone of Donald Trump...

That was the promise. That was the point. I admire a great deal about Biden, but let’s be honest: He was elected president primarily because he held himself up as the antithesis of, and antidote for, Trump.

I’d wager that most of the Americans who voted excitedly for Biden were voting even more excitedly against Trump. And that...created a special set of burdens for — Biden’s presidency...Biden was supposed to perform an exorcism. Never was the devil to be discernible in anything he did.

But he pulled out of Afghanistan without the degree of consultation, coordination and competence that allies expected, at least of any American president not named Trump.

...As David Sanger wrote in The Times, some allies are “publicly accusing him of perpetuating elements of former President Donald J. Trump’s ‘America First’ approach..."

And Biden’s return of hundreds of desperate Haitian migrants to Haiti...also seems Trumpy to many observers.
...
But here’s the thing about Trump’s possession of America: It was made possible by untended sentiments among many voters that haven’t evaporated, on predispositions that endure. And Biden and his advisers know it.

They know the political danger of anything that smacks of an open-border policy, of a moral generosity toward newcomers that can be perceived or spun as a dereliction of duty to longtimers. They know the peril of positioning America as the world’s savior, which can look to some voters like a surrender of national interest — and a sacrifice of American service members — to some highfalutin ideal.

They have surely calculated that French outrage isn’t a serious political liability, not if that emotion arises from the United States having claimed its own payday. They no doubt divine ample electoral rationale for some America First maneuvering without the accompanying America First chest thumping.
...
All in all, Biden is a far cry from Trump. Hallelujah. But that doesn’t mean that he’s untouched by Trump...