9/8: The US Wants to Take Over Defending Trump in His Personal Lawsuit

9/8/20 

The U.S. Department of Justice wants a state-level defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump to be turned into a federal lawsuit so they can dismiss it altogether, according to reports published Tuesday. This idea marks a new extreme in the DOJ's willingness to defend Donald Trump's personal interests.

The lawsuit is for remarks Trump made after being accused of rape in a memoir by the victim, Jean Carroll, who was a long-time columnist for Elle Magazine. In June 2019, New York Magazine published an excerpt from that memoir, titling the article "Hideous Men: Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he's not alone on the list of awful men in my life."

Trump reacted angrily. "I have no idea who this woman is. This is a woman who's also accused other men of things, as you know. It is a totally false accusation," Trump said. "I think she was married, as I read. I have no idea who she is." He went on to accuse her of making it up for publicity. "It's just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence. Worse still for a dying publication to try to prop itself up by peddling fake news -- it's an epidemic."

In response, Jean Carroll filed a lawsuit for defamation, asking to depose Trump, and for a DNA sample that she could match to the dress she was wearing.

The idea is that Donald Trump made his remarks in his capacity as POTUS, which is just the same as the United States, and nobody can sue the United States for defamation. That is, it's saying Trump and the US Government are the same entity, for one thing -- and it would mean that the US Government would pay Trump's legal bills instead of the expense coming from Trump's own pocket. Finally, making the case a federal one will render the entire case moot.

What do you think? Is there any reason this case should be in Federal Court?

Is the DOJ just tying to remove the case from a state court because Trump and successor Presidents can’t pardon Trump from state crimes?

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/515583-justice-department-moves-to-assist-trump-in-e-jean-carroll-lawsuit?fbclid=IwAR2P7mExmRtDIqH_5vm768WKnl-RadFcGzM_fl3PeTbHT1TQj7w8LsayQgM

9/16: Trump's Barbarian at the Gates of the National Forests

 9/16/2020 

Putting William Perry Pendley in charge of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM, not to be confused with Black Lives Matter) is like leading the fox to the henhouse, opening the door, and saying "go get 'em."

Pendley, the Acting Deputy Director for Policy and Programs,” is the author of two books that argue against the U.S. owning or even managing any land at all. They're entitled “War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Frontier” and “Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier.” He has compared climate change to unicorns.

“He’s spent most of his adult life arguing against the principles upon which our federal land management policy is based," says Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia. "He’s called for the sale of the public lands [that] ... the BLM is responsible for ... He’s denigrated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act."

Pendley has been acting head of the BLM only because he never went up for a confirmation vote. It was obvious he'd lose. Instead, he has had his status as acting head renewed repeatedly by the Secretary of the Interior. Two lawsuits are in the works to kick him out of the job.

"He cannot be a good steward of the public domain if he does not believe the public should have domain," says Manchin. "He rejects the laws designed to preserve and protect it.”

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/516576-senate-dems-ask-white-house-to-fire-controversial-head-of-public?fbclid=IwAR1-gxNyCRDAewyhVfBIMOzL4pS0iqxV3a4FFjcG4rVnd_eakW2MB52DRcM

9/17: COVID Mortality Disproportionally Stalks Young People of Color -- and College Students

9/17/2020

For every ten American kids and adolescents who die of COVID, eight are people of color, the Centers for Disease Control says in a study released on September 15.

Of more than 390,000 cases the CDC analyzed, 45% were Hispanic, 29% were Black, and 4% were American Indian or Native Alaskan. The data were from mid-February through the end of July.

The reasons for the disparities are the usual suspects -- pre-existing medical conditions, medical discrimination and wealth gaps that pervade low-income areas.

It seems that with many colleges and universities open again, we can add one more: College students' tendency toward risky behavior.

The CDC flags one major worry about its findings. Disproportionately, those who died were in the 18-20 year-old range, which is troubling because so many students have now returned to college, where they're almost certain to encounter sloppy testing as well as to be involved in large gatherings, such as off-campus parties.

Overall, in the population 65 and under, the death rate of people of color is double that of whites, even though 55% of COVID cases are among Whites.

Have you heard of superspreader events caused by college-student gatherings? Would you send your own kid back to college in person? Will colleges that opened have to shut down soon? Will colleges that are currently doing virtual-only have to stay shut for months longer to keep students safe? 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-deaths-children-young-adults-color-deaths/?fbclid=IwAR0__0Qu4XmaiqdO_SHZV-qlx4kmOUA9MrUXATqZjUAeiMuuEalaSDlKh-I

Note:  Different news stories have slightly different interpretations of the research. It's one of those convoluted academic studies. If you want to see it, go to: 

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6914e4.htm

9/13: Stone & Jones, Trump Bullies, Talk Martial Law

9/13/2020 

Some people just don't have the grace to notice they've been disgraced. That would be Alex Jones, conspiracy theorist, and Roger Stone, a seven-time felon who got off scot-free when Donald Trump commuted his sentence of 40 years in prison. Neither has the personal restraint to stay under their respective rocks.

On Saturday, the two got together in front of microphones and started swapping outrages. They acted as if they were star quarterbacks and Trump was their high-school principal.

Stone's recurrent topic was how Trump should impose martial law if he lost the election. No one knows if he was asked to float the idea, but he said it good and loud.

As quoted in the Huffington Post, Stone said that under martial law and the Insurrection Act, Trump will have “the authority” to arrest Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook), Tim Cook (of Apple), “the Clintons” and “anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity.” He also called for the immediate arrest of former defense secretary James Mattis, who resigned his position as Secretary of Defense in disapproval of Trump, for “sedition.”

Stone also threatened journalists, specifically at The DailyBeast. “[If] They want to play war," he added, "This is war.”

Meanwhile, Jones, a longtime scoundrel, cooed that Stone was "almost a political prisoner."

Jones' resilience would be impressive if his content weren't so vile. He has invented conspiracy theories so far-fetched that they would make almost any sane person avoid him. Jones and his InfoWars show have been banned by almost every social media company under the sun for repeated violations of rules against bullying, hate speech, and harassment.

Jones' list of lost platforms includes Facebook, Apple, YouTube, Spotify, and Vimeo. Add to that Pinterest, Mailchimp, LinkedIn, Twitter, Periscope, and Instagram. In 2019, Apple removed the InfoWars app for "objectionable content." In 2020, Google Play removed Jones's show for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Even Paypal banned him.

The take-home is simple. Like the bullies that we all remember from our formative years, these people will keep stretching their limits until someone stops them cold.


What kind of response will this conversation draw from listeners in right-wing militias? How can we deal with these provocateurs if we have to do something other than ignore them? Is it possible that they will encourage Trump to try to take over the government, as he seems to want to do?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roger-stone-martial-law-donald-trump-election_n_5f5d3e28c5b62874bc1dd6d2

9/16: "Right Up There with the Dumbest Things Ever": HHS Overrides FDA Authority Over COVID Test Development

 9/16/2020 

In an administration that seems like a clutch of serial killers in a clown car, HHS head Alex Azar is a standout these days for his actions involving the FDA. In Health and Human Services, they're supposed to work for the good of the American public, but Azar has decided to override the Federal Drug Administration's guardrails for keeping unsafe and ineffective pharmaceuticals off the market.

FDA protocols demand several rounds of stringent testing for new drugs and lab tests. Azar apparently decided that speed trumped caution for coronavirus tests. In August, he simply overrode the FDA's authority to oversee lab tests in development, including those for coronavirus.

Azar had loosened the FDA lab-test restrictions before, earlier this year, and the result was that ineffective and misleading lab tests were used on the public. Azar's August decision doubles down on that demonstrably bad earlier one.

The move didn't fall out of the sky. Test developers, not all of them commercial, have clamored for more flexibility for ages. Further, there was a putative legal basis for the move; HHS General Counsel Bob Charrow insisted that the FDA lacked the legal authority to regulate test development on an emergency basis. A former FDA Commissioner also told HHS that there was no clear path to approval under emergency circumstances.

However, Azar had to run over FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn to make the change, and while Hahn is a true expert in the field, Azar is simply a bureaucrat installed in his position by Donald Trump. The two had actual screaming matches before Azar announced his decision, and the FDA even refused to announce it, leaving that to the HHS.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called on Tuesday for Azar's immediate resignation, saying "We need a secretary of Health and Human Services who will look out for the American people, not President Trump’s political interests.”

Meanwhile, a Republican close to the issue told Politico that HHS's decision to go to war with the FDA ranks "right up there with the dumbest things ever."


What are your thoughts? Is there any common-sense basis for rushing test development? Can HHS develop safe, effective COVID tests without the safety measures imposed by the FDA? Could this have happened under any other administration besides Trump's?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/15/hhs-alex-azar-overrode-fda-testing-rules-415400?fbclid=IwAR1-gxNyCRDAewyhVfBIMOzL4pS0iqxV3a4FFjcG4rVnd_eakW2MB52DRcM

9/15: After Losing, Trump will Fight to Return in Triumph as Dictator

9/15/2020

Sorry, folks, but voting Trump out isn't the same as getting rid of him. Trump is not going to stop his campaign to become America's Mussolini.

Even if we locked him up tight in the Prez Med Minimum Security Penitentiary -- the best we can hope for, given that he IS an ex-president -- he will still have a cell phone, which he'll use to rattle the cages of his gun-toting deplorables, arguing that he should be at the head of a government coup.

If we take away his cell phone for seditious messaging, we have Steve Bannon, who'll be more than happy to stand in for him. If Bannon is stuck in jail, there's a whole endless line of wanna-be Trump surrogates. How'd you like to see Ivanka or Jared Kushner as Trump's mouthpiece?

Worse yet, he may flee the country, vanishing like a Ghosn or an WWII movie prisoner, hiding in a metaphorical hay cart on his way to a country without an extradition treaty.

In other words, Trump may flee to Russia, where he'll do his tweeting and talking and messaging with the assistance of Putin's Internet Research Agency. He could try to create a civil war! His supporters would probably follow him even if he were living next door to Edward Snowden.

Dave Barry wrote up the flight-to-Moscow prospect as humor back in 2018. Problem is, it could actually happen. Trump would then try to spark a civil war from afar in hopes of a triumphant return.

It's going to be less than a comedy, though, if the Secret Service has to capture Trump and drag him into custody on the eve of Biden's inauguration. Better than letting him escape, no?

Is it reasonable to think that one of these scenarios could come true? What legal step would it take to keep Trump from leaving the country once Biden is sworn in? How could the U.S. stop Trump from destabilizing the country by energizing his base from outside the country?

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-family-flees-to-moscow

9/13: A Shocking Attempt by Louis DeJoy to Foul Up Mail-in Voting

9/13/2020

Colorado isn't even considered a battleground state in this election. Nevertheless, the U.S. Postal Service had already sent out pre-election postcards with false information to Colorado voters when federal judge William Martinez stopped the process with a temporary injunction on Saturday.

Many had already been delivered on Saturday, when the Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, sued and was granted the injunction because the USPS mailer said that voters should:

-- Request their mail-in ballots by 15 days before the election. This is false because Colorado voters don't have to request mail-in ballots.

-- Mail them back in by 7 days before the election. This is false because Colorado voters can turn in the ballots on election day itself.

There seems to be little question that foul play was involved. Griswold, a Democrat, had asked DeJoy to let her preview the election information to make sure it was correct. DeJoy refused. Griswold then asked that the mailers not be sent to Colorado voters. They were mailed anyway.

I'm not sure how many states were involved, but Colorado wasn't the only one. "Secretaries of State asked @USPS Postmaster General DeJoy to review a draft before election information was sent to voters to ensure accuracy. But he refused. Now millions of postcards with misinformation are printed & being mailed to voters," she tweeted, according to CNN.

It's not clear which secretaries of state were run over by DeJoy's actions. The judge demanded that the named defendants -- Louis DeJoy (Postmaster General), Samarn Reed (Regional Postmaster), and Chris Yazzi (Albuquerque and New Mexico Regional Postmaster -- account for every mailer by September 17 by providing a list of zip codes where they were sent and when.


Should Biden speak up about this event? Do the Democrats have the moxie to take action? If so, what action would they take?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/13/politics/colorado-temporary-restraining-order-voter-mailers/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2dYg236BjqF_xkBwtLy3X2qbq6yIR0KzZg-Ja1HpADrT332_7M9jqzooo

9/15: Do Doulas Keep Moms Alive?

 9/15/2020 

Preventing maternal death is something of a holy grail for physicians treating patients of color.

About 700 women die each year in the U.S. from complications during pregnancy (31%), at delivery (36%), and up to a year afterward (33%), the CDC says.

Disproportionately, the 700 women who die each year are Black women or other women of color. Black moms are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes than white mothers.

One strategy for dialing back these numbers is to pair pregnant Black women with Black doulas, who assist women throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and post-delivery issues.

Doula care makes for happier moms, according to Katy Backes Kozhimannil, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Doulas lead to shorter labors, more vaginal births, fewer preterm births or epidurals, higher rates of breastfeeding, and "higher maternal confidence and satisfaction." Confidence matters because Black and indigenous women often face racial discrimination in medical treatment.

Even so, there's no evidence that shows that doulas prevent maternal death, Kozhimannil says. With the benefits she cites, it's hard to imagine why. But the good professor says that it's not something that we can lean on doulas to fix.

'We cannot put the maternal mortality crisis at the feet of doulas and tell them to solve it when they're the least paid member of any care team," Kozhimannil says.

That is, so far, there are no cheap fixes to this ongoing public-health problem.

https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/maternal-deaths/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doulas-black-maternal-mortality-rate-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR00xO4qAdb1V4qRAyRnvb93SwqiUQqgqUg1SSb3G-FLcLnBKxVu2Ztzumg

9/12: Fighting Back Against Ugly Memes

9/12/2020 

It seems to me that Democrats have generally taken a hands-off approach to the bizarre memes that have ricocheted around the web since the Trump presidency began. On the West Coast, since the wildfires have gotten virtually apocalyptic, the memes are saying that Oregon's fires were deliberately set by Antifa and other left-wing "terrorist" groups. Along with them are memes blaming the fires on right-wing terrorists.

Neither antifa nor right-wing groups are under investigation, and local law enforcement and the FBI are both actively fighting back against these rumors.

----From the Douglas County, Oregon, Sheriff's Office, on Facebook: “Our 9-1-1 dispatchers and professional staff are being overrun with requests for information and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires in DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON .... THIS IS NOT TRUE!”

----From the FBI, on Twitter: "Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue. Help us stop the spread of misinformation by only sharing information from trusted, official sources."

----From the police in Medford, Oregon, on Facebook, about rumors a right-wing group member had been arrested: “This is a made up graphic and story. We did not arrest this person for arson, nor anyone affiliated with Antifa or ‘Proud Boys’ as we’ve heard throughout the day.”

I'm glad to see these off-the-wall memes contradicted and corrected outright. It's high time we saw more action like that against Trump-friendly memes too.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/resilience/natural-disasters/516069-oregon-police-debunk-rumors-of-fringe-political?fbclid=IwAR0nUB9Zc5pdOg2KVa7H2glg0A4IV927YvN8eJRWEgF-xDsttWiH_5_ttks

9/11: Another Doomed-to-Fail Senate COVID-19 Relief Bill Has Both Parties Pointing Fingers

9/11/2020 

The latest (fifth) attempt at a coronavirus relief bill got shot down by Democratic senators today. They were so opposed to the "emaciated" bill that they figured it was better to have no bill at all than to pass the Republicans' plan.

The Democrats' strategy is to force everyone to come back to the negotiating table -- a strategy they've employed successfully several times this year.

Besides, today's Republican bill was foul. It wasn't just that the bill was for $500 billion rather than the minimum of $2.2 trillion that Democrats wanted; it was also lower than a $1.1 trillion bill that the Senate produced in July.

There were other provisions unacceptable to Democrats too. “It is laden with poison pills," said Charles Schumer, D-NY. "Provisions our colleagues know Democrats would never support to guarantee the bill’s failure."

Those poison pills include expanding school choice and corporate immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits. "School choice" is political code for helping wealthy Americans pay for private schools in ways that deplete the funding for public schools. As for corporate immunity, one example is limiting the scope of workers' coronavirus-related lawsuits so that they can sue franchises, but not the larger company that granted the franchise. Poison pills indeed.

There was also language in the bill that would allow the federal government to recoup hundreds of billions of dollars doled out under the earlier relief bill passed in March. How would that work? I have no idea.

The vote lets Republicans say they tried to pass COVID-19 relief in the final weeks before the November election, and that Democrats thwarted their efforts. Politicians from opposing Parties love to make each other look bad.

The prospects for a new bill before the election are grim, not only because time is short, but because the White House and Congress are already thrashing out the federal budget for the next fiscal year.

It appears that the Senate Republicans deliberately put forth a bill that they knew couldn’t pass. It seems they cared more about harming Senate Democrats than about helping Americans who are hurting financially. Congressional Democrats aren't being very helpful to the American public, either. They’re aiming too high, and are demanding a level of aid that the Republicans will never agree to.

Do you think Congress has always been this ineffectual? Does it just seem worse now because so many Americans are hurting so badly, which shows the political games in a worse light?

Is it bad or good for Trump’s election chances that Americans won’t get the aid they need?

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/515909-gop-senators-say-coronavirus-deal-dead-until-after-election?fbclid=IwAR0f-_ZQBUKqXUtUncQGskVHPypdV4s_Y_xWfiRn6XFNOgCVA8s0K1t7kI0

9/7: Biden Backs Unions, Potentially Restoring Working-Class Wealth

9/7/2020 

"The three richest people in America have as much wealth as the bottom half of all Americans combined," Robert Reich, labor secretary for the Clinton administration and a public policy professor at University of California, Berkeley, wrote Monday.

The wealth gap has been growing for a good while. Warren Buffet, the big-name investor, used to worry out loud about the shrinkage of the American middle class, that great driver of economic growth. Since Trump took office, a one-two punch from tax breaks for billionaires and blunders with COVID19 have sped up that shrinkage like soapy water on a cashmere sweater.

At the same time, the rocket economy that Trump crows about, the one he says will take the charts into a sharp V, hasn't happened yet.

Economics is not based on fairy tales. Some economists say now that our progress looks more like a K, with a waterline at the point where the K's lines meet. Above that line, you're doing well, and the stock market is your friend. Below that line -- well, you know. Down there, "essential workers" and the unemployed live and die and worry about eviction and food and COVID19 and getting through to Friday.

Talking about that K shape, one economist mentioned the Titanic. People above the waterline don't know what icebergs might be below, he said. Fact is, what's down there are people who are no longer part of the middle-class economy. Many of them are, indeed, underwater.

Yesterday, when Biden vowed to be the “strongest labor president you’ve ever had” in an event with AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka, he was returning to one of the big drivers of middle-class wealth in the 20th century. The union movement tackled terrible living conditions and low wages and brought income growth to lower-wage Americans.

We've all heard arguments that unions are corrupt and unreasonable and are dragging down ... well, the stock market, wealth of the well-to-do, which has ballooned on Trump's watch.

The sins of unions are not the biggest concern for Americans right now.

Biden said, “If I’m in the oval office, guess who’s gonna be there with me? Unions, labor, you.”

Are unions really an answer to bringing back the middle class today? When cheap labor is so easy to find overseas, will unions have the power to create meaningful change? Would you join a union for your own profession?

https://thehill.com/regulation/labor/515386-biden-vows-to-be-strongest-labor-president-youve-ever-had?fbclid=IwAR23gKnWnDPPjIG3TO8zpm1qpSHIg7OuLlL-

9/5: Trump to Feds: "No More Sensitivity Training for You!"

9/5/2020 

It's un-American! That's the reason Donald Trump gave when he asked OMB director Russell Vought to stop any and all racial sensitivity training in federal agencies.

"The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions," the memo read.

Ya’ gotta save a buck somewhere, at least if you've led America into the worst coast-to-coast epidemic in more than a hundred years and in doing so, plunged America into its deepest debt since 1945. Why not start by cutting an Obama-era program that aims to make peace break out in a racially divided nation?

"Propanda training sessions" means any sessions that "discuss 'white privilege' or 'critical race theory,' and any that suggest that America is an 'inherently racist or evil country,'" Vought wrote.

Critical Race Theory says that "racial inequality emerges from the social, economic, and legal differences that white people create ... to maintain elite white interests," the Encyclopedia Britannica says, "giving rise to poverty and criminality in many minority communities." The theory bubbled up in white law schools in the '60s and '70s, and made its academic debut in 1989. It's the theory underlying the "1619 Project" in the New York Times.

The divisiveness may be a function of how much emphasis is put on deliberate planning by whites to subjugate others. For every liberal who thinks critical race theory is just a tad over the top, there may be 50 conservatives who get angry just thinking about it. They feel they've been accused, and that deliberate planning has never happened, not even during the rise of Jim Crow. That's just my hunch.

Have you ever had diversity or sensitivity training? Was it worthwhile or a waste of time? Does it make sense to sweep away all such training? Has the time for such training passed?

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/515239-white-house-tells-federal-agencies-to-cancel-divisive-racial?fbclid=IwAR1DQ0P582D9MWdmstGLtl57r_O3YrdMslTDsFP2rgjETRMN2ut-9dfODTI

9/2: Untruth is a Doctored Video

9/2/2020

Some Republican politicians are like good soldiers for a bad general. You'd think they'd think twice about crooked campaign videos, but no.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) was called out over one last week. That video misrepresented a disabled activist, Ady Barkan, to make it look as if Joe Biden wanted to "defund police." Barkan demanded an apology, and Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, put himself in danger of censure by the House.

Scalise was part of a Trumper-troop tactic of misrepresenting Biden's position on "defunding" to make it look like Biden's position is far more progressive than it is.

Two million people watched the video before Scalise took it down.

One of Trump's White House staff retweeted an even more brazenly doctored video that intercut footage of Biden with his eyes closed with an interview of Harry Belafonte in which Belafonte fell asleep. It's made to look as if "sleepy Joe" dozed off -- and snored loudly -- instead.

Remember, this was retweeted by the *White House.*

We need to shoot down these and other dirty tricks by Trump's troopers. I can barely stand to read Trump crazies' comments and memes -- most recently, it was a drawing of Jesus standing behind Trump at the Oval Office desk with his hands on Trump's shoulders. But if we don't watch out, if we leave it to the DNCC to monitor the ads, we could be letting Trumpeters brainwash an unwary public.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/31/steve-scalise-defends-doctored-video-biden-and-defunding-police/5678334002/

Also: Frank Bruni newsletter from NYTimes.com on 9/2/2020