Category Archives: Uncategorized

From WaPo:

Poitrine (French):

(Anatomy) chest
J’ai mal à la poitrine.  My chest hurts. [Collins Dictionary]

Noted here.

People are imperfect, but the standards we put up? They are. When the two come into conflict, it can lead to some unfortunate behaviors. Eve Fairbanks remarks on the “shy Trump doubters,” and tries to explain your MAGA neighbor may not be the temporarily insane person they appear to be:

Democrats seemed to display an “extreme moral vehemence” matched with a vehement denial that they were intolerant. “I thought there were a lot of people going around saying things they didn’t really believe. They didn’t seem to feel any contradiction between their own conspicuous consumption and their leftism.” Her perception was that they frequently demanded apologies from conservatives, but “the apologies never did those people any good.” President Bill Clinton was a prime example of this double standard; he represented a party that insisted it — and only it — supported women’s empowerment while he preyed on a female intern. [The New York Times]

Which is certainly congruent with the views I often run across from progressives, which can be quite grating, if understandable. Of course, in turn Democrats have some quite valid grievances concerning Republicans, such as lionizing failed SCOTUS candidate Robert Bork, with the eponymous “borked” as shorthand for being denied a position on SCOTUS for no good reason.

Never mind that denial was bi-partisan (seven Republicans joined the Democrats in rejecting the nomination), and he was the hatchet-man of dubious morality in the Saturday Night Massacre. I will note that whether or not it was public knowledge that he had taken a bribe to do the deed is not known to me; but his role was sufficient to reject his nomination, which looked like a reward for bad behavior^[1].

But there it is, being borked is in the political lexicon.

This is why I don’t join political parties; the necessary moral degradation doesn’t seem worth the dubious pleasures of paying dues and going to conventions. Maybe it’d be good that the morally indignant are in the Party, stepping on the toes of the zealots who try to whip up Party loyalties. It’s not in my appetite, though.

Back to Fairbanks:

Not long into the Trump presidency, though, my relative began to talk about what would happen if he were “driven out of office.” Other Trump-supporting friends used this phrasing, too, and I began to wonder if it was a sublimated yearning. It would accomplish two things: first, make Mr. Trump a martyr to leftist intolerance, and second, get him out of office.

The problem is that Fairbanks doesn’t present any scholarly evidence: polls or that sort of thing. She takes some personal experience and tries to suggest that it may be true nation-wide.

Which I sometimes do. It’s a fun game, and sometimes it’s even right.

And how it’ll affect the election results? Probably not at all.

¹ And Bork’s replacement, Anthony Kennedy, was confirmed without dissent. The Democrats wanted competency; the Republicans wanted to reward moral incompetency. The bi-partisan rejection revealed a party in the process of mutating from responsible governance to grasping for power.

Weak tea, indeed.

Begin with some mood-altering chemicals. Once you’re blurry, you may be ready for The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (2009), a fairly awful rendition of the goofy nerds vs the minions of the Most Evil Creature Ever Spawned scenario. When asked to guard the relic of Cthulhu, Jeff must discard his job at Sqryly Gifts and put forth his manly strength to save the world.

Make sure you drink at every instance of violence. It’ll help you get through this sub-par effort.

And don’t forget to mourn Gary. Fish-bait Gary. I wonder how the audition for his role went.

By the end, if it all works out, you shouldn’t remember a thing.

Steve Benen has a rant about the Republicans’ hypocrisy with regards to SCOTUS appointments and ends with this:

And when GOP senators howl about Democratic indifference toward norms, traditions, and values, and demand to know why the new majority is governing in such a maximalist way, it will fall to Democratic officials to say, “Because we can.”

But, really, it should have been this:

And when GOP senators howl about Democratic indifference toward norms, traditions, and values, and demand to know why the new majority is governing in such a maximalist way, it will fall to Democratic officials to say, “Because you told us to.”

Benen’s version shuts down the conversation. Mine continues it, and that works against the Republicans because they can’t run their mouths without stumbling over hypocrisy and lies.

Our old partisan Erick Erickson is taking up the fine art of ignoring the obvious in the usual e-mail:

Now we have a week till election day. The race is close. Democrats are privately growing confident in winning the presidency. The Senate is really up for grabs. The House will probably be a bit more Democrat leaning in a week. I am most interested in state legislatures due to redistricting, but have no idea how that will play out.

What I do now, and there’s no reason to write a thousand words on this, is that ballots should not be accepted after Election Day.

I don’t care that you took the time to get it postmarked by Election Day. If you really care about your vote, get your damn ballot in on or before Election Day.

Dragging out the Election so some slackass who waited until Election Day to drop his ballot in the mail is irresponsible. Have you not been paying attention to the kooks, conspiracists, and rabble-rousers out there? If states keep changing votes based on ballots that come in after Election Day, the paranoid on both sides are going to destabilize an already volatile situation.

All the while ignoring the real-world problems of weather, interference by outside forces, and even interference by internal forces. The voter, prior to mail voting, had all the time up to Election Day to consider their choices; why should the mail-in voter have less, especially if they are, say, immobile? Why does Erickson insist on penalizing those voters who feel that mail-in voting is far safer than in-person? Does he hate the disabled? (No, of course not; his emotional needs are in the political realm.)

But notice how Erickson is forced to rely on emotional prose to take and keep the reader’s attention. His use of slackass to denote an undecided voter in the general situation – perhaps a scarce commodity in our particular election – is the remark of the zealous partisan who cannot conceptualize a voter who analyzes issues and policies, rather than engaging in the cult practice of backing the leader, no matter what their flaws.

Even if they’re gaping abysses.

This emotional prose serves to conceal another logic error:

Ballots need to be in the hands of elections officials on Election Day or the worst tendencies of a lot of people on the left and right will get amplified online and spill offline in dangerous ways.

Which is to say, they’ll believe that fake ballots are being mailed after Election Day.

Yeah, think about that for a moment.

I won’t bother with the defense that fake ballots have never been successfully submitted en masse, as that’s better asserted by actual experts, and any scheme put together by humans can be picked apart by humans.

No, let’s ask the easier question:

Why do the fakers wait until after Election Day to send fake ballots?

Are they idiots?

If either side is planning on acting out, being un-American, and generally getting their asses arrested or shot-off, late ballots are not the problem. The political atmosphere promoted by our national adversaries and their domestic clients are to blame.

In the end, Erickson’s mail’s real purpose is simply to tap-tap-tap away at the abyss between conservatives and liberals. It’s how you cement your audience into place, by not letting them have any respect for each other.

And it’s a real shame.

On his show on Friday night, MSNBC’s Brian Williams extended a suggestion to viewers. “If you do go out this weekend, please do so safely, and please pay special attention to your surroundings — situational awareness they call it,” the host said. “Look around and look hard, because you can be a part of a great national effort to find the president’s health care plan.” –MaddowBlog

Tired of waiting in line?

A whole mood! The joyful defiance of dancing in line at the polls in a “f*** 2020” Tshirt is what voting in 2020 looks like! Nothing and no one is getting in the way of our joy and our vote! #joyisanactofresistance #joytothepolls @JoyToThePolls #vote #EarlyVoting #TurnUp #Philly pic.twitter.com/2i8gKO1Gv5

— Resistance Revival Chorus (@ResistanceRev) October 25, 2020

WaPo has published semi-interviews with two pro-Biden and one pro-Trump voters who have, perhaps, outsize influence on the electorate. I liked their viewpoints. First up, pro-Trump Pastor Frank Amedia:

On camera, Amedia, who hosts “Potus Shield,” a YouTube series devoted to praise of the president, predicts an apocalyptic future if Trump loses, a time of secular riots and biblical upheaval. But off camera, the preacher seems more anguished than angry, more searching than seething.

“Both sides agree that the soul of the nation is at stake,” he said in an interview. “I know that other nations faltered by becoming divisive, amoral, totally based on personal ambitions and agendas. We seem to be there.”

Amedia believes Trump was chosen by God to lead the United States, but he has no illusion that the president is an admirable character. He laments the “sad political discourse in the country that has developed into a win-at-almost-any-cost mentality.”

“How did we end up with Joe Biden and Donald Trump?” he said. “We’re supposed to have certain ideals and I don’t think either of them musters up to it.”

Amedia’s recognition of Trump’s disastrous flaws is encouraging. Too often, we get complete blindness from the religious right towards the man-child for which they advocate. And he recognizes, at least partially, the importance of the automatic renewal of America – that is, the new generations:

The pastor, 68, wants to believe that the nation’s energetic and idealistic young people will pull the country back from a disturbing rejection of truth, science and faith.

Although he ignores the fact that young people are less and less inclined to be religious – based, I believe, on their observation of the actions of people such as Pastor Amedia.

From the two pro-Biden interviewees, I’ll pick psychiatrist Thomas Singer. He was searching for a picture for the cover of his new book …

Stratum:

In geology and related fields, a stratum (plural: strata) is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil, or igneous rock that was formed at the Earth’s surface,^[1] with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers. The “stratum” is the fundamental unit in a stratigraphic column and forms the basis of the study of stratigraphy. A stratum can be seen in almost every single country in the world. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “With a resounding victory, Democrats can protect us from the next Trump,” Jennifer Rubin, WaPo:

Fox News analyst, or perhaps just demented old man, Lou Dobbs:

Lou Dobbs is telling South Carolina residents not to vote for Lindsey Graham pic.twitter.com/vQ67BZZN6P

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 23, 2020

This after Senator Graham (R-SC) successfully rushed through the nomination of Judge Barrett to SCOTUS through the Judiciary Committee.

It’s stunning, but not surprising, that Dobbs would be calling for the second-best Trump lickspittle in the land to be oustered, even at the expense of losing the Senate. After all, you can’t move up the Republican ladder of prestige and power without getting rid of a denizen that’s another rung up.

Importantly, that’s because merit, or competency if you prefer, has no importance in such a system. Only that slippery quantity, loyalty, is the metric. You can only move up the ladder by removing someone ahead of you.

Dobbs looks to enhance this prestige. He looks around. He spies that guy who might be responsible for making Obamagate – a famously undefined fantasy – into a “real boy!”, and denigrates him for, well, not breaking the law and betraying basic honor.

That’s your basic Trumpian cult follower. All that’s important to Dobbs is clinging to Trump’s shin.

But they live on in pixels.

Inshallah:

Inshallah (Arabic: إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ‎, ʾin šāʾa -llāh), also spelled InshAllah or In sha Allah, is an Arabic language expression meaning “if God wills” or “God willing”. The term is mentioned in the Quran^{[Quran37:102]} and is used to fulfill a Quranic command of speaking on future events.^[Quran18:24] The phrase is commonly used by Muslims, Arab Christians, and Arabic-speakers of other religions to refer to events that one hopes will happen in the future. It expresses the belief that nothing happens unless God wills it and that his will supersedes all human will.

The phrase can take on an ironic context, implying that something will never happen or can be used as a gentle way of declining invitations. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “The Psychedelic Election,” Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish, responding to a reader’s LOC:

We know that the Tea Party came about largely in reaction to Obama and lost much of its raison d’etat after Trump’s election. Wokeness could be a similar political phenomenon. For that reason alone, I think it is too early to say that wokeness is winning. If Trump is defeated next month, many who now support wokeness —particularly those outside of academia — will revert to MLK-style liberalism.

Inshallah!

Theologian Gregory Thornbury remarks on the mixture of QAnon, White Evangelicals, and President Trump:

With his drug-fueled “recovery” from COVID-19 on recent display after leaving Walter Reed hospital, pundits scrambled to describe what they were seeing. Joy Reid notably referred to the president’s stunt on the balcony Monday night as a “Mussolini moment.” Others saw something different on their screens. Trump’s evangelical supporters beheld a positively biblical moment unfolding before them. “Is there anyone like unto him?” tweeted evangelical radio host Eric Metaxas, echoing Moses’ post-Exodus awe at the wonder-working powers of the Lord God himself (Exodus 15:11). Shortly before his diagnosis, Kaitlin Bennett, another Trump booster, had posted a photo of herself on Twitter in a t-shirt that read, “Trump is my KING!”—not “just my president.” [Religion & Politics]

Generally, I figure religion is the shortcut to a plausible morality, but, like that unseen mole on your backside that might be cancerous, the flip side of religion comes when its theology, with its foundational element of irrationality, assumes such prominence that it drowns out the voice of reason.

So what comes next?

These days, the evangelical political imagination is so impoverished it’s not enough to see Trump as a hero or strongman fighting for them. For right-wing America, there’s only one move left: Trump has to be the Messiah incarnate.

The consecration of Trump by QAnon may be new, but religious manias are nothing new. This is ironic in the case of American religious manias, as America was originally conceived, in part, as a refuge from monarchies that considered themselves to be Chosen by God; that this refuge became infected, right from the get-go, with religious mania is disappointing, and speaks to the terror of mankind in the face of a Universe beyond our ken.

Thornbury is worried about White Evangelical fascination with a chronic and prolix liar …

As in Oz, this time around we find white evangelicals saying, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” Forget that he’s the man who cages children, a eugenicist who allegedly demands hysterectomies on immigrant women, and a demagogue who lies about the coronavirus while hundreds of thousands die. “Just hang in there,” whispers Q, standing in as the Holy Spirit. “The scrolls are about to be broken, although we but see dimly right now. Your salvation is nigh!” All you have to do is vote on November 3rd, one more time, “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh will see it together.”

Of course, I could argue that Thornbury is part of the problem. However, that would be a little cruel at this point. Watching those you consider your spiritual brothers and sisters praise, and even indulge in, behaviors that should be repulsive to them, is indicative of the fundamental confusion and disconnect from reality of the basis of his moral philosophy, and that is a hard enough blow. While he obviously, to his credit, cares for them, I doubt he’s willing to walk away from the theology that leads them down a road to metaphorical Hell.

Over the last few months, the Trump Administration has been part of deals to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, both located in the Middle East and of and officially Islamic, and now Sudan, an African nation with an Arabian-linked history, and, until recently, Islam as its official religion, but it is now officially secular. The most recent deal, announced yesterday, is noted here:

The east African country of Sudan on Friday became the third predominantly Muslim country to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, in a deal brokered by President Donald Trump less than two weeks before the election.

Hailing the agreement as a “huge win” on Twitter, Trump claimed that more countries would follow. He also posted a joint statement issued on behalf of all three countries.

“The Sudanese government has demonstrated its courage and commitment to combatting [sic] terrorism, building its democratic institutions, and improving its relations with its neighbors,” the statement said, adding that the agreement would “improve regional security.”

“The United States will take steps to restore Sudan’s sovereign immunity and engage its international partners to reduce Sudan’s debt burdens, including advancing discussions on debt forgiveness,” the statement added. [NBC News]

This is the only real mention of what I would assume would be trumpeted as a big foreign policy victory for the Trump Administration that’s thrust its way into my consciousness; a search of the Web also found this CNN article, which I have not read. On the assumption that the mainstream media is downplaying it, I checked the National Review web site, but there’s nothing on its front page. You’d expect a “conservative” (that is, we’re right-wing fringe but we pretend to be respectable) site to be trumpeting any achievement by Trump as evidence of his competence, but no.

This all leads to the question: In the absence of a competent Administration, or perhaps more accurately a chronically incompetent Administration, and no comment that I have run across from disinterested parties, how does an American citizen without foreign policy specialization evaluate such an announcement?

Quite honestly, it’s difficult. The short answer is that you wait and watch for at least five years. Do these three countries treat Israel like any other country with which they have normal relations? Or does the old treatment of hostility, perhaps interference in external and internal affairs, continue? Keep in mind that the UAE (10 million) and Bahrain (1.5 million) are not large compared to Israel’s nemeses Saudi Arabia (34 million) and Iran (83 million), and while Sudan is quite sizable (41 million), it’s been in turmoil for decades, and is not a neighbor of Israel. This probably means none of these three countries have been actively hostile towards Israel, but only passively hostile. Exactly what that means will be country-specific.

Another two questions to ask are What was dangled to get their acquiescence, and Was the reward good or bad for the United States? Again, that second question is difficult to answer, I’ll not be glib about it. NBC News mentioned debt forgiveness for Sudan, while AL Monitor notes another important consideration:

Sudan has agreed to recognize Israel, President Donald Trump announced Friday, just after the White House said it had notified Congress that it removed Khartoum from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

As Sudan’s political system has recently changed to democracy, this may be warranted; AL Monitor also notes:

Experts say Sudan’s removal from the list is long overdue and if the country’s newfound democratic project is to succeed, it needs all the access to international assistance it can get.

I wish I knew who these experts might be, but I also do not consider AL Monitor to be so political as to publish outright lies.

Any progress on the peace front is important, even something as apparently minimal as this. I suspect it’s that minimal that explains why these three agreements haven’t had a major impact on the election. After all, the election hasn’t been about foreign policy, but domestic policy, competency, and even morality. It’s good to see progress, but frankly this is more likely the fruit of internal politics in those three nations and the political turmoil in Israel.

At some point her eyes should have been on stalks.

Mosaic (2007) is an hour and a half long Saturday morning cartoon from Stan Lee. It has unimpressive animation, leaden dialog, and a hackneyed plot. Don’t bother with it, unless you have a Marvel Comics fetish.

Our local weather forecasters are expecting frigid cold, snow, and more frigid cold. I feel the need for something else:

That’s known as nine-bark, and it sure was beautiful a few days ago.

Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel has a useful note on the blunders – to put it politely and not to speculate – of the DoJ lawyers involved in the continuing extraordinary case of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn:

Judge Emmet Sullivan just issued an order that may well destroy DOJ’s presumption of regularity (the legal principle that unless the government really fucks up, you have to assume they didn’t fuck up) in the Mike Flynn case.

He noted that on September 29, he had ordered DOJ to certify all documents submitted as exhibits in the motion to dismiss proceeding, but that DOJ had not done so. Instead, it admitted that it had “inadvertently” altered two Peter Strzok and one Andrew McCabe documents, and asked for a mulligan.

So now he’s ordering DOJ to do what he first ordered: to certify all the exhibits submitted to this docket (both those submitted directly by DOJ and those submitted by Flynn’s team) and provide a transcription and the author and date of any handwritten notes.

Along with suggesting malpractice by the Barr-run DoJ, this, too, is not only interesting, but fascinating:

First, there’s no way they can finish this by Monday. Even if the lawyers on this case were as familiar with these documents as they claimed to be, it would take more than this weekend to transcribe and double check everything. They will likely ask for an extension, one that would extend the order past the election.

If proceedings continue to drag from mistakes, inadvertent or otherwise, it’s not impossible that 2021 will begin with this case still in motion. But consider this: If President Trump loses the election, he’ll still have pardon powers up until Jan 21.

Could it cross the minds of Flynn and his lawyers to again reverse field and once again plead guilty before Jan 21, and then apply to President Trump for an immediate pardon?

As this Administration has continually demonstrated, the nuttier a maneuver may appear, the more likely it is to occur. And it also asks the leading question: What does Michael Flynn know that could hurt President Trump?

Information that might interest prosecutors even more?

I keep wondering if there’s a link between former MPD Officer Chauvin, alleged murderer of George Floyd, and the right wing nutters – especially in view of this StarTribune article:

In the wake of protests following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a member of the “Boogaloo Bois” opened fire on Minneapolis Police Third Precinct with an AK-47-style gun and screamed “Justice for Floyd” as he ran away, according to a federal complaint made public Friday.

A sworn affidavit by the FBI underlying the complaint reveals new details about a far-right anti-government group’s coordinated role in the violence that roiled through civil unrest over Floyd’s death while in police custody.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Boerne, Texas, is charged with one count of interstate travel to incite a riot for his alleged role in ramping up violence during the protests in Minneapolis on May 27 and 28. According to charges, Hunter, wearing a skull mask and tactical gear, shot 13 rounds at the south Minneapolis police headquarters while people were inside. He also looted and helped set the building ablaze, according to the complaint, which was filed Monday under seal.

While one can make the argument that antifa and BLM have committed some intellectual violence, especially back a few years ago when the former shouted down certain speakers at college campuses, and it’s worth asking if they are worthy of the liberal tradition that has undergirded the United States since its founding, it appears that a stronger and stronger case can be made for right-wing treachery during the Floyd protests.

And President Trump’s case against antifa grows weaker and more hollow by the day.

Ten years old, but still a lot of fun – although I’m not sure why one’s in saber gear and the other in, I think, epee gear, but both seem to have sabers.

Distinguished magician and skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi died a day or two ago at age 92, and The Onion has the followup:

Struggling to mentally close herself off from the recently deceased skeptic, local psychic Rosemary Shanley confirmed Thursday she was already sick of James Randi’s specter haunting her place of business and ragging on her from the afterlife. “I’m sitting here with my crystal ball trying to see into the future, and it’s hard enough without the ghost of James Randi hovering in front of me and whispering that I’m a fraud and a huckster,” said Shanley, adding that she tried to banish the spirit of the famed debunker and stage magician by sprinkling holy water throughout the room, but the Amazing Randi just scoffed and called the ritual “easily disproved theatrics.”

For a short while, before the ineffable currents of the Internet swept me away, I paid attention the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and they’re still around, although I don’t know how active. Definitely one of the forces for good on the Web.

I did not watch the debate last night, as my mind was made up years ago. However, two pundits did. First, Steve Benen:

… in Trump Land, the [pandemic] that’s intensifying is simply “going away.”

The entire debate continued along these lines. In Trump Land, the Republican administration’s child-separation policy should be blamed on Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In Trump Land, Special Counsel Robert Mueller went through the president’s finances and exonerated him. In Trump Land, China is paying the United States billions of dollars in tariffs. In Trump Land, the president isn’t racist.

In Trump Land, Biden isn’t from Scranton. In Trump Land, testing is to blame for coronavirus cases. In Trump Land, the president is “tough” on Russia. In Trump Land, Biden’s the one taking foreign money. In Trump Land, the president was “kidding” when he suggested treating COVID-19 patients by injecting them with disinfectants.

The problem, of course, is that Trump Land bears no resemblance to our reality. These presidential claims weren’t just exaggerations or misleading spins; they were ridiculous falsehoods, peddled by an incumbent who should’ve been able to point to real-world successes.

And then, Erick Erickson (email):

President Trump and his team should be proud of his final lifetime presidential debate performance. That is, actually, pretty incredible when you think about it. We won’t see Donald Trump on a debate stage again.

The President made a targeted play to young black men and he remembered Pennsylvania and the swing states, going so far as to point out Joe Biden didn’t really grow up in Scranton.

He did what he had to do.

This may be part of what turns off many folks to politics – competing viewpoints in which one, or even both, is lying through their teeth. And that’s, perhaps, a reason to avoid them.

I try to be fair, but not transactional – that is, past behaviors have a part in my analysis. That’s why I’m anti-Trump: 20,000 lies are a signpost of incompetency and dangerous lack of leadership. That has played out time and time again over the last four years, from the lack of strategic thinking to his selections for Cabinet posts. His entire behavior pattern is to disregard reality.

And, as we’ve seen to our sorrow or denial, that hasn’t worked out very well.

Erickson should know this, but he continues to support Trump. There’s no real puzzle: President Trump has delivered in the judicial arena, following up on Senator Mitch “No” McConnell’s (R-KY) continual denial of seats in the judiciary to President Obama. In order to maintain his credibility with his audience, he can’t walk away from Trump, despite his clear inadequacies, lack of morality, and apparent imminent loss in the upcoming elections. To make up for this, he regards anyone who is not a conservative as evil, with the keys being abortion and socialism.

Of course, for anyone outside the right wing epistemic bubble, he looks like a babbling idiot – with about as much credibility as President Trump himself.

Kos of The Daily Kos is puzzling over the Trump advertising strategy:

Civiqs polled Nevada October 17-20, interviewing 712 likely voters, with a MoE of 5.3%.

PRESIDENT	10/2020
DONALD TRUMP (R-INC)	43
JOE BIDEN (D)	52

Biden is comfortably over 50%, Trump trails way back. A double digit Biden victory here wouldn’t surprise me. A Fox News poll in late September had Biden up by an even bigger margin, 52-41. A NY Times/Siena poll in early October had Biden winning 48-42.

The Trump campaign’s continued spending here is curious, as it’s not part of a path that current Trump campaign manager Bridgegate Bill Stepien sees as a likely one: “pathway three—the one Stepien views as least likely of the options—does not include Arizona but involves Trump winning North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada.” Don’t be surprised if you see the campaign quietly cancel its ad reservations there, as it’s broke.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: follow the money. When all the candidate and his followers value is dollars, then the motivations of their actions are different from that of earnest candidates. It’s not easy to follow the money, I’m sure, but someone in the press will figure it out, eventually, and my bet is that this is just a massive laundering operation, getting money from the campaign war chest to the pockets of those owed money by Trump – or even the Trump family itself.

And too bad about the overly trusting donors.

Fomite:

Rasmussen said epidemiologists can have a difficult time finding real-word evidence of a virus’s transmission via contaminated objects or surfaces, which are called fomites. In the case of the coronavirus, this is partly because transmission often occurs in the context of large, superspreader events, leaving researchers struggling to determine who talked to whom, and who touched what surface. “It’s not at all uncommon to not have strong epidemiological evidence for fomite transmission,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean that fomite transmission doesn’t happen.”

In fact, Rasmussen added, because we know that other respiratory viruses that are transmitted by inhalation, such as the flu and rhinovirus, are also transmitted by fomites, it stands to reason that coronavirus is likely transmitted by fomites as well. “It just may be that that’s not necessarily the dominant mode of transmission,” she said. And although it may be important for researchers to determine how long the virus remains infectious in various environments, when it comes to daily life, “I don’t think that it’s necessarily wise to be wiping groceries down.” [“Stop wiping down groceries and focus on bigger risks, say experts on coronavirus transmission,” Elizabeth Chang, WaPo]