Quotes of the Day -- Hopeful, Presidential Edition

 

First this:

Bill Pascrell, Jr. @BillPascrell

Tonight I’ve made a criminal referral to the New Jersey Attorney General asking him to empanel a grand jury to look at subversion of NJ election laws by donald trump, louis dejoy, and other trump officials in their accelerating arson of the post office.

5:21 PM • 8:14 PM

Pascrell represents New Jersey's 9th Congressional District.

Then this one:

Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell

I don’t say this lightly: when we escape this Trump hell, America needs a Presidential Crimes Commission. It should be made up of independent prosecutors who look at those who enabled a corrupt president. Example 1: Sabotaging the mail to win an election. #SaveThePostOffice

6:14 PM • 8/14/20

Links:

House Democrat files criminal referral accusing Trump of subverting election

Trump admits he's refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting

And here's precisely why this President wants to dismantle the USPS:

A Record 76% of Americans Can Vote by Mail in 2020

This is as it should be in the middle of the worst, most killing international pandemic in the last more than  100 years.

Then check this out.

International body says voting problems 'could harm integrity' of US election

Trump and the Republicans will turn us into a banana republic backwater yet.

Republican President Donald J Trump

 Here you go. Republican Party President Donald J Trump in the words of members of his own staff.

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Thanks, Republicans.

This Republican Party President Donald J Trump

 Yes sir and ma'am, this Republican Party President Donald J Trump, in the words of some of his own now former staff members.

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Thanks, Republicans!

Ten Reasons We Should be Able to Vote by Mail

 You would think the largest, most killing international pandemic in over 100 years would be enough by itself, wouldn't you?

Meanwhile, we have this excuse for leadership, doing this.

Trump admits he's refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting

Disgusting.

Un-American.

Thanks, Republicans.

Contact your Congressional representatives---especially your Senators--and especially you, Missourians, since they're both Republicans.

Contacting Congress

Covid Relief? From this Republican Party Senate??

 Fugedaboudit!

Senate leaves until September without coronavirus relief deal

Thanks, Republicans!

Meanwhile:

America is Having the Mother of All Social Collapses

Y'all are terrific.

Really.

Entertainment Overnight -- Birthday Edition

 Yes sir and ma'am, wishing a Lee's Summit, Kansas City metropolitan area very happy birthday wish to our one and own Pat Matheny, born this day, August 12, 1954!

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Hope it was a great one!

This Article Out of Australia Should Hurt and Concern Every American

We are witnessing the fall of a great power

A bit, but most, of the article:

Tragically, American exceptionalism - 'we are the first and best democracy on Earth' - contributes to the self-delusion of indestructibility. There is nothing automatically self-correcting in US democracy.

Look at the US now. Its president is so psychiatrically disordered with narcissism that he is incapable of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis in a coherent, empathetic way. Everything he says and does is through a prism of himself. He has now turned his whole re-election campaign into one of race hate, law and order and a bizarre invention of a threat from "left-wing fascists".

But worse, the US seems to have a national self-delusion that once Trump loses and is gone, everything will return to normal. The delusion extends to a belief that the COVID-19-stricken economy will bounce back to normal in a V shape.

Trump is as much just a symptom of the underlying rottenness as an integral part of it, even if his sucking up to authoritarian leaders in Russia, China and North Korea is unprecedented.

The underlying weakness in present US democracy is that partisanship has become so extreme that the nation is incapable of dealing with the major issues that face it. COVID-19 has illustrated that starkly, with every word and act predicated on party allegiance. Meanwhile, other problems like race, police violence, gun control, inequality, the health system, climate change and energy policy go unattended.

The motives of "the other side" are routinely vilified without evidence. The Democrats are blamed for everything. The Republicans can do no wrong. And to a lesser extent, vice versa. My side of politics, right or wrong.

In a vicious cause-and-effect circle, the imperative of winning at all costs corrodes the political process, and the corroded political process makes winning at all costs even more imperative.

The Trump presidency has made all this worse, but the seeds were there long before. He has appointed incompetent ignorant toadies to the most senior positions in his cabinet and the bureaucracy. He has undermined the Supreme Court with appointments based on politics, not law.

For a long time, the electoral process has been corrupted by state governors drawing unfair electoral boundaries so that the Republican Party is grossly over-represented in Congress compared to its vote, and has won the presidency twice this century with a minority of the vote.

The electoral process has also been corrupted by runaway bribery through political donations.

Another vicious circle has emerged. The politicised Supreme Court from 2010 on has refused to control corporate and individual political donations - thus favouring the Republicans.

Donations from billionaires, mainly to the Republicans, consequently boomed from just $17 million in 2008 to $611 million in 2018 - and rising. This results in policies more skewed to the wealthy and conservatives, and therefore greater inequality. These policies include engaging in wars in remote places where the only real US interests are those of war profiteers. In turn, these policies result in more donations from billionaires, who get repaid manyfold, and who now have as much if not more control of the process than voters.

Tragically, American exceptionalism - "we are the first and best democracy on Earth" - contributes to the self-delusion of indestructibility. There is nothing automatically self-correcting in US democracy. Even the so-called checks and balances are not working - they are causing gridlock, rather than adding a bit of mild caution to a system that is overall supposed to be geared to problem-solving, not political point-scoring.

The system has become so warped that those disenfranchised, disempowered and disenchanted are taking to the streets, questioning the legitimacy of the whole system.

The only question is whether the taking to the streets can break these vicious circles, or whether it is just another step in the decline and fall of a great power.

If that doesn't give any adult American pause, I don't know what would or will.

I say again.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

That explains this:

Americans are giving up US citizenship in record numbers

As if to maybe, maybe make we Americans feel slightly better--if even just slightly--this article was at the end of the above.

Joe Biden's VP pick is a watershed moment in American democracy

Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You Donald J Trump

Herewith, Donald J Trump:

~Got his own birthday wrong when trying to vote.

~Got his own father's place of birth wrong.
~Got his own wife's name wrong.
~Called his own son "Melania's kid" (he does get credit for getting her name right that time).
~Repeatedly wandered away from Melania because he forgot she was with him.
~Waddled away from signing ceremonies forgetting to have signed anything (at least twice).
~Asked where Giuliani was when Rudy was sitting right in front of him.
~Thinks he talked with "Tim Apple".
~Thinks his own Secretary of Defense is named "Mark Esperanto".
~Thinks people need to have an ID to buy groceries (at least twice).
~Thinks tariffs are paid to the federal government (numerous times).
~Thinks people don't know that President Lincoln was a Republican (which, of course, means he didn't know).
~Thinks he met the president of the Virgin Islands (he is the (so-called) president of the Virgin Islands).
~Thought he was in Fairfax when he was in Fredericksburg.
~Thought there was a mass shooting in Toledo when it happened in Dayton.
~Thinks we have a "Marine Core".
~Has a Russian Soyuz spacecraft depicted on his official Space Farce coin.
~Thinks Nambia, Nipple, and Button are all countries.
~Waddles around in public stuck to toilet paper (at least twice).
~Waddled away looking for a gigantic limo that was parked right in front of him.
~Thought he got "beautiful letters" from the Boy Scouts and the NFL (both of whom denied sending any).
~Called Detroit a "titty".
~Referred to the USA as the "United Straits of America" (maybe it will be by the time he's done).
~Thinks there were airports during the Revolutionary War and that we rammed the ramparts.
~Thinks he invented the phrase "priming the pump".
~Had Kellyanne Conway try to convince people "covfefe" is a word and his supporters would know what it meant.
~Thinks injecting people with light bulbs and disinfectant might be a viable medical procedure.
~Talked about the attacks on 7-Eleven.
~Thinks Colorado is building a wall.
~Can't even spell "coronavirus," much less, mitigate it.
~Thinks we can nuke hurricanes.
~Tried to pass off a hurricane map he altered as official.
~Thinks there's a "Noble" prize.
~Doesn't exercise because he thinks people have a "battery" that will get depleted.
~Thinks he personally redesigned naval warships to be "more beautiful" and "less expensive," like "yachts with missiles on them".
~Considers being able to waddle down a ramp at a snail's pace without falling over ("Look, Ma! I didn't even use the handrail!" and drink water with one hand are major accomplishments that he should brag about.
~Refers to himself in the third person so he can praise himself on the extremely rare occasions when he actually does his job.
~Uses pseudonyms like "David Dennison," John Miller," "John Baron," and "John Barron" to praise himself.
~Thinks increased testing spreads Donnie's Covfever.
~Brags about passing a cognitive test given to people suspected of having serious mental deficiencies.
~Thinks he visited "Paradise" California. There is no such place.
~Wanted William Barr to determine the "oranges" of the Mueller investigation (twice).
~Thinks astronauts travel in "capsicles".
~Thinks windmills cause cancer.
~Thinks we have a national park called "Yo! Semite!"
~Thinks there's a country called "Thighland".
~Thinks stealth fighters are literally invisible.

Now that we've covered senility, lets move on to creepiness:

~He said he would like to date his own daughter.
~He told a minor he would probably date her someday.
~Let Princess Nepotisma sit on his lap long after it was appropriate.
~Told Howard Stern he could call her "a piece of @ss".
--Speculated on Tiffany's future breast size when she was an infant.
~Walked in on teenagers, including minors, intentionally, in their dressing rooms because he thought owning the pageants made it OK for him to be a lecherous, leering old man.
~Has been accused of sexual impropriety by about 2 dozen women, at least one of whose lawsui is currently working its way through the legal system.
~Bragged about grabbing women by the genitals. Cavemen didn't even do that.

Thanks, Republicans.

Quite the guy you foisted on us all, pushed off on the nation.

You must be so proud.

So much winning.

Links:

Coronavirus: US surpasses 5 million confirmed cases

Trump on Americans Dead From COVID-19: 'It is what it is'

America has more coronavirus deaths than other countries

Coronavirus: Why America Has More Deaths Than Any Other

Lots of Republicans and Conservatives Drubbing This President Today and Lately

 I'm telling you, all kinds of negative press is coming out today on this President and all I'm seeing is actually from Republicans themselves. Herewith, a list.

First from David Brooks and The New York Times:

Where Do Republicans Go From Here?

The party looks brain-dead at every spot Trump touches

Jonathan V. Last thinks President Trump is here forever. Last, the editor of The Bulwark, a conservative site that’s been hostile to Trump, argues that if Trump loses in November, he’ll claim he was cheated out of the election. He’ll force other Republicans to back up his claim. He’ll get a TV show, hold rallies, be coy about running again in 2024.

He’ll still be the center of everything Republican. Ambitious Republicans will have to lash themselves to the husk of the dying czar if they want to have any future in the party. The whole party will go Trump-crazed and brain-dead for another four years.

I salute Last for coming up with a post-2020 scenario even more pessimistic than my own!

Next up, a story and link from a conservative and Republican who has a new book out on this President and his political party.

Veteran GOP Strategist Takes On Trump — And His Party — In 'It Was All A Lie'

Veteran political consultant Stuart Stevens has spent years working as a strategist for Republican campaigns, including the presidential bids of Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. But Stevens didn't support the party's candidate in the 2016 presidential election — and he wasn't alone.

"In 2016, when I went out and attacked Trump on television," he says, "I would say maybe a third of the party hierarchy would email me and thank me for doing this."

But Stevens notes that many of the Republicans who had privately voiced concern about Trump changed their tune on election night. "I started getting emails like, 'Could you maybe delete that email?' " he says.

"It's an extraordinary contradiction," Stevens says. "I've never heard any Republican office-holder speak of President Trump as if he should be president. ... They know he shouldn't be president. [But] he is president, and they still support him."

And that story, of Mr. Stevens' new book, is so good, here's another article on it.

Longtime GOP strategist says he’ll ‘work with Democrats’ to defeat Trump

Stuart Stevens is one of the Republican Party’s most successful campaign strategists, with a career spanning decades. In his revealing new book, “It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump,” Stevens admits the GOP uses race as an issue to divide Americans and win elections -- and says the party has abandoned its principles in the Trump era.

This next one is especially brutal, not just on Trump but on the entire Republican Party. And it's tough not just on this President and not just on the Republican Party--that's a lot--but it's brutal on Missouri's own Senator Josh Hawley, too, here folks.

Conservative Columnist Explains Why GOP May Not Deserve To Have A Future

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” wrote Max Boot of The Washington Post

Conservative columnist Max Boot explained in his latest column in The Washington Post why the GOP “doesn’t deserve to have a future” if its best alternative to Donald Trump is four senators who’ve enabled the president every step of the way.

Boot, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, recalled a column by The New York Times’ David Brooks that suggested “a high-minded debate to define the nature of the GOP is underway” among Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Josh Hawley, (Mo.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.).

“But I’m sorry, I can’t take any of their high-minded blather seriously,” Boot wrote in his op-ed Monday. “Not when they have spent the past four years acting as enablers for the worst president in U.S. history — or at least the worst in the past 151 years.”

Boot asked “what is conservative about” multiple Trump scandals, policies and controversies that the four senators either endorsed or remained silent about.

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” Boot wrote. “And yet at every step of the way, Rubio, Hawley, Cotton and Sasse have been Trump’s willing accomplices.”

Next up is this from right next door in Nebraska:

Sasse responds to Trump: 'America doesn't have kings'

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Monday defended his opposition to President Trump's use of executive orders to address the coronavirus pandemic, hours after the president publicly called the GOP senator out over his criticism.

Sasse — in a note tweeted from his campaign account and signed "Gym Rat" — indicated he would rather have the discussion privately with Trump but added "since you moved our conversation from private to public, here we are."

"On the topic that had you mad this weekend: No president — whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC — has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn't have kings," Sasse wrote.

Finally today is this from former Republican member of the House of Representatives Joe Scarborough, now from MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program:

‘Wake up and read some history’: Joe Scarborough blasts ‘stupid’ Trump in epic rant

On MSNBC Tuesday, Joe Scarborough ripped into President Donald Trump’s ignorance, and outlined how it is threatening the entire country, telling him to “wake up and read some history.”

“I remember talking to them. I remember other people going and talking to them, and Jared’s opinion and Donald Trump’s opinion was we don’t need to know history because look what happened in the past,” said Scarborough. “In fact, they were saying they didn’t even need to know about Middle East history. You know, tried to talk to Jared about 1967 boundaries, about the ’73 war, about Camp David, just about all of it. And the attitude remained, I don’t need to know about history, stop talking about what’s been done in the past because everybody failed.”

“If you had just listened to what General Mattis said, and other advisers were trying to tell you, we’d be in a much better place right now,” said Scarborough. “But no, you had your own ideas about North Korea … you were stupid enough to believe you could go over there and talk to a communist who put people through paper shredders, you were stupid enough to believe you could play Apprentice with him. You got used and fooled, and America is in more danger today from North Korea than ever before. You thought you could invite the Chinese over to Mar-a-Lago for dessert. Oh, isn’t this good dessert? You thought you are going to win over President Xi? You followed him along like a little puppy dog.”

I'm telling you, folks, it's unprecedented in our nation and our nation's history how many people from this President's own political party want to make sure he isn't reelected.

On to November!

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

Links:

A devastating indictment of the Republican Party from a GOP insider

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll tax deferral permanent

Kasich on decision to speak at Democratic convention

Dr. Ranney: 'Absolute abdication of responsibility' by executive branch on COVID-19 response

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll-tax deferral permanent

Kentuckians Turn on McConnell as Economy Implodes

Poll: 59 percent of voters disapprove of Trump's decision to share videos promoting hydroxychloroquine

Donald Trump, According to Another Republican

From very conservative and long-serving Republican Party member Steve Schmidt @SteveSchmidtSES:

I find it necessary to reach for the language and colorful colloquialisms of my native land, New Jersey, in order to express my feelings about today’s event in Bedminster. It was a fucking travesty. Truly. An utter Fucking disgrace.

The President of the United States of America stood behind the Seal of his office framed by American flags and his private club’s membership,slurring and raving about his victimization. His titanic self-pity was only exceeded by his dishonesty and uncontrolled lying. His lying was only subordinate to his staggering idiocy, ignorance, ineptitude and incompetence. |

The incompetence, even after all this time, shocks the conscience. 162,000 Americans are dead and the economy is shattered. So many more will die. The evictions, foreclosures and small business closings are just beginning. We are in the early hours of one of the greatest tragedies in our country's history. None of it had to be, but it has happened because Donald Trump is President. His malice, stupidity, ego and insecurity are a lethal combination.

He has wrecked this country in less than four years. He has induced a national nosedive, a decline that is precipitous, dangerous and humiliating. The world is more dangerous. American soldiers are hunted like animals by Taliban killers who are paid bounties by Russian killers and Trump does nothing but kowtow to Putin and advance his agenda.

Trump has divided the country and pitted Americans against each other. He has loosed violence against peacefully assembled U.S. citizens and deployed militarized paramilitary forces to escalate tensions in American cities in the name of law and order, when the real purpose and mission is to stoke the embers of chaos and create fear. Fear, built on a mountain of lies, is the autocrat's sword and shield. Trump stokes fear to abuse his power and press forward with his assaults on the rule of law, our essential constitutions and our national comity, all in the name of his corruption, aggrandizement and cult of personality.

It is a despicable hour in the life of this country. This will be ended because it must end. We will lose the country if Trump isn’t repudiated. Make no mistake about the intentions of a President who is openly undermining the 231-year-old tradition of American elections. He is undermining the legitimacy of the coming election with no regard for the consequences to liberal democracy here and around the world.

Fascism didn’t rise in the 1930s because it was strong. It rose because Democracy was weak. American Democracy is weak, decayed and led by an illiberal man who would cancel the election, lock up his political opponents, enrich his friends and remain in power for life.

Trump is the greatest failure in American history. No American has failed history’s test in a more spectacular fashion. His stoking of racial tensions and a cold civil war in our land will live in infamy. His disgrace will be eternal.

Thanks, Republicans.

The World Is Looking on in Disbelief, if not Horror, America

 For a bit of what Italy and Europe and the world are seeing as they look on at America.

Europe stunned by American coronavirus response as US approaches five million infections

The United States' failure to contain the spread of coronavirus has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe

"'We Italians always saw America as a model,' said Massimo Franco, columnist with daily Corriere della Sera. 'But with this virus we've discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is non-existent.'"

Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didn't have when the first Covid patients started filling intensive care units.

Yet, more than four months into a sustained outbreak, the US is about to hit an astonishing milestone of five million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Republican Party Covid Concerns

 

Thanks, fellas!

Entertainment Overnight -- Milestone Edition

 Yes, this is the Milestone Edition of Entertainment Overnight tonight. Today is the 25th anniversary of Jerry Garcia's passing.

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Additionally, today would have been Whitney Houston's birthday.

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We miss you both. Thank you, so much, for all you gave us.

And left behind.

It's Important Americans Understand Trump's "Tax Cut"

Yes it's very important Americans know and understand what this Republican Party President is proposing with this current attempt to "suspend the payroll tax."  For an explanation of what this President is proposing presently:

When Trump says he wants to suspend "payroll tax," he's talking about the 7.65% withheld for your Social Security and Medicare.

Here's the scam: it would suspend the 7.65% your employer matches.

See?

You will not get that, nor will your wage or salary increase by 7.65%. Plus, when Social Security collapses due to this de-funding, It will provide an excuse to keep it.

This is to help businesses and corporations, certainly not the American people.

It will at least weaken, if not eventually destroy Social Security and Medicare.

Thanks, Mr. President.

But no thanks.

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

The Social Security System Is The Most Successful Government Social Insurance Program

Social Security has kept millions of Americans out of poverty

Social Security Keeps 20 Million Americans Out of Poverty

Social Security Lifts More Americans Above Poverty

Social Security Keeps This Many Seniors Out of Poverty

What Is This President's Motivation?

Eliminating our environmental laws for clean air, water and soil.

Now our postal service system.

Social Security. 

Medicare.

This Fall, with our election, he wants to tear it apart.

It really does seem he's here to destroy us.

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

Donald Trump And The Fed Could Be About To Destroy The U.S

Trump’s psychiatric disturbance could destroy democracy

Trump a 'Delusional Madman' & Will Destroy US Economy

The Voting Will End Nov. 3. The Legal Battle Probably Won’t

Donald Trump, from a Fellow Republican and Conservative

 Over the weekend, Republican Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain's 2008 campaign for president, was interviewed on MSNBC.

In response to a very general question regarding the Trump Presidency, Mr. Schmidt spoke for two solid minutes and gave the most insightful and brutally honest response of what the Trump Presidency has done to our great country.

“Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And, I don't say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And, he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And, there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.”

"When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.”

"It's just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale."

"And, let's be clear. This isn't happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are, because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk."

Thanks, Republicans.

MASK UP!!

 Proof it works.  Proof it's important, if anyone still needs it.

KC health director says evidence is unquestionable that masks slow coronavirus spread

66,000 lives could be saved if more people wear masks

So yes! Mask up, everyone! Stay home, if/when/as possible! Stay safe! Be well!

And have a great weekend!

Somehow!

Bad Court Day for this President

Yes sir and ma'am, this very orange Republican Party President had a rough day with 3 different court rulings that didn't go his way. Check that out:

Appeals court rules against Trump, says House can sue to enforce McGahn subpoena

Appeals court rules against Trump, says House can sue to enforce McGahn subpoena

House Democrats can sue Trump over U.S.-Mexico border wall funding, court rules

All in all, a tough, tough day for this President.

Oh.

Darn.

Quote of the Day: Black/White in America

From Southern writer William Faulkner, and decades ago, describing white American fear that lasts even unto today. The reason for Black Lives Matter.

That’s what the white man in the South is afraid of: that the Negro, who has done so much with no chance, might do so much more with an equal one that he might take the white man’s economy away from him, the Negro now the banker or the merchant or the planter and the white man the sharecropper or the tenant. That’s why the Negro can gain our country’s highest decoration for valor beyond all call of duty for saving or defending or preserving white lives on foreign battlefields, yet the Southern white man dares not let that Negro’s children learn their ABC’s in the same classroom with the children of the white lives he saved or defended.

© 2017 Faulkner Literary Rights, LLC. All rights reserved. Courtesy of the Literary Estate of William Faulkner, Lee Caplin, Executor.

From “On Fear,” which appeared in the June 1956 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Everyone Should Read This Article: 9 Takeaways From the Latest COVID Projections

There is an excellent article just now out at NPR's website on the pandemic I believe virtually everyone should read. It's also pretty brief, concise and full of good to great information, some cautions and some reasons for optimism and hope.

300,000 Deaths By December? 9 Takeaways From The Newest COVID-19 Projections

At that link, you can also simply listen to the same article. It's only 3 minutes long.

I'll post just the headlines here of those 9 projections, with one exception you'll see below.

1. The coronavirus is on track to be the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

2. The hardest-hit states probably won't bend their curves much

3. There could be a roller coaster effect

4. Starting in November, cold weather could turbocharge this cycle

5. Things could be worse than projected if hard-hit states don't return to lockdowns

6. Things might be better than projected if mask use takes off

With the next point, this is the one that has information in it specifically for us in Missouri.

7. Even with universal masking, many states may need to lock down

In the case of four states — California, Kentucky, Louisiana and Missouri — if 95% of the population started wearing masks, the state would no longer reach the IHME threshold for imposing stay-at-home orders by December. But for the remaining 18 states that are currently at or projected to reach the threshold by December, near universal mask use would only delay the point at which they reach it by an average of six to eight weeks.

And then the last 2 points.

8. New solutions could change the model

9. Not all forecasts are as pessimistic as IHME's

So there you have it, folks. We need to wear those masks. Virtually everywhere, all the time.

Stay safe, y'all. Stay home, stay safe and be well

We can do this.

We must.

Kansas City Makes a Very Ugly Pandemic List Today

Yes sir and ma'am, Kansas City made a very ugly, national pandemic list today.

Birx warns of uptick in coronavirus cases in 9 cities

The upshot:

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx is warning of an uptick in coronavirus cases in nine U.S. cities.

“Many of the Sun Belt states have made substantial progress with their mitigation efforts,” Birx told state and local officials on Wednesday, according to a copy of the call obtained the Center for Public Integrity, referring to a slew of Southern states that experienced surges earlier this summer.

But Birx said that the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive is increasing in nine U.S. cities as well as California's Central Valley.

And here you go:

"We are concerned that both Baltimore and Atlanta remain at a very high level. Kansas City, Portland, Omaha, of course what we talked about in the Central Valley,” Birx said. "We are seeing a slow uptick in test positivity in cases in places like Chicago, Boston and Detroit and D.C.”

All anyone can say folks is STAY AT HOME, much as you can and always, always WEAR YOUR MASK!

Stay safe out there, y'all.  Be well. Stay well.

Great Way to Kick Off an Election Campaign, Governor Parson!

This news broke 2 days ago:

STATE ETHICS WATCHDOG FINES PARSON PAC $2,000 FOR VIOLATING CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS

State ethics officials have fined a Parson PAC $2,000 for breaking campaign finance laws, according to a Missouri Ethics Commission filing Monday.

I love it.

The campaign only just began, the primary was Tuesday, of course, and first thing, the Parson campaign gets in trouble with the state.

Great way to kick off an election campaign, Governor Parson!

I'm loving it!!

Go Nicole Galloway!!

Vote, y'all!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

Congratulations, Missouri!! You Done Good!!

Yes sir and ma'am, Missouri won yesterday with our election and we won in at least a few ways. Here are some of those.

First, more and bigger than anything else, we won on Medicaid expansion.

Missouri voters OK Medicaid expansion 

over GOP objections

It was obscene and insane we didn't have this years ago. We were literally turning down and turning away federal dollars we could have otherwise gotten--and people would have been helped with health care at the same time.  Lunacy. Thank goodness we finally have this now.

For an overview of our statewide good news yesterday.

Here’s who Missouri Democrats pick to challenge incumbent Republicans in November

Some highlights from this Kansas City Star article:

...former Kansas City councilwoman and mayoral contender Alissia Canady, who cruised to victory over Gregory Upchurch to earn a shot at incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe.

And then there's this from the same article:

The wins by Finneran and Canady solidify the Democratic ticket moving into the fall, where Democrats hope to win back statewide offices that are all currently held by Republicans.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway faced no serious opposition in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, making her the party’s flag bearer heading to November.

“Gov. Parson had his chance. He failed the test of leadership. It’s time for a change,” Galloway said during her victory speech Tuesday night.

And she's so right, so correct.

These next two were welcome news, too, if not surprising.

Democrats Greg Razer and Barbara Washington won their respective primaries for open seats representing Kansas City in the state Senate.

This one was a big, big surprise, at least to me.

Longtime St. Louis Rep. Lacy Clay unseated by Black Lives Matter activist Cori Bush

A bit from the article:

A major figure in Missouri Democratic politics fell Tuesday night as community activist Cori Bush upset 10-term incumbent William Lacy Clay, Jr. in the 1st Congressional District, unofficial election results show.

Bush, 44, pulled ahead with 48.6 percent of the vote to Clay Jr.’s 46.5 percent, according to the Associated Press.

Clay, 64, has represented Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes St. Louis City and parts of St. Louis County, for 10 terms since 2001. He replaced his father, William Lacy Clay Sr., who served in the role for more than three decades starting in 1969.

That's pretty incredible by itself. It will be very interesting to see if this is part of a larger movement and trend.

It will be interesting, too, and hopefully nothing but wonderful, to see if we Missourians overturn the Republicans' attempt in Jefferson City to undo our Clean Missouri legislation this November. I believe it's going to sail through.  We absolutely need to keep them from gerrymandering the state worse than it already is.

On to November and let's win there!

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

The Two Political Parties, In a Nutshell

The two political parties, ladies and gentlemen, broken down.

Dems: We'd like cops to stop killing minorities.

Reps: Dems hate police.

D's: Women should have the right to choose.

R's: Dems want to kill babies.

D's: We need reasonable immigration policies.

R's: Dems want open borders.

D's: We kneel in protest of inequality.

R's: Dems hate the flag, soldiers and America.

D's: We should wear masks to protect others.

R's: Dems want to take away your freedom.

D's: We should have background checks.

R's: Dems want to take your guns.

D's: Feds should not be policing in cities.

R's: Dems encourage rioting.

D's: People should have a living wage.

R's: Dems want to give everyone free stuff.

D's: We want religious freedom for everyone.

R's: Dems want Sharia Law.

D's: Taxes should be used for the benefit of everyone.

R's: Dems want socialism.

D's: We want people to be able to vote safely during a pandemic.

R's: Dems want to rig the election.

D's: People need more unemployment assistance.

R's: Dems blocked unemployment assistance.

D's: Listen, we just want to find ways to help people.

R's: Listen, we just want to find ways to misrepresent everything you say in order to scare people into voting for us, even though we offer zero solutions.

Calm, Unemotional Logic on the November 3 Vote

From actor and activist Robert Redford because we seem to be lacking calm, clear, unemotional logic and thought lately.

"I have a lot of vivid memories of growing up in Los Angeles in the 1940s, but one in particular keeps coming back to me today, in these troubled times. I remember sitting with my parents -- actually, my parents were sitting; I was lying on the floor, the way kids do -- and listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt talking to us over the radio. He was talking to the nation, of course, not just to us, but it sure felt that way. He was personal and informal, like he was right there in our living room.

I was too young to follow much of what he was saying -- something about World War II. But what I did understand was that this was a man who cared about our well-being. I felt calmed by his voice. It was a voice of authority and, at the same time, empathy. Americans were facing a common enemy -- fascism -- and FDR gave us the sense that we were all in it together. Even kids like me had a role to play: participating in paper drives, collecting scrap metal, doing whatever we could do. That's what it was like to have a president with a strong moral compass. It guided him, gave him direction, and helped him point the nation toward a better future.
Maybe this strikes you as simple nostalgia. I've got a touch of that, sure (who doesn't right now?). But I'm too focused on the future to sit around pining for the old days. For me, the power of FDR's example is what it says about the kind of leadership America needs -- and can have again, if we choose it.

But one thing is clear: Instead of a moral compass in the Oval Office, there's a moral vacuum. Instead of a president who says we're all in it together, we have a president who's in it for himself. Instead of words that uplift and unite, we hear words that inflame and divide. When someone retweets (and then deletes) a video of a supporter shouting "white power" or calls journalists "enemies of the state," when he turns a lifesaving mask against contagion into a weapon in a culture war, when he orders the police and the military to tear gas peaceful protestors so he can wave a Bible at the cameras, he sacrifices -- again and again -- any claim to moral authority.

Another four years of this would degrade our country beyond repair. The toll it's taking is almost biblical: fires and floods, a literal plague upon the land, an eruption of hatred that's being summoned and harnessed, by a leader with no conscience or shame. Four more years would accelerate our slide toward autocracy. It would be taken as free license to punish more so-called "traitors" and wage more petty vendettas -- with the full weight of the Justice Department behind them. Four more years would mean open season on our environmental laws. The assault has been ongoing -- it started with abandoning the historic agreement that the world made in Paris to combat climate change, and continued, just last month, with using the pandemic as cover to let industries pollute as they see fit. Four more years would bring untold damage to our planet -- our home.

America is still a world power. But in the past four years, it has lost its place as a world leader. A second term would embolden enemies and further weaken our standing with our friends.

When and how did the United States of America become the Divided States of America? Polarization, of course, has deep roots and many sources. President Donald Trump didn't create all of our divisions as Americans. But he has found every fault line in America and wrenched them wide open.

Without a moral compass in the Oval Office, our country is dangerously adrift. But this November, we can choose another direction. This November, unity and empathy are on the ballot. Experience and intelligence are on the ballot. Joe Biden is on the ballot, and I'm confident he will bring these qualities back to White House.

I don't make a practice of publicly announcing my vote. But this election year is different. And I believe Biden was made for this moment. Biden leads with his heart. I don't mean that in a soft and sentimental way. I'm talking about a fierce compassion -- the kind that fuels him, that drives him to fight against racial and economic injustice, that won't let him rest while people are struggling.

As FDR showed, empathy and ethics are not signs of weakness. They're signs of strength. I think Americans are coming back to that view. Despite Trump -- despite his daily efforts to divide us -- I see much of the country beginning to reunite again, the way it did when I was a kid. You can see it in the peaceful protests of the past several weeks -- Americans of all races and classes coming together to fight against racism. You can see it the ways that communities are pulling together in the face of this pandemic, even if the White House has left them to fend for themselves.

These acts of compassion and kindness make our country stronger. This November, we have a chance to make it stronger still -- by choosing a president who is consistent with our values, and whose moral compass points toward justice."

--Robert Redford, July 8, 2020

Vote, folks.

November 3, be sure to vote.

And vote blue.

Quote of the Day -- Election Day Version

“My dear friends: Your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.”

–- Representative John Lewis, a 2012 speech in Charlotte, North Carolina

3/4 of a Billion Dollars--of Government Money--for Our Own, Local YRC?

Something big--and dirty?--in our own Overland Park for YRC Worldwide?

This is in the New York Times today.

Rescue of Troubled Trucking Company With White House Ties Draws Scrutiny

A $700 million loan made YRC Worldwide one of the largest recipients of taxpayer money meant to support businesses and workers during the pandemic.

Members of a congressional oversight panel want to know how YRC Worldwide won a $700 million loan from the Treasury Department

A bit from the article:

At a virtual congressional hearing in May, Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for help. A struggling trucking company in his state was on the brink of collapse and needed government support.

Eager to assist, Mr. Mnuchin assured the senator that “we will look at that specific company and see what we can do and get back to you.”

That company, YRC Worldwide, had lost more than $100 million in 2019 and was being sued by the Justice Department over claims it defrauded the federal government for a seven-year period. But six weeks after the hearing, YRC received a bailout from the Treasury Department — a $700 million loan in exchange for a 30 percent stake in the business. The company’s stock price soared 74 percent, though it has come down since.

They were ALREADY in trouble in 2019, LONG before the pandemic.

Sure smells.

Missourians!! On That Vote Tomorrow!!

Missourians!

On that Election tomorrow!

Here you are!  Vote!!  And make sure these are your votes!!

Yes on 2!

Yes for healthcare!

No on 3!!

No on Republican Party gerrymandering!

Clean Missouri

What is the Clean Missouri Initiative?

Vote 'NO' on Clean Missouri ballot issue No. 3 on Nov. 3