Pardon, your liege, may we have egg on our faces?

Updates

  1. Originally published, June 30, 12:17 pm.
  2. June 30, 12:50 pm:
    • Utterly unsurprisingly, the European Union has decided not to open its borders to non-essential travel from the United States.[1]
  3. June 30, 11:14 pm:
    • Senate testimony given by Anthony Fauci and other experts pretty much confirms what we already knew, that the U.S. is going in the wrong direction on the COVID-19 pandemic because people aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do. And the spikes in some states endanger the rest.[2]

In case you missed it, there were more updates last night.


Uyghurs

There is a relatively short new blog post entitled, “Genocide.” I see it’s gotten two hits from China already. Maybe I should start talking about Hong Kong, too.[3]

Associated Press, “China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization,” June 29, 2020, copy in possession of author.

Hong Kong

Clare Jim and Yew Lun Tian, “China passes national security law in turning point for Hong Kong,” Reuters, June 30, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-hongkong-security/china-passes-national-security-law-in-turning-point-for-hong-kong-idUSKBN241061


International Criminal Court

The lawyers who want Donald Trump to rescind his sanctions against the International Criminal Court[4] may get to keep their law licenses but not much else. Regarding the Uyghurs and according to John Bolton:

China was also busily repressing ethnic minorities—in Tibet, for example—as it had been doing for decades. Beijing’s repression of the Uighurs also proceeded apace. [Donald] Trump asked me at the 2018 White House Christmas dinner why we were considering sanctioning China because of its treatment of the Uighurs, a non-Han Chinese, largely Muslim people, who lived primarily in China’s northwest Xinjiang Province. Ross had warned me that morning Trump didn’t want sanctions because of the China trade negotiations. The issue of the Uighurs had been wending its way through the NSD process, but it was not yet ready for decision. It only got worse. At the opening dinner of the Osaka G20 meeting, with only interpreters present, Xi [Jinping] explained to Trump why he was basically building concentration camps in Xinjiang. According to our interpreter, Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which he thought was exactly the right thing to do. Pottinger told me Trump said something very similar during the 2017 trip to China, which meant we could cross repression of the Uighurs off our list of possible reasons to sanction China, at least as long as trade negotiations continued.[5]

Though he denies having given Xi Jinping a green light to build the concentration camps, Trump has pretty much confirmed that his emphasis was on a trade deal.[6]

Asked why he hadn’t yet enacted Treasury sanctions against Chinese Communist Party officials or entities tied to the camps where the Chinese government detains Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, [Donald] Trump replied, “Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal.”[7]

So um, lawyers, the International Criminal Court has some issues, like colonialism and the fact that it functions under a paradigm of justice reduced to law, but understand I’m more in favor of it than I am against it. Trump, on the other hand, cares about trade and doesn’t give a fuck about your concerns or mine. Which means, because you know and I know you can’t do a damn thing about it, your letter amounts to egg on your faces.

Ellen Nakashima and Carol Morello, “Lawyers urge Trump to rescind sanctions and travel bans for International Criminal Court,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/lawyers-urge-trump-to-rescind-sanctions-and-travel-bans-for-international-criminal-court/2020/06/29/0ef0c476-ba15-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html


Pandemic

Laurence Norman, “EU to Remain Closed to U.S. Travelers as Borders Open Up,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-opens-up-to-some-travelers-but-not-americans-11593524652


  1. [1]Laurence Norman, “EU to Remain Closed to U.S. Travelers as Borders Open Up,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-opens-up-to-some-travelers-but-not-americans-11593524652
  2. [2]Meg Wagner et al., “Fauci, Redfield testify on Covid-19 reopening as cases rise,” CNN, June 30, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/webview/politics/live-news/covid-19-school-work-reopening-testimony-06-30-20/h_cc7cf09eae87064e72f75af30984acd3
  3. [3]Clare Jim and Yew Lun Tian, “China passes national security law in turning point for Hong Kong,” Reuters, June 30, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-hongkong-security/china-passes-national-security-law-in-turning-point-for-hong-kong-idUSKBN241061
  4. [4]Ellen Nakashima and Carol Morello, “Lawyers urge Trump to rescind sanctions and travel bans for International Criminal Court,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/lawyers-urge-trump-to-rescind-sanctions-and-travel-bans-for-international-criminal-court/2020/06/29/0ef0c476-ba15-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html
  5. [5]John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2020), 312.
  6. [6]Jonathan Swan, “Exclusive: Trump held off on Xinjiang sanctions for China trade deal,” Axios, June 21, 2020, https://www.axios.com/trump-uighur-muslims-sanctions-d4dc86fc-17f4-42bd-bdbd-c30f4d2ffa21.html
  7. [7]Jonathan Swan, “Exclusive: Trump held off on Xinjiang sanctions for China trade deal,” Axios, June 21, 2020, https://www.axios.com/trump-uighur-muslims-sanctions-d4dc86fc-17f4-42bd-bdbd-c30f4d2ffa21.html

Lawyers urge Trump to rescind sanctions and travel bans for International Criminal Court

Ellen Nakashima and Carol Morello, “Lawyers urge Trump to rescind sanctions and travel bans for International Criminal Court,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/lawyers-urge-trump-to-rescind-sanctions-and-travel-bans-for-international-criminal-court/2020/06/29/0ef0c476-ba15-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html


source on www.washingtonpost.com

Archived at 2020-06-30 10:47:15

Lawyers urge Trump to rescind sanctions and travel bans for International Criminal Court

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discusses a Trump administration executive order on the International Criminal Court during a news conference with Attorney General William P. Barr, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and national security adviser Robert O’Brien on June 11. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

By

Ellen Nakashima and 

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Ellen Nakashima

National security reporter

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Carol Morello 

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Carol Morello

National reporter focusing on foreign policy and State Department

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June 29, 2020 at 12:05 PM EDT

A group of 175 legal scholars and lawyers specializing in international law have urged President Trump to rescind his authorization of sanctions and visa denials for International Criminal Court staff members investigating war crimes in Afghanistan, including those allegedly committed by U.S. forces.

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Another Supreme Court decision, another defeat for social conservatives, and a culture war the latter have lost

Updates

  1. Originally published, June 29, 1:00 pm:
  2. June 29, 2:30 pm:
    • Allegheny County has confirmed that the recent spike in COVID-19 cases is due to idiots in bars, not protests.[1]
  3. June 29, 3:46 pm:
    • Allegheny County reported 83 new COVID-19 cases. That’s not as bad as yesterday or the day before,[2] but it will be a few weeks before we see the impact from the decision to stop on-site drinking at bars.[3]
    • At the American Conservative, Rod Dreher responds to the Supreme Court ruling striking down a Louisiana law that would have closed all but one abortion clinic. He admits the culture war is lost for social conservatives.[4]
  4. June 29, 9:58 pm:
    • I was real late getting out today, but for my final ride this evening, I picked up a drunk who lamented the loss of “freedom.” By “freedom,” he meant that to drink in bars, which will end at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, June 30, in Allegheny County.[5] He eventually got around to blaming the kids in the Oakland and South Side neighborhoods, which is largely correct,[6] but then launched off into a conspiracy theory about how “nobody is dying” and “they’re just making it up.” This is a reason I try to avoid the bar crowd.
    • I’d never even noticed dollar stores out in California. They’re all over the place here in Pittsburgh and lots of people shop in them. I won’t—my fear of being marked as poor is too great and I wouldn’t want shoddy merchandise anyway. So now an upper class publication has an article assessing their impact on poor communities.[7] It sounds a lot like what I’ve heard Walmart has done to downtowns and with labor costs,[8] with the addition of corporation-enabled violent crime,[9] and I’m sure it’s right. But I notice a lot of people around here are very familiar with the word bourgeois and I’m pretty sure that’d be their reaction.

In case you missed it, there were numerous updates to the last issue, right up through last night (June 28), including one new blog post and a photograph of a sign I had mentioned earlier. Such a case of constipation in the Irregular Bullshit has recently been unusual; it occurs when I don’t feel motivated to start a new issue and an article I find seems more relevant to one already published. I also am more reluctant to publish when I haven’t even a brief comment on the articles I’ve listed. Finally, there’s the truth to what happened on at least one of the days the issue covered: I simply forgot to publish.

I haven’t decided whether or not to convert portions of that issue into a blog post; it might well happen, particularly if there are further updates on the spike in COVID-19 cases or government responses to it. If there’s one thing that pretty predictably annoys me, it’s idiocy, and that continues to run amok.


Abortion

Many evangelical protestants (social conservatives) supported Donald Trump because they thought he might reverse what more and more looks like their abject defeat (which Rod Dreher admits to[10]) in the culture war[11] despite his abject immorality and corruption.[12] But Trump’s court picks are failing to deliver some of the victories they badly want and Josh Hawley, presumably speaking for many other social conservatives, has expressed his dissatisfaction.[13] The problem for social conservatives with Donald Trump is similar in form to the problem progressives have with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. They lost on abortion, again.[14] But who are they going to turn to? The Democrats?

The bipartisan system, by its very design, constrains progress in any direction.[15] But while the Democrats have been pushing in a rightward direction, the Republicans have also been moving in a rightward direction. It just isn’t fast enough for social conservatives, in part because they have lost.

Marianne Levine, “Josh Hawley warns Trump on Supreme Court disappointments,” Politico, June 27, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/27/hawley-trump-supreme-court-341844

Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court strikes down restrictive Louisiana abortion law that would have closed clinics,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-louisiana-abortion-law-john-roberts/2020/06/29/6f42067e-ba00-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.html

Rod Dreher, “Abortion Forever,” American Conservative, June 29, 2020, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/justice-roberts-abortion-forever-supreme-court/


Pandemic

While still none of this has yet been peer-reviewed, it does appear that COVID-19 has mutated into a more infectious variant. The finding, which I found reported in May,[16] has been replicated by a number of teams, but their explanations for the mutation’s success vary.[17]

Sarah Kaplan and Joel Achenbach, “This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/06/29/coronavirus-mutation-science/

KDKA, “Allegheny Co. Health Officials: Spike In New Coronavirus Cases Linked To Bars, Not Protests,” June 29, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/29/spike-in-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-bars-not-protests/

Teghan Simonton, “83 new cases of coronavirus in Allegheny County, no new deaths,” Tribune-Review, June 29, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/83-new-cases-of-coronavirus-in-allegheny-county-no-new-deaths/


Dollar Stores

Alec MacGillis, “The True Cost of Dollar Stores,” New Yorker, June 29, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/06/the-true-cost-of-dollar-stores


  1. [1]KDKA, “Allegheny Co. Health Officials: Spike In New Coronavirus Cases Linked To Bars, Not Protests,” June 29, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/29/spike-in-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-bars-not-protests/
  2. [2]Teghan Simonton, “83 new cases of coronavirus in Allegheny County, no new deaths,” Tribune-Review, June 29, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/83-new-cases-of-coronavirus-in-allegheny-county-no-new-deaths/
  3. [3]KDKA, “‘For The First Time…Allegheny Co. Led The State In The Number Of New COVID-19 Cases’: Allegheny Co. Officials Ban On-Site Consumption Of Alcohol At Local Bars,” June 28, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/28/allegheny-co-highest-case-numbers-bans-on-site-drinking/
  4. [4]Rod Dreher, “Abortion Forever,” American Conservative, June 29, 2020, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/justice-roberts-abortion-forever-supreme-court/
  5. [5]KDKA, “‘For The First Time…Allegheny Co. Led The State In The Number Of New COVID-19 Cases’: Allegheny Co. Officials Ban On-Site Consumption Of Alcohol At Local Bars,” June 28, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/28/allegheny-co-highest-case-numbers-bans-on-site-drinking/
  6. [6]KDKA, “Allegheny Co. Health Officials: Spike In New Coronavirus Cases Linked To Bars, Not Protests,” June 29, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/29/spike-in-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-bars-not-protests/
  7. [7]Alec MacGillis, “The True Cost of Dollar Stores,” New Yorker, June 29, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/06/the-true-cost-of-dollar-stores
  8. [8]Robert Greenwald, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Culver City, CA: Brave New Films, 2005), DVD.
  9. [9]Alec MacGillis, “The True Cost of Dollar Stores,” New Yorker, June 29, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/06/the-true-cost-of-dollar-stores
  10. [10]Rod Dreher, “Abortion Forever,” American Conservative, June 29, 2020, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/justice-roberts-abortion-forever-supreme-court/
  11. [11]Elizabeth Bruenig, “In God’s country,” Washington Post, August 14, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/evangelicals-view-trump-their-protector-will-they-stand-by-him/
  12. [12]Julie Zauzmer and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, “After Trump and Moore, some evangelicals are finding their own label too toxic to use,” Washington Post, December 14, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/after-trump-and-moore-some-evangelicals-are-finding-their-own-label-too-toxic-to-use/2017/12/14/b034034c-e020-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html
  13. [13]Marianne Levine, “Josh Hawley warns Trump on Supreme Court disappointments,” Politico, June 27, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/27/hawley-trump-supreme-court-341844
  14. [14]Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court strikes down restrictive Louisiana abortion law that would have closed clinics,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-louisiana-abortion-law-john-roberts/2020/06/29/6f42067e-ba00-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.html
  15. [15]Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present (New York: HarperPerennial, 2005).
  16. [16]Sarah Kaplan and Joel Achenbach, “Researchers hypothesize that a highly contagious strain of the coronavirus is spreading, but other experts remain skeptical,” Washington Post, May 5, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/researchers-hypothesize-that-a-highly-contagious-strain-of-the-coronavirus-is-spreading-but-other-experts-remain-skeptical/2020/05/05/db90d790-8ee7-11ea-9e23-6914ee410a5f_story.html; Ralph Vartabedian, “Scientists have identified a new strain of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-05/mutant-coronavirus-has-emerged-more-contagious-than-original
  17. [17]Sarah Kaplan and Joel Achenbach, “This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why,” Washington Post, June 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/06/29/coronavirus-mutation-science/

#COVIDiocy

Updates

  1. Originally published, June 26, 12:46 pm.
  2. June 26, 3:20 pm:
    • Did you think Pittsburgh would want to miss out on all the fun of a spike in COVID-19 cases? No, of course not.[1] And sure enough, Allegheny County has itself a spike.[2]
  3. June 27, 7:57 am:
    • I was thinking it was the day before yesterday, but no, that’s wrong. It was Wednesday when the Dow Jones Industrial Averages fell over 700 points in response to bad news about an increase in COVID-19 cases.[3] It happened again yesterday.[4] It seems pretty safe to say that Wall Street just ain’t drinking Donald Trump’s Kool-Aid, which is kind of interesting given Trump’s devotion to its indices.[5]
    • On that day also, it was reported that the European Union was considering excluding the U.S. from the list of countries from which travelers could visit.[6] That’s looking a lot more likely now.[7]
    • So after getting in my snark about patriotic hypocrisy,[8] wherein Pennsylvania is one of the less patriotic states,[9] today, I see a story alleging that McKeesport is the most patriotic city in Pennsylvania. There are a few ways of viewing this:
      1. McKeesport is more patriotic[10] in a less patriotic state,[11] which makes this less impressive than KDKA wants to make it seem.[12]
      2. The measures used in both studies, by different organizations, emphasize military participation.[13] Patriotism is defined in different ways by different folks and I would continue to admire Samuel Johnson’s pronouncement that “[p]atriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” except that apparently he was referring to false patriotism.[14] Just can’t find a good quote when you want one.
      3. But finally,

        An important predictor to military service in the general population is family income. Those with lower family income are more likely to join the military than those with higher family income. Thus the military may indeed be a career option for those for whom there are few better opportunities.[15]

        Uh-huh.[16]

  4. June 27, 12:28 pm:
  5. June 27, 10:26 pm:
    • After reporting 61 new cases yesterday, June 26,[17] Allegheny County reported 90 new cases today, June 27.[18] I’m hearing people worry about a return to “yellow” phase, but I’m not seeing much change in behavior, which is to say they really do indeed not care.[19]
  6. June 28, 7:53 am:
    • Perturbed by the spike in COVID-19 cases?[20] Blame kids,[21] blame anyone who’s still listening to Donald Trump—yes, it would seem some still do[22]—even after all the diarrheic bullshit he has repeatedly spouted throughout this crisis,[23] and blame anti-vaxxers,[24] even if I’m skeptical they amount to all that much. But mostly blame an anti-intellectual society where “[c]ollege kids” (they’re supposed to be the smart ones, right?) “are gonna be a little bit more stupid about things than older people, maybe a little more reckless.”[25] And understand this: There just ain’t no fucking excuse for it. None.
  7. June 28, 10:05 pm:
    • Allegheny County reported 96 new cases[26] while Pennsylvania reported 505 new cases with three new deaths.[27] But given the difference in units of analysis, the difference really shows up in the graphs (figures 1 and 2):
      FireShot Capture 182 - Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new c_ - triblive.com
      Fig. 1. Graph from the Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020.[28]

      FireShot Capture 183 - 505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa. - TribLIVE.com_ - triblive.com
      Fig. 2. Graph from the Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020. [29]

      Pennsylvania is still mostly trending downwards in cases with only a modest upturn recently,[30] while Allegheny County is experiencing a rather sharp spike upwards.[31]

  8. June 28, 10:51 pm:
    • I almost forgot, on June 17th, I wrote,

      On the outskirts of Duquesne, Pennsylvania, near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge, there is an old, somewhat dilapidated sign that seems to be a relic of something long gone. But it is of the sort where one can change the letters and when I first saw it, it seemed to be lambasting a local politician for failing to fix potholes and abandoned houses.

      More recently, its message has been something like, “Quit Crying Wolf and Resign; Open Pennsylvania Now.” The reference is to Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf whose lockdown seems, so far, to have had some success in limiting the pandemic. But the sentiment is widely shared.[32]

      Meanwhile, six states are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. Pennsylvania is not one of them.[33][34]

      I finally got a picture of that sign (figure 3) and I’ve seen similar wording on signs in neighboring counties:
      IMG_20200628_123251
      Fig. 3. Photograph by author, June 28, 2020.

      It’s still there, even as Allegheny County is now seeing a spike in cases (figure 1)[35] and the state is seeing a modest upturn in cases (figure 2).[36]

      Elsewhere, I’ve seen graffiti that says simply, “COVID LIES.” This is what I’m up against around here.


Obamacare

During a pandemic, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to take health insurance away from 23 million people despite the fact it has no substitute plan in place and has failed to get one passed through Congress. “According to the Thursday report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 487,000 Americans took advantage of the special enrollment period on Healthcare.gov after losing their healthcare plans, likely among the millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic.”[37] The county in fact led the state, which is to say it had more cases than Philadelphia, and it is shutting down on-premise consumption of alcohol in bars. Bars can still serve food and they may sell alcohol to go.[38]

Tim Elfrink and Meagan Flynn, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/


Pandemic

As the number of COVID-19 cases hits a new record in the U.S.,[39] there are more than a few folks entitled to say they told us so about now. But gee, anti-vaxxers![40] Oh yeah, and the Trump administration wants to abolish Obamacare without a replacement.[41]

Oh, and by the way, there had earlier been a question left over from a study that showed spring temperatures had not very much slowed the spread of the novel coronavirus,[42] specifically about summer temperatures. I think we can now safely say that summer hasn’t done much, if at all, better than spring.

And I better not hear anyone talk about the pandemic as if it is behind us. I have a mother to worry about.

Talal Ansari, “Texas Governor Rolls Back Reopening as U.S. Virus Cases Hit Record,” Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-news-06-26-2020-11593159630

Michael Birnbaum and Quentin Ariès, “Europe prepares to reopen to foreign travelers, but Americans don’t even figure into the discussion,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-prepares-to-reopen-to-foreign-travelers-but-americans-dont-even-figure-into-the-discussion/2020/06/26/6232dff8-b7b2-11ea-9a1d-d3db1cbe07ce_story.html

Teghan Simonton, “61 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, highest in 2 months,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 26, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/61-new-cases-of-coronavirus-reported-in-allegheny-county-2-deaths/

Hannah Wiley, “‘No masks. No vaccines.’ Battle is brewing over coronavirus immunizations in California,” Sacramento Bee, June 26, 2020, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243381501.html

Tim Elfrink and Meagan Flynn, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/

Annie Gowen, Arelis R. Hernández, and Lori Rozsa, “Young people urged to take virus more seriously as pandemic worsens in U.S.,” Washington Post, June 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/young-people-are-driving-a-spike-in-coronavirus-infections-officials-say/2020/06/27/3654638c-b7b4-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html

KDKA, “‘For The First Time…Allegheny Co. Led The State In The Number Of New COVID-19 Cases’: Allegheny Co. Officials Ban On-Site Consumption Of Alcohol At Local Bars,” June 28, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/28/allegheny-co-highest-case-numbers-bans-on-site-drinking/

Madasyn Lee, “Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new cases,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-exceeds-highest-coronavirus-case-total-with-96-new-cases/

Megan Tomasic, “505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/505-new-coronavirus-cases-3-deaths-reported-in-pa/


McKeesport

KDKA, “McKeesport Named Most Patriotic City In Pennsylvania,” June 26, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/26/mckeesport-named-most-patriotic-city-in-pennsylvania/


  1. [1]John Shumway, “‘People Don’t Care’: Recent Jump In Allegheny County Coronavirus Cases Linked To People In Their 20s, 30s,” KDKA, June 23, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/23/jump-in-allegheny-county-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-young-people/
  2. [2]Teghan Simonton, “61 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, highest in 2 months,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 26, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/61-new-cases-of-coronavirus-reported-in-allegheny-county-2-deaths/
  3. [3]Thomas Heath and Hamza Shaban, “Dow tumbles more than 700 points as surge in coronavirus cases rattles investors,” Washington Post, June 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/dow-tumbles-more-than-700-points-surge-coronavirus-cases-rattles-investors/; Lisa Shumaker and Sharon Bernstein, “Washington state makes face masks mandatory as some states see new coronavirus surge,” Reuters, June 23, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/washington-state-makes-face-masks-mandatory-as-some-states-see-new-coronavirus-surge-idUSKBN23U2QT
  4. [4]Talal Ansari, “Texas Governor Rolls Back Reopening as U.S. Virus Cases Hit Record,” Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-news-06-26-2020-11593159630; Thomas Heath and Hannah Denham, “Dow tumbles 730 points as covid-19 flare-ups force states to push back reopening,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/26/stocks-markets-today-texas-coronavirus/
  5. [5]Associated Press, “FDA warns against using the drugs that Trump touts for coronavirus,” Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-24/fda-warns-against-using-trump-touted-drugs-to-treat-coronavirus; David Benfell, “The dangerous and delusional raging narcissist-in-chief,” Not Housebroken, April 25, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/25/the-dangerous-and-delusional-raging-narcissist-in-chief/; Aaron Blake, “The timeline of Trump’s coronavirus response is increasingly damning,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/07/timeline-trumps-coronavirus-response-is-increasingly-damning/; Allyson Chiu, Katie Shepherd, and Brittany Shammas, “Trump comments prompt doctors, and Lysol, to warn against injecting disinfectants,” Washington Post, April 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/24/disinfectant-injection-coronavirus-trump/; Dana Milbank, “For Trump, a reckoning has come,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/trump-reckoning-has-come/; David Roth, “The Enduring Delusion of a Chastened Trump,” New Republic, April 3, 2020, https://newrepublic.com/article/157154/enduring-delusion-chastened-trump; Aaron Rupar, “Trump and Fox News want to send their hydroxychloroquine hype down the memory hole,” Vox, April 22, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21230982/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-trump-fox-news-hype; Anna Sanders and Chris Sommerfeldt, “A spike in New Yorkers ingesting household cleaners following Trump’s controversial coronavirus comments,” New York Daily News, April 24, 2020, https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-new-yorkers-household-cleaners-trump-20200425-rnaqio5dyfeaxmthxx2vktqa5m-story.html; Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman, “Health Dept. Official Says Doubts on Hydroxychloroquine Led to His Ouster,” New York Times, April 22, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/rick-bright-trump-hydroxychloroquine.html; David Von Drehle, “If Trump doesn’t like the coronavirus news now, he’ll hate what comes next,” Washington Post, March 10, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/if-trump-doesnt-like-the-coronavirus-news-now-hell-hate-what-comes-next/2020/03/10/e478c314-62ea-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html; Paul Waldman, “How coronavirus has deeply flummoxed conservative media,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/how-coronavirus-has-deeply-flummuxed-conservative-media/; Paul Waldman, “The real reason Trump is obsessed with hydroxychloroquine,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/07/real-reason-trump-is-obsessed-with-hydroxychloroquine/
  6. [6]British Broadcasting Corporation, “Coronavirus: EU considers barring Americans from travel list,” June 24, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53161447
  7. [7]Michael Birnbaum and Quentin Ariès, “Europe prepares to reopen to foreign travelers, but Americans don’t even figure into the discussion,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/europe-prepares-to-reopen-to-foreign-travelers-but-americans-dont-even-figure-into-the-discussion/2020/06/26/6232dff8-b7b2-11ea-9a1d-d3db1cbe07ce_story.html
  8. [8]David Benfell, “Patriotic hypocrisy,” Irregular Bullshit, June 25, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/06/25/patriotic-hypocrisy/
  9. [9]KDKA, “Study Finds Pennsylvania Among The Least Patriotic States In America,” June 24, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/24/pennsylvania-is-among-least-patriots-states-in-america/
  10. [10]KDKA, “McKeesport Named Most Patriotic City In Pennsylvania,” June 26, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/26/mckeesport-named-most-patriotic-city-in-pennsylvania/
  11. [11]KDKA, “Study Finds Pennsylvania Among The Least Patriotic States In America,” June 24, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/24/pennsylvania-is-among-least-patriots-states-in-america/
  12. [12]KDKA, “McKeesport Named Most Patriotic City In Pennsylvania,” June 26, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/26/mckeesport-named-most-patriotic-city-in-pennsylvania/
  13. [13]KDKA, “Study Finds Pennsylvania Among The Least Patriotic States In America,” June 24, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/24/pennsylvania-is-among-least-patriots-states-in-america/; KDKA, “McKeesport Named Most Patriotic City In Pennsylvania,” June 26, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/26/mckeesport-named-most-patriotic-city-in-pennsylvania/
  14. [14]The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” March 25, 2020, https://www.samueljohnson.com/refuge.html
  15. [15]Amy Lutz, “Who Joins the Military?: A Look at Race, Class, and Immigration Who Joins the Military?: A Look at Race, Class, and Immigration Status Status,” Journal of Political and Military Sociology 36, no. 2 (2008): 184.
  16. [16]Jason Togyer, “In towns like McKeesport, the future was already precarious. Then came coronavirus,” Columbia Journalism Review, May 22, 2020, https://www.cjr.org/special_report/year-of-fear-mckeesport-crime-covid-19.php
  17. [17]Teghan Simonton, “61 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, highest in 2 months,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 26, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/61-new-cases-of-coronavirus-reported-in-allegheny-county-2-deaths/
  18. [18]Samson X. Horne, “Allegheny County reports 90 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily total for county,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 27, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-reports-highest-daily-total-of-coronavirus-cases-at-90/
  19. [19]John Shumway, “‘People Don’t Care’: Recent Jump In Allegheny County Coronavirus Cases Linked To People In Their 20s, 30s,” KDKA, June 23, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/23/jump-in-allegheny-county-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-young-people/
  20. [20]Talal Ansari, “Texas Governor Rolls Back Reopening as U.S. Virus Cases Hit Record,” Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-news-06-26-2020-11593159630; Lisa Shumaker and Sharon Bernstein, “Washington state makes face masks mandatory as some states see new coronavirus surge,” Reuters, June 23, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/washington-state-makes-face-masks-mandatory-as-some-states-see-new-coronavirus-surge-idUSKBN23U2QT
  21. [21]Annie Gowen, Arelis R. Hernández, and Lori Rozsa, “Young people urged to take virus more seriously as pandemic worsens in U.S.,” Washington Post, June 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/young-people-are-driving-a-spike-in-coronavirus-infections-officials-say/2020/06/27/3654638c-b7b4-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html
  22. [22]Toluse Olorunnipa, Josh Dawsey, and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “With Trump leading the way, America’s coronavirus failures exposed by record surge in new infections,” Washington Post, June 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-trump-leading-the-way-americas-coronavirus-failures-exposed-by-record-surge-in-new-infections/2020/06/27/bd15aea2-b7c4-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html
  23. [23]Associated Press, “FDA warns against using the drugs that Trump touts for coronavirus,” Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-24/fda-warns-against-using-trump-touted-drugs-to-treat-coronavirus; David Benfell, “The dangerous and delusional raging narcissist-in-chief,” Not Housebroken, April 25, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/25/the-dangerous-and-delusional-raging-narcissist-in-chief/; Aaron Blake, “The timeline of Trump’s coronavirus response is increasingly damning,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/07/timeline-trumps-coronavirus-response-is-increasingly-damning/; Allyson Chiu, Katie Shepherd, and Brittany Shammas, “Trump comments prompt doctors, and Lysol, to warn against injecting disinfectants,” Washington Post, April 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/24/disinfectant-injection-coronavirus-trump/; Tim Elfrink and Meagan Flynn, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/; Dana Milbank, “For Trump, a reckoning has come,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/trump-reckoning-has-come/; David Roth, “The Enduring Delusion of a Chastened Trump,” New Republic, April 3, 2020, https://newrepublic.com/article/157154/enduring-delusion-chastened-trump; Aaron Rupar, “Trump and Fox News want to send their hydroxychloroquine hype down the memory hole,” Vox, April 22, 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21230982/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-trump-fox-news-hype; Anna Sanders and Chris Sommerfeldt, “A spike in New Yorkers ingesting household cleaners following Trump’s controversial coronavirus comments,” New York Daily News, April 24, 2020, https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-new-yorkers-household-cleaners-trump-20200425-rnaqio5dyfeaxmthxx2vktqa5m-story.html; Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman, “Health Dept. Official Says Doubts on Hydroxychloroquine Led to His Ouster,” New York Times, April 22, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/politics/rick-bright-trump-hydroxychloroquine.html; David Von Drehle, “If Trump doesn’t like the coronavirus news now, he’ll hate what comes next,” Washington Post, March 10, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/if-trump-doesnt-like-the-coronavirus-news-now-hell-hate-what-comes-next/2020/03/10/e478c314-62ea-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html; Paul Waldman, “How coronavirus has deeply flummoxed conservative media,” Washington Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/28/how-coronavirus-has-deeply-flummuxed-conservative-media/; Paul Waldman, “The real reason Trump is obsessed with hydroxychloroquine,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/07/real-reason-trump-is-obsessed-with-hydroxychloroquine/
  24. [24]Hannah Wiley, “‘No masks. No vaccines.’ Battle is brewing over coronavirus immunizations in California,” Sacramento Bee, June 26, 2020, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243381501.html
  25. [25]Geoff Beere, quoted in Annie Gowen, Arelis R. Hernández, and Lori Rozsa, “Young people urged to take virus more seriously as pandemic worsens in U.S.,” Washington Post, June 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/young-people-are-driving-a-spike-in-coronavirus-infections-officials-say/2020/06/27/3654638c-b7b4-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html
  26. [26]Madasyn Lee, “Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new cases,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-exceeds-highest-coronavirus-case-total-with-96-new-cases/
  27. [27]Megan Tomasic, “505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/505-new-coronavirus-cases-3-deaths-reported-in-pa/
  28. [28]Madasyn Lee, “Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new cases,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-exceeds-highest-coronavirus-case-total-with-96-new-cases/
  29. [29]Megan Tomasic, “505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/505-new-coronavirus-cases-3-deaths-reported-in-pa/
  30. [30]Megan Tomasic, “505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/505-new-coronavirus-cases-3-deaths-reported-in-pa/
  31. [31]Madasyn Lee, “Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new cases,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-exceeds-highest-coronavirus-case-total-with-96-new-cases/
  32. [32]Associated Press, “Pennsylvania GOP seeks to dismantle Wolf’s shutdown,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 9, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-gop-seeks-to-dismantle-wolfs-shutdown/; Jana Benscoter, “Dauphin, York DAs, say they won’t take immediate action against businesses that reopen in defiance of state order,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, May 9, 2020, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/05/dauphin-york-das-say-they-wont-take-action-against-businesses-that-reopen-in-red-phase-counties.html; Ryan Deto, “Photos: About 120 protest in Downtown Pittsburgh, calling for Pennsylvania to reopen during coronavirus pandemic,” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 20, 2020, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/photos-about-120-protest-in-downtown-pittsburgh-calling-for-pennsylvania-to-reopen-during-coronavirus-pandemic/Content?oid=17167012; Megan Guza, “Gov. Wolf threatens action against Pennsylvania counties, businesses that ignore restrictions,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 11, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/regional/gov-wolf-threatens-action-against-pennsylvania-counties-businesses-that-ignore-restrictions/; Jamie Martines And Tom Davidson, “Protesters in Pittsburgh demand Gov. Wolf to reopen businesses amid coronavirus pandemic,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 20, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/protesters-gather-in-pittsburgh-demanding-gov-wolf-reopen-businesses-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/; Nick Matoney, “‘We can’t do this for another 90 days’: Pa. General Assembly votes to end COVID-19 emergency declaration,” WTAE, June 10, 2020, https://www.wtae.com/article/we-cant-do-this-for-another-90-days-pa-general-assembly-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration/32821325; Charles Thompson, “Two central Pa. counties say they plan to reopen ahead of Gov. Wolf’s schedule,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, May 8, 2020, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/05/dauphin-lebanon-county-officials-declare-themselves-ready-to-reopen-say-they-will-break-from-gov-wolfs-plan.html; Charles Thompson, “A growing number of Pa. counties test Gov. Tom Wolf’s emergency powers, saying they’ll decide if it’s time to reopen,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, May 9, 2020, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/05/a-growing-number-of-pa-counties-test-gov-tom-wolfs-emergency-powers-saying-theyll-decide-if-its-time-to-reopen.html
  33. [33]Lisa Shumaker and Brendan O’Brien, “Record spike in new coronavirus cases reported in six U.S. states as reopening accelerates,” Reuters, June 16, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-idUSKBN23N32O
  34. [34]David Benfell, “Pennsylvania gadflies,” Irregular Bullshit, June 17, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/06/17/pennsylvania-gadflies/
  35. [35]Teghan Simonton, “61 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, highest in 2 months,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 26, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/61-new-cases-of-coronavirus-reported-in-allegheny-county-2-deaths/; KDKA, “‘For The First Time…Allegheny Co. Led The State In The Number Of New COVID-19 Cases’: Allegheny Co. Officials Ban On-Site Consumption Of Alcohol At Local Bars,” June 28, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/28/allegheny-co-highest-case-numbers-bans-on-site-drinking/; Madasyn Lee, “Allegheny County exceeds highest coronavirus case total with 96 new cases,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-exceeds-highest-coronavirus-case-total-with-96-new-cases/
  36. [36]Megan Tomasic, “505 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths reported in Pa.,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 28, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/505-new-coronavirus-cases-3-deaths-reported-in-pa/
  37. [37]Tim Elfrink and Meagan Flynn, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/
  38. [38]KDKA, “‘For The First Time…Allegheny Co. Led The State In The Number Of New COVID-19 Cases’: Allegheny Co. Officials Ban On-Site Consumption Of Alcohol At Local Bars,” June 28, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/28/allegheny-co-highest-case-numbers-bans-on-site-drinking/
  39. [39]Talal Ansari, “Texas Governor Rolls Back Reopening as U.S. Virus Cases Hit Record,” Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-latest-news-06-26-2020-11593159630
  40. [40]Hannah Wiley, “‘No masks. No vaccines.’ Battle is brewing over coronavirus immunizations in California,” Sacramento Bee, June 26, 2020, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243381501.html
  41. [41]Tim Elfrink and Meagan Flynn, “Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Washington Post, June 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/
  42. [42]Mount Auburn Hospital, “Warmer Temperatures Slow COVID-19 Transmission, but Not by Much,” June 1, 2020, https://www.mountauburnhospital.org/about-us/press-room/2020/press-release-warmer-temperatures-slow-covid-19-transmission-but/

Patriotic hypocrisy

Pennsylvania

KDKA, “Study Finds Pennsylvania Among The Least Patriotic States In America,” June 24, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/24/pennsylvania-is-among-least-patriots-states-in-america/


U.S. Military

Lois Beckett, “How the US military has failed to address white supremacy in its ranks,” Guardian, June 24, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/us-military-white-supremacy-extremist-plot


The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism

See also U.S. Opens Investigation Into Claims of Forced Hysterectomies on Detained Migrants.


PDFs saved July 10, 2021.

Corey G. Johnson, “Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval,” Reveal, July 7, 2013, https://revealnews.org/article/female-inmates-sterilized-in-california-prisons-without-approval/

California State Auditor, “Sterilization of Female Inmates,” June 2014, http://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2013-120.pdf

Ramin Skibba, “The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism,” review of Superior: The Return of Race Science, by Angela Saini, Smithsonian, May 20, 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/disturbing-resilience-scientific-racism-180972243/

Derek Hawkins, “California once forcibly sterilized people by the thousands. Now the victims may get reparations,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/09/california-once-forcibly-sterilized-people-by-thousands-now-victims-may-get-reparations/


We are #COVIDIOTS

Updates

  1. Originally published, June 24, 1:58 pm.
  2. June 24, 4:54 pm:
    • The Dow Jones Industrial Averages fell 709 points on news of a spike in COVID-19 cases.[1]

      “Wishful thinking has given way to practical reality when it comes to Covid-19,” said Daniel P. Wiener, chairman of Adviser Investments. “Warm weather and a reduction in the rate of deaths does not give people the right to go out and party. They partied, the market partied and the hangover begins.”[2]

      This is the kind of news that might get the delusional raging narcissist-in-chief’s attention but what about the rest of the idiots?


Pandemic

There’s simply no excuse for what I’m seeing here. Sorry.

Sure, the government should have done more to help people comply with the lockdown—I’ve made that point repeatedly.[3] But you can’t blame the behavior I’m seeing in Pittsburgh[4] on the lockdown, because the lockdown is all but over.[5] People are choosing to be stupid, it’s not just Pittsburgh, and we’re seeing spikes in cases because of it.[6] And Europe, notably, sees that.[7]

Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Fauci: Next few weeks critical to tamping down virus spikes,” Associated Press, June 23, 2020, copy in possession of author [You can click on this for now, but the Associated Press generally does not maintain stories on its site indefinitely; the link is likely to expire.]

Lisa Shumaker and Sharon Bernstein, “Washington state makes face masks mandatory as some states see new coronavirus surge,” Reuters, June 23, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/washington-state-makes-face-masks-mandatory-as-some-states-see-new-coronavirus-surge-idUSKBN23U2QT

John Shumway, “‘People Don’t Care’: Recent Jump In Allegheny County Coronavirus Cases Linked To People In Their 20s, 30s,” KDKA, June 23, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/23/jump-in-allegheny-county-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-young-people/

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Coronavirus: EU considers barring Americans from travel list,” June 24, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53161447

Thomas Heath and Hamza Shaban, “Dow tumbles more than 700 points as surge in coronavirus cases rattles investors,” Washington Post, June 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/dow-tumbles-more-than-700-points-surge-coronavirus-cases-rattles-investors/

Claire Lampen, Hannah Gold, and Amanda Arnold, “Everything to Know About the Coronavirus in the United States,” Cut, June 24, 2020, https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/which-states-have-coronavirus-and-how-do-you-minimize-risk.html


The car

The good news is that the “Check Hybrid System” indication had cleared when the dealer looked at the car this morning. They did see that it had thrown a code when they checked the history but they don’t know what that code was, so the bad news is that whatever the cause was, it hasn’t been identified. It likely still lurks.


  1. [1]Thomas Heath and Hamza Shaban, “Dow tumbles more than 700 points as surge in coronavirus cases rattles investors,” Washington Post, June 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/dow-tumbles-more-than-700-points-surge-coronavirus-cases-rattles-investors/
  2. [2]Thomas Heath and Hamza Shaban, “Dow tumbles more than 700 points as surge in coronavirus cases rattles investors,” Washington Post, June 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/dow-tumbles-more-than-700-points-surge-coronavirus-cases-rattles-investors/
  3. [3]David Benfell, “As we cower in our apartments,” Not Housebroken, April 6, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/06/as-we-cower-in-our-apartments/; David Benfell, “Yet again, a season for cynicism,” Not Housebroken, May 10, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/05/10/yet-again-a-season-for-cynicism/; David Benfell, “Endorsing a giant meteor strike in 2020,” Not Housebroken, June 22, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/06/22/endorsing-a-giant-meteor-strike-in-2020/
  4. [4]John Shumway, “‘People Don’t Care’: Recent Jump In Allegheny County Coronavirus Cases Linked To People In Their 20s, 30s,” KDKA, June 23, 2020, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/23/jump-in-allegheny-county-coronavirus-cases-linked-to-young-people/
  5. [5]Jamie Martines, “Gov. Wolf to move Allegheny, Westmoreland, other counties to green phase,” Tribune-Review, May 29, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/regional/gov-wolf-to-move-allegheny-westmoreland-other-counties-to-green-phase/; WPXI, “16 more Pa. counties going green next Friday, Gov. Wolf says,” May 29, 2020, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/9-local-counties-move-into-green-phase-next-week/SVG7FMAIZ5AX3CXJMNXJBQR234/
  6. [6]Claire Lampen, Hannah Gold, and Amanda Arnold, “Everything to Know About the Coronavirus in the United States,” Cut, June 24, 2020, https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/which-states-have-coronavirus-and-how-do-you-minimize-risk.html; Lauran Neergaard and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Fauci: Next few weeks critical to tamping down virus spikes,” Associated Press, June 23, 2020, copy in possession of author; Lisa Shumaker and Sharon Bernstein, “Washington state makes face masks mandatory as some states see new coronavirus surge,” Reuters, June 23, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/washington-state-makes-face-masks-mandatory-as-some-states-see-new-coronavirus-surge-idUSKBN23U2QT
  7. [7]British Broadcasting Corporation, “Coronavirus: EU considers barring Americans from travel list,” June 24, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53161447

Recession, depression, my car has broken down

There’s no commentary in this issue. I had to take my car into the dealer because the dreaded “Check Hybrid System” indication came on. It looked to me, from what I could see, that the system is in fact still working. I can only hope that that means the battery has not gone bad.

It’d probably cost something like $4,000 to replace that battery. I don’t have it and, frankly, the car isn’t worth it. As of last night, the cost per mile clocked in at 34¢ per mile; this’d likely double that, putting it well past the IRS mileage allowance, even without depreciation.

I’m terrified. And I’m unlikely to hear before the end of the week because it’ll take that long before they even get to it.


Donald Trump


History

Bess Connolly, “Climate change, the rise of the Roman Empire, and the fall of the Ptolemies,” Yale University, June 22, 2020, https://news.yale.edu/2020/06/22/climate-change-rise-roman-empire-and-fall-ptolemies


Recession

Annie Lowrey, “The Second Great Depression,” Atlantic, June 23, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/second-great-depression/613360/

Neil Paine and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, “What Economists Fear Most During This Recovery,” FiveThirtyEight, June 23, 2020, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-economists-fear-most-during-this-recovery/


An unfathomable breadth and depth of corruption, led by a black hole

United Kingdom

I would assume that something similar to what George Monbiot has described of the United Kingdom’s atrocities and cover-ups[1] is true of the United States. We know only the more shameless ones like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, unauthorized migrants on the southern border, slavery, the American Indians, southeast Asia, and racist police. And it is certainly not like only Britain’s hands are dirty in Yemen.

I remember in my undergraduate career, whenever I had the temerity to imagine I had a handle of the breadth and depth of corruption in our system of social organization, I had only to kick over another rock to find it even more vastly deeper and broader. That’s worth remembering as we have a black hole presidency—the U.S. will not suddenly be “pure” when the delusional raging narcissist-in-chief, the racist authoritarian populist rapist, leaves office, whether or not replaced by the racist neoliberal rapist.

George Monbiot, “Lying In State,” June 21, 2020, https://www.monbiot.com/2020/06/21/lying-in-state/


Pandemic

There is a new blog post entitled, “Endorsing a giant meteor strike in 2020.”

Rashawn Ray and Rebecca Shankman, “How COVID-19 is changing the gun debate,” Brookings, June 17, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/06/17/how-covid-19-is-changing-the-gun-debate/


Pacific Gas and Electric

Kanishka Singh, “PG&E says bankruptcy court approves its Chapter 11 reorganization plan,” Reuters, June 20, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pg-e-us-bankruptcy/pge-says-bankruptcy-court-approves-its-chapter-11-reorganization-plan-idUSKBN23R0SL


  1. [1]George Monbiot, “Lying In State,” June 21, 2020, https://www.monbiot.com/2020/06/21/lying-in-state/