Month: October 2020

What we won’t learn

benfell

Pandemic

Derek Thompson’s idea is that we should learn from other countries.[1] This would be hilarious, because the exceptional Amerikkka never learns from anybody, except, of course, that people are dying from COVID-19, perhaps at a lower rate, but still dying.[2]

Derek Thompson, “The COVID-19 Fall Surge Is Here. We Can Stop It,” Atlantic, October 12, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/how-keep-fall-surge-becoming-winter-catastrophe/616674/

Antonia Noori Farzan et al. “U.S. surpasses 64,000 new coronavirus infections two days in a row for first time since late July,” Washington Post, October 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/16/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/

Samson X. Horne, “Pennsylvania reports 2nd-highest covid-19 case count,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 17, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-05/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-pennsylvania-shutdown-order

Megan Guza, “Covid resurgence is here, Pa. officials say after 14 days of new cases topping 1,000,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 19, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/covid-resurgence-is-here-state-officials-say-after-14-days-of-new-cases-topping-1000/

Donald Trump

Jonathan Chait thinks Donald Trump might be well-advised to leave the country if he loses[3]—his logic might apply even at the end of a second term—and Josh Barro pushes the idea that Trump is bored by governing to its logical extreme in the contingency that Trump loses the election convincingly.[4] Dan Alexander says Trump has $900 million in debt coming due during what would be his second term and no apparent way to pay it short of selling properties in deals that might pose conflicts of interest.[5]

Jonathan Chait, “Trump Says He Might Leave the Country If He Loses. Does He Mean It?” New York, October 17, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-may-leave-country-if-he-loses-prison-criminal-prosecution.html

Dan Alexander, “Trump Will Have $900 Million Of Loans Coming Due In His Second Term If He’s Reelected,” Forbes, October 19, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/10/19/trump-will-have-900-million-of-loans-coming-due-in-his-second-term-if-hes-reelected/

Josh Barro, “What If Trump Is All Too Eager to Give up Power?” New York, October 19, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/what-if-trump-is-all-too-eager-to-give-up-power.html

  1. [1]Derek Thompson, “The COVID-19 Fall Surge Is Here. We Can Stop It,” Atlantic, October 12, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/how-keep-fall-surge-becoming-winter-catastrophe/616674/↩
  2. [2]Antonia Noori Farzan et al. “U.S. surpasses 64,000 new coronavirus infections two days in a row for first time since late July,” Washington Post, October 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/16/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/; Derek Thompson, “The COVID-19 Fall Surge Is Here. We Can Stop It,” Atlantic, October 12, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/how-keep-fall-surge-becoming-winter-catastrophe/616674/↩
  3. [3]Jonathan Chait, “Trump Says He Might Leave the Country If He Loses. Does He Mean It?” New York, October 17, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-may-leave-country-if-he-loses-prison-criminal-prosecution.html↩
  4. [4]Josh Barro, “What If Trump Is All Too Eager to Give up Power?” New York, October 19, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/what-if-trump-is-all-too-eager-to-give-up-power.html↩
  5. [5]Dan Alexander, “Trump Will Have $900 Million Of Loans Coming Due In His Second Term If He’s Reelected,” Forbes, October 19, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2020/10/19/trump-will-have-900-million-of-loans-coming-due-in-his-second-term-if-hes-reelected/↩

Evil. Just evil.

benfell

It’s mostly just bullshit out there now. I’ve been breaking my own rules and engaging with ‘shitlibs,’ that is, Democratic Party apologists, who can’t imagine that their party is evil. The big takeaway would be that if things continue to get worse, whatever effort any politicians may make, whatever they may say, is not enough; at best, it functions to enable the evil, covering its left flank.

In the meantime, there’s a new blog post entitled, “Not even a euphemism: ‘Houseless’.”

Is Sheetz better than Wawa? Pa. politicians throw down over mac ’n’ cheeze bites and hoagies.

benfell

Philadelphia Inquirer, “Is Sheetz better than Wawa? Pa. politicians throw down over mac ’n’ cheeze bites and hoagies,” July 23, 2020, https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/wawa-sheetz-pennsylvania-rivalry-john-fetterman-brendan-boyle-20200723.html

Tom Davidson, “Enough to make you go ‘Wawa’: Sheetz isn’t coming to Oakland as sign indicates,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 26, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/enough-to-make-you-go-wawa-sheetz-isnt-coming-to-oakland-as-sign-indicates/

Killing for Donald Trump

benfell

Donald Trump

Despite receiving an extraordinary level of care and apparently—we can’t be sure—recovering from what seems to have been a serious case of COVID-19,[1] Donald Trump’s rhetoric and practice are largely unchanged[2] and his strategy for dealing with the pandemic is largely nonexistent, condemning millions to death in an alleged push for “herd immunity.” Trump received the best of care; the rest of us should settle for something less.[3]

T]his campaign push by [Donald] Trump to consign millions to death [with a “herd immunity” strategy] as a means of papering over his failures is coming from a man who caught COVID, and likely only survived it because of the medical knowledge gleaned from those who were killed by his incompetence in those first bleak months of the crisis. “Trump is still breathing because of the medical data gathered from people he allowed to die,” I wrote on Tuesday. I stand by that assessment.

Trump is alive because he got the best treatment science can deliver, buttressed by data gathered from the corpses he has already caused. Upon recovery, he declared his intent to abandon millions more to a choking, solitary death so he can keep his job and salvage his junkyard ego.[4]

William Rivers Pitt, “Trump Got the Best COVID Treatment. For the Rest of Us He Wants ‘Herd Immunity,’” Truthout, October 15, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-got-the-best-covid-treatment-then-declared-intent-to-abandon-millions/

Militia

The trend leads [Alexander Reid Ross] and others in his research milieu to anticipate a more serious degree of violence in the days leading up to the election, even as the overall number of incidents dwindle. Some of the energies of would-be vigilantes may be getting diverted into caravans and rallies in support of President Trump, Ross said, pushing more extremist elements in the movement to intensify their actions. . . .

“The people who are talking about this issue now are harder-core than people who were even a month ago, which does not portend well for what we’re about to face,” [Heidi] Beirich said. “I sadly don’t think we’ll get through Nov. 3 without at least one major lone wolf attack.”[5]

Some also contemplate the possibility of violence if elections results are disputed.[6]

What they don’t seem to be forecasting is the sort of uprising that I fear.[7] This is “at least one major lone wolf attack,”[8] not entire right-wing militia groups taking to the streets, initiating the race war they have so long sought.[9] I think that the paleoconservative thinking may very well be that if Donald Trump loses, white supremacist militia groups may perceive that “it’s now or never,” that this will be their last chance for that race war, that if they fail to act, that “Blacks and browns” will take power at white expense, that accordingly, they have nothing to lose.

Laura Bliss and Marie Patino, “Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence,” CityLab, October 16, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/is-far-right-political-violence-getting-worse

  1. [1]Associated Press, “Trump said to be improving but next 48 hours ‘critical,’” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 3, 2020, https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/concerning-signs-in-trumps-care-despite-word-hes-doing-ok/; Derek Hawkins et al., “President’s blood oxygen levels dropped twice in recent days, doctors say,” Washington Post, October 4, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/10/04/trump-covid-live-updates/; Melissa Healy, “Trump received dexamethasone for COVID-19. Here’s what that says about his condition,” Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-10-05/trump-dexamethasone-covid-19-condition; Soo Kim, “Donald Trump ‘Gasping for Air’ Video Raises Questions About President’s Health,” Newsweek, October 6, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-donald-trump-breathing-difficulty-gasping-air-white-house-hospital-discharge-1536598; Laura King and Chris Megerian, “Trump stages drive-by for supporters after doctors disclose more serious symptoms,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-04/trump-receiving-powerful-lung-drug-doctors-disclose-revealing-more-serious-symptoms; Gina Kolata and Apoorva Mandavilli, “Trump’s Covid Treatments Are Aimed at Preventing Severe Illness,” New York Times, October 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/health/Covid-trump-treatments.html; Maeve Reston and Gregory Krieg, “White House sows confusion about Trump’s condition as source tells reporters next 48 hours will be critical,” CNN, October 3, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-walter-reed/index.html; Felicia Sonmez et al., “Trump returns to White House from hospital; may not be ‘out of the woods,’ doctor says,” Washington Post, October 5, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/10/05/trump-biden-live-updates/↩
  2. [2]Laura King and Chris Megerian, “Trump stages drive-by for supporters after doctors disclose more serious symptoms,” Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-04/trump-receiving-powerful-lung-drug-doctors-disclose-revealing-more-serious-symptoms; Josh Margolin and Lucien Bruggeman, “34 people connected to White House, more than previously known, infected by coronavirus: Internal FEMA memo,” ABC News, October 7, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/34-people-connected-white-house-previously-infected-coronavirus/story?id=73487381↩
  3. [3]William Rivers Pitt, “Trump Got the Best COVID Treatment. For the Rest of Us He Wants ‘Herd Immunity,’” Truthout, October 15, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-got-the-best-covid-treatment-then-declared-intent-to-abandon-millions/↩
  4. [4]William Rivers Pitt, “Trump Got the Best COVID Treatment. For the Rest of Us He Wants ‘Herd Immunity,’” Truthout, October 15, 2020, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-got-the-best-covid-treatment-then-declared-intent-to-abandon-millions/↩
  5. [5]Laura Bliss and Marie Patino, “Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence,” CityLab, October 16, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/is-far-right-political-violence-getting-worse↩
  6. [6]Laura Bliss and Marie Patino, “Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence,” CityLab, October 16, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/is-far-right-political-violence-getting-worse↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Donald Trump’s ‘brown shirts,’” Not Housebroken, October 1, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/08/30/donald-trumps-brown-shirts/; David Benfell, “The very scary way to four more years,” Not Housebroken, October 13, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/09/25/the-very-scary-way-to-four-more-years/↩
  8. [8]Heidi Beirich, quoted in Laura Bliss and Marie Patino, “Tracking the Shifting Shape of Far-Right Political Violence,” CityLab, October 16, 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/is-far-right-political-violence-getting-worse↩
  9. [9]Michael Kimmel, “America’s angriest white men: Up close with racism, rage and Southern supremacy,” Salon, November 17, 2013, https://www.salon.com/control/2013/11/17/americas_angriest_white_men_up_close_with_racism_rage_and_southern_supremacy/; Luke Mogelson, “The Militias Against Masks,” New Yorker, August 17, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/24/the-militias-against-masks↩

Millions more in poverty as elites continue to fail

benfell

Recession/Depression

It’s worth noting for the record that negotiations for economic relief for the recession or depression caused by the pandemic lockdowns are still stuck,[1] with little prospect for a breakthrough:[2]

source on threadreaderapp.com
Archived at 2020-10-15 07:31:24

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Jeff Stein

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13 Oct, 2 tweets, 1 min read

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A reminder that no stimulus deal at all means:

– Tens of thousands of airline workers get laid off

– No federal supplement unemployment benefits for +20 million ppl

– Severe cuts/layoffs for restaurant, hotel workers

– Checks 2.0 don’t go out to millions facing pay cuts

Pelosi insisted today to Wolf Blitzer that a deal would get done, but my sources and the sources of most reporters tracking talks are very bearish on anything happening before Nov. 3. What is Dems’ leverage after the election?[3]

Millions of people are now in poverty[4] because elites really don’t have a stake in keeping them out of poverty.[5]

Jeff Stein, [Twitter thread], Thread Reader App, October 13, 2020, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1316133318027608064.html

Jason DeParle, “8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up,” New York Times, October 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/politics/federal-aid-poverty-levels.html

  1. [1]Jason DeParle, “8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up,” New York Times, October 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/politics/federal-aid-poverty-levels.html↩
  2. [2]Jeff Stein, [Twitter thread], Thread Reader App, October 13, 2020, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1316133318027608064.html↩
  3. [3]Jeff Stein, [Twitter thread], Thread Reader App, October 13, 2020, https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1316133318027608064.html↩
  4. [4]Jason DeParle, “8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up,” New York Times, October 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/us/politics/federal-aid-poverty-levels.html↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “The mysterious expectation that elites give a damn,” Not Housebroken, October 7, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/08/01/the-mysterious-expectation-that-elites-give-a-damn/↩

The betrayal of justice

benfell

Supreme Court

There is a new blog post entitled, “Justice and Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.”

Maanvi Singh, “Kamala Harris grilling prompts doubtful claim from Amy Coney Barrett,” Guardian, October 13, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/13/kamala-harris-amy-coney-barrett-senate-hearing

Kery Murakami, “Not Everyone at Notre Dame Supports Barrett,” Inside Higher Ed, October 14, 2020, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/14/more-100-notre-dame-faculty-sign-statement-opposing-barrett-appointment-supreme

I warned about Bloody November. The right-wing militia groups are already hatching plots.

benfell

Militia

I’ve been warning that right wing militia might take up arms on Donald Trump’s behalf.[1] My fears are already being realized.[2]

Kayla Ruble, Laura Vozzella, and Devlin Barrett, “Whitmer plotters also discussed kidnapping Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, FBI agent testifies,” Washington Post, October 13, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ralph-northam-gretchen-witmer-kidnapping-plot/2020/10/13/26b4e31a-0d5f-11eb-b1e8-16b59b92b36d_story.html

  1. [1]David Benfell, “Bloody November,” Not Housebroken, September 9, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/09/08/bloody-november/; David Benfell, “The very scary way to four more years,” Not Housebroken, October 1, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/09/25/the-very-scary-way-to-four-more-years/↩
  2. [2]Moriah Balingit, “Armed militia helped a Michigan barbershop open, a coronavirus defiance that puts Republican lawmakers in a bind,” Washington Post, May 12, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/coronavirus-michigan-republicans-whitmer/2020/05/12/54975e1a-9466-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html; Eric Cortellessa, “US far-right extremists are now calling social distancing a Nazi policy,” Times of Israel, April 17, 2020, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-far-right-extremists-are-now-calling-social-distancing-a-nazi-policy/; Mike Giglio, “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans,” Atlantic, November 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/; Bryan Armen Graham, “‘Swastikas and nooses’: governor slams ‘racism’ of Michigan lockdown protest,” Guardian, May 3, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/03/michigan-gretchen-whitmer-lockdown-protest-racism; Fred Kaplan, “Is America in the Early Stages of Armed Insurgency?” Slate, September 8, 2020, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/america-insurgency-chaos-trump-violence.html; Robert Mackey, “Neo-Fascist Proud Boys Exult Over Trump Telling Them to ‘Stand By,’ Not Stand Down,” Intercept, September 30, 2020, https://theintercept.com/2020/09/30/neo-fascist-proud-boys-exult-trump-telling-stand-not-stand/; Mary B. McCord, “Armed Militias Are Taking Trump’s Civil War Tweets Seriously,” Lawfare, October 2, 2019, https://www.lawfareblog.com/armed-militias-are-taking-trumps-civil-war-tweets-seriously; Luke Mogelson, “The Militias Against Masks,” New Yorker, August 17, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/24/the-militias-against-masks; Joshua Partlow, “Politics at the point of a gun,” Washington Post, July 28, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/28/conservative-armed-militias-protests-coronavirus/; 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/; Kayla Ruble, Laura Vozzella, and Devlin Barrett, “Whitmer plotters also discussed kidnapping Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, FBI agent testifies,” Washington Post, October 13, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ralph-northam-gretchen-witmer-kidnapping-plot/2020/10/13/26b4e31a-0d5f-11eb-b1e8-16b59b92b36d_story.html; Kelly Weill, “Sixteen ‘Boogaloo’ Followers Have Been Busted in 7 Days,” Daily Beast, October 9, 2020, https://www.thedailybeast.com/with-the-gov-gretchen-whitmer-busts-16-boogaloo-followers-have-been-busted-in-7-days/; Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, and Abigail Hauslohner, “FBI charges six who it says plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as seven more who wanted to ignite civil war face state charges,” Washington Post, October 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michigan-governor-kidnap-plot/2020/10/08/0032e206-0980-11eb-9be6-cf25fb429f1a_story.html↩

About that immunity thing

benfell

COVID-19

If there is such a thing as immunity to COVID-19 through antibodies (such as a vaccine might stimulate production of), it might be very—this is not a good thing—specific:

The patient, a 25-year-old Nevada man, was infected with two distinct variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, within a 48-day time frame.[1] . . . “We need more research to understand how long immunity may last for people exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and why some of these second infections, while rare, are presenting as more severe.”[2]

I’m hoping this T-cell thing[3] that I think protects me from so many varieties of creeping crud is for real.

France 24, “Doubts over immunity after man gets Covid second time, with more severe symptoms,” October 13, 2020, https://www.france24.com/en/20201013-doubts-over-immunity-after-man-gets-covid-second-time-with-more-severe-symptoms

  1. [1]France 24, “Doubts over immunity after man gets Covid second time, with more severe symptoms,” October 13, 2020, https://www.france24.com/en/20201013-doubts-over-immunity-after-man-gets-covid-second-time-with-more-severe-symptoms↩
  2. [2]Mark Pandori, quoted in France 24, “Doubts over immunity after man gets Covid second time, with more severe symptoms,” October 13, 2020, https://www.france24.com/en/20201013-doubts-over-immunity-after-man-gets-covid-second-time-with-more-severe-symptoms↩
  3. [3]Sanjay Gupta and Andrea Kane, “Do some people have protection against the coronavirus?” CNN, August 2, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/02/health/gupta-coronavirus-t-cell-cross-reactivity-immunity-wellness/index.html↩

Why do Italian-Amerikkkans take pride in genocide?

benfell

Pittsburgh

I guess it’s really weird to me that Italian-Amerikkkans can apparently find no other symbol to take pride in other than Christopher Columbus, who was a bit more than, as Bill Peduto phrases a perspective I share, “a progenitor of slavery and racism.”[1] Columbus was one who initiated genocide.[2] It’s disturbing even that people find this something to be proud of.

Megan Guza And Joanne Klimovich Harrop, “Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto recommends removal of Columbus statue from Schenley Park,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 9, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-mayor-peduto-recommends-removal-of-columbus-statue-from-schenley-park/

  1. [1]Megan Guza And Joanne Klimovich Harrop, “Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto recommends removal of Columbus statue from Schenley Park,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 9, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-mayor-peduto-recommends-removal-of-columbus-statue-from-schenley-park/↩
  2. [2]Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: HarperPerennial, 2005).↩

‘Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences’

benfell

I have quoted a New England Journal of Medicine editorial severely critical of the U.S. government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic[1] for the title of this post.

Militia

Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, and Abigail Hauslohner, “FBI charges six who it says plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as seven more who wanted to ignite civil war face state charges,” Washington Post, October 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michigan-governor-kidnap-plot/2020/10/08/0032e206-0980-11eb-9be6-cf25fb429f1a_story.html

Kelly Weill, “Sixteen ‘Boogaloo’ Followers Have Been Busted in 7 Days,” Daily Beast, October 9, 2020, https://www.thedailybeast.com/with-the-gov-gretchen-whitmer-busts-16-boogaloo-followers-have-been-busted-in-7-days/

Donald Trump

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and Greg Sargent believes the resurrection of an allegation against Barack Obama is another rationalization for the militia movement to engage in violence should Trump lose:[2]

This was explained very well by Frank Figliuzzi, a retired FBI official. On Thursday night, Figliuzzi told MSNBC that Trump is functioning as a kind of “instigator in chief” who is helping fuel the “radicalization” of those who are “on the fringe already.”

“Law enforcement is telling me that they are ready for a volatile and potentially violent period as we ramp up to the election and beyond,” Figliuzzi continued.

Figliuzzi noted that we already know Trump’s rhetoric may be inciting right-wing extremist violence. He pointed to the disruption of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for the “treason” of instituting public health measures amid a pandemic, which came after Trump tweeted a call to “LIBERATE” the state. The alleged El Paso mass shooter targeting “Mexicans” also reportedly echoed Trump’s rhetoric, Figliuzzi noted.[3]

But the available evidence suggests that “law enforcement,” at least at the local lower levels, is allied with those militia groups, indeed that many militia members are members of the military or police.[4] Good luck getting them to help put down a right-wing militia uprising in support of “their” “law and order” president.

“It could be that law enforcement are paying more attention to these groups,” Mike German, a former FBI agent who specialized in extremist groups, told The Daily Beast. “But it could also be an indicator of increasing activity,” on the part of Boogaloo believers, he added.

Oh, and I’d rather strongly suggest multiply redundant surveillance on armories beginning no later than on Election Day.

Greg Sargent, “On Hannity’s show, Trump reveals his corrupt, panicky endgame,” Washington Post, October 9, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/09/hannity-trump-reveals-his-corrupt-panicky-endgame/

Pandemic

There is a new blog post entitled, “The pandemic as a harbinger.”

British Broadcasting Corporation, “White House hosted Covid ‘superspreader’ event, says Dr Fauci,” October 10, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54487154

New England Journal of Medicine, “Dying in a Leadership Vacuum,” no. 383 (October 8, 2020), 1479-1480, doi: 10.1056/NEJMe2029812

Delta


Fig. 1. 72-hour gif of satellite photos for the eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico, as of October 9, 2020, at 8:01 pm EDT.