Donald Trump
Coup attempt
I didn’t believe this when I first saw it on Twitter, which is why I found the WFLA story. It’s true[1] and Philip Bump explains that “if we expand this universe [of people who have committed Unidentified Federal Crime and are going to prison] to all American adults, we’re still more than 40 million short of [Mike] Lindell’s target for incarceration.”[2] Remember that the police white supremacist gangsters would have to arrest themselves.
Basically, the number of people that [Mike] Lindell has identified as culpable here is every American aged 7 and up, a group that totals 302 million. If we assume that everyone who was 6 or younger did not commit The Crime That Is So Bad, then we get to Lindell’s number. Sorry for those 9-year-olds about to spend the next 65 years at Leavenworth.[3]
Leavenworth should be interesting. The guards will all be prisoners too.
The WFLA story assumes but does not quote Mike Lindell saying that these 300 million people are all Amerikkkans,[4] and Bump does consider the possibility that “1 in 26 people globally,” not necessarily Amerikkkans, would be imprisoned.[5]
Just remember that starting with the next Congress, these people will almost certainly be our rulers.
Philip Bump, “Are you one of the 1 in 11 Americans Mike Lindell doesn’t want to arrest?” Washington Post, January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/are-you-one-1-11-americans-mike-lindell-doesnt-want-arrest/
John Lynch and Nathaniel Rodriguez, “My Pillow CEO says he has ‘enough evidence’ to put ‘300 million’ Americans in jail,” WFLA, January 12, 2022, https://www.wfla.com/news/national/my-pillow-ceo-says-he-has-enough-evidence-to-put-300-million-americans-in-jail/
Right-wing dictatorship
Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are aiding and abetting the establishment of a right-wing dictatorship in the United States. But I cannot believe that there isn’t some pressure that can be brought to bear on them to force their capitulation.
Nobody, especially nobody who is filthy rich, is truly squeaky clean. They can be embarrassed. They can be humiliated. They can lose privileges. They can be made to pay. They can even go to prison.
If you really want something done, and you have an obstacle such as Manchin and Sinema, this is what you do. That Democratic Party leadership, including Joe Biden, isn’t doing it convinces me that they are not serious.
David Daley, “Seven ways Republicans are already undermining the 2024 election,” Guardian, January 10, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/10/republicans-election-democracy-seven-ways-trump
Jonathan Lai, “Pennsylvania Republicans want a lot more power in redistricting for state maps,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 10, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-redistricting-republicans-constitutional-amendment-20220110.html
Ed Kilgore, “Who Is Biden’s Big Georgia Voting-Rights Speech Really For?” New York, January 11, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/bidens-georgia-voting-rights-speech-whos-it-really-for.html
Alex Leary and Eliza Collins, “Biden Endorses Filibuster Rule Changes if Necessary to Pass Voting Legislation,” Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-casts-election-law-votes-as-turning-point-for-nation-in-speech-11641897003
Jewel Wicker, “Georgia activists warn Biden against a ‘photo-op’ visit that lacks voting rights plan,” Guardian, January 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/11/georgia-biden-harris-visit-voting-rights-bill
Jessie Balmert, Laura A. Bischoff, and Anna Staver, “Redistricting: Ohio Supreme Court strikes down state House and Senate maps,” Columbus Dispatch, January 12, 2022, https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/12/redistricting-ohio-supreme-court-rejects-state-house-and-senate-maps/6447740001/
Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Sinema and Manchin confirm opposition to eliminating filibuster, likely dooming Democrats’ voting rights push,” Washington Post, January 13, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-set-to-visit-senate-democrats-in-a-final-improbable-pitch-for-voting-rights-action/2022/01/13/fde533b6-7475-11ec-8b0a-bcfab800c430_story.html
COVID-19 Pandemic
(Inter)national
Leana S. Wen, “Omicron is not a reason to keep schools closed,” Washington Post, January 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/06/omicron-is-not-reason-keep-schools-closed/
Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, “Supreme Court seems skeptical of Biden’s vaccine rules for businesses, more receptive to policy for health-care workers,” Washington Post, January 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-biden-vaccine-mandate/2022/01/06/93b4d45c-6f2e-11ec-a5d2-7712163262f0_story.html
Angie Schmitt, “Why I Soured on the Democrats,” Atlantic, January 7, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/democrats-botched-public-school-covid-policy/621183/
Will Sommer, “QAnon Star Who Said Only ‘Idiots’ Get Vax Dies of COVID,” Daily Beast, January 7, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-star-cirsten-weldon-who-said-only-idiots-get-vaccinated-dies-of-covid
James Tapper, Michael Savage, and Robin McKie, “End mass jabs and live with Covid, says ex-head of vaccine taskforce,” Guardian, January 8, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/08/end-mass-jabs-and-live-with-covid-says-ex-head-of-vaccine-taskforce
Michael E. Miller, “Novak Djokovic wins case against Australia over canceled visa, clearing path for him to play in Melbourne,” Washington Post, January 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/09/novak-djokovic-australia-court-visa/
Patrick Reilly, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tests positive for COVID-19,” New York Post, January 9, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/01/09/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tests-positive-for-covid-19/
Melanie Evans, “Hospitals Cut Beds as Nurses Call In Sick With Covid-19,” Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospitals-cut-beds-as-nurses-call-in-sick-with-covid-19-11641810781
Amy Graff, “Head of COVID response at UCSF: ‘I have not intubated a single COVID patient during this Omicron surge,’ SFGate, January 10, 2022, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/COVID-San-Francisco-staff-shortage-UCSF-16758335.php
Steve Lundeberg, “Oregon State research shows hemp compounds prevent coronavirus from entering human cells,” Oregon State University, January 10, 2022, https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/oregon-state-research-shows-hemp-compounds-prevent-coronavirus-entering-human-cells
Derek Thompson, “Why More Americans Are Saying They’re ‘Vaxxed and Done,’” Atlantic, January 10, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/covid-omicron-vaccination-rashomon/621199/
Travis Caldwell and Deidre McPhillips, “Covid-19 hospitalizations reach record high, HHS data shows,” CNN, January 11, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html
Max Hoppenstedt and Jörn Meyn, “Were the Results of a Positive PCR Test Manipulated?” Spiegel, January 11, 2022, https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/novak-djokovic-were-the-results-of-his-positive-pcr-test-manipulated-a-cf3e7344-e98f-4fc3-8bb3-7727d4795e97
Arwa Mahdawi, “Anti-vaxxers are touting another new Covid ‘cure’ – drinking urine. But they are not the only obstacles to ending the pandemic,” Guardian, January 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/11/anti-vaxxers-covid-drinking-urine-misinformation
Scott Calvert and Ben Chapman, “Schools See Big Drop in Attendance as Students Stay Away, Citing Covid-19,” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-see-big-drop-in-attendance-as-students-stay-away-citing-covid-19-11641988802
Kristin Gelineau, “Amid Djokovic backlash, Australia grapples with omicron wave,” Associated Press, January 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-novak-djokovic-sports-health-sydney-37b896e43f91a051990606ef7a963a76
Sarah Jones, “We’re Having the Wrong Conversation About School,” New York, January 12, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/were-having-the-wrong-conversation-about-school.html
Jon Pye and Rod McGuirk, “Djokovic: Not isolating after COVID infection was ‘error,’” Associated Press, January 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/immigration-coronavirus-pandemic-novak-djokovic-sports-health-591c103de643abc147b0fb7e2703afc2
Hayley Smith, “With hospitals reeling, California tells COVID-positive medical workers to stay on the job,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-12/california-to-covid-positive-healthcare-workers-keep-working
Lindsey Tanner, “Low COVID-19 vaccination rates in kids ages 5 to 11 called a ‘gut punch,’ WTAE, January 12, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/young-kids-low-covid-19-vaccination-rates-called-gut-punch/38749433
Rosalio Ahumada, “Sheriff to release 203 inmates to halt outbreak as COVID cases quadruple at Sacramento jails,” Sacramento Bee, January 13, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article257309602.html
Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court blocks Biden’s workplace vaccine rules, allows requirement for health-care workers,” Washington Post, January 13, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-biden-vaccine-rules/2022/01/13/2e6e4b9e-749e-11ec-bc13-18891499c514_story.html
David Ingram, “Quietly and over some objections, a national digital vaccine card has emerged,” NBC News, January 13, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/national-covid-vaccine-card-quietly-emerged-rcna11678
Pittsburgh snow
Pittsburgh’s snow plowing operation couldn’t even handle the last, relatively minor—a mere two inches of snow—storm.[6] A bigger one may be headed our way Sunday night[7] and we can doubtless count on more excuses from Pittsburgh Public Works.
Yinz
You see the word ‘yinz’ all over the place in Pittsburgh. Marketers use it promiscuously to add what they think is a local flavor to their advertising.
The funny thing is I almost never actually hear the word spoken. I actually thought I had never heard it.
Then a passenger uttered it on a phone call. And I noticed that whatever part of my brain processes speech parsed it as a contraction for “you ones.” Which reminded me that I had heard it before, but not very often, probably only once, and I’m thinking during those roughly two years I lived in Pittsburgh as a child. It caught my attention then too because it isn’t a ‘natural’ English grammatical phrase.
But I think when I heard it the first time, I didn’t even know that ‘yinz’ was a word. So substituting in ‘you ones,’ I thought it an odd construction.
I was thinking about this some more, because the advertising just constantly reminds me. And I remembered that the German word for ‘us’ is ‘uns.’
Many of the people who settled Pennsylvania were German. My grandfather was largely German (and my grandmother would complain about “the Germans”); many street names around here are recognizably of German derivation, often with an ‘e’ immediately following another vowel, signifying an umlaut. “Pennsylvania Dutch” is actually a mangling of “Pennsylvania Deutsch,” meaning “Pennsylvania German.”
I’m not a linguist, but the way I’m putting this together is that that “you ones” is more like “you uns,” a pidgin mangling that excludes the speaker from ‘us.’
‘Yinz’ means ‘y’all,’ or expanded, “you all.” I think I finally understand the word. But like I say, I’m not a linguist. If you are, let me know.
- [1]John Lynch and Nathaniel Rodriguez, “My Pillow CEO says he has ‘enough evidence’ to put ‘300 million’ Americans in jail,” WFLA, January 12, 2022, https://www.wfla.com/news/national/my-pillow-ceo-says-he-has-enough-evidence-to-put-300-million-americans-in-jail/↩
- [2]Philip Bump, “Are you one of the 1 in 11 Americans Mike Lindell doesn’t want to arrest?” Washington Post, January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/are-you-one-1-11-americans-mike-lindell-doesnt-want-arrest/↩
- [3]Philip Bump, “Are you one of the 1 in 11 Americans Mike Lindell doesn’t want to arrest?” Washington Post, January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/are-you-one-1-11-americans-mike-lindell-doesnt-want-arrest/↩
- [4]John Lynch and Nathaniel Rodriguez, “My Pillow CEO says he has ‘enough evidence’ to put ‘300 million’ Americans in jail,” WFLA, January 12, 2022, https://www.wfla.com/news/national/my-pillow-ceo-says-he-has-enough-evidence-to-put-300-million-americans-in-jail/↩
- [5]Philip Bump, “Are you one of the 1 in 11 Americans Mike Lindell doesn’t want to arrest?” Washington Post, January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/are-you-one-1-11-americans-mike-lindell-doesnt-want-arrest/↩
- [6]Rick Earle, “Pittsburgh Public Works launches internal investigation following snow response issues,” WPXI, January 7, 2022, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/pittsburgh-public-works-launches-internal-investigation-following-snow-response-issues/3ZAYYSR5WNCD5H5KE67WJ6SKBU/; Julia Felton, “Plowing continues on snow-covered Pittsburgh streets,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/plowing-continues-on-snow-covered-pittsburgh-streets/↩
- [7]Paul Guggenheimer, “Big winter storm could be headed toward Western Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 13, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/regional/big-winter-storm-could-be-headed-toward-western-pennsylvania/↩