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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[Echo4]

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-pol-baltimore-mayor-vote-count-20200606-mverimb5ungn7mq5eogkyzcvfm-story.html#nws=true

(a) The race for mayor of Baltimore is now a gap of less than 2,000 votes out of the 115,000 they have gotten in. Dixon's got 29.1% to Scott's 27.5%, as Dixon seeks to return to the job she left a decade ago on a plea deal. Mayors Curley and Cianci would approve.

(b) The primarily mail in election has already exceeded the turnout from 2016, with more ballot counting to go - any ballot postmarked on or before election day and received by 6/12 counts.

(c) They don't know how many ballots are left to count even of those already received, let alone (obviously) how many have not come in. That makes figuring out the chance of Scott's overcoming the gap impossible. The lead's been narrowing, though, which suggests that if there are many he has a pretty good shot. Me? I am pretty sure that even if there were 20,000 more votes out there waiting to be received and tallied that it would not be enough, unless he's getting 50% more votes than she is (like 30% to 20%) and substantial share. I don't see that happening.

(d) No precinct analysis is available, either, so one cannot guess based on which areas have not yet reported and relative strengths there.

Just imagine an election night in which nobody can spend 3 hours telling us "but we've yet to hear from downtown Bumfuck, so Candidate Ditz still has a shot!"

[bankshot1]

Colin Powell says Trump no longer following the Constitution and so should not be reelected:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/07/politics/colin-powell-donald-trump-protests-cnntv/index.html

OK, but seems to me if Trump is not following the Constitution he should resign, or be removed.

He ordered 10,000 active duty troops onto the streets of America to quell protests.  Only his cabinet and advisers managed to turn back those orders.  He is an obvious threat to our Democracy.  He needs to be removed or leave.

Now.

He said he would vote for Biden.

when asked if he would campaign for Joe, he said he has has not been asked/doesn't expect to hit the road for Joe, but sounded like he would speak in support of his candidacy.

Powel's disdain for Trump was strong and clear.

[NeedsAdjustments]

He said he would vote for Biden.

I appreciate the growing number of Republicans who have finally come to the conclusion (way late, but whatever) that taxcuts and judges do not justify the obvious threat Trump poses to our Democracy and the institutions it depends on.

What puzzles me is why so many seem content to allow that threat to continue for another 6 months and through another national election.

Trump's authoritarianism isn't going to get better folks.  He isn't going to just sit on his hands while losing the election.  He is going to do bad shit.  And that bad shit will do long lasting damage.

[bankshot1]

He said he would vote for Biden.

I appreciate the growing number of Republicans who have finally come to the conclusion (way late, but whatever) that taxcuts and judges do not justify the obvious threat Trump poses to our Democracy and the institutions it depends on.

What puzzles me is why so many seem content to allow that threat to continue for another 6 months and through another national election.

Trump's authoritarianism isn't going to get better folks.  He isn't going to just sit on his hands while losing the election.  He is going to do bad shit.  And that bad shit will do long lasting damage.

The alternatives to a democratic election to get rid of the orange-topped despot are probably far worse.

But I think its almost impossible to expect Trump to act decently and not do bad shit.

That so many Repub senators have been gutless cowards and won't stand up the the guy will be their shame to wear forever.

That is if we survive the next 6 months and we can get the corrupt stooge to actually leave office.

[bodiddley]

NY state 400K cases more than Italy, Spain and every other EU nation.
NY state 30K deaths > Italy.  Slightly less than Spain.  UK had 40K deaths but they went in for herd immunity before they realized such a Dead Granny strategy was unpalatable.

They didn't have to go to a full NYC lockdown March 2 (though they should have).  There are intermediate steps that can be taken.  The airports were an obvious danger point.  They could have required a 7-10 day quarantine for all arrivals* (and then fewer would fly in).  Hell, just simply passing out a mask to every single arrival as they stepped off the plane and into the terminal would have been useful.

I'm not saying it was all easy, and Trump and the CDC and WHO were all hindrances.  But a confirmed case in New Rochelle on March 2 almost certainly meant that there were infected people in NYC by that date as well.  The sooner you do a lockdown, with the fewest # of cases, the more effective it will be and the shorter it will last.  You can lock down early or late, one is certainly preferable.  A lot of wasted time.

* Kazakhstan was doing such in February, with people coming to your home to check your temp once or twice and calling every day to make sure you were there.

Otherwise I was under lockdown for over 3 weeks before I traveled to Europe.  I wouldn't have met family members if I wasn't sure that the situation in Shanghai was well under control and that the quarantine was pretty effective (contact with almost no one for 3 weeks except grocery store workers in which both of us were masked, and I had a temp check to enter.

But of course when you deal with bankshot it's always going to be insults and he'll try to turn it into a smackdown, and his opinion won't change one iota, and he'll dig in and chew off your legs, and then chew off his own for extra practice, and then call them flesh wounds and start in again endlessly.

Anyway, I tried to provide some facts and timelines.
I think Cuomo made some wrong decisions and got stuck on Trump's timeline, to the detriment of over 1/2 million people in the tri-state area.  Mostly, I think the numbers speak for themselves.

[NeedsAdjustments]

The alternatives to a democratic election to get rid of the orange-topped despot are probably far worse.

I'm not sure why.  No rule in the Constitution that says a President can't be impeached twice.  Only doubly true of a "president."  Nixon resigned without even needing to be impeached.  Just on the likely prospect.

Not that I expect that to actually happen, of course, because of Trumps trademark combo of shamelessness and cluelessness.  But what I am addressing is the Republican reaction to him, which does not seem to consider the possibility (really, the necessity) of his removal.  If you concede he is a threat to our Democracy, call for him to step down.  Don't just call for him to not be reelected when you know Trump and Putin are going to do everything they can to cheat.

[bodiddley]

A lot of the GOP politicians are only starting to criticize and distance themselves from Trump because the election is coming up and Trump is looking like poison and they don't want to go down with him.  They were perfectly willing to support Trump or at least say nothing when Trump was bullying everyone and acting like a jerk, but doing their bidding by cutting taxes and appointing hardline judges.

The military defections are more interesting.  And reflect a real worry on the part of some that Trump might be willing to use the military to ...
I guess Trump will have to fall back on his 2nd A friends for armed intimidation.
Really the outlines of fascism are there, it's just unlikely Trump is capable of pulling the strings and putting it in place.

[bodiddley]

I was impressed the Maine newspaper openly called for Trump to resign.  I think more of that is on the way.  George Will was saying that not only should Trump lose but the entire GOP establishment should be swept out of office too for aiding and abetting Trump.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Mostly, I think the numbers speak for themselves.

They speak to a lack of responsiveness at the Federal level.  The US had two months after the outbreak in China to do something.  Two months into it they were still in denial (see quotation at the bottom of this post.)

Imagine if the US used those two months to adequately prepare.  If there was a testing and contact tracing plan in place ready to go after that first positive case in New Rochelle.  Those New York numbers you say speak for themselves would be very very different.  And that's not on Cuomo.

What is on Cuomo is his not making better decisions despite the lack of a Federal response and the active disinformation coming out of the CDC (like, masks are bad!) and as I said I don't absolve him of blame.  But a lot of that is 20/20 hindsight.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that Trump had actionable info on COVID in early January.  We know he was getting briefings on it.  He did nothing.  He froze in the face of danger.  And unfortunately, New York City bore the brunt of his ineptitude and cowardice.

[NeedsAdjustments]

Really the outlines of fascism are there, it's just unlikely Trump is capable of pulling the strings and putting it in place.

The fact that we came as close as we did to having 10,000 active service troops on the streets is fucking scary.  The guardrails held in this case, but we can't take for granted that it will always be so. 

In Barr, for example, Trump found someone willing to gas peaceful demonstrators for a photo op, and send in what amounts to a secret police force to intimidate protesters in DC.  He has people around him willing to go full authoritarian.  Don't sleep on Jared being put in charge of the DOD.

[facilitatorn]

http://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/07/kamala-harris-biden-criminal-justice-reform-304534

Interesting in terms of the recent back and forth here over Senator Harris.

[facilitatorn]

http://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dzg45/black-lives-matter-protesters-topple-edward-colston-slave-trader-statue

[bodiddley]

Circa Jan 7 when a health adviser tried to talk to Trump about the COVID-19 virus, Trump was only interested in discussing banning flavored vaping products.

I think Trump did an abysmal job.  WHO was fairly useless -- actually lying in public when praising the extent of Chinese cooperation (which was only meeting the minimal obligated reporting).  The CDC was a huge fail, and lied to the US public about the need or benefits of face masks (as I said in real time).  The entire US public didn't take the virus serious or worry much about precautions.

CA got hit earlier and did a better job of reacting to and handling their outbreak than slomo Cuomo did in NY.  DeBlasio has appeared to be pretty useless and defensive and unhelpful in both the virus and protest crises.  He should be outed as not up to the task.

[bankshot1]

The alternatives to a democratic election to get rid of the orange-topped despot are probably far worse.

I'm not sure why.  No rule in the Constitution that says a President can't be impeached twice.  Only doubly true of a "president."  Nixon resigned without even needing to be impeached.  Just on the likely prospect.

Not that I expect that to actually happen, of course, because of Trumps trademark combo of shamelessness and cluelessness.  But what I am addressing is the Republican reaction to him, which does not seem to consider the possibility (really, the necessity) of his removal.  If you concede he is a threat to our Democracy, call for him to step down.  Don't just call for him to not be reelected when you know Trump and Putin are going to do everything they can to cheat.

While the House Dems could impeach him on a new charge of high crimes and missed directions, would it do any good? Actually i think it might be counterproductive and just another failed attempt to rouse Repubican courage.

I think I posted here that Murkowski's statement a few days ago supporting Matti's statement was so pathetic. She had the opportunity to hear at least least 4 voices to give testimony to Trump's crimes in office, but couldn't bring herself to participate in a real trial. But she now thinks its about time people are speaking out.

Fuck her and her hypocrisy. 

[Echo4]

"The two presidencies are not even in the same category. Criticizing Obama was like calling fouls in a basketball game. Criticizing Trump is like calling 911 to report a crime spree."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/viewpoint-im-a-conservative-%E2%80%94-but-this-is-ridiculous/ar-BB156F63?ocid=sf&fbclid=IwAR111JldqotQQr1_k4mKJrf8ppZxk3yGtkcbFv9V27Cw63aPm3ikXhKLP4U