This is going to be quick because the computer - or the server keeps going down. The workmen were out here today, and then back on Saturday to install a new antenna. Tomorrow we have to run up to the states again.
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| You remember these idiots from Lansing Michigan last spring, right? Wonder how many of these right wing militiamen were in on the foiled kidnapping attempt of Governor Witman? | |
Here's more from Juan Cole
~~~~~
In a nutshell, Collinson & Reston summarize the events - also videos with Anderson Cooper, the foiled Governor Witman kidnapping by the right wing militia group, Governor Witman holding her ground & firing back at Trump, Dr. Smart and more....
~ From CNN:
Trump Is Getting Increasingly Desperate, Sparking New Fears For His Health
In a day of chaos Thursday, Trump repeatedly shifted his position on a new plan for a virtual second presidential debate and suddenly decided to back
negotiations over a coronavirus economic rescue package he had killed
off earlier in the week. His actions suggested a campaign in disarray as
he trails Democratic nominee Joe Biden by double digits only 26 days from Election Day.
The
President's erratic conduct only emphasized an alarming leadership
vacuum in a White House hollowed out by sickness as the pandemic takes
an ominous turn amid fresh signs that a fragile economic rebound is
slowing.
Trump's official physician, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley, declared that the President would be fit to return to public engagements on Saturday
after completing his treatment. But questions remain over when Trump
got sick, who he might have infected and if he is still contagious. And
twice in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday night,
the President declined to say whether he has tested negative even as he
said he might try to hold a rally in Florida as soon as Saturday night.
A day of dizzying events had some of Trump's critics suggesting that his health may be influencing his political choices.
"He
is not well. We would not want any other person on the planet to do the
things he's doing this soon after knowing they're infected," Rick Bright,
the ousted director of the government office involved in developing a
coronavirus vaccine, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead."
Bright,
the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research &
Development Authority, said that normally, someone who had undergone
Covid-19 experimental therapies would be still be in a hospital bed.
"It's
very dangerous. He's in charge of a lot of things, makes a lot of
important decisions for our country and the world, actually," said
Bright, who spoke out publicly after resigning from the National
Institutes of Health this week. "If he's not in the right sound mind to
make decisions rationally, then he could be very reckless for the
country and the world."
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, questioned Thursday whether the
President is in an "altered state" during an interview with Bloomberg
TV, alluding to his sudden decision to halt stimulus negotiations. She
noted that doctors have said that the steroid medication Trump was
taking can affect a patient's judgment.
"When
the President did his strange tweet that said, 'We're walking away from
the negotiations,' it was, like, 'What?'" Pelosi said during her weekly
news conference. "We've all been working very hard to find our common
ground."
She's pushing a new bill,
which stands little chance of becoming law, to give Congress a role in
determining whether the President must be forced out of office because
he's incapable of doing his job.
Debate over debates
Conley's
statement on Trump's health was especially convenient since the
President spent the day locked in a test of wills with Biden's campaign
and the Commission on Presidential Debates over next Thursday's planned
second head-to-head clash. The timing will only add to concerns that
Conley is being browbeaten by a President who is driven exclusively by
his own political fate.
Trump first
said he refused to show up to a virtual showdown, which was planned due
to fears he was still infectious. Then the Trump camp demanded the last
two debates each be delayed a week. Then, following Conley's evening
bulletin, Trump's team insisted the debate could take as place as
planned next week in Miami despite fears over whether the President is
still contagious.
The President's
latest gambit reflects the fact that he is now at risk of losing one of
the last chances to turn his campaign around -- purely because he
ignored social distancing measures and got sick. And he offered Biden,
who would be happy to avoid risks in the closing days, an opening to
accuse him of backing out.
Trump
also made a complete reversal on Thursday after blowing up talks on an
economic rescue package with House Democrats earlier in the week in a
fresh sign of his increasingly head-spinning behavior since leaving
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump touts Covid 'cure'
The
President is trying to turn the campaign away from his mismanagement of
the pandemic by making exaggerated promises about the coming
availability of an antibody treatment made by Regeneron that he is
touting as a "cure" -- even though it still lacks Food and Drug
Administration approval. And his post-hospital warnings that Americans
must not let the disease "dominate" them are complicating public health
officials' efforts to promote public safety measures like wearing masks
and avoiding crowded areas.
On the same day that federal and state officials announced charges in an alleged domestic terror plot
to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Trump accused the Democrat of
"complaining" and again attacked her over her handling of the pandemic,
accusing her of having "locked down" her state. Trump has consistently
called for states to reopen, disregarding concerning case numbers across
the country.
Earlier
this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease
specialist, warned that the country could see as many as 400,000 deaths
from coronavirus by this winter.
"The
models tell us that if we do not do the kinds of things that we're
talking about in the cold of the fall and the winter, we could have from
300,000 to 400,000 deaths," Fauci said during a discussion with
American University students Tuesday. "That would be just so tragic, if
that happens."
On Thursday, Fauci tried to clear up Trump's falsehood on social media this week that the flu is more lethal than Covid-19.
"There's
absolutely no doubt, no doubt at all, that this Covid-19, with its
210,000 deaths in the United States, one million deaths globally,
seven-plus million infections in the United States, is far more serious
than a seasonal flu, no doubt about that," Fauci said on MSNBC's "Andrea
Mitchell Reports."
White House cover-up over Trump's last negative test
With
no medical expertise, the President is insisting he's no longer
contagious. The White House is also unconvincingly arguing that privacy
concerns prevent them from sharing details of the timing of the
President's last negative Covid-19 test.
That
information is important to assess whether the President recklessly
went on with public events -- including last week's first presidential
debate -- while possibly infected. The date of the test could establish
whether the White House was telling the truth when it says Trump was
regularly tested -- an important consideration as the presidential
complex became a raging coronavirus hotspot. Knowing the date of the
test is also key to evaluating the President's claims to no longer be
contagious as he agitates to get back on to the campaign trail and
resume the packed rallies that risk the health of supporters and anyone
they may later encounter.
Trump is also firing off irate political attacks as national polls show Biden up by double digits with voting in many states already underway.
In recent days, including in a manic Fox Business interview
Thursday, Trump has wondered aloud why his foes --namely Hillary
Clinton, Biden and former President Barack Obama -- are not in jail.
The
President incredibly raised the possibility
that the relatives of fallen US service members infected him at the
White House, absolving his team of responsibility for their negligent
measures to keep staff and visitors safe from the virus. A President who
benefited from 24-hour care from top military doctors and experimental
treatments not available to other Americans said on Fox Business, "What
happens is, you get better ... you know, you don't really need drugs."
Trump
on Thursday also used shocking racist, sexist and McCarthyite smears to
claim Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris behaved like a
"monster" and a communist in her debate with Vice President Mike Pence
on Wednesday.
Trump's wild behavior is coinciding with signs that the long-feared fall spike in the pandemic is gathering speed.
Coronavirus
cases as of are rising in 23 states, based on the average of new cases
over the past seven days. The number of new cases hit nearly 50,000
alone on Thursday with another 850 deaths giving the lie to the
President's claim that people who fall ill with the pathogen simply get
over it.
Yet there is no sign of a
coordinated government health offensive to prepare Americans for a grim
winter before vaccines become widely available
~~~~~
So, it is moving fast and most likely, will become more ugly. Go here for much more:
~~~~~
Super review of the Kamala-Pence debate:
~ From Informed Comment:
Kamala Harris's Best Zingers and Pence's Worst Lies
The Man Who Pretended Not to Notice
A fly landed on Mike Pence’s head. And he did nothing.
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