JustOneMinute

Minnesota Burning

Saturday night not as bad as feared.

Minnesota Burning

Saturday night not as bad as feared.

A Great Day To Ignore The News

Lots happening but my excitement involves hummingbird feeders and plants. Also weeds.

What Else?

Trump has a War On Tech, this afternoon he may renew his Trade War On China, and we have Minnesota Burning. Weird to hear newscasters talk about hot spots in Minneapolis and not mean coronavirus.

Any cheer I'm missing?

Free The Net!

Eugene Volokh preps for a Trump Executive Order on social media by taking us through the current law on publisher, distributors and platforms.

Hard to see where Trump is headed with this but away we go!

OK, That Day Got Away From Me

We'll try again tomorrow.

Seriously, What?

This Trump v. Scarborough thing is, as The Week says, "long past weird".

If we are going to pounce on Joe Biden for his "you ain't black" misfire, what are we to make of this? Trump being Trump?

Background from 2017, when Trump seemed to latch onto this.

Firing Up For Memorial Day

Chillin' and grillin' looks like the agenda.

Hit The Beach!

Mother Nature has picked a side in the New York area beach debate, at least for Saturday. Rain today, cool and partly cloudy (which means partly sunny!) Sunday and Monday. The nice(r) weather and good spirits should be infectious!

The Man In The Mask

Trump masks up during a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan.

In more important news, Trump currently rules a second national shutdown in response to a second wave of COVID-19.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said “we are not closing our country” if the U.S. is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections.

“People say that’s a very distinct possibility, it’s standard,” Trump said when asked about a second wave during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.

“We are going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country,” Trump said. “We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we are not closing our country.”

Obviously, time will tell. If there is a serious second wave, enough state and regional shutdowns will look like a national shutdown.

Something Must Be Shaking

Here we go again.

If They Don't Indict, It's Alright!

AG Barr addressed 'Obamagate' yesterday. The NY Times headline reprises the Clinton-era standard for Democrat behavior - if they don't indict, it's alright:

Barr Dismisses Trump’s Claim That Russia Inquiry Was an Obama Plot

The attorney general said that an investigation into the Russia inquiry was focusing on others, not the former president.

Hmm, really? Deep in the Times story we see this:

“We saw two different standards of justice emerge: one that applies to President Trump and his associates, and the other that applied to everybody else,” Mr. Barr said. “We can’t allow this ever to happen again.”

Mr. Barr called the Russia investigation and the investigation of Mr. Trump “a grave injustice” that was “unprecedented in American history.” He also spoke of a trend in recent decades of “increasing attempts to use the criminal justice system as a political weapon.”

“This is not a good development,” he said. “This is not good for our political life. And it’s not good for the criminal justice system.”

Even so, Mr. Barr would not criminally implicate Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden, and he said that improper actions by the previous administration may not turn out to be criminal offenses. “Not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime,” the attorney general said.

Is it possible Obama presided over an abuse of power, even if it was not criminal? The firebrands at NPR led with more or less that possibility:

Barr Doesn't Expect Russia Probe To Lead To Criminal Investigation Of Obama Or Biden

U.S. Attorney General William Barr told reporters Monday he does not expect a Justice Department probe examining the origins of the inquiry into Russian election interference will result in criminal investigations into either former President Barack Obama or his vice president, Joe Biden.

A year ago, Barr tasked John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, with investigating the origins of the Russia probe. The review, which was upgraded to a formal criminal investigation later in 2019, seeks to determine whether there was impropriety in the FBI's investigation into whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 White House race in Trump's favor.

"Under the longstanding standards of the department, criminal charges are appropriate only when we have enough evidence to prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the standard we're applying," Barr said in response to a question about whether the department would investigate Obama and Biden.

"There's a difference between an abuse of power and a federal crime. Not every abuse of power — no matter how outrageous — is necessarily a federal crime," Barr said at an unrelated news conference to discuss last year's shooting at a U.S. military base in Pensacola, Fla. "Now, as to President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today, I don't expect Mr. Durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others."

That is a pretty soft exoneration. My emphasis on "impropriety", which is hardly a synonym for "illegality".

Sunday Guest Appearance

I'm operating on quarantime and working my way through my inbox. Here is a guest piece from a long-time reader. Unmasking may or may not occur in the comments. This comes from eastern PA, so near enough to NYC and Philly to know a thing or two about getting hit by the coronavirus.

We are the progeny of pilgrims, patriots, and pioneers. Our forebears boarded wooden ships and sailed across an inhospitable ocean to pursue a life of freedom in a bountiful yet dangerous wilderness – from which life and civilization had to be built starting with little more than the will to survive and the perseverance to succeed. Our forebears fought a war against the greatest military power of the time to protect and preserve those hard-won freedoms in a new form of government that some called a “great experiment” and is also recognized as “American exceptionalism.” Our forebears later rode west in covered wagons across the continent to build lives for themselves and futures for their children.

We have been the aspiration of people around the globe who have come here to escape tyranny and pursue freedom, who shed their native-born beliefs to adopt and embrace the American dream, and who taught their children to love their adopted country. We are the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal; fought in the cold of Korea and the jungles of Vietnam. We have invented amazing machines, made stunning scientific discoveries, and landed men on the moon. We have brought more prosperity and more freedom to more people than any other nation in the history of the world. This is the legacy of the American people that we proudly point to as our heritage.

In this day and age we are required to temper American success with the recitation of sins that, frankly, are the sins of virtually every nation at the time of our founding, sins that many nations have also engaged in and some continue to engage in. America, like every other nation on Earth, is not perfect but it has always strived to be better and to live up to the high ideals expressed in our founding documents. We would rather fall short of lofty goals than to fall prey to appealing yet ignoble ones.

America today is facing the challenge of a pandemic. This is not a new challenge. There have been pandemics before and there will be pandemics again. We have lived through times when illnesses spread throughout the country – yet we managed to adapt to minimize the risk and continue to live our lives accepting that life has risk. Never have we so egregiously abridged the rights of healthy citizens for fear that they “may” be ill. Have we become so comfortable that we can no longer accept such risks, manage such risks, live with such risks? Has the American spirit been so coddled and indulged that we no longer look to ourselves to persevere in the face of a challenge but look to others to rescue us? Worse, have we forgotten that a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” means that we, the people, are the ones who need to step up in the face of hardship and not pretend there is some all powerful “government” that exists to save us from all difficulties?

We are America, we are the government, and we need to be the Americans that our history and our forebears have bequeathed to us. They took risks and faced fears and we should expect no less from ourselves. We did not leave tyrannical governments and build a new world only to cower in our homes while our “betters” and “experts” tell us what we may and may not do, who is essential and who is not, and arresting those who dare to disobey. While we may act on good information and appreciate leadership in times of crisis, we should not submit to capricious dictates that chain us to our homes while setting free convicted criminals all in the name of an illusive promise of safety. Are we a nation of cowards with our masks on and our hands out? No! The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have not been repealed. We need to remember who we are and fight for the freedoms that are our birthright as Americans – even, in fact especially, in times of crisis.

 

Saturday AM Action

Away we go again.

I've Got To Get Going

My one-day news boycott was fun but its on with the hip boots and back into the morass!

Darn It

One big trial of hydroxychloroquine with and without azithromycin came up empty.

If Trump is willing to settle for a lay-up rather than a Hail Mary, he should talk up Vitamin D. Its cheap, safe, probably more than half of us have low-ish serum levels of D, and Vitamin D is already a standard recommendation for good health even if it does not specifically help with COVID-19.

Lots here.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day all!

Good Golly Miss Molly

Little Richard has passed. If you remember the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta you might remember how he rocked the closing ceremony.

The Butler Did It

Trump's valet tests positive for coronavirus.

Here's a headscratcher - I can picture a national security argument for keeping it quiet if Trump did test positive. In fact, if Trump had tested positive but was feeling reasonably well, I could even imagine a scenario where they announce that some anonymous aide (or valet) had tested positive and the President would be cutting back on meeting and appearances as a precaution.

Obviously, there are also arguments in favor of full disclosure. Leaves me wondering, is all I'm saying.

Energize The Base!

The Ahmaud Arbery shooting I noted in April is now going national. CNN aired a video of the fatal confrontation, the case is going to a grand jury and Joe Biden is demanding justice. Now both sides (all sides?) get to grab their scripts and we can fight over whether Ahmaud Arbery is Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, or someone else entirely. Any chance he's Ahmaud Arbery and this case doesn't fit a template? Naah.

As is so often the case, the vdeo shows what people want it to show. This is CNN:

Brunswick, Georgia (CNN)The fatal shooting of a black man -- apparently recorded on video in February and posted online Tuesday by a local radio station host -- will go to a grand jury in coastal Georgia, according to a district attorney.

Elements of the disturbing video are consistent with a description of the shooting given to police by one of those involved in the incident.

 

Well, yes. Here is the Times version from last April:

 

In a separate document, [local prosecutor] Mr. Barnhill stated that video exists of Mr. Arbery “burglarizing a home immediately preceding the chase and confrontation.” In the letter to the police, he cites a separate video of the shooting filmed by a third pursuer.

 

Mr. Barnhill said this video, which has not been made public, shows Mr. Arbery attacking Travis McMichael after he and his father pulled up to him in their truck.

 

The video shows Mr. Arbery trying to grab the shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands, Mr. Barnhill wrote. And that, he argued, amounts to self-defense under Georgia law. Travis McMichael, Mr. Barnhill concluded, “was allowed to use deadly force to protect himself.”

 

Where did that take the local prosecutor?

Mr. Barnhill also wrote that he did not believe there was evidence of a crime, noting that Gregory McMichael and his son had been legally carrying their weapons under Georgia law. And because Mr. Arbery was a “burglary suspect,” the pursuers, who had “solid firsthand probable cause,” were justified in chasing him under the state’s citizen’s arrest law.

It's all good!

I'm just a tired old Yankee who is losing patience with this bullshit. Arbery was not jogging down the street carrying a television. And if he was, you're going to shoot him because of it? Why? No one was being kidnapped, no one was being raped, no one was being assaulted - what about this suggested it was a deadly force situation?

 

Or if these vigilantes were gunned up out of fear that the jogger might be armed, well, if the situation is that dangerous just take a deep breath and let it go. I don't care how legal this shooting was, it was stupid and quite likely the law is stupid as well.

 

Now yes, Arbery should not have attacked, as the video suggests he did. Legally that may be exculpatory but I'm not even sure why that is a defense. What, the  vigilante plan was to show up with a shotgun to arrest a guy who, they hoped, would be calm and act responsibly? Just how did they picture this unfolding if the jogger was terrified, hopped up on drugs, had anger management issues, had mental health issues, or whatever? The plan was what - if he's a sensible citizen they'll arrest him, otherwise they'll shoot him? Come on, man.

 

These vigilantes faced a situation where no one was at risk of physical harm and turned it into a situation that had a high potential for disaster. And that's what they got. There ought to be consequences for cranial-anal impaction.

 

 

Catch-22

No one can figure out who has the authority to release personnel records related to Biden's office and Tara Reade. DC is now a multi clown-car pile-up.

Hoping For The Smart Restart!

The AFP lays out Trump's election strategy. In his Trumpian way I think he has managed to find a winning message that he will present in a divisive way. (I wish I could remember which pundit pointed out weeks ago that no one should underestimate Trump's sense of the national mood. Probably quite a few, actually.)

The gist - Trump is going to run in favor of getting America back to work. Make the Economy Great Again! Which makes the Democrats what - the party of "Stay Locked Up and Out of Work"? Some of them are stupid enough to argue for just that, but the larger problem is the rural/urban divide behind this disease. Big city Democrats are living a different life than rural Republicans, with suburbanites caught in-between.

We've seen the rural/urban divide play out across the nation and even within states - Michigan grabs headlines but upstate NY and rural California just don't have the same coronavirus experience as their big city counterparts. One size does NOT fit all.

My issue with Trump is that this does not meed to be presented in a confrontational way. "Liberate Michigan"? Come on - it's been obvious since last fall that the lockdown in Michigan has an upstate/downstate divide ("Last fall"?!? OK, that's quarantine-weeks, which are like dog-years.) Michigan's governor is not the enemy here; she has legitimate concerns about the people in the Detroit Metro area. That happens to be where her voters are so the politics can get nasty, but they don't have to get nasty.

Although Trump was not a fan, George Bush had a good statement on this topic. National character, national unity. I do love his phrase "in this time of testing." That prompts me to revive my Smart Restart post from the summer of 2015. Or mid-April. Whenever.

 

Back In Business, Sort Of

Definitely Maybe, Or Maybe Not On Accidental Wuhan Lab Release

The WaPo tells us that US intelligence is convinced that the coronavirus might have been released as part of a lab accident of some sort, but actual evidence is lacking.