Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
I hope everyone is having a relaxing holiday weekend. Here are a few news items to consider. Feel free to share anything you think might interest readers. Make sure to provide links.
First news item
Correct observations here (I have some disagreement with the rest of the piece):
Democrats have been quick to dismiss any Trump supporter as a racist, homophobe or redneck, but they all shared a common trait with him, an unapologetic love of America.
The Republican success down-ballot and in state legislatures shows the folly of this condescension and sends a clear message that a majority of Americans are not ready for the socialist agenda favored by the radical left. Not only were there more Trump voters in 2020, there were more Hispanic and African-American voters backing Trump. The supreme irony here is that gradually the Republicans are becoming the party of the working class.
Second news item
President Trump said Thursday evening that coronavirus vaccine deliveries will begin as early as next week.
“The whole world is suffering and we are rounding the curve,” Trump said. “And the vaccines are being delivered next week or the week after.”
…
“Joe Biden failed with the swine flu, H1N1, totally failed with the swine flu,” Trump said. “Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they’ve ever been pushed before and we got that approved and through and nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”
United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL -0.74% on Friday began operating charter flights to position doses of Pfizer Inc.’s PFE 1.92% Covid-19 vaccine for quick distribution if the shots are approved by regulators, according to people familiar with the matter.
The initial flights are one link in a global supply chain being assembled to tackle the logistical challenge of distributing Covid-19 vaccines. Pfizer has been laying the groundwork to move quickly if it gets approval from the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators world-wide.
Third news item
That’s a lot of money to shell out for more Biden votes:
The recount of votes cast in the Nov. 3 presidential election in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin ended Friday with President-elect Joe Biden winning the district again, this time by 132 more votes than before. President Donald Trump’s campaign had paid roughly $3 million for the re-tallying of the county’s 460,000 votes, as well as those of Dane County. The final count was 317,527 votes for Biden and 134,482 for Trump.
Fourth news item
Donald Trump is considering launching his 2024 election campaign on the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, it has been reported – weighing up how to keep the spotlight on him in his post-White House life.
Mr Trump, who is yet to concede defeat, and may not ever, was asked on Thanksgiving whether he would attend Mr Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.
“I don’t want to say that yet,” he replied. “I mean, I know the answer. I’ll be honest, I know the answer.”
On Saturday The Daily Beast cited three sources who confirmed he is considering a 2024 run, and two of them said that he had floated the idea of holding an event during Mr Biden’s inauguration, to cause maximum disruption.
Fifth news item
First the coronavirus spread inside the Lyons, New Jersey, long-term Veterans Affairs facility and ravaged residents and staff. Then came what workers and veterans described as indifference and neglect from Lyons administrators as the bodies piled up and the lockdown dragged on. But to them, the worst part, the part that is ongoing nine months into the COVID-19 outbreak in America, has been watching people who need help and dignity, long after serving their country, give up.
“They were lonely, not being able to see their families. Seeing the guys die around them was terrible,” said an employee at the Lyons community living center. “You’d be leaving work on Friday, coming back Monday and finding guys missing. A lot of guys. You’d think they’d be all right. You’d see them looking weak. They’d stop eating. And they’d pass.”
Sixth news item
Covid-19 vaccine’s who, what where, when:
Who will get the first doses?
The first doses are likely to go to health-care professionals, workers in essential jobs, nursing-home residents, older Americans and people with underlying conditions that put them at high risk. Exactly which of those groups goes first would depend in part on the particular vaccine and what its data show about effectiveness among different age groups or health conditions.Is there any debate about who should get vaccinated first?
Yes. Some health officials and experts believe health-care workers should receive the first doses, while others are advocating for the most vulnerable—older Americans—to be first in line. The vaccine panel advising the CDC is considering recommending that about 3 million elderly people in congregate settings like nursing homes be part of the first phase of immunization along with about 21 million health workers. The committee also has proposed putting essential workers such as teachers and police ahead of adults with high-risk medical conditions and people ages 65 and over who aren’t in congregate settings.When can the general public expect to have access?
Mr. Azar said he expects there to be enough vaccine doses starting in the second quarter of 2021 so that anyone who wants a vaccine can get it. Other federal health officials have said in the spring or summer. The timeline could change if manufacturing doesn’t go as planned.
Seventh news item
Super rich kids want to wreck the system so others can’t become super-rich too:
Sam Jacobs has had many conversations with his family’s lawyers lately. He’s trying to get access to more of his $30 million trust fund. At the age of 25, he has reached the age at which many heirs can break up their money for crazy shops or a stable with sports cars. He doesn’t want that, but by wealth management standards his plan is just as bad. He wants to give everything away.
“I want to build a world where someone like me, a young person who controls tens of millions of dollars, is impossible,” he said.
Jacobs has been a socialist since college and views the “extreme, plutocratic wealth” of his family as both a moral and an economic failure. He wants to use his legacy to end capitalism and use my money to undo systems that amass money for those at the top and who have played a major role in expanding economic and racial inequality.
Both as a trust child and as an anti-capitalist, Jacobs is in a rare position among leftists fighting against economic inequality. But he’s not the only one trying to figure out “what it means to be with the 99% when you’re the 1%”.
…
Of course, a single act of redistribution of wealth does not change a system. But these heirs see themselves as part of a larger shift and eager to fund its dynamic.
Eighth news item
Don’t talk to me that way!:
Pespective:
This is a real photo he chose to take. pic.twitter.com/uDdA56Zr2c
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 27, 2020
Ninth news item
SMDH:
Which immunity is superior?
Vaccines shown to be 70-90% effective at 7-14 days based on a few hundred cases of COVID-19.
or
Natural Immunity shown to be 99.999% effective at 8 months based on a few million cases.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 27, 2020
–Dana
Good morning!
Dana (6995e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 8:54 am(in hiding from Iranian death squads)
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:17 amEx-Overstock CEO Says He’s Put Together an ‘Army of Various Odd People’ to Save Trump
Rip Murdock (8cb7cc) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:21 amFormer Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne left behind a cloud of confusion when he resigned in 2019 from the internet retailer he’d founded after panicking investors with his bizarre claims that he had romanced a Russian agent at the behest of “Men in Black” working for the United States government.
……..
“ I’ve funded a team of hackers and cybersleuths, other people with odd skills,” Byrne said in a Tuesday interview at One America News, where OAN personality Chanel Rion praised Byrne as the head of an “elite shadow cyber security team.”
……..
How many other “elite” teams will save Trump? Oddballs, indeed.
Newsmax/McLaughlin Poll: Big Majority Wants Trump to Run in 2024; Don Jr. Emerges
Rip Murdock (8cb7cc) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:26 am……….
What a schlock, I mean shock!
I hate it when I agree with Trump. He was right! Frustrated paperback writers should not talk to the President of the United States that way.
(Now I have to take two aspirin and lie down.)
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:28 amWill Saletan
@saletan
We talk too much about Antifa, and not enough about the right-wing insurrectionists who—led by Trump, his son, and their allies—are trying to overthrow the 2020 election.
If you’re a law-and-order voter, pay attention to the mounting threat on the right.
_ _
Stephen L. Miller
@redsteeze
·
Every case Trump makes in court is being tossed and there are no nightly riots, no attacks on police officers or property or court houses.
Antifa is still rioting in Portland and other cities over things like Thanksgiving & it’s for the most part ignored.
harkin (8fadc8) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:36 am__
I recommend Robert Burns, the poet:
To a Mouse
On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.
To A Louse
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 9:48 amOn Seeing One On A Lady’s Bonnet, At Church 1786
Re: This is a real photo
My takeaway:
O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum …
felipe (023cc9) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:18 amAt least a handful of Republicans kept their integrity and helped the party avoid disaster.
https://reason.com/2020/11/25/election-officials-who-put-country-over-partisanship-are-the-heroes-of-the-2020-election/
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:28 amI also like this paragraph by Dowd. I’m a little surprised that she gets it:
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:43 amPresident Donald Trump’s campaign had paid roughly $3 million for the re-tallying of the county’s 460,000 votes, as well as those of Dane County.
Someone want to explain to me how a recount can cost $6 per vote? I’m guessing you’re paying for an awful lot of “county voting supervisors” to stand around looking stupid while a handful of people do the actual work.
JVW (ee64e4) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:46 amPaul,
The op-Ed was written by Dowd’s brother, Kevin. They are far apart in their politics.
Dana (6995e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:47 amAnyone on here see hot Youtube/Google/Alphabet promoted UnThanksgiving on Thanksgiving? Pushing the concept to their viewers that we live on stolen land and are evil.
Such good wholesome individuals.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:05 amI *want* to extend the benefit of the doubt to people like Massie, and believe that they simply don’t understand the concept that achieving herd immunity through natural viral transmission means 1-2 million dead Americans. But their continued behavior leaves me more inclined to believe that they simply don’t *care* and view that as an acceptable outcome.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:14 am> Pushing the concept to their viewers that we live on stolen land and are evil.
We’re not evil, but we *do* live on land that our ancestors stole. Our ancestors violated every single treaty that our ancestors signed with native Americans, and they were driven from their land over time.
Recognizing that reality doesn’t mean that today’s Americans are evil; instead, it recognizes that the past is complicated.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:16 amOn the other hand, I wouldn’t choose Thanksgiving day to make that point, because while Thanksgiving is steeped in the *trappings* of colonial growth, it’s also largely about celebrating family and community and about finding and highlighting the gratitude in our hearts, and that’s a valuable thing, worthy of protection, even if one objects to the trappings.
aphrael (4c4719) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:17 amDemocrats have been quick to dismiss any Trump supporter as a racist, homophobe or redneck, but they all shared a common trait with him, an unapologetic love of America.
If the “him” is Trump, this guy has no idea what he’s talking about and is not worth a second thought. If the him is “any Trump supporter”, it’s at least debatable. They might not all of them be either suckers or parasites. Some may be desperately grasping at a broken reed.
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:25 amAlso in the news: Carter Page whom the FBI targeted for warrants under FISA filed an $75 million lawsuit against FBI, DoJ, former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Bankrupting some of these bad players may be the only justice handed out in SpyGate. I fear that John Durham’s investigation may vanish under Biden.
Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:27 amLiving in Northern Kentucky and I’ve met Massie about 30 times, had multiple 1 on 1 chats with him, and he is among the dumbest people I’ve met that have failed up in their professional life. He’s not just playing the idiot on TV, he’s an idiot. He wants to be Rand Paul, who is actually quite intelligent, and in person gives you the idea that he’s playing the role on TV but doesn’t believe quite a bit of his dialogue for the show he’s on…not sure if that’s better than Massie though. I have to believe that Massie is less idiotic than folks like (Louie) Gomer Pyle, but maybe not.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:31 am@10 — Trump was unique because he was only interested in results.
I have to wonder if Dowd really believes that, given all the evidence that what he’s really interested in is getting credit, and never, ever accepting blame. Consider e.g. his insistence that he should get the credit for all the work and expertise that other people have been putting into developing vaccines, and his pathetic worrying that someone might give credit to Biden. But of course Biden would not be trying to take credit for what all those other people are doing.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:37 am@12 — oh, that helps answer my question re: Does Dowd really believe ….
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:38 am@4. First came King Kong.
Then Mighty Joe Young.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:41 am“There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”
“The world is laughing at us”
Everything was “broken” or “awful” or “a disaster” before he came along.
We just had another disgraceful “rigged election.”
Etc.
Doesn’t look unapologetic to me.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:47 am‘Vaccine on its way’
Hmm. Yet an experienced, saged, 47-year government bureaucrat oozing wisdom said otherwise:
“No miracle is coming.” – Joe Biden 8/20/20
‘Shut it down,’…”Big Guy.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:48 amBut of course Biden would not be trying to take credit for what all those other people are doing.
Considering Biden has a long history of stealing other peoples words, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did.
Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:48 amWell, a generic paperback writer vs a generic president, sure, but this is Donald Trump.
Who is also maybe planning to Trump considering kicking off 2024 run during Biden’s inauguration.
Plus all of the other things that that he also said during his time while he was demoted to the kid’s table for his press conference. It was shameful, and he should always be afforded the respect he deserves; none, zero, zilch, nada.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:48 am@20. But of course Biden would not be trying to take credit for what all those other people are doing.
ROFLMAOPIP. You’re kidding, right?
Almost as funny as the ’30 Rock’ marathon running on E!
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:55 am@25, @27 —
Biden has his faults, but he doesn’t have the off-the-charts narcissism of Trump, or the desperate, pathetic need to take credit for everything good and deny fault for anything bad.
Before the election, Biden was asked what he would think if he lost to Trump, and he said, “I would think I must have been a terrible candidate.”
Trump’s answer to the same question was, and still is: “It means that Biden cheated. The election was RIGGED!”
That’s a huge different right there.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/28/2020 @ 12:45 pmPit Bulls are the 3rd thing.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/27/toke-lahoma-cannabis-market-oklahoma-red-state-weed-legalization-437782
urbanleftbehind (c472e9) — 11/28/2020 @ 1:00 pmBiden has his faults, but he doesn’t have the off-the-charts narcissism of Trump, or the desperate, pathetic need to take credit for everything good and deny fault for anything bad.
A complaint often heard from those who blame him singlehandedly for virus deaths and give him no credit for Operation Warp Speed.
Biden and all Democrats know they don’t have to risk appearing narcissistic, because the media and those that parrot their narratives will give them credit for everything good and nothing bad.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/28/2020 @ 1:08 pmCan someone point out what Operation Warp Speed has accomplished? Vaccine acceleration, nope. Vaccine approval, nope. Testing, nope. What exactly was it supposed to do, and did it do it? You can look it up. It has currently helped one, tangentially at best, of the vaccine candidates, it hasn’t improved testing, it hasn’t improved distribution, it has currently had about as close to zero impact as is possible.
Just because the admin is claiming it helped doesn’t make it so.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 2:36 pmColonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 2:36 pm
One can look at OWS like a community barn-raising and say “but I see no barn! No structures at all!” But it is more like corporate farming where where huge fields have been sown and an observer states, “I see no crop! Not one kernal of wheat, not one ear of corn, not one crop to show for it!”
Patience, wait for the harvest.
felipe (023cc9) — 11/28/2020 @ 2:54 pmYou can’t be the farmer and claim a successful crop before the harvest. It’s the admin claiming victory for, you know…months.
For vaccine distribution the states (the people actually responsible for vaccine distribution, not OWS) need between $8B-$10B to prepare, money that they don’t have, that hasn’t been allocated and should have been months ago.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:02 pmThank you, Dana, for all your hard work! I find it remarkable that you can produce the weekend open thread for us with such quality and consistency. I could not do it.
felipe (023cc9) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:05 pmCan someone point out what Operation Warp Speed has accomplished?
Though Dr. Anthony Fauci, the main face of the White House’s coronavirus task force, estimated at the beginning of the pandemic that it might take 12-18 months to create a vaccine, researchers have never developed one that quickly. Then, what’s the fastest a vaccine has ever been made?
In fact, the mumps vaccine is the quickest to have ever been developed, according to National Geographic. And that took four years, from collecting viral samples to licensing the drug in 1967.
Typically, vaccines take as long as 10-15 years to develop.
https://coronavirus.nautil.us/until-now-whats-the-quickest-a-vaccine-has-ever-been-developed/
Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:05 pmFor vaccine distribution the states (the people actually responsible for vaccine distribution, not OWS) need between $8B-$10B to prepare
The states have also been responsible for their own covid policy the past ten months.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:07 pmColonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:02 pm
I do not argue against anything you said. Only the perspective. There can be no one helped without the delivery, no delivery without distribution, no distribution without a vaccine, and no vaccine without an approval! You are getting ahead of yourself.
I missed the part where the administration claimed victory for vaccinating people, for distributing the vaccine, or for approving the vaccine. Angry about funds? complain to those [with]holding the purse strings.
felipe (023cc9) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:13 pmA) The vaccines developed before Warp Speed can’t also claim to have been developed by Warp Speed because from our frame of reference time moves in a linear fashion.
B) States have been begging for the Feds to create a consistent national policy, a task they’ve utterly failed at. So some states have taken drastic actions, either doing nothing and being complete failures, or overdoing it. A few states have been pretty good overall, my Kentucky and Ohio have done fairly well, but they aren’t in isolation, so the bleed from the dirty S-hole states still happens, and there are still plenty of Q-anon virus deniers actively trying to infect as many people as possible. They are America’s Aum Shinrikyo.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:20 pmTrump: Psst, hey Sid!
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/28/2020 @ 3:35 pmPowell: Yes, Mr. President.
Trump: Look, I had to distance you from the team because you were looking a little too nuts out there….
Powell: But, sir, I was trying…
Trump: Shut up! I am the President of the United States!
Powell: Sorry.
Trump: Now, look. I’m about ready to give Flynn a pardon, but you need to do something for me. Flynn needs to go public and tell everybody I won, okay? In a landslide. Got that?
Powell: Yes, sir.
Trump: And one other thing. You and Flynn keep that QAnon sh*t between youselves. I’m trying to win here. Win those lawsuits, okay? I don’t like lawyers who don’t win. Except Giuliani, because he entertains me. And except Jenna, she’s hot, great ass.
States have been begging for the Feds to create a consistent national policy,
I think the Feds would have made a mess of it.
Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 4:26 pmCovid Death Data
I read the entire article then went to the YouTube presentation. Checked out the sources. Professor Briand seems to have done a complete analysis. Doesn’t suggest Covid isn’t real, or masks are not necessary but does call into question the accuracy of reported Covid related deaths in a logical analysis.
Marci (405d43) — 11/28/2020 @ 4:35 pmLOL
Truly amazing comment, BnP.
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 4:42 pmNobody gave Trump credit for Simon Pagenaud and Team Penske winning the Indianapolis 500 last year, either, when everybody knows that he won it for them by a landslide. The media bias is obvious.
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:01 pmhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/havens-garden-defies-shutdown-order.php
Excellent post about a woman doing all she can to keep her business alive while a tyrannical government tries to destroy her.
NJRob (2036cd) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:04 pmhttps://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/whole-foods-ceo-socialism-means-trickle-poverty-it-impoverishes-everything
Obvious remarks and known for generations, but sometimes speaking basic truths is a radical act.
NJRob (2036cd) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:11 pmBiden likes to say that he got more votes than any presidential candidate before him, but Trump can say the exact same thing. Trump beat Obama’s record 69 million in 2008 by a lot.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:21 pm“Truly amazing comment, BnP.“
Trump Announces “Operation Warp Speed” And A Goal Of Having A Covid-19 Vaccine By The End Of the Year
But Trump’s plan is based on nothing other than hope, desperation, and bluster. No reputable scientist will even commit to 18 months.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 5/15/2020 @ 4:57 pm
It’s like all those grand promises in the GOP primary that nobody could match.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:22 pmTrump is doing what he always does. Only this time he’s trying to pull a con on the nation to give her false hope during a pandemic.
Dustin (d59cff) — 5/15/2020 @ 5:13 pm
Umm…
“We’ll build a wall and make Mexico to pay for it.”
“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” – January 22
“We’re a winner. We have done an amazing job. And it’s rounding the corner.” – October 15
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:23 pmOne could say that 2020 was a repudiation of Trump, but given that he got 74 million votes it could be looked at as a repudiation of the Democrat Party. That a flawed candidate such as Trump beat Hillary and came close to beating Biden is not really something they should be complacent about. The GOP was fighting with a billion brain cells tied behind their back.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:24 pmYeah this is a big point. That the democrats really do have to hustle to beat an idiot like Trump, who really is not defensible after his performance this year, tells you a lot about how frustrated people are with democrats.
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:28 pmNot that close, 6.2 million votes, and 306 ECV, Trump claimed that as a landslide, where he double his popular vote loss count from last time.
Last time was between a known turd sandwich and a probable turd sandwich, people chose a slight possibility of not a turd, well some did but millions stayed home and chose hunger, but a turd sandwich it was. This time it was between a known turd sandwich and a soy butter and pickles sandwich. You don’t want the soy butter, but at least it’s food. Hence higher turn out and a landslide away from the turd, the country just decided it was time to flush it.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:43 pmhttps://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/11/28/joe-exotic-trump-international-hotel-washington-presidential-pardon-tiger-king/
Joe Exotic wants a pardon so he’s spending a lot of money in Trump hotels. I bet this is actually extremely common.
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:49 pmThanks, Felipe at 34. I’m going to show the boss your comment and demand a raise, or use of the Patterico company yacht over the upcoming holidays.
Dana (6995e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:50 pmActually he said next week (November 29-December 5 OR the week after (December 6 to December 12)
I had heard it said at the beginning of the CBS Evening News that he said it cold be next week. What e actually said is absolutely correct, because that’s what other people had been saying. They said December 11 or December 12.
How they could know would be because there’s probably some meeting scheduled for December 10.
https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/vaccines-and-related-biological-products-advisory-committee-december-10-2020-meeting-announcement
It will be virtual.
You will be able to watch it live, starting at 9 am, on Thursday, December 10, 2020 at :
https://twitter.com/US_FDA
or
https://fda.yorkcast.com/webcast/Play/d75d80a3eb6e419986181c1a881fe2671d
You can also submit comments in advance both in writing and orally (electronic)
Friday, December 4, 2020 is the deadline to provide it to the committee.
Pfizer and Trump administration officials seem to be sure emergency authorization will happen the next day, but Dr. Peter Marks, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research says it could take up to a couple of weeks, but might be days.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/28/2020 @ 5:58 pm46.Biden likes to say that he got more votes than any presidential candidate before him…
Plagiarizing The Big Dick! 😉 Wait ’til you hear his inaugural speech.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:01 pmNot that close, 6.2 million votes
But 5 million more votes than any other candidate ever. I think it is more likely that BOTH parties were sent the same message twice running: “we think you’re both crap.” I say this based on the known crappiness of Donald Trump.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:17 pmJoe Exotic wants a pardon so he’s spending a lot of money in Trump hotels
After Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich it came out that Denise Eisenberg Rich, his former wife, had made substantial donations to both the Clinton library and to Mrs. Clinton’s senate campaign.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:20 pmNot that close, 6.2 million votes
And 100,000 votes spread over 4 states would have been all the difference (as it was in 2016).
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:22 pm8th news item. What is Trump talking about?? (and why is the sound so low?)
Every electronic vote must have a real paper ballot behind it. Everything must match down to the precinct level. The precinct by precinct results were recorded in a number of ways. These are the errors they are finding.
Every paper ballot must have a name attached to it (not every ballot, but at the precinct level) which name must be that of a registered voter and if the same name was used twice or was from someone ineligible you can find out.
Every name must have a signature attached to it.
Plus more.
To get away with anything, you have to fake a lot of records, all consistent with each other, or fake paper ballots when they are first counted.
And they did say something like we caught 23 dead people but we need 20,000 votes.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:32 pm10. Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:43 am
It was actually written by her brother Kevin. She turns her column over to him once a year.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:36 pmJoe Exotic is the guest of AG Bill Barr at the Fort Worth Gray Bar Hotel. His legal/lobbying team are alleged, by one anonymous source, of spending the $10,000 at the Trump Hotel in DC.
Sigh. I’m reading the Quantum & Woody comic books. In the 1997 origin story, Quantum is booted out of the Army for concealing his heart condition. In the 2013 reboot, the origin story is changed to violating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. That’s why many of the 74 million people repudiated the Democrats in favor of The Orange Turd. They see the Democrats on the side of the counter-culture which is turning America into a toilet.
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:36 pm@51. Actually, that 6 million, given the overall percentage of total voter turn out, is a significant number– and the analysis of the break down of how many were early voters or mail-ins versus ‘day of’ should reveal it was closer then you might believe. And it flushed out a ball park number of firm ‘never-Trump’ types- the Lincoln Project devotees, the moralists and so forth. It’s not that many. Where they are concentrated would be interesting to examine as well. It’s the growth of Trump’s total numbers over 2016 that is significant as well. By all ‘media accounts’ and ‘polls’ tallying his disapproval- that number should really have dropped. It didn’t.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:37 pmI mean, seriously? Joe Exotic and the President of the United States in the same breath?
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:38 pmIn 2016, it was just less than 70k in the three states that flipped the election. 100k votes would have made zero difference this time; Biden won MI by over 150k vs 11k, PA by over 80k vs 33k, WI by by 22k same as Trump in 2016. If you could flip a voter, instead of adding, then you could get either 1 or 2, neither wins it for Trump though.
If you look at the 5 flipped states, take MI out because it’s not close enough, you’d need 75k to just flip MI’s 16 votes, and you need 36. So PA is required, that leaves you at 286 with 40k votes, you have to have GA which leaves a enough for AZ and NV, but that’s a lot of moving parts and not what actually happened.
I’m sure Hillary could tell you by the district how to use the time machine to change what happened, since this is what happened I’m going to assume that the dems didn’t have one, more likely Trump’s team but it was a single use device.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:47 pmHaving never seen the first, is he supposed to be the worse one or something? Didn’t he go to jail for some murder/death/kill?
Colonel Klink (Ret) (1367c0) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:50 pm25. Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:48 am
You could say “echoing” other people’s words, and it might actually be fairer. It;s not like only one person is allowed to adopt good ideas.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/16/pulling-our-politics-back-from-the-brink
It might be an interesting exercise to go over things Joe Biden has said, and discover his sources. We do this with Shakespeare.
Now where did “I am campaigning as a Democrat, but I will govern as an American President.” or that general idea come from?
He obviously puts things together a different way, and maybe he should be evaluated based on what it is he chooses to use.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:51 pmHaving never seen the first, is he supposed to be the worse one or something? Didn’t he go to jail for some murder/death/kill?
All I know is bits and pieces from the internet, myself. Gay Florida Man with a blond-dyed mullet who something, something, something, and got his own Netflix “original”.
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 6:56 pmHis rival zookeeper, the one who killed her husband, is from Florida – Exotic hails from Oklahoma.
And I’m surprised there isn’t a Hillary Clinton wearing a Sidney Powell mask meme out there.
urbanleftbehind (cdeb6e) — 11/28/2020 @ 7:30 pmI almost asterisked it — I should have — I meant Florida Man the sub-species, not male Florida resident.
nk (1d9030) — 11/28/2020 @ 7:41 pmPennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit against mail ballots with prejudice in another defeat for Trump
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a Republican lawsuit seeking to invalidate more than 2.5 million votes cast by mail in the general election, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the GOP as President Trump fails to undo his losses in key battleground states.
Justices on the state high court ruled unanimously late Saturday that Republican petitioners waited too long to file their suit challenging Act 77, the 2019 law that established universal mail voting in Pennsylvania. Trump allies had asked the court to invalidate all votes cast by mail in the most recent election or direct the majority-Republican legislature to choose a slate of presidential electors. The ruling with prejudice means that the plaintiffs are barred from bringing another action on the same claim.
……..
The want of due diligence demonstrated in this matter is unmistakable,” the justices wrote, noting that the lawsuit was filed “more than one year” after no-excuse mail voting was enacted in Pennsylvania. The order blamed petitioners for a “complete failure to act with due diligence in commencing their facial constitutional challenge, which was ascertainable upon Act 77’s enactment.”
Concurring, Justice David N. Wecht noted that the GOP petitioners “failed to allege that even a single mail-in ballot was fraudulently cast or counted.”
Rip Murdock (74ef5d) — 11/28/2020 @ 7:41 pm…….
You could say “echoing” other people’s words, and it might actually be fairer.
I think that is putting lipstick on a pig. Joe’s been doing this a long time. Going back to his college days. This isn’t a one time thing. He has plagiarized Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy and Neil Kinnock. Last year it was a climate plan he didn’t attribute to where he got it.
Plagiarizing Neil Kinnock helped end his 88 bid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-o045C5Kfc
He was doing a bit more than echoing Kinnock words.
Mattsky (55d339) — 11/28/2020 @ 7:45 pmThe WA Post has a good rundown on Trump’s Big Con.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-overturn/2020/11/28/34f45226-2f47-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html
Earlier today, the PA supreme court ran Trump’s court record to 1-39, this time under laches. It’s all a Big Lie by Trump, aided by his battalions of enablers and gullible fools.
Paul Montagu (567b83) — 11/28/2020 @ 7:50 pm71. With Neil Kinnock, he copied autobiographical facts about Kinnock, not just expressions or ideas.
If he hadn’t copied anybody else;s autobiographical facts but made them up all by himself it would have been just as bad. He’s told tall tales, like being involved in planning civil rights protests with a black minister he met only after his wife died in 1972, or getting arrested in South Africa in 1977 because he wanted to see Nelson Mandela and Nelson Mandela one day, many years later,appreciating it.
Of course Bill Clinton pretended he grew up in Hope, Arkansas.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/28/2020 @ 8:29 pmDefinitely awful, and facilitated by Eric Holder.
Trump takes things to a new level, but a lot of the same impulses in Trump have always been there in powerful men (most of which were much more competent and self-aware).
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/28/2020 @ 8:42 pmbeer ‘n pretzels,
If you’re in the dating market, I have a nice girl for you.
(NSFW or profanity-avoidant households)
lurker (d8c5bc) — 11/28/2020 @ 10:46 pm64.
The four states this time are WI, GA, AZ and NV. Aggregate vote difference = 77,288. EVs = 43. Flip those four states and Trump wins.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:02 pmOf course if you take Nevada out, then it’s 269 to 269 and the vote goes to the House under which in our delightful constitutional system created by geniuses, representative representing much less than half the country would have gotten to choose Trump.
And the other part of our system of course is that Trump has nearly two more months to burn it all down before he leaves. Consider for example his attempt to reclassify thousands of career federal workers so that he can fire them all.
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/11/the-republican-war-on-labor-and-expertise
And then there’s the damage done that will be difficult to repair. The Wall that Mexico Didn’t Pay for has done a lot of environmental damage:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/28/1996459/-Environmental-activist-calls-damage-that-Trump-s-wall-has-inflicted-on-the-land-incalculable
I know that the purpose of the Wall was to make some people feel more secure about people sneaking across our borders, but I have yet to see one conservative news site or publication that spent any time at all discussing the fact that bulldozing roads in remote areas and putting up walls that divided wilderness locations might be pretty terrible for the environment. Walls are temporary. Species extinction is forever.
Victor (4959fb) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:30 amConsidering the number of coronavirus cases swamping Mexico that the CDC says not to go there, a wall would be a small price to pay.
My how times have changed where citing conservative blogs gets mocked (CTH, Gateway, Ace), but citing the fevered swamps of the left gets no notice.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/29/2020 @ 6:37 amRob,
Well you certainly noticed. But if you can find something in those articles you factually disagree with, go right ahead.
As to your comment that the rates of Covid in Mexico, which at last count are running behind those in North or South Dakota, are a reason that a wall should be built trashing saguaros and wrecking the environment, well it’d be nice if you also explained why walling off the Dakotas wasn’t also a good idea, or why Conservatives don’t actually give a damn about conserving the environment when their fears of foreigners overwhelm them.
Victor (4959fb) — 11/29/2020 @ 6:56 amEvery morning I wake up and think… whew… Donald Trump lost.
He knows that he lost. But that doesn’t fit his desired reality. And that is the reality he chooses to act upon.
If this election were closer, we all know that Trump would not concede. He won’t even do it now. Losing by six million votes with three states to spare and he isn’t conceding. If the election were razor thin, he would have us descend into chaos and then use the military to protect his reign. Anyone paying attention should be able to see this. Because of the margin of victory, I hope we’ll be spared the worst.
The problem is that a good percent of us don’t care that he is trying to override the vote. They would rather have King Donald than see that rainbow coalition rule for a few years. Just ask some of them.
That is a real problem. It means that America, as we know it, may not last. They will give up democracy for a confidence man from a penthouse in Gotham.
noel (9fead1) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:15 amJoe Biden and/or his people think they know how to put together a coalition – give people what they want that might not matter. I can see this in two things (and reada qote too)
Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain may be named Ambassador to the United Kingdom “if she wants it” because Joe Biden thinks she gave him Arizona. This is not a policy making decision, at least as far as the usual things go.
Also he named John Kerry to a position dealing with climate change and said it wold be Cabinet level. This is largely symbolic, and Kerry also won;t resign in protest.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:17 am54. They;re going ahead with plans for vaccine distribution – there was even aplane flying from Bekguim to Chicago with five times the noraally permitted dry ice aboard to keep the Pfizer vaccine very cold, but I think the FDA may be planning to doublw cross the Trump administration and the vaccine companies, or approve only one for emergency se (when there;s not enough of all vaccines combined avallable)
I saw that Surgeon General Jerome Adams was misleading, let;s say lying to the American public on Fox News Sunday this morning because he said that people who want to ge vaccinated soon might go to a website where they might get into a clinical trial. Such trials invariably give half the people a placebo He didn’t say that.
Of course, if the trial terminates, and it can terminate early, all the people who got the placebo are usually offered the option of getting the real vaccine or treatment. Adams also gave a time frame of weeks, which means he’s not counting on December 11th.
And this i all besides limited enrollment and quotas for different sorts of people. Some quotas may not be filled up I would guess.
Of course maybe they just don’t want to get ahead of themselves and are only pretending approval is in doubt, possibly in order to avoid angering the people in charge of approval by seeming to take it for granted.. It’s not like determining who won the presidential election.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:33 amThe UK is reported to be very close to approving the Astra Zeneca vaccine but it won’t be approved in the USA pending a new round of testing with the first stage half doses.
Now I don’t consider the effect a big mystery. After all, why split it into two doses anyway?
I noticed a passing aside here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/opinion/sunday/covid-quarantine-children-immune-systems.html
In other words, it may be the number of separate exposures, and not the total strength of these exposures that may matter.
And it could be that a weaker initial exposure gives the number of antibodies in the blood a chance to fade, and therefore an initial half dose, when followed by a second bigger dose three or four weeks later, creates stronger immunity than when the initial dose is at full strength and the same waiting period is used.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:46 amSeveral years ago now, I mutually observed with a friend (a political moderate at the time, who has since become more conservative) that mainstream leftism was no longer really “liberal.” Most notably, people on the left increasingly advocated for censorship of people and news outlets who said things that they found deeply offensive…and advocated for laws that would effectively prevent religious organizations from living their faith in action. Those three tenets — freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of worship — are at the heart of all true liberalism. If you don’t believe in them, you can call yourself liberal all day. But you’re really not one. And Voltaire would have nothing to do with you.
I bring this up by way of observing that a similar phenomenon seems to be taking place with respect to the word “conservative.” Conservatives also have historically stood for a certain set of ideas — they are believers in transcendent morality, respecters of local custom and received wisdom and ancient tradition, defenders of private property. From what I can see, CTH and Gateway Pundit and Ace of Spades have more or less abandoned these ideas in favor of promoting conspiracy theories, peddling grievance politics, and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Edmund Burke wouldn’t call them conservative, whatever they may choose to call themselves.
The traditional battle lines in this country used to be drawn between two strains of liberalism…a conservative strain and a progressive strain. That is no longer true. They are now drawn between two strains of populist authoritarianism…budding fascists and blossoming socialists. Neither has respect for truth or language. Both are developing a taste for the exercise of power. And those of us who refuse to pitch in with one side or the other may one day find ourselves living the last chapter of Animal Farm, where we can’t tell the difference between them anymore.
Demosthenes (d7fc81) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:54 amA small change:
I should more properly have said “thuggery” instead of “power.” Consider my comment suitably amended.
It’s not the first time I have wished for an edit button on this site.
Demosthenes (d7fc81) — 11/29/2020 @ 7:58 am@75: I’m spoken for, lurker, but thanks for thinking of me. May you find that special swipe right match — someone who puts you on a pedestal like you do. She’s out there. Nobody should have to spend Thanksgiving alone, even when your favorite governor makes that the law.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:01 amRe:”Democrats have been quick to dismiss any Trump supporter as a racist, homophobe or redneck, but they all shared a common trait with him, an unapologetic love of America.”
If only he had an unapoligetic love of Americans.
John B Boddie (d795fd) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:05 amIt’s so easy, even Donald Trump could pull it off. All you have to do to win… every time… is to convince enough people that elections are rigged. Then… why have them?
noel (9fead1) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:06 amI’ve been thinking about this. In as much as a self-centered narcissist can love anything, I believe Trump does love America. His self-centeredness and selfishness may limit his ability to truly love anything or anyone other than himself, but in his limited way, I think he understands that there is no better place in the world to live. He understands at some level that he could not reach the level of status that he has anywhere else. I love America because I have power and wealth and status! It’s a self-serving, transactional, and pragmatically based response, like most everything with him.
(I don’t think this is true of the vast majority of his supporters, however, whom I believe simply love their country as all of us do.)
Dana (6995e0) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:39 amThe funny part is that NJRob doesn’t consider CTH, Gateway and Ace to be fever swamps, they’re just “conservative blogs”.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:40 amBTW, I just saw Trump’s long evidence-free rant on Bartiromo. It wasn’t a real interview. She’d ask a question and then he’d do a factless spiel for a few minutes, rinse and repeat.
Paul Montagu (77c694) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:43 am64. 76. lurker (d8c5bc) — 11/28/2020 @ 11:02 pm
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:49 amWell said. We desperately need a new major political party or a complete engine rebuild of the GOP.
Paul Montagu (576226) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:49 amGiven that she is a professional journalist, she has an obligation to push back and challenge any evidence-free claims made by Trump or any other sitting president. If she chooses not to, then she confirms that she is just another media hack who is complicit in pedaling misinformation to the public. Not to mention supporting a liar.
Dana (6995e0) — 11/29/2020 @ 8:50 amIf she chooses not to, then she confirms that she is just another media hack who is complicit in pedaling misinformation to the public. Not to mention supporting a liar.
Right. How often do the rest of the (pro-Biden) media hacks get called out by this standard?
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:00 am@89: I sure hope he concedes soon. Otherwise, a candidate who loses the election and yet still seems to be the main topic of conversation would seem to have his narcissism justified.
beer ‘n pretzels (042d67) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:03 amWhat some people don’t understand — possibly due to extreme self-centeredness — is that “immunity” only comes from the herd. It does not matter a bit what the individual’s immunity is, only how widespread the inoculation.
A pandemic is dangerous because it spreads easily. This particular disease is pernicious in that an infected person can pass it on before symptoms appear, making that spread resistant to personal responsibility, such as it is these days. To defeat it all you need is a decent amount of individual immunity and the spread stops abruptly.
The idea is to make everyone harder targets and to slow the spread below 1:1 (currently it’s about 3:1 without masks). If everyone wore the damn masks we’d be done with this by now, but everyone doesn’t and those that think themselves immune or immortal or special continue to spread it.
If the immunity of the general population is 70% instead of zero percent, the virus spread will stop abruptly.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:06 amI don’t believe most Trump supporters are “racist, homophobe or redneck”. I know plenty of them and most aren’t those things. Most will bring up riots and BLM… a lot… but that is not proof of racism.
What his supporters have done, is slowly come around to accepting his flouting of Constitutional limits and political norms as well as his disregard for legitimate election results. And that may be just as damaging.
noel (9fead1) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:07 amNow, will everyone get vaccinated? Probably not, but more people than wear masks, social distance, etc. I hope (and expect) that the pressure to be vaccinated is huge.
Some thing that will happen:
* You will need to be vaccinated before you can board an aircraft.
* Your child will need to be vaccinated before they can attend a public school in person. Most private schools, too.
* Many private businesses will aim to be virus-free zones, requiring proof of vaccination before you can enter.
Don’t want to be vaccinated? Fine. But no one has to associate with you in person, either.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:09 amI don’t believe most Trump supporters are “racist, homophobe or redneck”.
Racist, at least, is a moving target. I think that all people are racist to some extent (yes, including blacks, hispanics, etc). We all make assumptions, possibly unconscious, about other people based on race.
Example: Some one is reading something out loud, and stumbling over the words. If he’s white, I may wonder what the F is wrong with him. If he’s black, I might think instead of the horrible inner-city schools systems. This is a racist response. Not a mean one, or even harmful one, but it IS based on race.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:13 amFor example, Georgia’s secretary of state, a Republican who donated money to the Trump campaign, is getting nasty death threats, along with his family, because he has upheld the principle of fair, democratic elections against those who will accept nothing but a win for their preferred candidate.
Yes, this is a big problem. I may not like Biden’s policies, but anyone who thinks that would be reason to block him from assuming an office he legitimately won in a democratic election is not really concerned about preserving American values and institutions.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:15 amI live in fly-over country with a Republican governor. I assume that we are approaching herd immunity based on the number of sick and dead that I know personally.
noel (9fead1) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:20 am91. According to the Daily Mail, Trump claimed even Democratic voters thought he won!
And he said, implicitly claiming that the Democrats didn’t try to steal Congressional races this time)
The president claimed without any evidence during the interview that even ‘most Democrats’ believe ‘election fraud’ led to Biden’s win.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:23 amformatted badly:
And he said, implicitly claiming that the Democrats didn’t try to steal Congressional races this time)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8998321/Trump-join-Fox-News-Maria-Bartiromo-Sunday-10am-interview-Election-Day.html
Not only is he right, but most people agree he is right! So, there.
One of his arguments is that turnout couldn’t possibly have been as high as it was, and all the extra votes are ballot stuffing for Biden.
There’s no need for him to have any actual evidence of that even being possible when you have that kind of high grade mathematical proof that it must have happened..
He’s repeating arguments that people feed him. I don’t think all of his statements even need to be consistent with each other.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:32 amnoel (9fead1) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:20 am
Dr, Scott Gottlieb says there might be 30% or even 50% immunity (he didn;t want to use the phrase herd immunity) in South Dakota right now.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-scott-gottlieb-discusses-coronavirus-on-face-the-nation-november-29-2020
What?! He doesn’t think there;s the same rates of immunity in the New York metropolitan area that we’re seeing in South Dakota.
Scott Gottlieb then went on to say that South Dakota and other places that didn’t take aggressive steps are doing better economically because people are avoiding restaurants anyway. Of course that would be an argument either way.
Last week he said that by the time a vaccine gets made available to the general population, there might be 30% immunity.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-scott-gottlieb-discusses-coronavirus-on-face-the-nation-november-22-2020
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:47 amThe looking glass world:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/us/2020-election-family-conflict.html
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:50 amerrata at 105:
Scott Gottlieb then went on to say that South Dakota and other places that didn’t take aggressive steps are NOT doing better economically because people are avoiding restaurants anyway.
Of course that would be an argument either way.
This is like Trump’s argument that the high vote totals means there must have been cheating/ Dr. Gottlieb is arguing that the economy is South Dakota ought not to be better. But is it?
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:59 amIt isn’t too late to try my superior alternative to pumpkin pie. Your grocer might have a markdown on canned pumpkin.
First, get out a 9 inch round cake pan, which should be slightly over 1.5 inches high. Preheat your oven to 350 while you make a shortbread crust:
* 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
* Brown sugar — maybe ¼ cup or a little more.
* Enough whole wheat pastry flour to make a dough that you can work with your hands
* Salt to taste
Pat a thin layer of dough into the pan (flouring your hands if necessary). You should have extra dough to make little shortbreads if you start with 4 oz. of butter. (Or you can start with less butter.) Bake the crust at 350 for 8 or 10 minutes while you start the filling. You want to get the crust about halfway baked.
Filling:
* One pound of light cream cheese
* 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
* Brown sugar to taste. I don’t really measure it, but start small. It’s very important that the final product be considerably less sweet than the average pumpkin pie.
* 4 eggs
* Spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves. I don’t measure these either, but I don’t want the spices to overwhelm the pumpkin.
When it tastes good, pour it into the half-baked crust. Start baking at 375 degrees, and after about 20 minutes turn the oven down to 325. (Sometimes I’ve started at 400.) Bake for an hour, or until it has some cracks on top and feels set, then turn off the oven and let it sit another hour. Take it out and let it cool for an hour and then put it in the fridge.
This is fantastic if you get a good spice balance and don’t go too heavy on the sugar.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:19 amYou’re welcome.
Dr. Gottlieb said last week that the FDA might specifically authorize the vaccine only for certain groups of people:
Judging by that, and what he said this week, he seems to favor this being done according to vulnerability, without young “essential workers” being first.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:32 amAbot the chances of getting the virus: (also from last week)
I think his calculations are a bit off. If someone is contagious, they are less likely to be around.
Now 40% of all cases are asymptomatic and probably almost never contagious and 48% have mild cases, and may be unnoticeable and contagious for only about 36 hours, say. And 12% more will get seriously sick, but they are unnoticeably contagious again for only a day or so. They’ll test positive for longer. Also a contagious person won’t be near enough to 50 people to get that many at risk of getting infected.
Let’s take the North Dakota case. That’s a 50% chance that one out of ten people has Covid. That they are unnoticeably infectious, 1 in 3, so 1 in 6.
Other things also reduce the chances, but a person can be in more than one situation.
And the number of air exchanges in an hour matters. In a home it’s once or twice an hour. In subway cars the air is replaced on average at least 18 times an hour (they have heating and ventilation systems) School buildings are supposed to do it at least three times an hour (but many are not to grade) Some restaurants can go up to 5 times an hour. New buildings may change the air as much as 12 times an hour. Of course, that’s not consistent with the “green new deal.”
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:34 amSounds good, Radegunda. Cream cheese and pumpkin are a good combo.
I have been using a butternut squash instead of a pumpkin and that also is great.
——-
I really wouldn’t mind getting the vaccine myself but letting my family wait a few years, just in case there’s some terrible side effect. My parents will definitely get it. Give it a year like this, and hopefully it’s obvious the vaccine is safe and we can put this year in the past.
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:50 amSammy, people should need several hundred hours of training, and probably a government license, before they are allowed to use statistics.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:53 amAt least one airline has announced that vaccine certification will be required to board, once the vaccine is generally available.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:54 amLast week I finished watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. I really enjoyed the series-both for the chess and the character study of a lost soul finding herself in the challenge of chess. If you like playing chess, you will appreciate the attention to detail (while ignoring, out of necessity, how quickly games are over with onscreen). Today the Washington Post has an interesting look at one forgotten female chess star born into wealth: Vera Menchik, who was born in Moscow in 1906. When the Russian Revolution came, things changed for the family. Her English-born mother took her and her sister back to England, and there she faced sexism and a language barrier. This drove her back to the chess board, a game that her father had taught her to play:
The article goes on to discuss the men she played against and beat, and the novelty of a woman in the man’s world of chess.
Sadly, Menchik and her family were killed in a Nazi air raid on London in 1944.
Also, Forward had an interesting look at grandmaster Susan Polgar and the hardship she endured just to become the first woman qualify for the World Chess Championship in 1986 at age 17:
Dana (6995e0) — 11/29/2020 @ 11:01 am99. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:09 am
Too complicated. And a vaccine is not immediately effective. The proposed regimen is two doses, three or for weeks apart. So you’d want to make it people who got their second shot at least two weeks before.
And for some people it would be counterindicated (kidney transplant recipients or cancer patients for instance, not to mention people with HIV)
And you don’t need to vaccinate people already immune.
It would be better to offer free (with ticket) antibodies as a prophylactic and using a needle pad to inject. No need to make it mandatory.
You could talk of instant reliable tests. The best instant tests have a 3% false positive rate which when the incidence is low can mean that the vast majority of positive test results are false.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/11/14/fast-tests-for-covid-19-are-coming
(anyoe can get a free account that will access a Covid article like this)
See the chart near these words.
Not possible in 2021. The vaccine is not going to be authorized for people under the age of 16. And most of them don’t need it.
I think maybe Canada might want that, but not a private business. And they won’t really.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 11:20 amQantas boss says passengers will need to be vaccinated for international flights
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 11:55 am110. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:53 am
One question at the start: Is there anything in particular this is in reference to? Probably not president’s the Trump campaign’s proofs that the election was stolen from him. The spikes and all.
https://coalregioncanary.com/2020/11/26/pennsylvania-election-mail-in-vote-spikes-expert-testifies-senate-hearing-gettysburg
Of course, there;s probably a simple explanation for that. They were not uploaded as soon as they were processed, and perhaps they separately uploaded Biden and Trump totals. If anything like that what he claimed happened, the paper ballots, and the voter’s names and the signatures, do not exist, and it would be a big challenge to fake even the precinct by precinct vote totals.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 11:59 amDonald Trump is considering launching his 2024 election campaign on the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, it has been reported – weighing up how to keep the spotlight on him in his post-White House life.
Mr Trump, who is yet to concede defeat, and may not ever, was asked on Thanksgiving whether he would attend Mr Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.
But as long as he insists he was elected, he cannot run in 2024. Amendment 22: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:02 pmThat’s a lot of money to shell out for more Biden votes
Yes, but the record for useless money-spending is still held by Jeb!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:04 pmKevin @116. Yes, Australia is plausible, because it is a bubble, and they can say they don’t care if they lose visitors – they at least gain some.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:04 pmMost colleges give 3 credits for an ordinary course that consists of 45 to 48 hours in class. That would be at least 9 credits to get over 100. To get, let’s say, 300 or 400 you’d want 6 or 8 courses. You’d need to have a statistics major. OK you weren’t being literal anyway. You were talking about avoiding mistakes.
But of course this is not necessary to avoid obvious errors. You don’t need complicated statistics and statistics about statistics to avoid common errors . You just need to think about it. It’s more qualitative than quantitative.
Reading a few books, or parts of them, should be enough. Statistics, like most everything else, is best learned through example. Of course, you have to analyze things right. It’s important to note that it matters what Monty Hall is trying to accomplish. It makes a big difference. Is he offering choices at random, or not?
One of the most common errors is how to understand a false positive rate. When the rate is low, the percentage of positive tests can nevertheless be extremely high. Doctors make this kind of mistake.
It’s been said I think that a statistics course would better as a college graduation requirement than one in…I’m not sure, algebra? A foreign language?
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:07 pmSuper rich kids want to wreck the system so others can’t become super-rich too
Reading that article, I was shocked to discover than not one of these noble Marxists has a day job. I suggest that they give all their money away, today, to the US Treasury. Then they can hit the pavement and look for a job with that art appreciation degree from Harvard that their family money bought.
Irwin Jacobs is probably happy Thanksgiving dinner was virtual this year.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:12 pmMost colleges give 3 credits for an ordinary course that consists of 45 to 48 hours in class.
Well, Sammy, you’re drilling down again, but to be qualified to use statistics more than a gambler needs takes quite a bit of math and understanding how to apply it. If you count study time, most technical courses require well over 100 hours a semester.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:19 pmBetter: One of the most common errors is how to understand a false positive rate.
Even hen the rate of false positives is low, the percentage of positive tests that (after the test results are in) that are false can nevertheless be extremely high when the true positivity rate is low,.
Doctors make this kind of mistake.
Let’s say 1% of the people tested are truly positive. And the percentage of people that are truly negative who test positive is 3% And the percent of truly positive who test negative is 20%
Given a positive test result, what are the chances that the person is truly positive? It’s not 97%. It’s not 80%
The answer is only 21.2% of those testing positive were truly positive.
Explanation: Let’s say there are 1,000 people. 10 will be positive, and 8 will test that way. Of the 990 true negative, 29.7 will test positive.
Plus 8 = 37.7
8/37.7 = 21.22%
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:24 pm119 Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:04 pm
Isn’t that Bloomberg, maybe, or Giuliani in 2008?
John Connally in 1980 and John Glenn in 1984 and Steve Forbes in 1996 and.or 2000 also spent a lot compared to what they got.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 12:32 pmJeb Bush spent $11.5 million per delegate won in 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/20/how-much-each-republican-candidate-raised-for-every-vote-won/
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 1:03 pmRIP: David Prowse, the man inside the mask. 85, London, unstated causes.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 11/29/2020 @ 1:19 pmGeorgia is going to be a very interesting place for the next month.
https://hotair.com/archives/allahpundit/2020/11/29/trump-im-ashamed-endorsed-brian-kemp/
Can Donald forget to remind a state that rejected him that he owns the GOP now? Can he keep from killing the Perdue and Loeffler campaigns by whining about imaginary election fraud? Can he keep himself from associating with Sydney Powell when he really, really, wants to believe all the madness that is Sydney Powell?
We’ll find out, whether we want to or not…
Appalled (1a17de) — 11/29/2020 @ 1:24 pmBetter than calculus for non-math or engineering majors. I would keep algebra and foreign language.
Bayes Theorem FTW
Hoi Polloi (3bc019) — 11/29/2020 @ 1:34 pm@108 Radegunda (20775b) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:19 am
This was fantastic. Thanks! It goes in my keeper file.
Marci (405d43) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:01 pmAppalled (1a17de) — 11/29/2020 @ 1:24 pm
He has a little time. The Electoral College votes on Monday, December 14, three weeks and one day before the runoff, and apparently the results will be known almost immediately. Trump’s best argument, of course, is that a Republican Senate will be needed to keep the Biden Administration moderate and for oversight.
Donald Trump is castigating the Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, because he won’t help him and says he is sorry he endorsed him. He actually, months ago, had a dispute with Brian Kemp is which Brian Kemp was more for lifting coranavirus restrictions than Trump unexpectedly decided to be, after apparently some doctor or such talked to him, and he’d settled on a position that was abit more moderate. (Trump said Kemp’s plan for re-opening was too soon. I think Trump was looking for credibility.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/us/coronavirus-kemp-trump-georgia.html
Meanwhile, with the election cases, I think Trump wants to get it before the Supreme Court — just for the sake of getting it before the Supreme Court. He said his lawyers told him he had no standing while he thought because he was the president of the United States, he did. NBC said he wanted one big case. Of course he should have standing as a candidate, but maybe he can’t create one master case.
Either he hopes the Republican appointed justices would be biased in his favor, or he thinks having the Supreme Court rule against him would be a graceful way for him to back down.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:22 pmBreaking” Joe Biden pays a emergency visit to the doctor.
Mo, it’s ot the coronavirus, it is that yesterday he sprained his ankle playing with a dog.
They didn’t tell the public till now.
So he and his wife and his doctors do stupid things: Take an X-ray, when it is almost certainly not a fracture. And now plan for a CT scan. All the wrong things. If he wants to know what it is, he needs and MRI maybe. Thatt would also tell him in case it was a fracture. It’s a tendon or ligament. He needs to consult a doctor who specializes in sports medicine. They’re doing these things in this order simply because the practice of medicine has been distorted by cost considerations. But they shouldn’t apply to him. What does he know, though?
And it will heal slow because of his age, unless he takes a lot of folic acid. I mean a lot, especially at the beginning. And protein. And bromelin or pineapple. There might be some other vitamins that maybbe a nutritionist somewhere might know about.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:33 pm109. Dustin (4237e0) — 11/29/2020 @ 10:50 am
Since one of the problems of Covid is a too strong immune response, I’d worry about the possibility of encouraging the taking or consenting to giving the vaccine to someone who already had some immunity.
But maybe that’s not possible with that vaccine which is not exactly an identical live virus. It does infect cells and causes them to produce Covid’s characteristic spike protein.
Some want to prioritize people in nursing homes or assisted living facilities; some say those are exactly the people who should wait. And they may place an age limit on it.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:45 pmSammy 131
The problem really begins earlier. Trump wanted Kemp to select Doug Collins as interim senator. He picked Loeffler instead.
Appalled (1a17de) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:54 pm134. Appalled (1a17de) — 11/29/2020 @ 4:54 pm
So Sidney Powell says that Doug Collins really got more votes than Kelly Loeffler.
And Brian Kemp paid off the voting machine company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Powell
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 5:16 pmDominion, which, although it has not been sued, has been made the chief villain, issued a statement on Thanksgiving attempting to debunk the most serious charges, something which badly needs doing. It contradicts point after point after point.
https://www.dominionvoting.com/dominion-statement-on-sidney-powell-charges
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 5:17 pmWhen water – plain water – spills into the inside of some electronic equipment it will o=sometimes not work,
Bit after it completely completely dries out, it will work again.
I think the water makes wrong connections in the circuits.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 6:08 pmUpdate (and maybe correction( to 130
Joe Biden’s doctor released a statement saying that he had sustained a hairline fracture in his foot, detected with a CT scan, or a few if them, and he’ll (probably) be using a walking boot for several weeks.
The question is, is that really all, and is that what is causing the noticeable problems he had?
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/29/2020 @ 9:42 pm“The question is, is that really all, and is that what is causing the noticeable problems he had?”
It’s actually cover for the ankle bracelet he’s being forced to wear prior to being sent to Gitmo for trial and execution.
Davethulhu (6e0d47) — 11/29/2020 @ 11:26 pmAlmost half of the people that are in my circle of family, friends and associates have had Covid. Verified to have had it. There are more that have refused to get tested despite having symptoms or family members with the virus. I know three people who have died, personally, and more that I do not know on a personal level. I know dozens who were sick and some of those have lasting symptoms.
If you look inside states like the Dakotas, Wyoming, Iowa and Wisconsin, some of their towns have three or four percent of the population with verified active cases at any one time.
It’s all so unnecessary. They could have opened the economy while requiring masks and distancing as well as avoiding crowds and larger indoor gatherings. These governors know this but some have been climbing over each other to be the Trump’s loudest parrot. And it works. Their popularity with hardcore Trump fans is sky high. At least for now.
noel (9fead1) — 11/30/2020 @ 5:08 amSome states have Covid numbers broken down by county. In the Dakotas, a county with a population of 20,000 typically has about four to six hundred active cases. The whole state of South Dakota reports 2% of it’s population with an active case today. Their governor, Kristi Noem, is still bragging about the great job she is doing. She keeps reminding people that New York had a higher death rate in the spring.
noel (9fead1) — 11/30/2020 @ 5:45 amThere’s no good reason to believe
Time123 (66d88c) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:19 amthe election was stolenthe earth is flat. Despite that, some people demand proof that it’snot stolenround and spin elaborate conspiracy theories thatthe election was stolenit’s flat and the truth is being hidden. Some of these people are grifting. Some know they’re lying but won’t give the people they’ve been arguing with the satisfaction. Other’s just care more about their team winning then any other real world impact. For a little bit longer it’s worth giving them a modicum of respect and consideration. But personally I’m close to the point where if a truther doesn’t bring specific allegations backed by very solid evidence there’s no point in talking to them.Noel, sorry to hear what you’re going through, hope your family is OK.
Time123 (66d88c) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:24 amIllinois, despite some of the strictest lock down conditions in the nation, is experiencing an explosion in cases. Now why would that be?
Yet the media chooses not to focus on this example. Why?
NJRob (eb56c3) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:28 amNone of these states are an Island in regards to the virus, of course. But, take Minnesota. They are surrounded by high Covid states like North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. Wisconsin has large numbers too. Even though they are pretty responsible, their numbers are now going up as well. We also knew that the fall would drive numbers higher and that is why the experts begged us to keep numbers low through the summer.
noel (9fead1) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:41 amLike time123, noel I am sorry you and your family have gone through a terrible year.
It’s frustrating.
Dustin (4237e0) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:49 amDarn a virus that won’t believe politicians.
nk (1d9030) — 11/30/2020 @ 7:21 amIllinois, despite some of the strictest lock down conditions in the nation, is experiencing an explosion in cases. Now why would that be?
Not that I would know personally, but I suspect threesomes. Trump did get 40.5% of the Illinois vote after all.
Yet the media chooses not to focus on this example. Why?
It’s at the top of the news every minute of the day, here. And if you know about it…?
nk (1d9030) — 11/30/2020 @ 8:25 amThank you, time123 and Dustin. I hope people take Covid seriously. This virus is deadly but the vaccine news is sure comforting.
noel (9fead1) — 11/30/2020 @ 8:42 amSome people will point to the “most people recover” stats, but in fact a large proportion of those who “recover” have shown lingering effects, including mental impairment.
Radegunda (20775b) — 11/30/2020 @ 9:25 amProblems with lockdowns:
1. They are almost always behind the curve.
2. They don’t cover all methods of transmission, some of which are disregarded, and some of which the authorities prefer not to believe (like occasional long distance transmission from one floor to another.)
3. If the restrictions are lifted, even after a few months, cases go up again just like they did at the beginning. They are not a permanent solution, but a hamster wheel that you cannot get off without the number of people infected going up again.
Farr’s Law of epidemics does not apply beyond the period of the lockdown if the reason the number of new cases has gone down is not immunity.
https://billkingblog.com/quote-of-the-week-some-holiday-hope-courtesy-of-farrs-law
At some point, of course, it will apply. It is incorrect, in most cases, to say re-introduced, I think. It’s also not really the same population as in the spring that’s getting infected now.
4. R0 gets below 1.0 only when few people are re-breathing the same air.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/30/2020 @ 9:37 am144. 148.
Here is an article that says lockdowns don’t work anywhere (which I think should have the caveat: If you ever end them before the number of cases is zero and you also don’t create a bubble of people with virtually no physical contact with people outside of the bubble.)
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/lockdowns-dont-work-6855411
This article described a paper, or maybe we should just say an article, that the author (Surjit S. Bhalla) wrote, entitled: Lockdowns vs. COVID19: COVID wins which he says is available, in a preliminary version, at his website: ssbhalla.org
He says not only were they not effective, but in a large majority of cases there were more infections and deaths than if there had never been a lockdown at all!
He doesn’t speculate as to why. (More mild cases? Less precautions by people after the “all clear” than if there had never been shutdown followed by an “all clear?” Maybe both combined?)
He carries his analysis till the of July and says that if he had carried his analysis further lockdowns [I would emphasize, lockdowns that ended, but he only considers ones that ended I think -SF] would have looked even worse.
Here is his website link: http://ssbhalla.org/paper/lockdowns-vs-covid19-covid-wins
He has another article about polls, which he originally wrote in 1991, that I think is wrong or does not apply now, when the response rate toward polls in the United States is somewhere around 6% – it’s that people who don;t answer surveys think differently about matters than people who do.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/30/2020 @ 9:49 am150.Radegunda (20775b) — 11/30/2020 @ 9:25 am
About 10% of those diagnosed and treated (in the hospital? Around five percent of people infected wind up in the hospital.)
They are called “Long Haulers” A significant percentage recover after a while.
They often did not have the most severe cases and often weren’t even hospitalized, although they were pretty sick. So it’s 10% of people diagnosed by a physician. It could have something to do with the immune system.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771111
It’s not entirely attributable to blood clots. It can be similar to “chronic fatigue syndrome.” There doesn’t seem to be any generally accepted theory as to what’s going on.
It sounds to me similar to what happens with late stage cancer. I would speculate some of the effects are caused by strain on the liver, and a shortage of liver enzymes (do they check?) and could be alleviated by high doses of just the right vitamins (Which ones? Don’t know) or by diet.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/30/2020 @ 10:10 amT140. ime123 (66d88c) — 11/30/2020 @ 6:19 am
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/media/newsmax-chris-ruddy-trump.html
The previous story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/business/media/newsmax-trump-fox-news.html
I think maybe he got afraid of the Clintons in 2004 – of the possibility that Hillary Clinton might become president after the Election of 2008 – and took proactive action. I mean, if he’s not afraid of them, why would he butter them up and assure everyone he is a cynic? The only other reason would be to get help from them.
Sammy Finkelman (1e81da) — 11/30/2020 @ 10:25 amA lot of news about the coronavirus. It’s hurry up and wait. Moderna applies – they’ll discuss on Decmmeber 18. UK approves Pfizer. CDC recommendatons for who goes first (they’re not binding)
And reversal or reduction on the quarantine period. With claim by someone interviewed on televison that they know more. No, they knew this six months ago.
They’re missing something about transmission. Various kinds of long term effects. One of them is called POTS and occurs with other viral infections. Warnings to isolate. No talk about antibodies.
One person in four (24%) in North Dakota knows someone who died of Covid. This is not so high. Average person knows 150 people. So crude math: 150 x 4 = 600.
Sammy Finkelman (bbf750) — 12/2/2020 @ 12:03 pm