Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, July 7, 2020
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72 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I was thinking about Jared Kushner and his role in the supply chain aspect of handling Covid-19, and was wondering how much worse he made the federal response to the virus, since he has no apparent expertise in supply chain management. I did a Google search and came up with this nugget:
On Wednesday, American Oversight sued the Trump administration after multiple agencies failed to release documents detailing White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner’s role in the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In March, Kushner recruited a bevy of private-sector volunteers with little to no relevant experience to assist in the administration’s efforts to procure medical and protective equipment that has been in short supply. The volunteers reportedly include analysts from investment firms with potential financial interests in the health-care industry. Additionally, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) — Adam Boehler, Kushner’s former college roommate — has also been central in managing the response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies to critical supply shortages across the county.
How many thousands of people died because this idiot was placed in a vital role for which he had no qualifications. Kushner should be front and center in Biden’s campaign ads regarding Trump’s response to Covid-19. His incompetence literally killed people!
@senyordave: Incompetence? I would expect there was also profiteering and corruption. There were stories of supplies being seized with no clear explanation of by whom or where the material went. Kushner et al seemed quite content with states and institutions being forced into a bidding war over what material they could find.
@gVOR08: You are certainly correct about corruption, and I should have included it, but I still assume a healthy dose of sheer incompetence. If Kushner and his buddies were honest it still would have been a shitstorm because he doesn’t know wtf he is doing. Just like his great job on the Mideast peace process.
Washing up on the rocky shores of Karma Island.
Beach Lives Matter
Sometimes… I mean really? C’mon white people, you’re f’n embarrassing me.
Well, yesterday, a list of those businesses that received loans over $150K was released and the inevitable happens. Rival ideological camps pored over the lists and were performatively outraged.
Politico: New data shows lawmakers secured millions in small business aid
Pro-Publica: Trump Friends and Family Cleared for Millions in Small Business Bailout
Daily Beast: Billionaire Kanye West’s Company Gets Multimillion-Dollar PPP Loan From Trump Admin
Breitbart: Lobbying Firm Tied to Hunter Biden, Burisma Received PPP Loan
And so it goes. PPP-shaming, I guess. Why didn’t some of these recipients see a need to get ahead of the political game? Short sighted? Who knows. But the inevitability of the various media outlets is just wearying.
I know it has done some good. My sister-in-law applied for her small toy store and kept that afloat while reworking sales strategies.
Trump Administration still playing defense on the Russian Bounty fiasco:
Coincidentally, the Lincoln Project just released this video, called Whispers. Which, quite frankly, made me laugh out loud
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Not really much of a surprise here. And in the end, the Vikings won.
A few days ago James had a post about a thinly reported article describing a COVID19 party where young people vied to be the first to test positive. At the time I agreed that the article in question was extremely light on actual reportage but cautioned that based on history, people deliberately trying to get infected so as to get it over with is probably a thing. Here’s a case of a needless death due to just such wreckless behavior. In this case it appears the mother was a Trumper, but perhaps more importantly she was a virulent anti-vaxer, a species that come in all political stripes.
The headline of the day-
Tucker Carlson suggests Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost her legs in Iraq, hates America
The Florida headline of the day-
‘Go look at my Purple Heart!’ Miami man who went on racist tirade posed as Navy SEAL
@MarkedMan:
Key difference, Mom is an avid Christian Right person, got it at a church location, not one of a bunch of young people. In other words, someone different who different people would like to shift blame to.
I have read report after report after report of small businesses that don’t have “preferred banking” connections not being able to get PPP loans. I have read report after report after report of small businesses in blue states getting PPP loans at much smaller rates than those in red states. I am not in the least surprised that “friends of rump” and members of Congress are able to get loans much more easily than regular Joes and Josephines.
Why is Mnuchin hiding the slush fund- oopps, I mean PPP data?
@MarkedMan:
Straight up murder, that’s what that was. Not only did she intentionally infect her child with a disease that’s known to kill or leave victims permanently disabled, she then denied the child medical care for DAYS and refused to let her be put on a vent. Anti-vaxxers have a nasty tendency to be anti-modern medicine in general so when the inevitable happens, the unfortunate child is rarely saved and dies a needless death. This kind of behavior needs to be prosecuted for what it is – denial of a child’s basic human and civil rights leading to an utterly preventable death. You have the right to your own beliefs and how to raise your child; you do NOT have the right to kill your child with or because of your beliefs. If death is in the cards, the state needs to step in to protect it’s young citizen’s rights.
COVID parties are *definitely* a thing. You have to remember that the “common knowledge” regarding disease and children is based on things like chicken pox, something that was very common only a decade or two ago. This kind of homespun “wisdom” won’t go away for at least two generations and people tend to use what they know in unfamiliar situations. It’s better for kids to get sick early so they bounce back?? OK – let’s infect the neighborhood like our parents did since everyone’s home already! Add in deliberate stupidity, intentional misinformation and anti-vaxxer sentiments and I’m not surprised COVID parties aren’t more frequent. Probably because most states had managed to have some form of lockdown/ preventive measures keeping cases down so finding a definitely COVID+ child would have been hard. Now, however…..
@OzarkHillbilly:
Good. There’s no damn reason she shouldn’t have been charged with filing a false police report ages ago. Quite frankly, in an age of swatting, doxxing and viral videos of people clearly breaking the law and then lying to police (looking you, Karens of the world), any “Law and Order” type should have been immediately insisting she be charged for wasting LEO resources. Even if you don’t accept BLM has a point or that police culture needs some serious rebuilding, you have to understand these Karens are setting the cops up for a fall as well as use them for their own personal vengeance. The cop is stuck in a no-win: side with the Karen and get lambasted and risk their job when the video comes out or side with the victim and get lambasted by Karens and their ilk for “not doing their job”. Giving the cop bad info sets them up to be in a aggressive stance (they also imply violence is happening) and thus could get them charged with assault or even manslaughter should it escalate… and let’s face it, with today’s cops that’s a decent bet. Either way it’s wasted man hours and taking a valuable resource off the streets that someone in need can’t call on. The Karen in question is making TWO victims with this stunt: her intended target and the unfortunate officer(s) sent to deal with this BS.
As soon as one of these videos comes out, the charge sheet needs to be filed out. They’re on camera lying and essentially framing innocence citizens for arrest. There’s plain evidence of them providing false info so why does this take so long? Oh yeah – it “looks bad” for them to do so to certain segments of the public. It’s “not worth it.” Well, all they need to do is re-frame these charges like I noted above and point out do Blue Lives Matter or not? If they do. then a Karen trying to use the police as a weapon needs to be treated like the threat she is.
Duckworth Invites Tucker Carlson To ‘Walk A Mile In My Legs’ After He Accuses Her Of Hating America
I got nothing to add.
Simon and Schuster seems to have become the official publisher of Trump tell-alls. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s Melania and Me will be out Sept.1. Wolkoff, Melania’s former bestie and unpaid advisor, says she got “thrown under the bus.” The book, according to the Daily Beast, will trash Melania.
This is what happens when you regard loyalty as a one-way street.
Yesterday a coworker offered to sell 3 reusable “KN-95” masks.
They were unbranded, imported from China, without any documentation save “KN-95” printed on one side of the mask.
I passed.
I can judge how many layers a mask has, whether it resists moisture, and whether the fabric is knitted or not (it shouldn’t be). Past that, I’m clueless. Sure, they probably work as well as any other kind of mask, including home-made ones, at preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but if I’ll pay a premium for a mask, I want some added protection.
At this point, I trust more masks sold as generic or surgical masks, than those claiming to offer N-95 protection.
Could not resist: Stephen Miller’s new bio, Melanin and Me.
@CSK:
Given Trump’s poor track record in suppressing the publication of all these books*, do you suppose he’ll demand royalties? After all, none of these wildly successful books would have even been published without him.
* To be fair, such an endeavor in pretty much a fool’s errand.
@sam:
That would be his autobio, right?
@Kathy:
If he thought he could, he would. It probably hasn’t occurred to him.
Then again, he was very generous to his first ghostwriter, Toney Schwartz. Probably he was so dazzled by the prospect of his name in huge gold letters on the cover of the book that he forgot any other consideration.
On to other things, yesterday I tested the milk frother at work, where I also keep an espresso machine.
The product is definitely worth it. It takes just a couple of minutes to produce acceptably hot milk froth. It’s all froth, and some of it lasts until you drink the whole cup. I suppose I could turn it off sooner to get a less frothy milk.
Next I may try it with coconut milk. I’m thinking of a dessert coffee with coconut milk, vanilla extract, and just a little espresso.
@charon: Not sure what you mean?
@Kathy: When I lived in China it was not unusual to see labeling on products that made no sense. For instance, “Non-GMO” on dish detergent. Someone explained that the manufacturer probably didn’t understand what it meant, but learned from
other manufacturers that foreigners like that label.
For stuff you depend on that is easily faked it is best to go with reputable brand names (not Sam’s Club or the like!) purchased from a reputable retailer (again, not Sam’s Club or the like!)
On the PPP loan issue–my husband relayed an interesting story that he’d heard from a friend. A mutual acquaintance of theirs, who is an independent contractor, applied for and received a PPP loan. This individual then turned around and used the money to pay down a credit card (personal debt), as the PPP loan is a much lower interest charge.
This sounds to me as though it should be illegal/improper use of PPP funds. This individual is a Republican and Trump supporter.
@MarkedMan:
Oh, yes. If I see a 3M N95 mask, I can be confident it’s legit.
the problem is most mask manufacturers, even reputable ones, are not that well-known.
BTW, did I ever tell the story of the guy who wanted a guarantee of gluten-free beef?
COVID-19 seems to be the next best thing to Instant Karma.
Brazil’s president tested positive.
@Kathy:
Gluten-free beef? I bet he wanted some fat-free spinach to go with that. And maybe some sugar-free rice.
@MarkedMan:
Confirmation bias, people notice what they are predisposed to see, including appealing hoaxes.
Here is a 22 tweet thread that Dr. Joyner linked to recently:
https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1278703871053963269
The first tweet:
@CSK:..gluten free, fat free, sugar free…
These are the same mugs that want chemical free water…
@CSK:
One time a customer listed “sodium-free salt.” We argued that doesn’t exist, and offered instead “sodium-free salt substitute.” the customer refused and insisted on their original request. I suggested offering uranium salts, as they are technically “salt” and sodium-free. But, alas, they are also more expensive than table or cooking salt, and much harder to get.
@Kathy: @Mister Bluster:
I always roll my eyes when I see those signs in the grocery store over the celery or zucchini that proudly proclaim: “A fat-free food!” Like, no sh!t, you know?
@Kathy: Way back in the 60s, before blood pressure medication, my grandfather used to use Potassium Chloride instead of Sodium Chloride. Which is technically a salt. But also a table salt substitute.
@CSK: I’m not much of a beef eater, but I know that chicken is often marinated before it’s sold. So someone who can’t eat gluten may want to be sure that whatever was used in the marinade doesn’t contain gluten.
A friend, who was a chemistry major, always has fun with the phrase “organic food.” She points out that there is no “inorganic food,” as that assumes anything carbon-based. Fun to have at parties. 🙂
@Kathy: WAPO has a nice piece about Dr. Peter Tsai, the inventor of the N95 mask. He’s one of those dreaded immigrants, came to the US for school from Formosa and stayed. He retired two years ago. Now he’s working twenty hours a day as a consultant, mostly unpaid. A lot of people put vacuum cleaner filter material in a pocket in a cloth mask. He recommends blue paper shop towels as a breathable filter material.
Between my garage and my wife’s studio we found most of a box of dust masks and four 3M N95s. Saving the N95s in case one of us gets sick and has to quarantine. I’m reusing the dust masks and hanging them from the rear view mirror between uses. Windshields filter UV, but I figure 24 hours in the FL sun should do it anyway. But they won’t last forever, while under Governor (sic) DeSantis, the emergency may. I’ll try cloth masks with the blue shop towels when the dust masks run out.
@Jen:
Yeah; I always thought it was a stupid term myself, for the same reason as did your friend.
@Jen:
It is. PPP funds may only be used for payroll, rent, utilities, and mortgage payments on the business property.
Then I encourage you to immediately rat them out using FraudNet, in the interests of Law and Order.
What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November
Bitecofer adds to the story that in 2006-2007 Republican politicians could run away from George W. Bush, but because of OANN and Fox and Breitbart etc., Republican politicians can’t run away from Trump.
@Jen:
Not true! There are several inorganic rocks that we eat:
* salt
* baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
* other ingredients of baking powder
* sodium carbonate
Salt is by far the most important of these. My father the microbiologist got seriously bemused when he saw a box in the supermarket labeled “organic salt”.
For a genuinely fascinating and entertaining discussion that happens to include edible rocks as a tangent, you might read Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger.
@CSK: The one that broke me was the packet of bread yeast proudly proclaiming to be “Gluten Free”. … Well, they weren’t lying….
@Teve:
I would note, and I think this gets downplayed/ignored: it is a lot easier to run away from a president in their second term. Bush wasn’t going to be running for re-election, but Trump is the only game the GOP has at the moment.
@DrDaveT: Yes, she always made allowances for inorganic *compounds*–but pointed out that those weren’t food, per se, but ingredients. 😉 I know some people might find that type of pedantry irritating, but I always learned something…
@DrDaveT: Interesting. I thought it sounded dodgy, but haven’t looked into PPP qualifications because I never considered applying. Can there be any argument made that a mortgage on a home property is the place of business for a consultant? (I am guessing no–I am a freelance writer and our accountant only writes off my office space square footage, I’m just trying to uncover the mental gymnastics this person must have gone through.)
@Scott:
One product we sometimes sell is “light salt,” which is just a ix of sodium chloride and potassium chloride. It does have less sodium per serving than regular table salt.
I jut read the a posting at Balloon Juice, and it was about Katie Miller, press secretary to Mike Pence, and wife of Stephen Miller. This anecdote is related by Jacob Soboroff,an NBS journalist who wrote: “Separated: Inside an American Tragedy. Not too many things about Trump’s people shock me anymore, but this one did.
Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, casually admitted to having zero empathy for the thousands of migrant children who suffered under the Trump administration’s infamous family separation policy at the border in 2018, according to NBC News reporter Jacob Soboroff.
In his new book, titled “Separated: Inside an American Tragedy,” Soboroff recounts a jaw-dropping conversation with Miller, who was serving as deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security at the time, on the administration’s policy of ripping kids from their families and holding them in squalid detention centers under the custody of cruel U.S. border officials.
“My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids, I’ll think about the separations differently, but I don’t think so,” Miller told Soboroff. “DHS sent me to the border to see the separations for myself, to try to make me more compassionate, but it didn’t work.”
“It didn’t work? I will never forget what I saw,” the reporter replied. “Seriously. Are you a white nationalist?”
“No, but I believe if you come to America, you should assimilate. Why do we need to have ‘Little Havana’?” the senior administration official asked.
Pence’s office did not respond to TPM’s request for comment.
They just got married in February, hopefully they won’t reproduce. Betty cracker, the poster, coined the term eHarmonster as how Katie and Stephen might have met.
H/T Betty Cracker by way of TPM
@DrDaveT:
@Jen:
Salt is arguable, as it is a needed nutrient. the rest are mostly additives, without nutritious implications.
Animals sometimes will eat dirt or rocks. Birds are notorious for this. They use the dirt or stones to grind down their food (see gizzard stones). Others will lick rocks from time to time. It’s been hypothesized such behaviors are a means for obtaining necessary minerals not present in their food.
@gVOR08:
Thanks. I can get blue shop towels.
@charon: Why do you think the story of the girl who died was a hoax?
@senyordave:
Well, Joseph and Magda had five children and then they poisoned them.
Edit: It has been reported that she’s pregnant.
I am somewhat fascinated by this expose by the Daily Beast, particularly the lengths to which this network created fake personas to salt conservative publications with articles.
@Jen:
Just guessing, but I would think it depends who owns the home. If the mortgage is in the name of the consulting company, then perhaps. If it’s in the name of the private individual, then probably not. (Of course, if the company owns the home, then allowing you to live in it is taxable compensation to the tune of the fair market value of the rent, so it’s not exactly an easy dodge…)
@MarkedMan:
I did not say that, what causes you to think I did?
The COVID party story is a hoax though.
As for confirmation bias, the COVID party story is an example.
And the damage continues:
though
Clarification, talking here specifically about the Alabama college student supposed COVID party, not the one that really took place at the Assemblies of God congregation in Fort Myers FL.
IIRC some years ago somebody marketed zero cholesterol beer. When asked, the spokesman admitted nobody’s beer has cholesterol, but added theirs didn’t either. Truth in advertising.
@PJ:
At some point you have to believe Trump has sided with the virus.
I used to think that if I were going to write a best-seller, its title would be The Low Cholesterol Investment Guide to Great Sex and Thin Thighs.
@Scott: I think I am correct that the earliest anti-hypertensive meds were diuretics. The way they work in the kidney leads to loss of considerable amounts of potassium. Low potassium leads to cardiac irregularities and substituting K salts for Na salts was recommended for that reason.
That was while I was in nursing school so I’m of course an expert.
Well beyond hypothesized. Macaws in the Amazon congregate on clay banks every morning to eat the clay for the minerals. The Goats of the Cingino Dam in Noasca, Italy are famous for it.
Asshole puckering video
I have a pee spot off my front porch. Honey bees and flutterbys congregate there for the minerals all the time. Cattle ranchers put out salt/mineral blocks for their cattle.
Nearly all animals engage in such behavior. I would say all, but sure as shit if I did somebody would find an exception or 20.
@gVOR08:
At one point, 7-Up felt a need to proclaim its caffeine-freedom in its advertising.
@JohnMcC: I take diuretics at the moment for a fluid retention issue and some of them require me to take a potassium supplement, others are what is called “potassium sparing,” and still others require only periodic monitoring of sodium and potassium levels. Confusing enough? Is for me. 😉
@Kathy:
Or at least a fun pattern on the fabric!
What’s the point of a global pandemic if you can’t accessorize? I am very fond of my mask with wiener dogs.
@OzarkHillbilly:
No thank you.
@senyordave:
Imagine being so awful that the Department of Homeland Security wants to send to somewhere to make you more compassionate…
@Gustopher:
I’ve worn plain masks so far. The one cloth one I have is black, all the disposables are some shade of blue or white.
But I recently bought a pair of stud earrings shaped like airplanes, so you never know.
Perhaps they’ll name the child Adolf if it’s a boy…
Well of course he did…after all, they both have the same low regard towards human life…
@Kathy: A pair of small airplanes might be some fine bling to add to your mask.
@Gustopher:
She sounds like the perfect match for her ghastly husband.
I’ve seen this type of thing a lot on rightwing sites–that Biden is nothing more than a feeble puppet that will be pushed aside by the far left once he wins the election…it does seem like projection, after all, it is the Republican’s dear leader who appears to be weak, senile, and unstable…either way, these folks really appear to be terrified of the left…of course, this was written by someone who is part of a group that’s about to become extinct, so maybe he doesn’t exactly have a firm grip on reality…
@An Interested Party: Esquire: This loon was nearly Obama’s secretary of commerce
@Teve: One of Obama’s biggest faults was his trying to be bipartisan with people who thought of him in much the same way as Mitch McConnell did…I don’t know if Obama sincerely believed in bipartisanship but it was quite naïve to think that this crowd would work with him…