In a rare political statement from a scientific journal, the New England Journal of Medicine released an editorial Wednesday lambasting the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and calling on Americans to vote President Donald Trump out of office next month.
...
"Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates," the journal's editors wrote. "But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs."

"A southeast Michigan township worker needed 13 stitches in his fingers after attempting to remove a razor-blade lined political sign that was too close to the road," Michigan Live reports.

"The Commerce Township worker pulled over to remove two political signs that were 9 feet within the road right-of-way... When he grabbed a sign supporting President Trump's reelection campaign, he thought he'd been electrocuted; razor blades were taped along the edges of the sign. Bleeding heavily, he drove himself to a hospital where he received 13 stitches."

When I addressed the people of Michigan on Thursday to comment on the unprecedented terrorism, conspiracy and weapons charges against 13 men, some of whom were preparing to kidnap and possibly kill me, I said, "Hatred, bigotry and violence have no place in the great state of Michigan." I meant it. But just moments later, President Trump's campaign adviser, Jason Miller, appeared on national television accusing me of fostering hatred.

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with the president. But I will always hold him accountable. Because when our leaders speak, their words carry weight.

When our leaders encourage domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit. And when a sitting president stands on a national stage refusing to condemn white supremacists and hate groups, as President Trump did when he told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during the first presidential debate, he is complicit. Hate groups heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry. As a call to action.

Whitey Ford, the Yankees' Hall of Fame left-hander who was celebrated as the Chairman of the Board for his stylish pitching and big-game brilliance on the ball clubs that dominated baseball in the 1950s and early '60s, has died. He was 91.

Pitching for 11 pennant-winners and six World Series champions, Ford won 236 games, the most of any Yankee, and had a career winning percentage of .690, the best among pitchers with 200 or more victories in the 20th century.

"Al of a sudden, though, their incentives are aligned: they both want a massive Covid deal in an unthinkably quick timeframe. This may happen, it may not, but both sides seem to be rowing toward the same goal at the moment. Washington has never negotiated on a package of this magnitude this late into a presidential election year."

"Trump is unreadable and unplayable for most Washington observers because he, in fact, has no governing theory. But, in recent days, he has apparently decided that it is in his political interest to spend trillions of dollars."

But I want to see the Trump vs Mitch cage match.

The group's beliefs, include a strict view of human sexuality that embraces traditional gender norms and rejects openly gay men and women.  A strong emphasis is placed on differences between the sexes. Men and women are designed by God for different purposes.  A husband's responsibilities include "correcting" his wife should she stray from the proper path.

Group members are "heavily involved in one another's lives. The term handmaiden is used for female leaders (Amy is listed in the directory as as such for South Bend).  Those who are single often live with married couples and families where tasks are shared. Guidance from leaders is given to singles on dating. A young doctor was advised not to prescribe contraceptives; he later left the group as he found the rigidity was not good for his emotional health. And, too, he found his politics becoming more progressive.

A former member claimed the closeness is amazing and was "extremely suffocating." Another former member said the "community is more important than anything else in your life.  It's a whole different level than being a member of a church."

Judge Cony Barrett's father, a lawyer for Shell Oil, was a leader in a Christian community that became People of Praise.  The young Amy was embedded in the community and went to Notre Dame Law, the group's national hub. She married Jesse Barrett, who himself had been raised in South Bend's People of Praise community.

Scrutiny of Judge Cony Barrett's communitarian religious cult will be sensitive in hearings, but it needs to be done. The focus should be, primarily, from the point of view of her life's influence on her role as an Associate Justice. It is not a matter of her Catholic religion, but of warily inquiring about the potential impingement of this insular movement upon the laws of the land.

This is smart.  They should keep doing it.  It's terrifying republicans who expected them to be terrified by the question.  Instead they are slapping it aside with a smile.  Keep doing it.

Or that he is going to lose.  I saw polls that gave Trump a 99% chance of winning.

I don't know what this means for us after Nov 3rd.  But it seems likely Trump supporters like Russia are spreading this stuff in the hope of causing as much chaos and possible.  

I think it will work.  20-30% of the country is going to believe the election was stolen.  

I hope the FBI and others are as worried about this as I am.

Found it accordions and a Bavarian yodeler with good moves bad teeth and lederhosen

Half of the coral populations on Australia's Great Barrier Reef -- from "big mamas" to the little baby coral they spawn -- have been wiped out in the warming ocean, a new study says.

"We expect this decline to continue" because of warming caused by humans, Hughes said. "The only effective way to improve the outcome for coral reefs is global action on greenhouse gasses. If global temperatures rise to 3 or 4 [degrees Celsius], the reef will be unrecognizable, so there is no time to lose."

Also the fact they made both Hippolyta and Ruby, um, large women.  Ruby mostly.  Ruby is large and in charge and she has a steaming hot role.  Very unusual for a tv drama.   Maybe a chubby star but not the repeated steamy as heck beautifully shot S€X scenes.  With a man who is really a white woman.  

Also the last episode included the funeral of Emmett Till.  And made you feel you were there.  But the scene where the woman mentioned above with Ruby, after being told she can't imagine how they feel about Emmett, pays two rednecks to kill her, she can return, exactly the way Emmett Till was murdered.

I confess I did not know the details.  But you should give a google and read about it.   And this is shot close up and personal.  They beat her, a lot, shoot her, twice, tie her to a heavy object with barbed wire around her neck and drop her in the river.

One of the most horrific things I ever saw.  And as you are watching you realize it is harder for you to watch because they are doing it to a beautiful well dressed white lady.

Says  Covid was a gift from god.

President Trump called FBI director Christopher Wray "disappointing," criticizing him for not doing more to investigate voter fraud, after Wray said there is no evidence of any coordinated fraud ahead of the election. CBS News reports.

Said Trump: "He's been disappointing. He doesn't see the voting ballots as a problem."

Trump also expressed frustration with Attorney General William Barr, arguing that he had not done enough to prosecute the president's political enemies.

Vice President Mike Pence, currently in Arizona, has cancelled campaign events in Indiana tomorrow and will be returning to Washington, D.C. instead, the AP reports.

His spokesman tells CBS News that "nobody's sick" and "there's no positive tests."

It's as good as ever

Fargo' Season 4 Is As Good As It Gets -- Again

"I know it's tempting fate to mention the idea, foolish to entertain it, mad to expect it, but the possibility of a landslide is now real. There are about ten points between the two candidates with three weeks to go, and the momentum is overwhelmingly with the challenger. Among the likeliest scenarios in 538's poll of polls is now a Biden Electoral College victory of over 400. Texas is in play. The Harris-Pence debate changed nothing, but firmly established Harris' credentials as a possible president."

"And all this changes a huge amount. A Biden win would be a reprieve for the country; a Biden landslide would be an American miracle."

"Unlike anything else, it would cauterize the wound of Trump, preventing further infection. It would say to posterity: we made this hideous mistake, for understandable reasons, but after four years, we saw what we did and decisively changed course. It would turn the Trump era of nihilism, tribalism and cruelty into a cautionary tale of extremism, illiberalism and, above all, failure... A landslide loss for Trump would mitigate, if not remove, the deep damage he has done."

Mike Pompeo told Fox News he has some of Hillary Clinton's emails and is working to publicly release them before the election.

It's not at all clear what emails he's talking about.

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Nate Silver
@NateSilver538
·
15h
Repeating myself and others here, but the reason Lindsey Graham won't get tested despite having been exposed to many COVID+ people is because if he reveals a positive test and has to quarantine the Amy Coney Barrett nomination could get scuttled. There is no other logical reason.

The nation's top infectious disease expert says there is "not a chance" he quits the task force. But he's openly angry with how he's being politicized.

Said Romney: "Leaders must tone it down. I'm troubled by our politics, as it has moved away from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hate-filled morass that is unbecoming of any free nation -- let alone the birthplace of modern democracy."

James Carville predicted that Joe Biden will be declared the winner of the presidential election by 10:30 p.m. ET on Election Night, The Hill reports.

"And one of the reasons you can say with confidence that you think Brown v. Board of Education is super-precedent is you're not aware of any effort to go back to the good old days of segregation."

I'm wondering if others have had this problem with SLING.

About 2-3 times out of 10 or so it just won't play.  It make me mental.  Anyway.

I went to my fire stick and found it to rent for 3.99.  So totally worth it.

The Night Porter

Not for the squeamish.  Gorgeous.  Charlotte Rampling at her most beautiful.  Dirk Bogarde  at his most artfully twisted.

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ChuckGrassley
@ChuckGrassley
·
Oct 13
.
@realdonaldtrump
 I suggest u use pocket card at podium w 5 short sentences on what u've accomplished 5 things that differentiate u from Biden 5 things u will accomplish in next 4 yrs Focusing on these simple highlights will help ur msg &only take 5mins then say whatever u want
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Brandon
@Ugabrandon12
·
Oct 13
Replying to
@ChuckGrassley
 and
@realDonaldTrump
He only has one thing he wants to accomplish - stay out of prison.
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Ron Baker
@Patriot79Baker
·
22h
Replying to
@ChuckGrassley
 and
@realDonaldTrump
We trust Trump to say what he wants to say. That ability is what got him where he is. Your advice, however well intended, runs against who he is and what he is.

"Over the last four years President Trump has seeded the narrative that the 2020 election would be rigged. Those efforts look set to pay off," NBC News reports.

"A sizable online network built around the president is poised to amplify any claims from Trump about a rigged election, adding reach and enthusiasm that could lend a veneer of legitimacy to otherwise evidence-free allegations."

"Multiple social media analyses... have detailed how a collection of the president's relatives and members of his inner circle, along with far-right media manipulators and an online army of disciples, has created or spread false or misleading content that supports his `rigged' narrative, while his campaign is urging supporters to join an `army' and `defend their vote.'"

link

Had an interesting talk with my brother in law yesterday.   For him social media is coffee at the River Bend Cafe.  He was clearly really shocked when I showed him some of his grandsons FB posts.  I have described them here before.

He is what you might call a DixieCrat Curmudgeon.  Mad as hell that republicans have taken over the state and also that they are tearing down confederate monuments.

HBO will premiere on Saturday David Byrne's American Utopia, Spike Lee's adaptation of the hit Broadway show. It might be one of the best concert movies since Stop Making Sense more than 30 years ago.