It is such a contrast listening to Biden speak compared to Trump. On the one hand, itâs a relief. On the other hand, sometimes Biden sounds both naive and optimistic, after the last four years.
Can we ever go back?
The WSJ points out that in the Coronavirus recession, many out-of-work people are turning to GoFundMe pages in order to live:
â…more than $100 million for basic living expenses in tens of thousands of fundraisers on GoFundMe so far this year, the company said. That is up 150% from 2019 and more than any previous year. Last month, the company introduced a new category of fundraiser, for rent, food and monthly bills.â
This is happening as the Congress still diddles with a new stimulus package for Americans. A recent TransUnion survey showed that more than half of US consumers said the pandemic affected them financially. Some 38% said they couldnât pay their credit-card bills and 30% said they couldnât pay for their internet. On to cartoons.
House Republicans moved on Thursday to adjourn without voting for the stimulus:
Help is needed everywhere:
When you realize that it could be worse than you thought:
Weâre back from our turkey-induced coma, but itâs hard to start a new week without our usual Sunday humor:
Yummy Thanksgiving pie:
Looking forward to the Inauguration:
This Thanksgiving, Biden thanked all the front line workers for all they have done. Trump thanked all of his lawyers.
Wrongo hadnât realized that Trump has now spent more than an entire year of his term on a Trump property (418 days), and 307 days playing golf. Imagine how much more damage he could have done if he wasnât so lazy.
Why is it so difficult for Americans to understand the threat to our society from Covid? From the WaPo: (emphasis by Wrongo)
A few long-reluctant Republican governors recently adopted statewide mask orders and stricter social distancing measures. But not all: For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), last Tuesday extended an executive order that bans city and county governments from enforcing mask ordinances or limits on restaurant capacity. South Dakotaâs governor Kristi Noem (R) is still resisting any kind of mask mandate. Nebraskaâs governor Pete Ricketts (R) again stated his opposition to mask mandates, while Nebraskaâs rural hospitals are nearly at capacity, as are bigger cities, like Lincoln.
White, rural American states are late to the pandemicâs deadly impact â partly due to how physically distant their residents are, by definition. But rural states have the smallest margin for error in terms of health care infrastructure. Their lack of ICU capacity combined with their relative inability to handle delivering the new vaccines when they become available, may see rural Trump-loving Americans take a much harder hit than they expected from Covid.
The exact criteria for who will be first in line wonât be defined until immediately after a vaccine is authorized. But the pressureâs on: The WSJreported that United Airlines is already flying doses of Pfizerâs vaccine to points around the country in order to be prepared for distribution, if Pfizer wins government approval.
Think about the enormous pressure there is on the FDA to approve use of these vaccines. That approval starts with a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). The FDA has scheduled a Committee meeting on Dec. 10 to discuss the request for emergency use authorization of Pfizerâs vaccine.
As of now, the FDA hasnât made the names of Committee membersâ public. But imagine if there are a few Committee members who disagree that the vaccine should be made available immediately.
This recently happened with an Alzheimerâs drug. The FDAâs review division reported that the drugâs effectiveness data was âextraordinarily persuasiveâ. Â But many on that drugâs Advisory Committee rejected the study, saying that the data showed the drug offered no significant improvement to patients.
Now, the FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its outside advisors, but it often does. So what happens if the Pfizer Committee has a split decision?
Finally, the Supreme Courtâs decision in a Covid case about whether or not a state official could close down places of worship in order to stop the spread of a deadly disease, seems out of step with where we are in America. They ruled that restrictions previously imposed on New York places of worship by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) during the coronavirus pandemic violated the First Amendment.
Thatâs a huge shift since Coney Barrett joined the court. In a similar case earlier this year, the court declined to lift pandemic restrictions in California and Nevada when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was alive.
But the longer term issue isnât the possible infringement of individual religious liberty. It’s how the American Right wants to expand it so that religious people can ignore just about any law they don’t like.
The problem with this decision is that it expands an individual right to a communal right. A religious person should be able to follow their faith, but once you start giving religious communities separate rights, youâve weakened the rule of law.
Your exercise of a right shouldn’t impose unreasonable burdens on others. But Conservatives want to treat religion as having a higher level of rights then othersâ individual rights, and this isn’t right.
Time to wake up America! The fault lines of our society have been exposed by Covid and the Republican response to it. To help you wake up, listen to a cover version of Bob Marleyâs âRedemption Songâ by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his siblings. He became an instant sensation after his cello performance at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Watch it, you won’t be dissapointed:
Some of us are thankful that the election is behind us. Weâre all thankful that 2020 is almost over, that a vaccine is on the way, and that the Dow is up. Weâre thankful that democracy has survived to fight another day. It has been a trying year.
Wrongo is thankful to all who read the Wrongologist. Weâve been at this same pop stand since 2011, and some of you have been with us the entire time. Special thanks to long haulers Monty B, Fred VK, David P, Pat M, and Terry Mck, among others.
Here are two facts about the 2020 presidential race that may have been overlooked: Dominating on social media was supposed to be all-important to winning the presidency this year. But Donald Trump has 15 million fewer votes than Twitter followers. While Joe Biden has 60 million more votes than Twitter followers.
Another crucial thing: The election of Democratic governors, lieutenant governors, attorneys-general and secretaries of state in 2018 in PA, MI and WI had a huge impact in deciding the 2020 election. They helped people vote, they fought frivolous lawsuits, and made sure that votes were counted and certified.
This is another reason why voting in state and local races is so important.
This Thanksgiving may not have as many people around the dinner table as usual. But it isnât the first time our Thanksgiving is shrouded in tragedy. When old people like Wrongo sat down to a peaceful Thanksgiving dinner in November, 1963, we were mourning the death of JFK. Twenty years before that, Wrongoâs parents were celebrating while a continent apart, while my mother was pregnant with me, during WWII.
We are truly thankful to those who came before us, and to our family members and friends who we canât be with today.
Weâre thankful to those who are today on the front lines in the military service, or at home in our hospitals, schools, firehouses, and police stations.
There are a few fine Republican governors out there. Vermont Governor Phil Scott is one. Earlier this week at a press conference, he spoke to the COVID skeptics, and to those who refuse to wear masks or follow Vermontâs social distancing mandates. Scott said that âthey can do what they wantâ, but added:
âDon’t call it patriotic. Don’t pretend it’s about freedom. Because real patriots serve and sacrifice for all, whether they agree with them or not. Patriots also stand up and fight when our nation’s health and security is threatened. And right now, our country and way of life is being attacked by this virus — not the protections we put in place.â
Scott was recently re-elected by a wide margin by the voters in his very blue state. Bravo!
Could a campaign work that characterized those mask refusers as cowards who won’t stand up and fight, who won’t serve and sacrifice for the good of the country? Would it change a few minds? Nothing else has: not science, not facts, not cajoling, not even mandates. Maybe trying shame is overdue. On to cartoons.
COVID and the economy are urgent crises that must be dealt with immediately. Climate change is an existential threat that will require the Biden administrationâs ongoing attention. Not to mention the threat to democracy thatâs been revealed by Trump during his administration. And now, he wonât leave. Trumpâs allegations have been proven baseless, and yet he continues to try to find a way to get a second term. Bidenâs got a very full plate.
Stewing usually tenderizes, but not in this case:
Humoring him is as dangerous as it is pointless:
Tough question reveals true GOP:
While measuring for new drapes, Biden learns something:
And you know what AP spelled backwards is? PA! Checkmate, you pieces of Trump! Wrongo will return to his usual complaining sometime next week when we start contemplating what comes next.
After four years of chaos, dysfunction, a huge dose of racism, over 230,000 dead from the virus, and massive job loss, why did nearly half this country vote for Trump? Why did half of us want four more years of his bullshit?
That we know the winner on Saturday morning, in the middle of a pandemic with a bunch of new voting rules that were written on the fly, is remarkable. Everything went really well (in the sense of knowing the results, not necessarily being happy with all of them). Enough with the slow vote counting memes.
To win, you have to finish first:
They donât stop the count when youâre on the mats:
Has anyone else noticed that since his impeachment, Trump has lost a step? He no longer speaks about fighting the system, or his accomplishments. Itâs all about how heâs been ganged up on, and mistreated. Maybe impeaching him wasnât a complete failure after all.
Weâll see in two days if the blame game was a winning strategy:
It may be hopeful news or maybe just a deep fake, but several outlets are reporting that Trump has canceled his election night party. The party was to be held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, but instead, heâll party at the White House.
But hereâs a good reason to be nervous. Forbes reports that the Post Office is failing to deliver on time in key places:
âBattleground states in the presidential election are suffering from some of the worst ballot delivery delays in the country….and with state laws or court rulings requiring mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day, several states face a particularly high risk of voters having their ballots arrive too late to count, potentially impacting close races.â
Every Vote should be counted! Shouldnât the Supreme Court support that?
Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana is the stateâs Democratic candidate for the US Senate. Heâs running slightly behind the incumbent Republican, Sen. Steve Daines. Daines is a first-term Senator with few accomplishments, while Bullock is a sitting governor ending his second term. Bullock has high approval ratings for his handling of the pandemic, but his principled stand on masking may cost the Dems a chance to flip the Senate, since Montana happens to be a state where anti-maskers are vocal in their opposition to Bullock.
Bullock issued a mask mandate in the summer, but as the NYT reports, politicians and law enforcement in Montanaâs Ravalli County opted not to enforce the order, citing individual rights. Another county, Flathead, has also been somewhat hostile to masking.
At the end of last week, Montana had 25,640 cases of Coronavirus, with 278 deaths. On Friday, Montana tallied a record for new cases at 932, so Bullock announced the state is cracking down on businesses in Flathead County that have refused to comply with masking and social distancing mandates.
That the outcome of a Senatorial election may depend on voters who wonât wear masks in a pandemic says much about what America has become. Many people say that theyâll do anything for America. Some of them even carry their guns in the supermarket. But when theyâre asked to take simple protective measures, keep their distance, show patience and courtesy, they just canât.
There are nine days left until the election. Nine days. Remember that in 2016 in Wisconsin, Hillaryâs loss averaged out to just two votes per precinct. Help get your friends to vote. On to cartoons.
The criterion for debate success has fallen too far:
If confirmed, Amy Coney Barrett’s first major case on the Supreme Court could be Trump’s plan to remove undocumented immigrants from the Census count. This will cost states like California, Illinois and New York multiple Congressional seats, and billions in federal funding:
âThe Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review President Trumpâs attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants when calculating how congressional seats are apportioned among the states.â
A three-judge panel in New York said that Trumpâs July 21 memorandum on the matter was âan unlawful exercise of the authority granted toâ him by Congress. It blocked the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau from including internally generated information about the number of undocumented immigrants in their reports to the president after this yearâs census is completed.
The census does not ask a citizenship question, so how the Census Bureau would come up with the immigration status of people counted is as a practical matter, suspect.
The Supremes put the case on a fast-track, saying that they will hold a hearing Nov. 30. By then, it will likely again be a nine-member court, assuming Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. Itâs unclear how the case will divide the court. But the Census is yet another issue that has been transformed from a largely bureaucratic exercise into a partisan battle.
The decision to hear the case follows the Supreme Courtâs earlier decision that the Trump administration could stop the Census count of Americans immediately, instead of on October 31.
This newest controversy involves the Constitutional mandate that apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives be based on the âwhole number of persons in each State.â That has been interpreted to mean every resident, regardless of immigration status. But this summer, Trump issued a memorandum that said: âIt is the policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status.â
Trump directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to provide him with two sets of numbers, one that includes unauthorized immigrants and one that does not, âto the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the discretion delegated to the executive branch.â
Thus, the need for a decision about the Constitutionality of counting every person. Weâll see what happens. On to cartoons:
Coney Barrett says sheâs a neutral arbiter of the law. Tell that to the Elephant:
Amy Coney Barrett keeps her opinions close to the robe:
Itâs a felony to intimidate voters or obstruct voting. Coney Barrett says she canât say if thatâs illegal. The Constitution states that Congress shall determine the date of the election. Coney Barrett says she canât say whether or not a president could unilaterally postpone an election.
A competent judge should have acknowledged explicit text in federal statutes and the Constitution itself, while reserving the right to apply it to a specific set of facts that might be presented to her.
For Republicans, life begins at conception, and ends when the government requires you to wear a mask.
Wrongo thinks that this election is really about one thing: COVID-19. You may think differently, but you should watch the video linked below. Itâs a timeline of Trumpâs response to the pandemic. As things stand now, 215,000 (and growing) Americans have died. The argument that if Trump hadnât played down the seriousness of a pandemic that he KNEW to be serious, untold thousands would still be alive today. This should be convincing to all but the most fanatic Trumpers.
If you are on the fence, this video makes a pretty damning case. The only defense Trump ever uses is that he stopped flights from China on February 2. But even that is untrue. According to a report in The NYT, at least 430,000 people arrived in the US on direct flights from China after the outbreak was reported on the last day of 2019. This included nearly 40,000 in the two months after the February restrictions were put in place.
Hereâs the roughly 10 minute video produced by a UK group, Led by Donkeys:
