Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, October 8, 2020

New England Journal of Medicine editorial and the VP Debate

BREAKING NEWS:  


The Debate commission will let Biden participate in the next debate by himself, since the weak, cowardly Trump refuses to show up. Joe Biden isn't afraid to speak to the American people. Donald Trump is!






 "We rarely publish editorials signed by all the editors," said Dr. Eric Rubin, editor-in-chief of the medical journal and an author of the new editorial. 

The editorial, which Rubin said was drafted in August, details how the United States leads the world in Covid-19 cases and deaths. So far, more than 7.5 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and more than 200,000 people have died of the disease.

 "This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond.Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy," the editorial says. 

 It does not endorse a candidate, but offers a scathing critique of the Trump administration's leadership during the pandemic. "Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. 

Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment," the editorial says. 

"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."




Re: The Harris-Pence debate.  Harris won, hands down. She stuck to the facts; he continued with the Trumpian lies.

And everybody saw this:





There's no racism in the Trumpublican Party. Nah!:








30 comments:

Anonymous said...

From your resident troll:

"Predator joe was part of the team that furthered the racial divide in this country. I wonder what obama thought when joey said blacks can't think for themselves or was he so entrenched in his desire to destroy the middle class that he just let it slide.

In the VP debates the focus should not have been on the fly but on cruella and her smirky gestures toward pence.

I don't see this debate changing anyone's opinion. Trump blew it and pence is not going to be able to bring it back."


Still calling Joe Biden "Predator joe," and never used that term to describe Trump who has 22+ women accusing him of sexual harassment or assault and a 13 year old accused him of rape, amazing hypocracy!

I think their coming around to accept the fact that their cult leader is on the skids with the Covid. You can read it in every other line.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Anon, I'm not surprised. I'm sure that's skud and I know he has a visceral hatred of President Obama and all he and his administration stood for, as opposed to the Trump administration and their long, long list of felons, liars, cheats, and scoundrels. But that happens when one is sucked into a cult.

Happily, a majority of Americans are NOT like skud and his friends.

Shaw Kenawe said...

This is from The Atlantic on last night's VP debate and the Allegory of the Fly:

"We saw a vice president who had internalized the Trump White House’s culture of disrespect, and especially disrespect to women. He talked over Kamala Harris and the moderator, Susan Page; he ignored the rules of the debate to which he agreed. At the core of the Trump political project is the reassertion of dominance over the historically dominated by the historically dominant. That reassertion of dominance was Pence’s supreme project at this debate too. Pence did not imitate his boss’s manic and undisciplined—and ultimately catastrophically unsuccessful—style of dominance. Instead, he brought to this debate the more measured and controlled disdain of a man who had considered the matter carefully—and decided that the woman in front of him had no right to control him and that the woman to his right did not deserve to be onstage with him. With the sound on, you heard Page trying and failing to summon Pence to order with a repeated, “Mr. Vice President, Mr. Vice President.” With the sound off, you saw Harris—a vice-presidential nominee, a U.S. senator, a former attorney general of the largest state in the nation—obliged to smile and smile in an effort to assert herself without seeming … well, you know, without seeming something that might offend somebody. Pence never worried about offending anybody. And he did not feel the need to smile when asserting himself.

We saw a weird moment where a fly landed on Pence’s snow-white hair—and the vice president did not react at all. No doubt, it’s a conundrum, what to do in such a situation. If Pence shooed the fly and the fly refused to shoo, that would be bad. So he did nothing. And that doing nothing somehow in one powerful visual moment concentrated everything. It symbolized the whole Pence vice presidency, the determined, willful refusal to acknowledge the most blaring and glaring negative realities. Through all of the scandals and the crimes and the disasters of the past four years, Mike Pence was the man who pretended not to notice. And now there was a fly on his head, and he pretended not to notice that too."

Ray Cranston said...

Mike Pence really was like, “Thanks, Susan. You’re right. I’m the head of the COVID task force. My boss tested positive, he gave it to my colleagues, my staff, and everyone around me. And I’m sitting behind a layer of plexiglass. But I couldn’t be prouder of the job we’ve done.”

Shaw Kenawe said...

Ray Yes, Ray, but I'm afraid that would go over the heads of Trump's cultists.

Shaw Kenawe said...

This:

"Jill Filipovic in the Guardian thinks Harris won by deftly debating well under the constraints that sexism and racism impose on a black woman running for high office:
This debate was less high-pitch without Donald Trump ranting and raving on stage. But it was frustrating in its own way – especially for any woman who has ever been in a room with an interjecting, condescending man. Pence repeatedly interrupted Harris, something she rarely did to him; he repeatedly talked over moderator Susan Page of USA Today when she told him his time was up; he repeatedly flouted the rules he had previously agreed to. The disrespect of women was tangible, and it happened over and over.

'Harris had no such leeway to bulldoze either her opponent or the moderator. As a black woman on the national stage, she knew she had to walk a thread-thin line: Be likable, but authoritative; strong, but not “aggressive”. Interrupting Pence or even Page posed serious – and sexist – consequences with an electorate that has never seen a woman in the White House. But for better or worse, Harris is used to the Trump circus, and so she walked that tightrope deftly. She was tough, assertive, funny and charming, while Pence was patronizing and stiff...'"

Shaw Kenawe said...

President Trump called Senator Kamala Harris a “monster” and a "Communist" more than once this morning.

Strong women scare weak men.

This is what the Trump cultist blogs are saying about her:

"I was rather pleased because she was AS vicious as she’s been in the past; I honestly thought her handlers would warn her………….they didn’t. Or she just can’t hold nastiness in."

"For any thinking person this faux black chick, this Willie Brown creation who broke the glass ceiling on her back was as transparent as ever with her race baiting and either ignoring or lying about her miserable record as CA attorney general. I commend VP Pence for his restraint, for not going over and peeing on her shoes each and every time she either distorted or outright lied"

"a monster and a communist?? more like a_skanky_tramp and a liar

Amoral degenerate fits her as well,, theres also STD super spreader ,, or is that just her legs??"

Trump cultists blogs filled with weak, sniveling scaredy brats!

Paula said...

Trump is scared of her for sure but not because she’s a monster as much as a really strong confident CLEAR MINDED woman! And because she can see right through him. Honesty and clarity scare him too

skudrunner said...

I agree with NEJM. They should all be thrown out including trump, pence, pelosi, chuckie and the remainder of the worthless, incompetent crooks. They should give madam an autographed copy the the SOTU which mentions a bad virus.

Page told them both to keep to the time limit and the idea that because harris is mixed race and she has to be likeable is a joke. Her rolling her eyes and not answering questions shows he arrogance.

anon 0854, you need to check your facts about what I have said about trump being a serial predator unlike joey who has only been accused buy one women and she doesn't count so he is clean.

I doubt the VP debate changed anyones mind. The republicans will vote trump and the democrats will vote harris. The 10% who think for themselves have probably made up their mind.

Tax increase to pay for all of the feel good groups like paris accord, nuc money to iran, bail out NY and Calif and increased regulations to punish small businesses and the middle class. Great plan in the middle of a shaky economy and they are planning on doing away with the trump tax cuts and Everyone will pay more not just over 400k.

If you haven't opened a Cayman Island bank account you still have time.

Dave Miller said...

There's only one question that needs to be answered... and it's one the White House and President Trump cannot and will not answer...

When was the last time President Trump tested negative before his positive test last Thursday and had the president ever tested positive before his final Thursday test.

And he can't answer because he thought he could skate through the Biden debate and deal with Covid later. He didn't think he'd get caught. It's why all of his doctors are under signed NDA's about his care.

And now we have a president backing out of a debate because he objects to a format that would be healthy for the candidates and ppl who have to stage the event. Maybe if he would have followed the rules, been tested in Cleveland, had his family follow the rules and wear masks we wouldn't be here.

Sure, as Skud will, we can argue and surmise what Biden would, or might do if elected, but with Trump, we do not have to think about it. Trump, with all of his rallies, is willingly creating events and situations that his followers will attend, where people will risk their lives. Trump is risking the lives of White House employees by refusing to stay home from work until he is no longer shedding the virus and contagious.

It isn't what he might do, it's what he's doing. Right now.

A clear and present danger to the American people.

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud:"They should give madam an autographed copy the the SOTU which mentions a bad virus."

"It’s true that Trump mentioned the coronavirus during his State of the Union address, but only in passing, taking 20 seconds out of his 78-minute speech. By contrast, he spent more than three minutes praising right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh and presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In the speech, Trump said he was working with Beijing “on the coronavirus outbreak in China.” Trump did not mention that US intelligence agencies had already sent a flurry of warnings to the White House about the growing dangers of a pandemic, including at least one warning that was included in his daily intelligence briefing, according to The Washington Post and ABC News."


Trump gets no props for taking 20 SECONDS to mention a lethal pandemic.

skud: "because harris is mixed race and she has to be likeable is a joke"

Liking someone only because of his or her mixed heritage is, in and of itself, racist. Where did you hear or read that? No one I know has said or have I ever read such a ridiculous thing. Harris is where she is because of her intelligence and experience. Period.

The rest of your comment is just more whining and feeling bitter about the maniac the Republican Party chose for POTUS and who'll probably be the architect of its destruction.




Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave, Imagine any other time in our history a political party putting up for re-election someone who'd been IMPEACHED for his abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Pretty terrible, and yet the GOP are proud of him.

IMO, the only ONLY thing at this time that matters is how Trump and his administration and the Republicans in the Senate handled the Covid-19 pandemic. The US leads the world in infection rates and is up there as well in deaths. Trump, as CiC, had at his command the ability to get manufacturers to make all the PPEs, ventilators, etc. needed and to explain to the American people how serious and lethal this pandemic would be.

Instead Trump politicized a deadly virus, made wearing a mask a political statement, going so far as to say people wear to show their disrespect to him (it's always about HIM isn't it?) and continuing to hold non-social distancing rallies, putting Americans' health and safety at risk so he could bask in the adoration of his cultists. A caring human president would NEVER place his/her fellow Americans in that sort of jeopardy-- life and death jeopardy. Just ask Herman Cain!

Trump and Pence failed America on this and they deserve to be given pink slips and shown the door!

BIDEN-HARRIS 2020

skudrunner said...

Ms Shaw, you are the one who posted "As a black woman on the national stage, she knew she had to walk a thread-thin line" so don't call me a racist when I was only referencing your post. I wouldn't say that trump politicized the virus it just got political. Part of that is that is the only harris/biden have in their favor and that is all they talk about. I am of the belief there will not be a vaccine in numbers until next summer at the earliest so we will see how harris handles it. Good thing is she has the media on her side.

Rev, Normally you do your homework but in this case you took the easy road, which I have been accused of doing. There is no need to sign a NDA because they are bound by HIPPA which is far stronger than and NDA.

Paula said...

I was swearing at the TV screen by the time it became obvious that Mike Pence was going to be allowed to talk over Kamala Harris, and the moderator herself, Susan Page. I think women should stop worrying about being criticised by the misogynist critics and start yelling at overbearing men just as if we were born with penises. I would have loudly interrupted Pence as often as it took to shut him up during Harris's speaking time.

EXOTIC, NASTY WOMAN OF COLOR said...

So IMPEACHED, TAX-AVOIDING, SEXUAL ABUSER and INSULTER OF OUR FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN, Donald J. Trump has said he will not be party to a virtual debate with the guy who's leading him in the polls, Joe Biden. Shoulda added COWARD to that list of what President Covid-19 Super Spreader is.

Dave Miller said...

Let's remember that Skud, channelling Donald J Trump can only mention Biden's name when he includes a snarky nickname.

One has to wonder why Trump, an admitted predator, we have the tape, gets off without such a moniker?

Your beloved GOP has been exposed Skud. It's looking like Tuesday November 3rd is going to be a difficult night for them.

Les Carpenter said...

The biggest takeaway for me was confirmation pence is nothing but a lower key version of trump. IOW a quieter version but just as full of BS as his orange clorox boss.

Dave Miller said...

Skud... sorry dude, but the NDA's have been widely reported and not refuted by the WH. One reason some doctors at Walter Reed refused to sign them, and then were not allowed on the president's medical team is exactly the point you brought up, HIPPA.

But that wasn't enough for Trump and the doctors, who all have security clearances, that I should add, Trump, Jared and Ivanka could not get under normal channels.

skudrunner said...

Rev, No doubt that the end of November will be difficult for financially conservative people because our taxes will go up for every income bracket. For someone in your income bracket ask yourself what you get for your 39.5%. We will not know who is going to win until weeks after the election then we will have to sit though law suits claiming fraud and a recount for several weeks after that no matter who wins. Hopefully we will not have to endure two years of an I was cheated tour.

Shaw Kenawe said...

SKUD, do you deliberately post lies? Because Joe Biden has EMPHATICALLY SAID that your taxes will NOT RISE unless you make over $400,000 a year. "That’s because the nominee pegs 'wealthy' at an adjusted gross income of at least $400,000 per year. Biden is proposing a marginal income tax rate increase, meaning that while it kicks in at $400,000, the more money a worker makes over that threshold, the more they’ll pay in taxes.

People making between $400,000 and $700,000 are going to have a tax increase of only about 1% or less.

The plan primarily increases taxes for those earning more than $1 million a year, according to an analysis from the Tax Policy Center."


If you're complaining, does that mean you're in that tax bracket? I don't know about you, but this middle class woman, moi, will NOT SEE AN INCREASE. And neither will my middle class children and their families. Nor will my middle class nieces and nephews. Nor will any of my middle class neighbors who live here in my middle class neighborhood.

Please educate yourself before spreading disinformation. Thanks.

skudrunner said...

Ms Shaw, He EMPHATICALLY SAID he was going to do away with the trump tax cuts. That means taxes will go up for everyone who pays taxes. It was a typical polispeak when he said he would RAISE taxes on people making over 400K and people assume rolling back the tax cuts is not raising taxes but it is. Slight of hand that the news media ignores. At least he defines rich as over 400k instead of 250. Of course he plans to raise corporate taxes. What this does is penalize everyone but especially the poor because corporations pass through taxes with higher prices and higher prices affect everyone.

All that being said I am a big proponent of The Fair Tax or a flat income tax where EVERYONE pays their FAIR share including those that make 25k or 3million. No deductions, no loopholes. This type of plan would reduce government expenses by reducing the size of the IRS and make people like trump and clintons pay THEIR FAIR SHARE.

Anonymous said...

Skud also doesn't seem to remember how the election process works, i.e., his statement: "No doubt that the end of November will be difficult for financially conservative people because our taxes will go up for every income bracket." If your taxes go up at the end of November, blame trump since whether he wins (God forbid) or loses (happy dance), he will unfortunately still be the POS POTUS until January 20, 2021.

Possumlady

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: Fact Check:

"Biden also said he would repeal the law in his debate with the president last week.

However, Biden's remarks were in the context of the New York Times report claiming that Trump had paid little to no income tax over the course of 15 years, which he said suggested would not be possible under his own proposal.

"That's why I'm going to eliminate the Trump tax cuts, I'm going to eliminate those tax cuts," Biden said as Trump responded, "That's OK."


Biden was speaking about the TAX CUTS TRUMP TOOK IN ORDER FOR HIM TO PAY NOTHING FOR MANY YEARS AND ONLY $750 over the last two years.

Context is everything.


Shaw Kenawe said...

Possumlady I'm not sure Trumpers understand much about American democracy and how elections work. If they did, they wouldn't be supporting the most unAmerican presidency in modern American history.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting how skudrunner doesn't comment on this Trump legacy from his presidency:

214,000 dead,

32,0000,000 unemployed

and the largest trade deficit in 14 years.

He seems to be worried about a tax increase that's not going to affect him, unless he's a millionaire.

Dave Miller said...

Skud's a big lover of taking people exactly at their word. Obama's 57 states, Biden's taxes, Hillary's what difference does it make...

Conversely he doesn't apply that same strict attention to words to President Trump... grab them by the pussy, you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides, I wanted to play it down [Covid], shithole countries...

Skud, stop hiding behind your "fair tax" charade. You and everyone else knows it will never happen. As long as you and your fellow Mothership passengers see the rich folks as the princes of society who through their benevolence provide pissants like us jobs, we're in a bad place.

Try this factoid on for size... Jeff Bezos could give everyone of his 875,000 employees a bonus this year of $105,000. And you know what? He would still have all of the money he had before the pandemic. You get that? He has made enough money this year, since March, to give everyone of his employees a bonus of 100K and still be ahead financially.

So while the government might get a boatload of cash from Bezos with your "fair tax" of say 10%, it will never really touch him. But the single mom named Simone who struggles to make ends meet as a teacher, starts at 35K a year, doles out 6K on medical insurance and bills, 15K on rent and utilities, 6K on meals, 4K on student loans, gas, clothing, materials for her class is in a pretty precarious place, before she also has to fork over 3.5k in "fair taxes."

Honestly, we should go back to the millionaire tax levels of the Eisenhower Admin. Then maybe we'd be able to balance the budget, fix some roads and as Trump has promised, Make America Great Again.

skudrunner said...

I guess no one has a clue about economics, accounting or business.
PL, Because of the November election taxes will go up after the new regime takes their seat. November would be a good time to reallocate your assets unless you want to do your civic duty and pay the maximum amount of taxes you can pay.

Ms. Shaw, I will have to assume by your comment on trumps taxes you pay the maximum amount you can. Our tax system is a mess and has been a mess for decades. It favors the rich and always has. Trump's accountants did their job and took advantage of a system that has taken years to break so why blame him.

Rev, I agree the fair tax will never pass because it takes the power away from the elected elite and they will not put up with that. Wealth envy is wide spread. Why is trying to keep s much of the money you earn bad but taking money that someone else earned good. Bezos worked out of his garage and put everything he had on the line. He built an empire that millions use so he is a bad guy.

The idea of a balanced budget is way above a pipe dream. Our elected elite will never work to achieve that goal because that would take away the two things they do best. Spend you money and find ways to get more.

It does look like the democrats will win with no platform to build America. I know everything regarding covid is trumps fault and has nothing to do with people taking responsibility for their lives because government knows best.
Harris does not have a plan to build America but, like one of her mentors, she does have a plan to destroy the middle class.
Don't come up with a better tax code just raise taxes during a pandemic, pay off student loans, end fracking, push the green new deal, have a millionaires tax, reward china with more jobs, end tariffs, give millions to feel good organizations that have no authority.
On the plus side he would end sanctuary cities because the borders will be open to all.

Shaw Kenawe said...

An eye-opening read for those who live in reality:

The Swamp That Trump Built
A businessman-president transplanted favor-seeking in Washington to his family’s hotels and resorts — and earned millions as a gatekeeper to his own administration.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Skud: "Trump's accountants did their job and took advantage of a system that has taken years to break so why blame him."

We're going to find out that Trump didn't just take "advantage of a system that has taken years to break." The SDNY is looking into tax fraud, money laundering, and other crimes. That you still find the need to defend this crook amazes me and a majority of the American people.

skudrunner said...

Not defending the crook, all I am saying is the government created the loopholes in the code and his accountants took advantage of it.
Eliminate all deductions, watch the real estate market tumble and create a system where everyone pays their Fair share of taxes. To respond to Rev's comment about the mom who can't pay for food there could be a tiered system for income brackets to address the poor and the rich but everyone should have money confiscated to pay for our corrupt congress spending habits. Maybe if everyone paid something they would pay attention to how their money is wasted.