Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[DarkTZeratul]

PBS: "Yeah we tried that. It didn't work. You saw that it didn't work. Why would you say something this clueless? What's wrong with you?"
Christie: "Because if I say 'Trump has to be brought to court for his false claims' I'll be murdered."

I mean, the post-interview commentators even remarked that he's trying to walk the tightrope of distancing himself from Trump while sounding like he's standing with Trump, because the GOP is trying to be the Trump party, and the post-Trump party, all at the same time.

[Kaleredar]

I mean, the post-interview commentators even remarked that he's trying to walk the tightrope of distancing himself from Trump while sounding like he's standing with Trump, because the GOP is trying to be the Trump party, and the post-Trump party, all at the same time.

I would be far more amused with this self-inflicted shot in the foot the republicans have dealt themselves if there wasn’t a still-existent chance that they could still wheedle their way back into power.

[Benggaul]

Monday's quickie report...isn't necessary since @Breccia did all of the leg work already. Cases were up from two weeks ago as we already knew and we'll only be getting another day or so of semi-accurate reporting until the Thanksgiving holiday nukes everything for another week. Worse, the 7-day average for deaths bumped back up above 1k and stayed there, so we're still losing over 7k people a week and that's most likely only going to be heading up as cases increase. But hey, at this point it's become very apparent that the vast majority of those deaths are people who pretty actively avoid helping themselves by getting vaccinated and wearing masks, so I'm only mildly ashamed to say my sympathy is pretty much tapped out.

Stay safe, folks.

[gondrin]

Alex Jones and Roger Stone subpoena'd.

Executive Time does not cover either of them.

"Okay Stone I get, but Jones?"


-- Alex Jones, Jan 7

Which means one of three (point five) things has happened.

1) Alex Jones is lying, he did not make any of the bookings himself. This seems unlikely, as bookings like that can't be done anonymously.

2) Alex Jones is lying that the money was other people's money, and he contributed it himself. This means he was working with the organizers of the murderous insurrection. Oh, sorry, the very fine people on both tour groups that just happened to turn into a murderous insurrection by accident, whoopsie daisy!

3) Alex Jones is telling the truth. And now, not only did Jones get himself wrapped up in it, but he's going to have to disclose who else was. There's no such thing as client-complete-whacko-lunatic confidentiality. And I'm fairly sure Jones doesn't have any PAC/Super PAC to hide the donor.
3.5) By the way, this was a campaign event, therefore, a donation of $500,000 or so would need to be disclosed. If Trump did it with his own money, that's yet another problem for his floundering legal team. If Trump did it with taxpayer money, that's a felony.

If Bannon goes to jail for refusing to testify, so will Stone and Jones.

If any of these people are proven to have organized the event, then helped inspire a violent riot, a couple years behind bars and $200,000 in fines will seem mild. There's already two people locked up for 41 months, one of whom has already cost Jones an insanity defense. It's all but proven both of them were physically present that day.

Also subpoena'd was Stockman, another event organizer, who apparently knew things were getting out of hand and tried to stop it, and who reportedly was willing to go under oath voluntarily.

Bannon wasn't just the warning shot, he was the starting pistol. Now that the House has proof that it can actually indict people for refusing to testify, they're going to continue to pick off the stragglers -- those not actually WH employees -- until they start talking. Trump can't pardon them, and they can't buy their way out of it.

"Do you expect them to talk?"

Yeah I already did that joke. For what it's worth, I don't think Jones knows anything.

"About the riot. or..."

No, just anything. I think he's a crazy man who was almost blacklisted, and it lying when he says he was heavily involved. Stone is a different story. He's been wrapped up in shady to illegal shit for years. That's why Trump had to pardon him. I think Stone was deeply involved in this, I think he had personal contact with the larger groups that attended, I think it's reasonable enough to assume this for the House to be allowed to ask by threat of contempt, and based on the squealing noises and soiled underpants from the last time, I think Stone might literally rather die than go to jail.

We'll have to find out. I have every faith the murderous insurrection investigation wants to leave no Stone unturned.

- - - Updated - - -

So uh...COVID counts.

The USA has a 7-day average of 92,344, which is up 29% from two weeks ago.
Hospitalizations and deaths are flat, 50k and 1,097.

Leading the charge:
Michigan, 88 cases per 100k population
Minnesota, 75
New Mexico, 67
Hew Hampshire, 65
North Dakota, 62
Wisconsin, 60
Vermont, 59
Alaska, 57
Colorado, 56
Arizona, 54

I'm seeing a northward trend here, as expected with the coming winter temps.

The deaths/100k list has a lot in common. Montana, Idaho, WV and Kentucky are on it, VT, NH and surprisingly Minnesota are not. Not sure how that happened.

The ten lowest vaccination rates are WV at the top...that explains a lot...then Idaho, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, ND, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia. Each of these states is sub-50% while the USA is 59%.

In other news:

Florida's time travel cheating is starting to deflate. While they continue to try to shove deaths back in time, they are losing the ability to do so when the majority of the deaths they report are recent.

DeSantis yells at the AP for daring to mention that he hasn't handled COVID well. "How dare you point out my public failings?" he said, presumably from a skull throne on a mountain of bodies. "I'd sue except what you said was objectively true. But whataboutism! Whataboutism!"

To be fair to DeSantis...nah. But it is worth noting he's not in charge of the only state that's in trouble. Michigan has had 140 school outbreaks in 7 days. Last week it was 87. Michigan does not have a statewide mask mandate, it's county by county. Hmm. I wonder if there's a connection between those districts that...holy shit this list reads like stereo instructions. From the looks of things, of the four counties with the most affected schools, 2 have no mandate, 1 has K-6 only, and Detroit does have a mask mandate. No, I didn't measure them by population or anything.

Man, new respect for @Benggaul for doing this. I see why he does the quick reports anymore.

I have a preview of what Alex Jones will do in front of the panel. That is, if he talks.

[Gorsameth]

I have a preview of what Alex Jones will do in front of the panel. That is, if he talks.

The difference between an interview and Congress is that Congress can hold him in concept if he just rambles and have him thrown in jail.

[Kaleredar]

I have a preview of what Alex Jones will do in front of the panel. That is, if he talks.

Except You can’t lie to Congress.

It will be quite telling, should Jones actually testify, about whether he’s just selling crazy or actually is crazy.

I’m going with a bit of both columns.

[Poopymonster]

Except You can’t lie to Congress.

It will be quite telling, should Jones actually testify, about whether he’s just selling crazy or actually is crazy.

I’m going with a bit of both columns.

If I recall, post divorce and determining custody of the kids he claimed he's just selling crazy.

EDIT: Here it is. His lawyer claimed he sold the crazy, he claimed he was the crazy, but he agreed with his lawyer.

[Benggaul]

I was going to save it until tomorrow, but, well...

Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

[PhaelixWW]

I was going to save it until tomorrow, but, well...

Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

Yarp, this quote says it all:

“I have been on ivermectin for 16 months, my wife and I,” Dr Bruce Boros told attendees at the event held at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, adding: “I have never felt healthier in my life.”

The 71-year-old cardiologist and staunch anti-vaccine advocate contracted Covid-19 two days later

[gondrin]

Yarp, this quote says it all:

I believe this is applies here.

[Edge-]

I was going to save it until tomorrow, but, well...

Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

What is this, the third or fourth "anti-vax/covid-denier" summit that's resulted in the spread of covid amongst unvaccinated attendees?

[Kaleredar]

I was going to save it until tomorrow, but, well...

Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

That kind of nonsense should be easy grounds for revoking a medical license.

Doctors have no place in having their practice motivated by politics, much less politics driven by decidedly non-doctors.

[Bodakane]

I live in Ocala.

I'll answer your questions.

Yes. Whatever negative stereotype you can think of a small redneck Florida town is correct.

Did you assume:
- Not a lot of mask wearing? Check.
- No lines for vaccines at any point? Check.
- We never closed down, including restaurants? Check.
- Did the sheriff mandate that masks were NOT allowed to be worn in sheriff offices as early as Aug 2020? Check.
- Did we have the largest pro confederate flag rally in the country? Check.
- Lots of people with stickers that say Florida but with the "F" being a gun? Check.
- Churches on every corner? Check.
- Faith over Fear yard signs on 90% of the properties? Check.

[Fuiking]

I believe this is applies here.

or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notKtAgfwDA

[Breccia]

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

It is the best medicine. When you rule out the stuff that works, of course.

[Fugus]

Except You can’t lie to Congress.

Brett Kavanaugh begs to differ……

[Cthulhu 2020]

Trump takes a bath.

The famous DC hotel he fought for? Sold. The WSJ reports that Trump sold it for $350 million, and part of the deal was "we get to scrape Trump's name off the property".

Now, I don't know how much Trump paid for it. I looked for about three minutes pre-coffee, so that number might exist, but I didn't see it. I did see that
a) he paid $200 million to renevate it, so I assume he paid at least $200 million to buy it
b) he lost $71 million during his tenure

So I'm using scientific guesstimation combined with napkin math and handwaving that he "paid" $471 million at least. CGI Merchant Group is paying less than that. Since Trump took over in 2012, inflation isn't a major factor.

If anyone can find a more accurate amount he earned/lost on the sale feel free to post it. Me, I'm willing to assume horrible businessman Trump lost money until I see proof otherwise.

Oh and I'm also glossing over the technicality that we're talking about the lease of the building and selling the leasing rights, not actual ownership of the property. Tomato, tomahto, Trump sold his stake.

Incidentally Trump should consider himself lucky. Forbes thinks the leasing rights are worth far less. So there may be more to this deal -- or, and even Forbes admits this, the value might immediately go up the second Trump's name vanishes like an Arizona recount.

Knowing Trump, he probably signed a paper saying he'd buy it for 200 million, then just kept sending them IOU slips when they called for payment.

[Kaleredar]

Brett Kavanaugh begs to differ……

This group wont be as "sympathetic to conservative narratives."

[Benggaul]

Tuesday's report:

86,016 new cases; about 3.5k more than two weeks ago.

Top 10:

Minnesota: 11,155 new cases (new record*); 37 deaths
Ohio: 6,143 new cases; 34 deaths
California: 5,652 new cases; 111 deaths
Pennsylvania: 5,186 new cases; 72 deaths
Wisconsin: 5,074 new cases; 42 deaths
Illinois: 4,589 new cases; 19 deaths
Texas: 3,956 new cases; 95 deaths
Indiana: 3,133 new cases; 53 deaths
Massachusetts: 3,111 new cases; 25 deaths
Arizona: 3,057 new cases; 120 deaths

Not a huge increase over a couple weeks ago--well, for most states. This was a new record for Minnesota, exacerbated by their reporting system which combines cases every couple days. California still continues to tote up 5k+ numbers daily but that doesn't seem to be increasing much (and for a lot of the state the numbers are still decreasing, excluding some Trumper-heavy counties). Michigan is still listed as "Severe" risk but don't appear in today's list because of their reporting method. Expect big numbers from them for Wednesday--if they don't already start getting squirrely before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm hopeful that we won't have as big a bump this year as we did last, but people have a nasty habit of disappointing me.

1,237 deaths is over 300 fewer than two weeks ago and brings the total to 796,319. We'd probably hit 800k by the end of the weekend but the holiday might end up forestalling that for a few more days. Arizona took the top spot today with California and Texas rounding out the top 3. Arizona's total is scary at first blush but given their reporting method they're pretty prone to spikes. They had a higher one last week, for example. This is likely just another blip.

Related news:

'Vast majority are not reported': Home COVID tests make it impossible to track all cases--Yeah, I'm pretty sure we mentioned this as a problem a long time ago, but it's been building as home tests become more available. We'll likely never truly know just how big of an impact this pandemic has had, also not in terms of how many more died from COVID than officially reported.

Some US hospitals overwhelmed going into Thanksgiving holiday--Not a good starting point. See above regarding my faith in humanity.

Stay safe, folks.

[Lenonis]

I was going to save it until tomorrow, but, well...

Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit

Frankly I just can't stop laughing. Fuck Florida.

So when do those doctors lose their license for malpractice?