Fucking Piece of Shit

Amanda Marcotte sums up the human waste of skin we're dealing with.

The president of the United States is defaming people, unloading misogynist abuse, lying in his bragging, and focused on litigating the Calvinball rules that only allow white presidents to play golf — all while Americans are dying, hospitals are in distress and unemployment is at or near 25%.

[He] could go on TV and kick a puppy to death and his supporters would react by yelling "Fake news!" and gloating about how he triggered those puppy-loving liberals. We know this because what he's doing now is worse than kicking a puppy to death. His actions are literally killing people and setting our economy up to fail even worse.

We're in a hellish holding pattern, waiting until November to see if our democracy is too broken to prevent 41 to 43% of Americans from [keeping] the rest of the country hostage to their evil man-child cult leader.

Greg Sargent argues that Dear Leader believes lying is his only route to re-election.

[His] war on reality has veered into a new place. [Fuckface] is responding to our most dire public health and economic crises in modern times with a concerted, far-reaching effort to concoct the mirage that we’re racing past both.

In so many ways, [he] is prioritizing the weaving of an illusory return to normalcy over taking steps within his power to make that actually happen. That’s actively dangerous. It could lead to substantially more lost lives.

Update (June 29):  Cody Fenwick reports on a press conference intended to defend Dear Leader. On his knowledge of Russian bounties:

[E]ven if we accept McEnany’s claims as true, they’re a damning indictment of the president. They suggest he has no interest in hearing intelligence reports with any nuance in them, and that he insists on not being briefed about facts unless they’re entirely certain. This is a disastrous position for a president to take because presidents must always act with some level of uncertainty. Not being briefed about uncertain matters is a childish and frankly negligent practice for a president to engage in.

One plausible interpretation of McEnany’s defenses of the president is that, while the reports about the bouties were made available to the president in written form, no one ever verbally briefed him on the matter. This, too, would be another damning fact about the president, because it implies his lack of interest in reading prevented him from knowing vital information as he has been in repeated contact with Putin.

On retweeting a supporter shouting "white power" at protesters:

[E]ven if McEnany is telling the truth, it again suggests an ignorant, bumbling president who can watch a video of his own supporters and not even realize that they’re spewing vile racist slogans. This may be better than a president who is intentionally spreading racist vitriol, but it’s still deeply disturbing and disqualifying for the office.

On plans to address the rising health crisis:

Once again, this message — put out by the White House press secretary — reflected a president who is disengaged, ignorant of the risks, and unwilling to put in the effort it would take to acknowledge and address a major crisis. Instead, he seems to be hoping everything will just work itself out without his having to make any sacrifices or work hard at all.

Update (July 31):  A story by Katherine Eban causing a stir, but are we really surprised a plan for national testing for coronavirus got scrapped?

Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of [the son-in-law's] team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. "The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy," said the expert.

Update (August 1):  David Atkins calls the decision on testing a crime against humanity--genocide.

No word is perfect, but the crime must have a name that fits the monumental scope of its evil. It must describe what actually happened. And what happened is that the president and his son-in-law deliberately allowed 140,000 (and counting) Americans to die of a pandemic, because it would mostly kill off their political opponents. Because it would kill off mostly poor people of color. Because they thought they could gain an upper hand by blaming opposing governors. But they thought it would advantage them politically.

Update (August 4):  Former consultant Stuart Stevens has come to the realization that the GOP never had any values. The rise of Dear Leader is simply the triumph of the party's dark side over its supposed ideals.

[I]t’s all about race. The Republican Party is a white party.

Stevens' solution is to "burn [them] to the ground and start over".

Update (September 5):  Two headlines highlight, yet again, what a fucking piece of shit we're dealing with.

10 Of The Wildest And Wackiest Conspiracy Theories Pushed By [Fuckface] This Week

Fox Reporter Snaps Back As [Dear Leader] Demands Her Firing For Confirming War Dead Story

Update (October 5):  Even though he's hospitalized with COVID-19, Fuckface can't resist propagandizing his "strength" by taking a drive to wave to supporters outside the hospital. Alex Henderson quotes Dr. James Phillips.

Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential "drive-by" just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by [Dear Leader] to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.

Secret Service agents are pissed.

That should never have happened…. The frustration with how we're treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this, though. We're not disposable.

Update (October 6):  Defying common sense by leaving the hospital early, Fuckface immediately removes his mask at the White House putting even more staff at risk. Joy Reid:

I am speechless. I am stunned. I have to be honest with you, I’m disgusted by what I just saw.

Update (November 15):  This is the piece of shit 73 million people voted for.

ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills today when they tried attacking the people at the ... Rally, because those people aggressively fought back. Antifa waited until tonight, when 99% were gone, to attack innocent #MAGA People. DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!

Impeachment Part Two

Amanda Marcotte admits Dear Leader is correct about one thing--if more people are able to vote, Republicans will lose. Fuckface has threatened to withhold federal funding from states that pursue mail-in ballots.

What he's doing now isn't just as bad as what he did to Ukraine — it's much worse, since he's directly attacking American citizens and their constitutional right to vote.

Marcotte knows he won't ever be convicted, but concludes a second impeachment is necessary.

[W]e know one thing about the first impeachment: It worked. It blew up [von Clownstick's] scheme to blackmail the Ukrainian president, and exposed the fraudulent nature of the conspiracy theory against Biden.

Travis Gettys notes that Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman anticipated this very scenario.

[I]mpeachment witness Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law professor, testified during the trial that [Dear Leader's] request for assistance from Ukraine was similar to him asking a state’s governor to perform a favor in exchange for disaster assistance.

Goldman tweeted:

In fact, it was a hypothetical designed to show how absurd that would be. The absurd has sadly become reality.

Update (May 26):  Fuckface is indignant over being fact-checked on Twitter over his lies about voting by mail. Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist explains:

I think that the president wants to set us up so that there can be a conversation about the legitimacy of an election that he is looking to lose. That is a really unfortunate thing. That's not how we do democracy here in the United States, and we need to be ready to respond to that forcefully.

So, is that a second article for impeachment part two?

Update (May 27):  Matthew Rozsa argues Dear Leader's threat to "close down" Twitter shows his utter contempt for freedom of speech. Rozsa quotes Laurence Tribe:

The threat by [Fuckface von Clownstick] to shut down social media platforms that he finds objectionable is a dangerous overreaction by a thin-skinned president. Any such move would be blatantly unconstitutional under the First Amendment. That doesn't make the threat harmless, however, because the president has many ways in which he can hurt individual companies, and his threat to do so as a way of silencing dissent is likely to chill freedom of expression and will undermine constitutional democracy in the long run.

Article three?

Update (May 28):  Fuckface signed an executive order (funny how fast he can act when something affects him personally) that would leave companies like Twitter liable for statements users publish. ACLU responds:

This order, if issued, would be a blatant and unconstitutional threat to punish social media companies that displease the president.

The president has no authority to rewrite a congressional statute with an executive order imposing a flawed interpretation of Section 230 [of the Communications Decency Act].

Ironically, [Dear Leader] is a big beneficiary of Section 230. If platforms were not immune under the law, then they would not risk the legal liability that could come with hosting [his] lies, defamation, and threats.

Update (June 1):  Amanda Marcotte points out the Twitter flap is just more hypocricy.

It's always been obvious that for [Dear Leader] and other conservatives who whine about "political correctness," the entire concept of freedom of speech had nothing to do with the constitutional bar on government censorship. It was always about asserting their presumed privilege to say bigoted, stupid or false things with no pushback or correction from other people using their own free-speech rights.

Update (June 2):  Bill Barr continues the attack on mail voting by lying his ass off about counterfeit ballots. Michael Li:

It's hard to see Barr's comments as something other than laying the groundwork for casting doubt about the election after November. That's why it's important that we all push back.

Update (June 5):  Anne Applebaum thinks authoritarianism is a real threat in the U.S. as certain politicians become desparate to hold on to power.

In a lot of ... countries that cease to be democracies, what comes next is the attempt to steal an election, and what I hope all Americans will be focused on over the next several months is will [Dear Leader] and will the Republican Party collaborate in an attempt to steal this election?

Will they try to change the rules? Will they mess around with distance voting? Will they, you know, exacerbate the problems caused by the pandemic to prevent people from voting?

Do they value democracy in America enough to allow a real election to go through and to allow themselves to lose? I think there will be a few people that will break out of it. I’m doubtful as to whether we can rely on the party leadership.

Update (June 22):  Still laying the groundwork, without any evidence, to dispute his likely loss.

RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!

Update (June 29):  Fred Hiatt argues Dear Leader has committed four impeachable offenses since he was aquitted by the Senate in February: "the willful, knowing endangerment of the American people for selfish political ends" during the pandemic; ordering "federal law enforcement officers to violate the First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters to enable a photo op near the White House"; "a rampage of retribution against anyone who told the truth to House investigators last fall"; and giving his approval of concentration camps for Muslims in China. I guess I would have to ask--only four?

Update (July 19):  Fuckface is still insisting mail-in ballots "rig the election". Will he accept the results in November?

I have to see.

Update (July 27):  Nothing will come of it, of course, but Fred Hiatt seems to have expanded his list: the police attacks in Portland; abuse of appointment power; ignoring Russian bounties; trying to use influence to bring a golf tournament to his property; Roger Stone; disparaging mail in voting to disrupt the election.

And Amanda Marcotte suggests the Portland situtation alone justifies a second impeachment.

Ultimately, there's no way to know for certain how impeachment hearings would play out politically.

What is known, however, is the morality of this situation. What [Fuckface] is doing is illegal and immoral. It's incumbent on those who actually care about the safety of Americans to do whatever they can to stop his cynical campaign of violence against citizens who are exercising their free speech rights.

Trees, Humans and Climate

Bob Berwyn reports on a study published in Science:

Most trees alive today won't be able to survive in the climate expected in 40 years, [lead author Tim] Brodribb said. The negative impacts of warming and drying are already outpacing the fertilization benefits of increased carbon dioxide.

And a study published by PNAS finds that as many as 3 billion people could face inhospitable temperatures by 2070.

[F]or millennia, human populations have resided in the same narrow part of the climatic envelope available on the globe, characterized by a major mode around 11°C to 15°C [52 F to 59 F] mean annual temperature.

[I]n a business-as-usual climate change scenario, the geographical position of this temperature niche is projected to shift more over the coming 50 [years] than it has moved [in the past 6000 years].

[I]n the absence of migration, one third of the global population is projected to experience a [mean annual temperature] >29°C [84 F] currently found in only 0.8% of the Earth’s land surface.

Update (May 12):  Robert Hunziker points to a study published in Science Advances on dangerous "wet bulb temperture" (TW) conditions. There is an upper limit to the combination of heat and humidity under which humans can survive.

Climate models project the first 35°C TW occurrences by the mid-21st century. However, a comprehensive evaluation of weather station data shows that some coastal subtropical locations have already reported a TW of 35°C and that extreme humid heat overall has more than doubled in frequency since 1979.

Systemic Change

Amy Westervelt  discusses the limits of individual actions to solve the climate emergency.

We have seen temporary environmental benefits from the current lockdown. Emissions are projected to fall by between roughly 5% and 8% this year. But they are just that: temporary.

Carbon dioxide emissions reductions are a result of global lockdowns ― not the result of considered environmental policies ― and as such they have required huge, unsustainable levels of sacrifice.

These temporary reductions would need to be sustained for years to make a real difference.

The COVID-19 pandemic shows more clearly than ever that individual action to tackle the climate crisis will never be enough without a parallel systemic change focused on emissions reductions. It’s not an either-or situation: Individual action and systemic change are both required to move the needle on climate change.

Update (June 15):  Carl Pope reports on the European Union's plans to stimulate the economy while taking action on climate change.