America 'vs' coronavirus: an intuition nightmare

Ed Yong calls America's continued coronavirus mistakes "an intuition nightmare." He notes that many things of intuition that can lead to classical informal logical fallacies have done that here, such as follow the herd availability heuristics. Others would fall more under the Kahnemann/Tversky "fast thinking," a keystone of behavioral psychology, which I have blogged about before with the coronavirus and Dan Ariely.

Yong gets ready to introduce key points with this.

Following these impulses was simpler than navigating a web of solutions, staring down broken systems, and accepting that the pandemic would rage for at least a year.

These conceptual errors were not egregious lies or conspiracy theories, but they were still dangerous. They manifested again and again, distorting the debate around whether to stay at home, wear masks, or open colleges. They prevented citizens from grasping the scope of the crisis and pushed leaders toward bad policies. And instead of overriding misleading intuitions with calm and considered communication, those leaders intensified them. The country is now trapped in an intuition nightmare: Like the spiraling ants, Americans are walled in by their own unhelpful instincts, which lead them round and round in self-destructive circles.

Yong goes on to note "serial monogamy" of looking at one part of a multi-part solution at a time and no more, false dichotomies (I the repeated citer of Idries Shah put this under larger "twosiderism) and other issues.

Magical thinking, explored in more detail at point 6? As I told Yong on Twitter:

.@edyong209 Magical thinking goes WELL beyond #coronavirus and is as much a part of the American cultural DNA as is Serb nationalists' mythmaking over Kosovo. https://t.co/4zRaMNt3AE

— Again: Fuck Jesse Ventura & his lying cult 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) September 10, 2020

There you go. Reactivity vs proactivity and other things round out the list.

Yong next notes the exploding university problem, discussed in my COVID briefs for this week (he wrote the piece before the blowout effects of Sturgis were known, I think) and then moves by citing Thanksgiving and Christmas travel and what that's likely to do.

He wraps up by returning to magical thinking. While being careful not to give antivaxxers fuel, he notes that many Americans have an almost naive faith in the power of vaccines.

Instead of solving social problems, the U.S. uses techno-fixes to bypass them, plastering the wounds instead of removing the source of injury—and that’s if people even accept the solution on offer.

It's part of what I call salvific technologism, or related, and also ties into his single-issue thinking.

Again, read the whole thing, not just this summary.

Wingnuts spar in Texas Lege SD30 forum

A forum for Republican candidates for state Senate District 30 in Gainesville had multiple bits of demagoguery by rule-of-law flouting salon owner Shelley Luther, state Rep. Drew Springer approaching the edge of sanity on marijuana before embracing his inner Pander Bear, and Denton Mayor Chris Watts whiffing on some chances to separate himself from the crowd, though nailing one for the wingnuts. Two lesser candidates, Nocona business owner Craig Carter and Decatur software developer Andy Hopper, were also at the event. One of them, Hopper, worked to out-wingnut Luther, and claimed he was there.

Notes from the event are below. Luther: Says Texas should “abolish abortion,” ignoring that a thing called the Supreme Court exists, and that it said no earlier this year to a “slicing” passed by last year’s Lege.

Springer: Calls what the city of Austin had done with its police department “terrible.”

Watts: With 12 years on the Denton City Council, he claims to not be a politician. 

First question asks about property taxes. Doesn’t ask what will be done to replace them.

Some candidates mentioned “consumption tax” in their original statements. Andy Hopper honestly said that his consumption tax was a 7 percent sales tax, on top of the current 8.25 percent. Luther seemed to indicate that people without kids in school should be exempt from school property taxes. Springer, a good capitalist except when being a socialist, claimed that 10 percent appraisal hikes, in places like the Metroplex, were NOT capitalist when of course they are.

Watts noted that a consumption tax, if it targeted things not covered by the current sales tax, such as food and medicines, would hit a lot of people hard. He said 80 percent of people could pay more than they do now. And, per the Trib, which reported on the latest attempt to raise the sales tax in last year's Lege, the issue would take a two-thirds vote. Springer, who's in the Lege, knows that's not happening. Even with his day job as a "rainmaker" to cut corporate appraisals (which, interestingly, was mentioned by none of the other four), he has to have a greater sense of realism than that.

More here from Chris Hooks at Texas Monthly on last year's attempt to increase the sales tax and call it a "consumption tax." Now, Drew's been in the Lege long enough, he knows a higher sales tax is regressive. Are the others blank-check Kool-Aid drinkers, or what?

Second question was about prison reform. Luther joked about liberals and going to jail, while ignoring that she had gotten a GoFundMe started before her court appearance. She claimed that county jail was letting out rapists and murderers. She also wanted county jails to do vocational rehabilitation. She went there again on rural schools and freedom from some state issues, saying “we need to keep Planned Parenthood away from our schools.”

Springer, on the prison issue, said he supported a issue in last year’s legislature that would have moved possession of under two ounces of marijuana from a class B to a class C misdemeanor. However, he spoiled this by talking about “defending our monuments” as one of three Legislature priorities for next year. And later, he said his version of “constitutional carry” included eliminating gun-free zones. Later on, Springer said that cutting property taxes and replacing them with consumption taxes would make Ill Eagles pay their fair share, ignoring that many illegal immigrants may own property and at the same time, because of fear of law, they don’t appeal appraisals.

Hopper said he opposed a UNESCO vision for the Alamo, apparently referring to Land Commish Pee Bush’s ideas for redeveloping the Alamo.

Watts, the second candidate to speak on this issue, said that the legislature needed to address the governor’s power to issue executive orders that had no time limits, and needed to look at having some trigger for a special session of the Legislature, if nothing else.

Under economic development, Luther said Texas needed to be like South Dakota and “just keep it open,” ignoring that this year’s version of the annual Sturgis rally had contributed to hundreds of thousands of coronavirus cases nationally. She then basically claimed that god had opened this door for her to run.

Hopper did his Pander Bear by saying, in response to an audience question, that the StartleGram’s Bud Kennedy called him “the most extreme candidate in the race.” He made his claim to this by mentioning Trump by name in both his opening and closing statements, along with Trump’s “drain the swamp” slogan.

The wingnuts popped up in audience questioning, too. An antivaxxer parent asking about mandatory vaccinations spoke up. All five candidates had degrees of support for parental choice on vaccines.

One winner from the debate was not there. Democrat Jacob Minter may have less to worry about Watts distinguishing himself from wingnuts enough to try to get some Democrats to do “strategic voting” for him in the special election. The question is whether or not five Republicans will split the vote enough for an unknown Democrat to make the inevitable runoff in a Senate district that is less than 30 percent Democrat. (Fallon took 74 percent of the vote in 2018, and that was against a ConservaDem opponent endorsed by the Snooze! Before that, previous officeholder Craig Estes took more than 85 percent in 2012 and 2014.) But, even if he makes the runoff, his likelihood of winning the general election is between slim and none.

 

UPDATE, Sept. 19: Christofascist Tim Dunn has given Shelley Luther a $1 million loan. Loans like this are even more interesting than donations, which of course can't be done in this amount. Loans can be held over a candidate's head if they're elected. It's no surprise that it's targeted at what Dunn, an antimasker etc., called the "Austin Swamp" over Gov. Strangeabbott's tepid coronavirus orders. It's also funny to listen to Springer blast Empower Texas. Having not had primary opponents in recent House runs, he and Empower/Dunn/Mucus could do a Kabuki dance around each other, while in reality, there's really not much difference between them, other than Springer's willingness to play inside baseball. (Drew's conflict of interest in working to get business property appraisals whacked has been called out before by Empower, but relatively tepidly.)

Texas Progressives talk BLM peacefulness, important obits, more

This corner of the Texas Progressives has split off important national news from state and local items this week, and there's plenty of the former to discuss. BLM and policing, peacefulness in protests and guns on "both" sides (there's actually more than two), and more are all in the hopper.

BLM and related issues

Repeat after me: 93 percent of Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful. And, less than 93 percent of either alt-right or cop reactions are. Sleepy Joe Biden thinks that the way we fix policing is MORE federal money. And, you wonder why I don't vote Dem?

Trump has blamed black "thugs" for ongoing violence in Baltimore. Rather, per Pro Publica, a five-year semi-regular "blue flu" after Freddie Gray seems to be the culprit. It's a long read and worth it, because of what police are doing now. Cops get mad over funding cuts, not over bad cops that lead to those cuts. One of the oldest stories in the book.

No mention by Trump of cops continuing to have love for white thugs.

"Get out of jail free" cards only exist in Monopoly, but get out of traffic tickets free cards exist if you have buddies in a police union.

Speaking of black and white? If you want stars on your shoulders and you're Black, one bit of advice. Don't join the Marines.

At the same time, on the "peacefulness"? Michael Forest Reinoehl's life is the latest reminder of why I don't glorify so-called "antifa" and why you should stop writing blank checks to them too. I had previously written about Garrett Foster here in Texas. His life in general was more exemplary than Reinoehl's, but he chose on multiple occasions to bring an AR-15 to protests. The last time, he chose to confront an apparently deliberately aggressive driver and got himself killed.

State elections

Breaking: Texas' 14th Appeals Court rules in favor of Libertarian plaintiffs on their ballot access case the state appealed from district court, largely upholds their TRO, and says that SoS Ruth Hughs cannot block from the ballot ANY third party candidate who refused to pay the HB 2504 fees. Details:

The Court ORDERS that Defendant Hughs is temporarily enjoined from refusing to certify third-party nominees for the general-election ballot on the grounds that the nominee did not pay a filing fee or submit a petition in lieu thereof at the time of filing or at any other time.

NOTE: This is only for 2020, though. And, the Texas Supreme Court, in its own ruling against the Texas GOP's cock-block of Libertarians last week, seem to indicate that, on the permanent plane, it believes HB 2504's fees are constitutional.

National elections

The Biden-Trump battle comes down to the suburbs. Politico claims neither has a good clue.

Good news for Biden if he's considered the debate underdog? But, it's duopoly. Since this is the worst election in a century among the two duopoly candidates, per my poll, I won't be watching. Kabuki theater.

The snooping-spying world

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals says the dragnet National Security Agency spying revealed by Edward Snowden is unconstitutional. Does the government appeal?

A couple of judges have, very rightfully, rejected their police departments' request for "geofence warrants." The story dives in further on just how much Google et al help police spy on Americans, which also relates to current protest. (Side note? If you're going go video protests, etc., that you're at? Be smart enough to get a burner phone if you're at a protest hotspot. Burner social media accounts probably aren't bad either.)

Speaking of smartphones? The disgustingness of the whole Amazon driver world on display.

Other issues

Anti-gun control wingnuts think active shooter drills are step 1 in keeping kids in school safe from guns. But studies now confirm what was suspected by many: they have major mental health issues.

Yes, social media uses tool oriented to our subconscious psychology to try to keep us online and active. But, so do supermarkets. In both cases, we're more than just neurochemistry and more than just a subconscious or unconscious. On social media, if you read one book about it in the next year, make it The Twittering Machine. Per author Seymour, I plead guilty to using it to waste time at times. What that says about larger American culture and the vapidness of work has been answered, in part, by David Graeber and others.

Speaking of Graeber?

SocraticGadfly had three "critical" RIPs of people in political, cultural and social news recently, most recently with Green Party activist Kevin Zeese, then before that with heterodox anthropologist and economics critic David Graeber and first with secular humanist leader Ed Brayton.

I also say RIP Lou Brock.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission warns that climate change could affect the financial markets. It's disgusting that this is what it might take to wake up some Rethugs, but that's better than nothing — if it does wake up that many.

Texas Progressives: Coronavirus, Week 23 briefs

This corner of the Texas Progressives recommends starting with this thread on Twitter by Andy Slavitt.

Dr. Peter Hotez gives a dozen reasons why he's worried about releasing a COVID-19 vaccine through an emergency use authorization (EUA). More on that here, as Stephen Hahn becomes ever more of a Trump toady. It's not just having no political savvy or backbone; he's entered toady territory.

Not to worry, says The Atlantic. Drug companies are banding together to resist political pressure and Trump's own Operation Warp Speed guy says no vaccine will be available until the middle of next year.

Sadly, someone like New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer still doesn't seem to be getting that message, or else he's focused on NYT page clicks first, science second. Twice in the last month, his "Elk" e-newsletters in my email have focused on things he claims will happen this year.

Meanwhile, even as the lethality level of COVID drops (which is to be expected, wingnuts; after all, the more vulnerable die first), colleges are the new superspreader sites. And, yes, blame the students. They're 18 or older and shouldn't need parental or collegiate nannies. For frats throwing maskless parties? Take a page from Dean Wormer and revoke their charters.

Coronavirus conspiracy theorists are as sick, no, vicious (they're not mentally ill in a technical sense of "sick") as Seth Rich conspiracy theorists.

COVID continues to hit state and local budgets hard. The Tex-ass Legislature with its banana republic every other year schedule is likely going to be a shitstorm.

Latest on Ed Butowsky, Ty Clevenger et al sliming Seth Rich, his family, his memory (UPDATE: FOX CASE SETTLED)

Ed Butowsky was facing legal sanctions over willfully telling lies in his lawsuit against David Folkenflik and NPR. One problem with NPR's filing, IMO. If there were any way of looping him into it, they should have asked for sanctions against Ed's legal beagle, Ty Clevenger. You know, the sack o shite Ty Clevenger who has a boatload of unpaid legal sanctions and other black marks.

BIG BIG BIG Update Nov. 24 on a related lawshit: Fox has settled its lawsuit by Aaron Rich and the rest of Seth's family. Family statement here. Malia Zimmerman no longer at Fox, apparently fired, per CNN. More here, noting that Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs were scheduled to be deposed soon. Actual legal papers say dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be reopened by the Riches unless the defendants do something egregious. Beyond that, that's it for public consumption.

But, NOT it for informed guesstimates. Michael Isikoff now reports it's likely Fox shelled out seven figures. Also note that Fox was, contra The Donald's new like for OANN and Newsmax, indirectly doing his bidding to the end:

Although the settlement terms were soon agreed to (after talks started in September), the sources say, Fox News arranged to delay any announcement until this week — three weeks after the presidential election.

Ouch. Disgusting but not surprising.

Now, back to the original post.

Unfortunately, there's not a way to make that happen under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, the basis of this particular filing.

Ty Clevenger

BUT, per the BIG NEW UPDATES below, the sanctions imposes, starting in his suit against NPR and David Folkenflik, may have forced Ed to fold his tents not only on that case but others.

Ty as well as Ed DOES (did) face a sanctioning claim under Rule 11, in a sanctions claim from the same case. Rulings are expected in 2-4 weeks. (But, update: Ty dodged that bullet.) Meanwhile, as yet more stories come out, in the middle of, and wake of, the RNC, Ed, Ty et al look worse than ever.

Fox News, Ed Butowsky & Ty Clevenger look more DISGUSTING by the day on #SethRich #ConspiracyTheory As do Elizabeth Lea Vos, Jared Beck, Suzi3D, Kim Dotcom & MANY OTHERS, incl alleged outside-the-box stenos of Blumenthal, Ames, Maté, Taibbi if "believers" https://t.co/RcvbvZ8d4p

— I come to Bari Weiss, not to praise her 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) August 26, 2020

UPDATE, Sept. 21: The Rule 37 sanctions have been leveled. Butowsky owes NPR $55K and change in attorneys' fees plus $10K in punitive sanctions fees. Meat of the discussion starts on page 36 of the PDF.

 

UPDATE, Sept. 29: A bunch of defendants have been removed from another Butowsky suit, and without Ed or his mouthpiece objecting. SMH

Back to original.

More detail: NPR is asking for a motion for summary judgment (YES!) based on previous stupidity by Butowsky (which arguably is previous stupidity, passive mood, by Clevenger).

Unfortunately, the magistrate in the case has recommended against Rule 11 sanctions. (This is likely to be appealed to the district judge level.)

And, stand by for news! As in, about another week!

The Court has rendered its determination on #NPR's Rule 37 Motion for Sanctions. The Order will be unsealed on September 15th. Stay tuned. https://t.co/ICsb1L7Lok

— Stuart Blaugrund (@StuartBlaugrund) August 26, 2020

I'm standing by. And may be for a while.

Ed has asked for another month's delay because Poor Ty has to do intensive outpatient rehab for antidepressant withdrawal. Where's your moral fiber, Ty, on either not withdrawing with ease, or on taking them in the first place?

Meanwhile, Aaron Rich, in his lawsuit over this issue, wants some recordings of Butowsky made by Matt Couch to be required to be publicly released.

And, the Hannity and Lou Dobbs deposition news has made the media big time now at Daily Beast.

 

BIG NEW UPDATE, Nov. 12: Ed, AND Matthew Couch, are asking for a 45-day pause to enter settlement negotiations with Aaron Rich.

 

UPDATE, Oct. 16: Ed and Ty have agreed to have their lawsuit against Michael Isikoff, Verizon et al dismissed WITH PREJUDICE. 

UPDATE, Oct. 19: Ed and Ty have folded tents all over the place. Lawsuit against NPR and Folkenflik? Dismissed with prejudice. Anderson Cooper and many et als? Dismissed with prejudice after recommendation of magistrate on venue issues. Stuart Blaugrund is probably right that Ed didn't want to pay $65K in sanctions on the NPR case, and, unlike Ty being a scofflaw on state court sanctions, this is federal. He/they probably knew that sanctions were coming elsewhere.

Suit against Doug Wigdor? Dismissed with prejudice. Here we have Ty talking about how Ed's allegedly (ALLEGEDLY, TY) near-fatal heart attack forced him to end these suits. 

WRONG, Ty.

There's this thing called a "continuance." You've filed zillions of them JUST in Butowsky's various lawsuits. Instead, per Stuart, most likely you and Ed saw the new music and didn't want to dance.

NO sympathy here. Surprised you didn't once again cite your own antidepressant addiction. Referenced, with hindsight by me, on his blog July 22, yet, even though he knows people have seen his filings since then, not admitted for his cultists. (Actually, given that most his posts have zero comments, he has no more cultists than I do, but I'm not a cultist person.)

I haven’t blogged much lately, in part due to a medical problem (not COVID, thankfully) that slowed me down considerably …

Whatever happened to willpower and personal responsibility, Ty?

The reality is that Ty hasn't blogged at ALL in two and one-half months. He's probably even more depressed over having to surrender. And, all his untruthful claims about the FBI stonewalling him will finish turning to dust in the face of the non-cultist public soon enough.

And, could you have been worried for yourself as well as Ed, that in one of these cases, you would face your own Chapter 11 sanctions? Chapter 11 in this case would mean moral bankruptcy, not bankruptcy. Per Stuart, this may have been something you couldn't afford either, as you couldn't skip on these like on your state sanctions.

 

Oct. 26: And, Ed and Ty's attempt to treat the woman allegedly their own witness, Ellen Ratner, as a hostile witness IN A SECOND DEPOSITION, not at trial, has also gone bye-bye. 

Related update, Dec. 1: NPR, Verizon, Rich family, et al have moved for Matthew Couch's suit against them to be dismissed for dilatory service process. Apparently Couch chose not to participate in the Butowsky settlement talks.

Update, Dec. 16: Losing all these cases hasn't prevented Clevenger from pursuing other mendaciousness in court.

Texas Progressives talk elections, third parties, more

There is no major new coronavirus related news in the last week (fortunately, in general, other than people thinking we'll have a vaccine this year continuing to see their hopes diminish), but enough minor news that the Texas Progressives Roundup will have a small split between coronavirus and other news. Also, there's enough national news rounded up in this corner that it will be split off and run Thursday.

Elections

The Trib discusses how the state GOP continues to fight expanded voting by mail while Trump continues to push it.

Off the Kuff tries to follow the back and forth of the Republican attempts to prevent Harris County from sending vote by mail applications to all its voters.

Gadfly noted Texas Greens who refused to pay HB 2504 filing fees could get back on the ballot.

At the Monthly, CD Hooks notes that, even if polls claim Texas is a battleground state, neither Trump nor Biden is treating it that way. Sidebar: Hooks notes some Beto-stanners have already formed a "Beat Abbott PAC." Texas Dems who want to win an election probably should hope it doesn't push the nomination of Robert Francis O'Rourke himself.

Other political

Therese Odell, daughter of a military family, cannot hold back her fury at Donald Trump's words about people who serve in the armed forces.

John Coby is glad to see a racist assistant Attorney General lose his job.

Other matters

The privately built border wall section is doomed to fail.

The ACLU says many school districts' dress codes are racist.

Texas Monthly appears to show its colors in its "future of beef" story by calling lab meat "fake meat" on first reference, though the body of the piece is better. But it then gets worse again, cutting blank checks to CAFO feedlots and (presumably) ignoring the methane input of natural-gas based fertilizers for corn in some of its claims.

As told by a Vietnamese-American, Black Lives Matter is a divisive subject among Houston's Vietnamese community.

A coral reef under federal protection in the Texas Gulf may get expanded in protected size.

RIP Wick Allison. Despite being from Highland Park, and despite being former publisher of the National Review, he made D Magazine a generally good sounding board for all things Dallas, and there were no wingnut politics in it. (There may have been some broadly conservative things, but that's different.) I met Wick when he was kicking the tires on buying Today Newspapers in south suburban Dallas in 2009, with the idea of adding it to his People Newspapers stable. Sadly, he didn't. I might have been at D Mag today myself, had he done so.

Reform Austin provides an update on genetically modified mosquitoes.

Eric Berger walks us through the process of forecasting and responding to a potentially devastating hurricane like Laura.

Ted Rall, with assist from Greenwald, is stupider than normal

Ted Rall attacks Jeff Goldberg's reporting on what Trump said about Marines being losers. There are several things that Ted arguably, or actually, gets wrong. One arguable is the question of whether this was a proper use of anonymous sourcing or not. (I also include the AP piece largely supporting Goldberg.) By the minimal standards of today's MSM, it certainly was, and almost certainly if we go beyond minimal standards.

Second, re McCain, yes, maybe he did start the war of words. But, two wrongs don't make a right, first. Second, the main thrust of Goldberg's article was the comments in France at Belleau Wood. The battle with McCain was the necessary context.

Third? Joining the armed forces for non-career soldiers isn't "transactional" in the way that Trump critics meant. Of course, this is the Ted Rall who drew an editorial cartoon like the one at left, and has opened himself all the way up to getting his ass kicked all over the place on this issue, and very rightly so.

Fourth, speaking of necessary context? Rall doesn't link to Goldberg, nor the AP piece largely confirming him. Or the Fox clip. Shock me. This is Ted Rall, of course.

Rall does cite Greenwald, who claims that the "confirmed" means no such thing. Glenn himself, though, also doesn't link directly to Goldberg, or directly to the AP, or Fox.

Speaking of Fox? Brett fucking Baier called out Trump himself for trying to practice "cancel culture" on Jennifer Griffin.

None of this has stopped Rall from being even more stupid with a double-down new cartoon, at right.

Fifth, as for Trump's relatively restrained approach to military interventionism? He's abrogated the Iran deal, although shrank from war so far. His germophobic background appears to including worries about blood. As for him and Kim Jong Un, I and others outside the duopoly find this laughable, not just the bipartisan foreign policy establishment. Rall also ignored Trump lobbing cruise missiles at Syria, selling new arms to Ukraine and other things.

Sixth, the various reportings, without identifying people by name, were not "totally dark" anonymous, either.

Seventh, on Greenwald? Attacking Goldberg for supporting the invasion of Iraq when you did too? Huge self-own.

Both Rall and Greenwald are writing opinion pieces while claiming they're news analysis.

RIP to Green Party leader Kevin Zeese

Heard about this just an hour or two ago via Ballot Access News. And here's a brief on Antiwar.

And, as with David Graeber, no, it's "not too soon" to have an RIP that is qualified in its praise.

And I have got the receipts.

First, last fall, Reese and partner Margaret Flowers, like Rainer Shea, and Aaron Maté and all the other allegedly outside the box foreign policy stenos, indicated that they believed people in Hong Kong simply couldn't fight for civil liberties on their own but had to be getting incited by the U.S. government.

Related? Zeese claimed that allegations of mass detention camps and other Chinese actions against Uyghurs were simply untrue. Reality? Internal Chinese documents, never denied by Beijing, had leaked about this almost a year ago. (I have a separate blog post on this coming up.) And, his Popular Resistance site strawmanned this by claiming that people calling out China were all claiming they were doing genocide, when such claims were NOT made. (Some people have claimed that, as in Tibet, Beijing is practicing cultural genocide, and I see at least a degree of truth in that.) And yes, it's not just Zeese. Flowers coauthored stuff with him, per that first link in this paragraph. It's also a good piece for chronicling the political journey of Max Blumenthal and perhaps wondering why he says what he does on Grayzone. (Note: I don't agree with all of its claims, though; especially on Assad's Syria, the situation is more complex than it presents.)

Here's another, where they "go there" by claiming the only Uyghur radicals fighting Beijing are Islamic militants. Zeese and Flowers also write blank-check support for Beijing's reaction to the coronavirus. Here's another by the duo on Hong Kong which falsely claims "Hong Kong is a part of China." Until 2047 and the expiration of the Basic Law, I do not consider Hong Kong part of China.

I have consistently rejected such twosiderism, whether from the stenos, or from Greens involved enough in politicis they should know better. And, twosiderism, with all of its problems, it is. I mean, I can condemn American imperialism and American treatment of minorities and at the same time criticize Chinese imperialism and Chinese treatment of its minorities. It's really not that hard.

And, over the last 12-18 months, this has been pissing me off more and more. Whether it's Uyghur detention camps, pushing countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa into debt peonage over Belt and Road Initiative projects, or racism against Africans, Xi Jinping's China has plenty to answer for, and leftists enabling Xi Jinping Thought aren't helping.

(To a lesser degree, this is true in Venezuela. Yes, the U.S. would like to topple Nicolas Maduro, and yes, Juan Guido is its willing puppet. But, protesting this while whitewashing all the things Maduro has done wrong is unacceptable. Hell, whitewashing Hugo Chavez for not modernizing the Venezuelan oil industry after nationalizing it, and not doing more to diversify the economy, is also wrong.)

Second, I assume Zeese supported Flowers' version of single-payer, which refused to have doctors and hospitals take a haircut and have other reforms, along with getting rid of private insurance. Jill Stein also supports the PHNP version. I've long said doctors and hospitals are approximately one-third of the problem with US health care costs. I've also said that I want neither private individuals and businesses, nor the government, going broke over national health care. In addition, many Europeans say that just getting rid of private insurers won't fix a multitude of cost problems with America's health care system.

Third, while I still think Ian Schlakman was a whiner, and put up to it by Dario Hunter, over this year's dual party line of presidential nominee Howie Hawkins, he, like Zeese and Flowers being from Maryland, makes me wonder just how dysfunctional the Maryland GP is, and how much of that is Zeese's fault.

Fourth? Twittergate over Howie's candidacy. As Howie has drawn lots of flak from other Greens over his stance on Russian election meddling, I wonder if he and Zeese sparred over that, or over China, since he was Howie's press spox.

Credit where credit is due. Zeese long ago did a lot of good work fighting against the War on Drugs. He's done other good work for the Green Party since then. But he, as representative of a class of leftists on foreign policy issues that do as much harm as good, as I see it, was problematic.

Certain Texas Greens could get back on ballot (AND ARE)

A few weeks ago, the Texas Democratic Party got a state appeals court to throw off the ballot three Greens who had refused to pay the extortionate new HB 2504 filing fees. But now, per two updates below, the first an anticipatory and explanatory one, and the second with the actual facts, the Texas Supreme Court has put them back on.

Well, that may have changed, with the Texas Supreme Court ruling against Texas Republicans who made a similar effort against Texas Libertarians, but after the deadline for ballot filings. The ruling was per curiam, with two justices recusing themselves because they have Libertarian opponents Nov. 3.

Contra Kuff, at the end of this piece:

I will say, unless the Libertarians win one of their lawsuits challenging the new statute that mandates a filing fee, which was the basis for all of this legal wrangling, both Rs and Ds will be sure to do this again in 2022, since it is clear that they can knock Libertarians and Greens who don’t pay that fee off the ballot.

Not only are Texas Libertarians in general on the ballot, but Texas Greens who refused to pay filing fees and were cock-blocked by Dems could be back on there themselves, per footnote one in the ruling, which Ballot Access News had referred to, without (weirdly) referencing the actual ruling. I told Kuff this in a comment, including quoting the footnote.

1 This is not to suggest that the court of appeals’ decision to remove the Green Party candidates from the ballot is necessarily beyond review. On September 4, the Attorney General submitted an amicus letter supporting neither party. The Court considered that submission prior to issuing this decision. In its amicus letter, the Attorney General, on behalf of the Secretary of State, represents that “there is still time . . . for the Secretary of State to amend her certification” of the general election ballot. Letter at 8. Thus, there remains the possibility that a party could seek expedited relief in this Court from the court of appeals’ decision to remove Green Party candidates from the ballot.

We'll see if he edits the piece. He probably won't.

I get Kuff being a straight-line party guy, and even a fair bit of a ConservaDem within that. I refuse to accept his past bendings of the truth on some issues, whether by omission or commission.

That said, the Texas Supremes also leave open the idea that in the Dikeman suit, on the main issue, they could rule against the group of Libertarians, like select Greens, who refused to pay the fees. Stay tuned for the appeals court ruling on Dikeman and the inevitable appeal of it.

UPDATE, Sept. 13: Speaking of, the 14th Court of Appeals largely upheld the district court's grant of a TRO in the Dikeman case. Given Footnote 1 from the Supremes above, and the fact that David Bruce Collins et al had indicated that their refusal to pay the fees was based on the district court's Dikeman ruling, as I see it, he, Gruene and Wakely have a good chance of getting back on the ballot. I apparently explained myself to him less than clearly, because he remained doubtful. We'll see if my latest comment shed more light.

And, sadly, as I've said before, the broader federal suit against HB2504 and larger issues won't be heard until next year. 

 

UPDATE, Sept. 15: As I predicted, so the state Supremes have ruled! David Bruce Collins, Kat Gruene and Tom Wakely are back on the ballot.

NOTE: Mainly for the many Greens outside of Texas, but also any inside Tex-ass who think this is a magic button. No. It's ONLY a 2020 ruling. I think. (And, for whatever reason, Richard Winger at Ballot Access News has consistently gotten this wrong from the original state Supremes ruling on, and I'm not the only person to note that he's gotten it wrong.) Well, no, it's an "up to election day every election ruling," per the new update.

UPDATE, Sept. 21: The Supremes' ruling itself is up. Basically, it agrees with what I've said that the Supremes think the law is valid, but, the seven justices go Gov. Strangeabbott in their Jesuitical ruling. They say that Drew Springer didn't say WHEN the fees had to be paid, and THAT is why Greens (and Libertarians, in the earlier ruling) have to be kept on the ballot. It ALSO explains the 14th Appeals Court, in the Dikeman case, removing the "at any time" from the district court's TRO. That, then gets back to the final paragraph in the Supremes' ruling against the Texas GOP, where the high court brings back the "at any time" in another sense, reserving the right to toss any non-fees-paying candidates "at any time."

So, in short, per the Texas Supreme Court? Collins, Gruene and Wakely are "pretend candidates." If any of you all, or Dikeman et al won, Hecht et al would entertain GOP and/or Democratic suits to prevent you from taking office.

That said, it is kind o fun to see Drew Springer getting spanked for not having a date-payable in his bill.

 

Speaking of Springer?

 

Meanwhile, Chuckles Kuffner has officially confirmed himself to be an idiot, from his piece on the ruling.

I had not understood the distinction between mandating that all candidates who compete for the nomination must pay the fee and just mandating that the candidates who actually receive the nomination must pay it.

Uhh, NOMINEES not candidates appears clearly in the first grafs of Springer's bill, HB 2504.

(I)f SCOTX is going to appeal to higher principles in cases like this, which just happen to also align with the desires of the Republican Party, then I’d like to see some evidence that they will err on the side of the voters in a case that doesn’t align with the GOP.

Uhh, the 14th Appeals ruling was in favor of Libertarians and against the GOP. It was partially based on "filed by the GOP too late," but, even if the GOP had filed on time, Hecht et al would have given them the same relief.

 

Try again. Or don't. But, this is all wrong.

NOTE 2: As for that federal suit? While I think the plaintiffs have a puncher's chance on some things, I think they have a snowball's chance in hell on the filing fees.