Why didn't Trump pardon himself? My thoughts

The first thought is the starting point.

And, that's that Trump didn't think himself guilty of any crime. He believes it's "fake news," or more subtly, the student of Norman Vincent Peale believes that if he repeats to himself the mantra that he didn't do anything wrong, it means it's true.

Second? He's relying on any dregs of the "presidential club" that may drip down to him. He did leave a nice note for Status Quo Joe, after all.

Third? He knows that pardons only cover federal crimes, and perhaps fears that a self-pardon, in addition to dumping gas on "no unity" fires of some national Democrats, would remove his Fifth Amendment rights in any state criminal justice system legal actions.

More reasons may be uncovered in the future, but that's my initial take.

A universal coronaviruses vaccine: Possible? Feasible? Realistic?

Given that COVID-19 is just the latest coronavirus-based pandemic, or fear of pandemic, to hit the globe, can we go beyond the current COVID-19 vaccines to create a universal coronavirus jab? Wired explores the possibility. Even if they just, on average, offer 50 percent protection, that would make them somewhat like annual flu vaccines only on a much bigger scale. The question then would be, how much more, per year,  or every 2-3 years, would they have to be tweaked than the annual flu shot?

Also, once you're past pandemic fears, who's going to pay for this? By that, I'm not talking about paying for vaccine development. I'm talking about who's going to pay for annual distribution and administration of an annual COVID vaccine in non-pandemic times? A regular flu shot ain't free, at least not here in the non-national health care USofA, and a universal COVID vaccine would be orders of magnitude more pricey?

Next, back to the first paragraph. I said somewhat like annual flu vaccines. The flu jab, except in an especially off year, offers something like 70 percent protection, not 50 percent. Would a universal COVID vaccine at 50 percent protection be "worth it" on the issue of protection versus the costs of vaccine tweaking for virus evolution? Some virologists and vaccinologists need to weigh in.

Related?

Lawrence Wright has a long piece about COVID-19 variants and vaccine immunity. The whole thing is worth a read, but the shorter version? The UK variant appears to be no problem on the current vaccines, but the South African variant may indeed have more vaccine resistance. On the new Brazilian variant, it's too soon to say, but given anecdotes coming from that country, it's almost certainly more vaccine-resistant. And, it's not just the current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Any COVID vaccine that is mRNA based and targets a virus in the same way they do is vulnerable to having props knocked out from under it if the virus shows fairly rapid evolution.

My off the top of the head hunch is, no, it wouldn't be worth it for vaccinating the general population. Maybe the aged, infirm and other high risk, but not the general population.

Texas Progressives: Status Quo Joe is officially large and in charge

The Lege has started, it faces a budget shortfall that Comptroller Glenn Hegar is surely turd-polishing, and we await seeing just how wingnut it will be this year.

Meanwhile, Texas Democrats are again overpromising. And, somebody besides me is telling them to stop it.

Finally, Texas Monthly must have had a really slow month because it's got not just one, but two, pieces of bullshit in its February issue.

Meanwhile, yes, it's Jan. 20 and Trump is gone, but Trumpism isn't; Joe Biden is here, and Democrat neoliberalism is back.

Let's dig into this week's Roundup.

Texas

The Texas Observer offers its analysis of the new Lege session, and reminds anybody with a brain that if we didn't live in a banana republic with an every other year Legislature, we wouldn't have the worst of national economic slowdowns (see 2010 after the Great Recession).

In Captain Obvious news analysis, the Texas Tribune notes that the bankrupt (morally as well as financially by legal definition) NRA's planned move to Texas will be more a legal than physical one. That said, there's no guarantee the Chapter 11 filing will be approved. And NY State AG Letitia James can appeal if it is. She also can probably seek to bounce some of this to federal court, and ask for that to be heard in the Southern District of New York.

Will last Tuesday be the last Confederate Heroes Day in Tex-ass?  A number of Dem Legiscritters say yes, but, we know how much the Texas Democratic Party continues to overpromise and underdeliver.

Speaking of, the Observer suggests they stop overpromising and instead celebrate what they've done the past few years and build on that.

Off the Kuff takes an early look at voting-related bills that have been filed in the Legislature.

Raise Your Hand Texas asserts there's enough money to fully fund public education.

Texana

Texas Monthly peddles a novella of placebo miracles about a eucalyptus tree that ain't an olive tree in South Texas.

The Monthly, in what must be a slow month, goes on to peddle bullshit about Sanderson being the new Marfa East or something. (No-follow settings on both links; no clickbait assistance from me!) I guess we need to talk about Texas-fried self-Californication or something? (I've been through Sanderson on a return home on one of my trips to Big Bend; it' AIN'T all that or even half of all that.)

North Texas

The protestors over Cooke County's Confederate statue have not given up on trying to get that removed. Sadly, and not for the first time, they're engaging in untruth when they claim Gainesville is the most racist small town in the former Confederate States of America. The fact that the city of Gainesville voted to remove its statue is one refutation. (You too get the "no-follow," Simone Carter.)

National

Racist cops and Army grunts? Say it ain't so. Well, Parler location data on smartphones DOES say it's so.

There is, if you will, a "deep state." It's the unelected, hired-not-nominated, federal bureaucracy, which includes branches such as the national security branch. Nicholas Grossmann notes that the QAnon nutters at the heart of the Capitol insurrection have kicked a deep state beehive. (That said, given racists among the Capitol Police and other things, I'm less certain than him of how dire the consequences may be.)

 

The Facebook-Google incestuous ad sales collusion has been publicly exposed. Thanks, a big thanks to whomever failed to redact Kenny Boy Paxton's legal filing.

Trump's flirtation with a Patriot Party will be a flop, if it even gets off the ground — which it likely won't, says this take.

Noah Horwitz minces no words in claiming treason on Jan. 6, and obviously doesn't know the constitutional meaning of the word "treason." Noah, make sure you learn better at law school if you ain't gradu-ma-wated yet. (I have so commented there; Noah, as do I, have a moderation hold. I don't really care if it posts or not, just that he sees it.)

Independent Political Report talks about the first two (of maybe three?) state Green parties being booted by the national organzation.

Steve Vladeck explains the Insurrection Act.

Rick Casey draws a parallel between Ken Paxton and Earl Warren.

Mean Green Cougar Red worries that things will get worse before they get better.

Yeah, right on a Patriot Party (or MAGA Party, or whatever's next)

Trump's helicopter-fueled fade to black from DC this morning included these not-so-Stentorian words: "Have a good life. We will see you soon."

That said, per yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly hopes to see people soon as head of a new Patriot Party.

Which is to laugh. 

First, this would be as big a clusterfuck as anything else created by Donald J. Trump, especially with no inherited daddy money, let alone daddy tax-dodging loans. His kids would be of no more help.

And, every day further that he delays on this, the more he becomes yesterday's news, especially with no post-presidential Twitter megaphone.

Any Rethuglicans who might be tempted, yet know Trump's weathervane mind, are going to wait for him to take the first official steps. Those include MONEY for ballot access and state-level party formation.

Second? Speaking of state-level party formation? The anti-third party laws in various states, pushed through both by Trump's current Rethuglicans AND Trump's former Democraps, handicap even legit attempt at forming new parties, like the Movement for a People's Party. A Trumpian effort would be binned from the start if it involves Trump's lazy, flighty ass leading it.

The big question is, how much would this hurt Rethuglicans?

Meanwhile, someone like Matt Welch, largely agrees.

UPDATE: Egged on by someone in Arizona, he's still talking about it, but now calling it a "MAGA Party."

And, with that, and per the image, associated with this 2019 story, if Trump thinks he can still MAKE money by blathering about a MAGA party without actually doing anything to start one? He's there in a New York minute, because, as P.T. Barnum knew, "There's a MAGA-sized sucker born every minute."

Alaska Green Party booted; good riddance, but state chair Robert Shields and national GP may be peas in a pod

The Green Party has officially decertified or de-accredited the Alaska state party for violating national affiliation rules by nominating Jesse Ventura instead of Howie Hawkins for president last year. "Going rogue" is right, per this site. The going rogue is even more true as the party also nominated Cynthia McKinney, who has officially been a Libertarian since 2018, as Veep.

State chairman Robert Shields is doubling down on both defiance and lies at the state party Facebook page. He claims the affiliation rule of how state parties must agree to support a nationally nominated candidate is, essentially, a paper legal technicality, and that he had missed it.

Uhh, wrong on all counts.

First, it's far more than a paper legal technicality. It's a keystone of having a national party.

Second, ignorance of the law, or of things like party affiliation standards, is no excuse.

Third, it's a lie. As shown by Shields' own words.

Robert Shields, Chair of the Green Party of Alaska, had this to say regarding the decision: “[Ventura] was an easy choice for independent Alaskans and he is clearly the most competent candidate. Drafting is a proven way to make radical changes to the system.”

Like shooting fish in a barrel. Note that last sentence. Also note this Facebook post.

And, per that same link, it's also bullshit:

If Shields thinks Ike was drafted off the street by a bunch of John Does, he's an even bigger idiot than I thought before. If he thinks he can peddle bullshit like this without being challenged, he's an even bigger grifter than I thought 30 seconds earlier.

Drawing parallels to the Draft Eisenhower movement of 1952, the Green Party of Alaska outlined the following in their official statement: “Only once before in US history has an ordinary citizen been lifted up by the people and elevated to the office of President of the United States. … Over the next decade, the United States of America can emerge as leaders of the fossil-free world and end poverty globally ... To get us there, we need strong leadership at ALL levels and only a trained soldier working side by side with a seasoned advocate can hope to lead the campaign of waging peace in a world at war.”

Shields is also either a real New Agey nutter or else a further grifter off being a fake New Ager, neither of which thrills me.

Shields Facebook messaged me to accuse me of being a troll. He then blocked me from commenting on the state Facebook page. That's of partial parallel to the official national GP Facebook mods censoring me multiple times, hence the latter part of the header for this piece.

Beyond that, I'm beginning to suspect Shields is the Bob Fitrakis of the Alaska Green Party. Yes, putting Jesse on the ticket may have gotten almost twice as many voters as state party members. It was still less than 1 percent. And, doesn't that say something about state party membership?

Finally, is this the start of a "purge," as Shields claims? Rhode Island had long been a paper party, nominating zero candidates for anything in a decade until last year, and sending no delegates to the national convention before endorsing Joe Biden! It deserved the boot. Alaska? I would have backed something less than de-accreditation, if GP bylaws allowed that, but only with the precondition that Shields step down as state chair and agree to never serve again.

As for whether these were two dominoes to ultimately target the Georgia GP? I have written about that, more broadly and less personally, in my first piece for Independent Political Report.

Coronavirus week 41: RFK the loon, new strains, more

We passed 400,000 dead last week, as Fauci's warning about a 9/11 every day almost looks like an understatement, with multiple days this year having more than 4,000 deaths, and curves on both the active case rate and the death rate are accelerating. Globally, we're over 2 million dead now. Within that, China continues to claim less than 5,000 deaths, a claim I find laughable.

SocraticGadfly, in his weekly roundup of coronavirus news for the Texas Progressives roundup, led off with COVIDIOTS in a Love Field baggage carousel and went on to note the airport's and Southwest Airlines' lack of responsiveness.

Researchers report two new strains of coronavirus have evolved here in the US. Both, like the British strain, are more virulent than the original, though neither is more lethal by death rate of those infected. That said, simple math says both will kill more people than the original. If the original strain would have infected 1,000 out of 100,000, and the new strains infect 1,200 out of 100,000, and both have a 1 percent lethality, 12 deaths per 100K is more than 10 deaths per 100K. #Math.

RFK Jr. hates being called an antivaxxer, even though he is. He also hates being called an antimasker, even though he is. Orac gives kudos to Terri Gross, host of NPR's Fresh Air, for having pro-science people on an episode calling Bobby the Spade a spade. Orac also notes RFK Jr is down with anti-5G nuttery and more. He does get one thing wrong, as I told him on Twitter. And, that's that, contra Orac, it's not just TrumpTrain riders signed up for the full panoply of nonsense. Plenty of Greens (the question is, per my blog post about some claiming Jan. 6 was a psyop, HOW many? a plethora, jefe?) are down with all these claims, too.

Trump is once again wrecking the economy (and Mulish Mitch opposing larger stimulus payouts is helping) as unemployment surges again.

Texas beat out California to become the first state to deliver 1 million vaccine doses. But how? Per the Trib, Trump's rollout didn't stiff California on doses. So either Strangeabbott and his minions are genyuses or Cal gov Gavin Newsom is a fuck-up, or six of one, half dozen of the latter. (I'll take that.)

If there's a battle over truth, whether over vaccine distribution or something else, between Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, my money is on Jenkins.

The U.S. State Department claims that researchers from Wuhan Institute of Virology had something that looks like COVID in the fall of 2019. (True, or US government lies about coronavirus to counter Xi Jinping Thought lies in China?)

Dr. Peter Hotez says only the vaccine can save us now.

Pardon Snowden and/or Assange? ONLY with preconditions

This leftist homey doesn't write blank checks, and this tweet to Greenwald should say it all:

I will support a pardon for Snowden ONLY if .@Snowden answers these questions which you, Glenn Greenwald, never asked him.https://t.co/j2nDpjFaCy
I will support a pardon for Assange ONLY if he tells us what he knew and when he knew it about the source of the SVR-stolen emails

— Your Glenn Greenwald pouty tomato face 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) January 18, 2021

First, Snowden. 

The questions Glenn failed to ask (and Snowden has failed to answer despite being tagged by me on Twitter many times), are from my review of his book.

Short version here. Go to the review for more in-depth versions, with explainers and my tentative answers.

• Question 1: Why didn’t Snowden approach him? 
• Question 2. Snowden talks about cooling his heels in Hong Kong while getting people to bite. What journalists DID he talk to besides Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman and Ewan MacAskill? 
• Question 3: What is he not revealing about his time in Hong Kong before meeting G & P? 
• Question 4 goes straight to Snowden: If he did get other serious nibbles, did they not pan out? Did he cut them out? Why?
• Question 5, or really, a series of related questions: What does he think about Poitras and Greenwald (actually Greenwald, basically) ultimately NOT publishing most of what he gave them? (This is also a question for Glennwald, of course, who lied his ass off when surrendering these jewels to Omidyar.) 
• Question 6: Given Omidyar’s own access to the national security state, did Snowden not think of this possibility in advance? 
• Question 7: Did he not, at this point, rethink going to Wikileaks? 
• Question 8: Had he thought about Greenwald stovepipeing this information? 
• Question 9: Did he really not think that the almighty US Government would find him sooner rather than later? 
• Question 10: How does he reconcile him allegedly having a plan to go to Ecuador with him stating a dozen pages earlier that he chose NOT to originally go to Latin America? (At that point, I think we’ve caught Snowden in an outright lie.) 
• Question 11: How do you explain apparent discrepancies in the passport and the time frame? 
• Question 12: Why does he never mention direct Russian involvement? 
• Question 13: This is unrelated to the spying, but if you were such an idealist, and already at least a bit informed at age 20, why didn’t you oppose the Iraq War?

These were no-brainer questions to me.

As for Assange? Beyond him being the first person to goose the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, his toady-flunky Craig Murray has indicated he knows that Assange knew something about their provenance before the end of 2016, it seems. And, he's never apologized for goosing the conspiracy theory.

Greenwald has been tagged about every time I've tagged Snowden, and has also chosen not to respond.

Beyond wanting to know what Snowden and Assange know, I want to remove the potential veil of martyrdom from them. 

Without that, no pardons.

Fox News: The Seth Rich slime "gift" that never stops giving

New York Times media columnist Ben Smith writes about how Fox got Seth Rich's parents to agree to postpone public announcement that their suit against Faux had been settled until after Nov. 3, 2020 and election day. Smith makes it clear that this was an election gift to help Trump and bells the cow of Rupert Murdoch itself.

He also reminds us that, although Julian Assange was the first gooser of the rumor, Fox was the second and far bigger.

Seth's brother, Aaron, not a party to his parents' suit, wonders why Faux can't simply apologize, especially now that the suit is settled and there's no legal liability in apologizing.

So, remember anybody who claims that Faux is normalizing a bit, versus Newsschmucks or Scrambled Onion? No, it's not. Not as long as Rupert and Lachlan are in charge.

Janis Joplin sings a Mercedes river for Harris sheriff Ed Gonzalez

With a hat tip to and bit of inspiration from Grits for Breakfast (see my comments there) I have adapted and expanded a poem of his about Harris County jailhouse overcrowding, to be sung to the tune of, and based off the lyrics of, Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.”

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?

Your inmates run over, you must make amends.

Crime keeps dropping, but the cops make busts again.

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?

My cousin the jailer says staffing is low.

The state is concerned, but it don’t really show.

COVID stopped trials so confinees can’t go.

You won’t let them out til they give you some dough.

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?

Your inmates run over, you must make amends.

Crime keeps dropping, but the cops make busts again.

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?

Kim Ogg got her sued as a bailing hard ass.

After her losing, she left you a morass.

But, it’s not all her, I won’t give you a pass.

Fess up, man up, give me no lies and no sass.

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?

Your inmates run over, you must make amends.

Crime keeps dropping, but the cops make busts again.

Sheriff, can’t you buy you some jailhouse law friends?