RIP Mimi Soltysik

RIP 2016 SPUSA presidential candidate Mimi Soltysik. I had known he was sick, badly, and that it was a struggle, but didn't know it was liver cancer. Note: His Veep pick, Angela Walker, is Howie Hawkins Veep pick this year. Read this interview for more on his background. He's right about the sectarianism on the left. I've seen enough of that within the Green Party, and plenty of people who I wouldn't even consider leftist or that close to it. That's YOU, Jesse-stanners.

I have no idea why the Party for Socialism and Liberation separately exists, other than the sectarianism that led it to fracture off another communist party which was itself part of a fracture. Socialist Alternative? It's just a somewhat more left version of the Democratic Socialists of America, sometimes working inside the Dem party. I do know why it exists separately and I just told you. I've written about it before, and the hypocrisy of Kshama Sawant, specifically about its and her attempt to work inside the Dem Party as Berners. (Per Wiki, it claims to be Trots, but "Trots for Bernie"? Really?)

Yes, I'm armchair-quarterbacking, but I would never vote for an alleged or actual Marxist party. Non-Marxist socialists? Yes. I almost voted Soltysik instead of Jill Stein in 2016.

On Mimi's personal background, reading between the lines and knowing he had liver cancer? It sounds like he became an IV drug addict, but eventually got clean. It could have been dirty tattoo needles, too, I suppose, but the story sounds more than that. Or, for that matter, it could have been "good old" booze.

What's going to happen to McClatchy?

McClatchy is about the largest newspaper chain in America not either in the hands of vulture capitalists nor race-to-the-bottom grifters like Craphouse. (That's my name for Gatehouse, which is the tail that wags the dog in its merger with Gannett in what is publicly called the "new Gannett.")

That said, it had to file Chapter 11 earlier this year, and as part of that, today is the deadline for bids on what is currently much more than a "carcass."

Yesterday, Ken Doctor offered his take on what might happen. He listed four categories of potential buyers, either for the entire body or for individual newspapers. 

Let’s categorize the likeliest bidders:

• The Insider 
• The Savior 
• The Financial Engineer 
• The Roller-Upper

He then takes a look at each.

"Insider" is Chatham Asset Management, the vulture capitalist who owns a slice, but no more than a slice. (Alden, owner of Dead Fucking Media/Media Snooze, would be another.)

Update, July 6: Those are two of the three bidders, Doctor reports, and also says the third is a non-starter. So, vulture capitalists 1, knights in shining armor 0.

Update 2, July 9: More ugh. McClatchy reports Alden is very interested — interested enough to challenge Chatham's bid and get the auction delayed. Update 3, early July 10: Judge did review the challenge, and has now rejected it. Sale is back on.

Update, July 12: Chatham won the auction and is buying the whole schmeer. It could still part it out, of course.

Update, July 17: This all said, Chatham's post-2016 actions as owner of Postmedia make it look potentially like little more than lesser evilism vs Alden.

"Savior" would be primarily nonprofit ownership. Ken says he's heard rumors that interested buyers would be interested in applying the nonprofit model to the entire beast. I'm skeptical, and will get to that more in a minute.

"Financial Engineer" is a vulture capitalist, but Ken says it's likely NOT one of the companies already bigfooting the newspaper landscape.

"Roller-Upper"? Either CrapHouse or vulture capitalist Alden and head boy Heath Freeman.

Here's a string of Tweets I had on all of this.

McClatchy is a newspaper chain still worth saving from the vulture capitalists. Boy, it would be nice if Ken Doctor's sources are right and some "savior" bought it. 1/x https://t.co/cg1Erys0jo

— Fuck Jesse Ventura and fuck Primo Nutbar 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 30, 2020

That's the lead-in to all of this, of course. And it WOULD be nice. McC has had solid reporting, has a good DC bureau, and there, it often thinks slightly outside the bipartisan foreign policy establishment box.

OK, next?

Nonprofit newspapers aren't ideal, re McClatchy. Here in Texas, the Texas Tribune has pulled punches on issues of importance to some of its sponsors, like when environmentalism runs into O-I-L. (It will deny that, but I've got receipts.)  2/x

— Fuck Jesse Ventura and fuck Primo Nutbar 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 30, 2020

And related:

And, COVID has punched a hole in event money (which has ethics issues and has been abandoned by most profit-based papers and mags), so the idea of ramping up events across a chain like McClatchy certainly wouldn't fly. 3/x

— Fuck Jesse Ventura and fuck Primo Nutbar 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 30, 2020

That's why, contra Ken's sources, (Jon Allsop of CJR also discusses the issue) I really don't see a single buyer for the whole company as a nonprofit organization shop. (I'm not sure I see a single buyer for the whole schmeer, or at least a single non-flipping buyer, but that's another story.)

What I do see as a possible, part 1:

Because of all of that, I think it's unlikely a buyer would emerge to take the entire McClatchy chain nonprofit. I could see its whole set of Cal papers going that way .@mediagazer and .@kdoctor. Too bad it sold Monterey and San Jose. 4/x

— Fuck Jesse Ventura and fuck Primo Nutbar 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 30, 2020

And part 2:

As for the non-Cal McClatchy papers? Miami Herald and the Spanish-language paper could get a community buyer for sure. The rest? Would an Alden finance a Craphouse/New Gannett buy of them just to get a foot in that door? 5/x

— Fuck Jesse Ventura and fuck Primo Nutbar 🚩🌻 (@AFCC_Esq) June 30, 2020

So, there you go.

On the whole group of Cal papers, it's possible that maybe a nonprofit reaches a deal with Alden, as it via Dead Fucking Media is now the owner of Monterey and San Jose. It could be another current newspaper group which could then try making the Cal papers a nonprofit org as a subsidiary of some sort.

We shall see. And, we have now seen.

If Ken's sources are right about Chatham's relative reservoir of goodwill, it's possible they try some sort of spinoff of at least part of the properties. Maybe what I said about the California group going together as a nonprofit org happens. Per the Knight Foundation seriously considering, then deciding not to be, the white knight, and being in Miami, maybe it bites on just taking the Herald.

That said, per Ken, the old Knight-Ridder execs' pension lawsuit could slow everything down a bit. Update: Federal judge has delayed ruling on whether their suit can proceed until he sees the bids. That story, reflecting typically good and honest internal self-reporting, notes that a winner is supposed to be unveiled July 15, IF the company crossed a July 14 threshold allowing a "distressed termination" of its pension plans, not just limited to the old KR execs' pensions.

Robert Mueller had no balls, Jeff Toobin confirms

Jeff Toobin partially confirms this in an excerpt from his new book.

He claims it's more an issue of Rosenstein taking them away, although he acknowledges that Mueller was comfortable with Rosenstein putting narrow reins on the investigation.

I beg to differ, not so much with this as being wrong as being incomplete.

As I tweeted to Toobin, I think Mueller was pretty willing to swallow his own balls. I don't care if neither I nor a Bill Weld knew about the conversation between the two men, Weld was and is still right in that Mueller should not have felt constrained by the old internal DOJ memo claiming presidents can't be indicted. They can. Weld called Mueller out and rightfully so.

I elsewhere said, and legal scholars agree, that such an idea is constitutionally nugatory.

So, no, Jeff, unless you have "Mueller swallowed his own balls" more explicitly listed, you do NOT have the top two failures.

Update: I'm now three-quarters through the long piece, and Toobin says that Mueller aide Aaron Zebley told Giuliani that "Battlin Bob" (NOT La Follette, an actual battler) confirmed that Mueller was going to swallow his nuts on this.

And no, Jeff, I don't believe this was all because of Rosenstein.

Ever since Senate Democrats decided not to impeach Reagan over Iran-Contra, both duopoly parties, in incarnations of both elected officials and appointed alleged solons, have pulled their punches over the renewed imperial presidency.

As for Mueller himself? Negotiating with John Dowd and Jay Sekulow? The "hard charging Marine" was anything but.

That said, there's other laughs in the piece. Like calling Sekulow a "constitutional law scholar" without the word "alleged" somewhere in the sentence. Lemme help you out.

The one other exculpatory issue I might accept is hinted at by Toobin: Mueller's age. He was 74 by the time new AG Bill Barr met with him upon taking office. And apparently worn out.

Update, Aug. 30: Michael Schmidt of the New York Times confirms that Rosenstein narrowed the investigation in specific ways. And, everybody on teh Twitter is acting as if Schmidt has some brand-new revelations. Fuck you NYT, and any of "The Resistance" acting this way.

Finally, although I've distanced myself from the alleged outside-the-box stenos, I still cannot accept one statement by Toobin:

Barr neglected to mention, in these fawning remarks, that the Mueller investigation had taken place because the Russian government had engaged in a systematic attempt to help Trump win the election—an attempt that the candidate and his staff encouraged. 

Flat wrong.

As shown in things such as the indictment of the IRA 12, Russia engaged in a systematic meddling in the U.S. election. Trump wanted systematic help. I still see nothing that shows such systematic help was given. I have covered this issue, in specific relation to the then-called Internet Research Agency, here and here.

The reason I started this out so harsh? Not just in recent talks to Congress, but in other books, Toobin is an intellectual who can be a wavering compass and not just on narrow political grounds. For example, see my review of his Patty Hearst book.

Texas progressives bring back coronavirus news, Week 14

Another fun week in the world of politics, Texana, rising Texas coronavirus cases and more.

Ahh, yes ... coronavirus.

With that, after thinking I was over with a separate Texas Progressives pullout for coronavirus, it turns out that Greg Abbott's refusal to listen to precautionary, prudent medical advice, plus his "legal loopholes overriding of local governments' mask rules authority, has led us to a point of a COVID surge, which is largely demonstrated in other "red" states as well.

Coronavirus Texas

#Schadenfreude is a #coronavirus bitch. Two months ago, Texas and other states were quarantining travelers from the greater New York City area. Now, the three states of the Tri-State are alarmed enough to quarantine Texans (and denizens of several other, generally "red," states.)

On top of that? The EU is likely to ban travel from the US, period.

Meanwhile, as Texas coronavirus cases swell and Abbott has blood on his hands, Trump has pushed through with cutting federal money and aid for testing nationwide, including several sites in Texas. Strangebbott, despite bipartisan pleading with Trump across the state, said Texas would be OK.

And as of last Friday, Strangeabbott has officially backtracked on Reopen Texas. Bars closed, restaurants back to 50 percent capacity. And banned outdoor gatherings of more than 100 unless explicitly approved by government officials.

Hindsight, like schadenfreude, is a bitch. And, given that many medical experts and local government leaders were shouting in Abbott's ears a month ago, his "hindsight" is what I'd call "poor me."

Schadenfreude is a bitch indeed even within the Texas GOP. The Monthly notes the death from COVID of Kaufman County GOP official Peter Baker throws into stark relief the GOP's still-insistent plans on having an in-person state convention in Houston. (As of last Saturday, that is still on!) Adding to the schadenfreude angle? Baker was a COVID wingnut, pooh-poohing its severity — like many other Texas Republicans.

In light of all of this, Trump's HHS caved and will keep open five of the seven federal-funded test sights it had planned to close.

Shock me that Gohmert Pyle continues to be an idiot on this issue.


Coronavirus national

Could we, instead of having a check-mark, but not V, recovery, have an inverse check mark further downturn? Annie Lowery at the Atlantic says we might not have an inverse check mark, but that a regular checkmark might be so slow in growing we have something halfway like a second Great Depression. The Congressional Budget Office says that we could have a full lost decade ahead. Wunderbar. Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden has anything to offer to deal with this. Libertarianism doesn't. And, the Green Party still has a lot of people inside the party hating its nominee. Beyond the conspiracy theory hatred, a lot of Greens hate anything that comes close to ecosocialism even as it's clear capitalism won't save us. One of the links within the piece explains how this is increasing income inequality, which is then in turn contributing to the problem. Again, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and a sizeable chunk within the GP have nothing to deal with this.

Toady Fauci was a little less toadyish when speaking to the House last week, partially blowing the whistle on what lead to details on why Trump killed a coronavirus research grant.

Team Trump is getting more panicky. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said "the window is closing" on the attempt to control COVID.At the same time, he pushed back on the idea that too many states had reopened too quickly, despite good medical evidence he's wrong.

"Reopen" protestor schadenfreude continues to happen. And the schad-infected, at least in this case, continue to be selfish dicks.

As tens of thousands of people in the country continue to struggle with this respiratory virus, the Fed is "doing its part," buying up stock of Big Tobacco and Big Oil as part of its "stimulus" or whatever.

In Week 11 of the coronavirus roundup, I noted churches as a high-risk area. Politico reports now on the issue of "super-spreader churches." Trump nationally, and Abbott in Tex-ass, continue to pander to the Religious Right on this issue.

Earlier this week, I noted that summer weather doesn't have appeared to tamped down COVID, and wondered if it was lurking in air conditioning.


Coronavirus global

South Korea was one of the best countries in the world at controlling COVID infections. But local and national leaders admit that, sociologically, the new normal cannot be the old normal.

So much for summer tamping down coronavirus, eh?

The hopes of some, including people like me, that COVID-19 would be like the common cold coronavirus, or the flu, in warm weather, have been dashed, as the hottest of hotspots are Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Florida, and southern California.

That said, there may be an inverse to the old cold-and-flu season. Friends literally "chilling out" together in air conditioned environments may be a problem. I'm old enough to remember the big Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Philly. Air conditioning cooling tower contamination the culprit. Skeptics pointing to places like Houston claim people are out and about more now than two months ago. But, when they come back in? It's to almost always on AC. Or they're in AC at restaurants running at 75 percent capacity. (Or that WERE at 75 percent.) Put all those bodies in Helltown or Metromess restaurants in summer, and the AC is running all the time. And somebody who is asymptomatically positive is spreading it. And it at least as the possibility of getting into AC units.

And, that would explain why it's hitting younger people. (Texas is not alone on this.) Arizona, nearly 60 percent of cases are under 45 years old. In California, 60 percent under age 50. Median age of 34 in Florida in the last five weeks.

In the last week, 36 states showed COVID case increases. Florida approached New York's worst rates from the spring. Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to be a Trump Toady, mouthing his lies that it was all because "more testing = more cases."  The CDC expects things to get worse before they get better, and says that actual case numbers may be even higher.

MJ vs Royce: A media analysis view

MJ would be ConservaDem, former Libertarian voting gun nut M.J. Hegar.

Royce would be Legiscritter, or rather, Legisgrifter Royce West, friend (at arm's length at many times) of Our Man Downtown etc.

And the "vs" would be the runoff for the right to face John Cornyn, who once seemed halfway like a Texas version of a Bob Dole conservative, but is now clearly Havana Ted Cruz's running buddy. Maybe he was always somewhat that way and the mask is slipping.

Anywho, in one sense, the runoff doesn't matter to me. I've voting Green David Bruce Collins. But, he chose not to pay the post-HB 2504 filing fee, and the third-parties federal lawsuit over this and other issues isn't set for trial until next year ...

But in that case? I'll write somebody else in, or not vote.

But, the Dems' runoff is worth analysis.

Here's my two cents, round one.

If statewide media engagement is a key, and if said engagement reflects candidate degree of enthusiasm for the race, and candidate perceived degree of backer enthusiasm, Hegar is going to kick West's butt.

I've gotten a dozen or more blast emails in the last week about Hegar doing this, that or the other. Zip, zilch, nada from West.

I've seen this once or twice before. Can't remember if it accurately reflected final results, but I thought it worth noting.

The other differences are that Hegar has more moolah and West more (natch, establishmentarian) endorsements.

What's also funny and/or interesting is that all of Hegar's email blasts are about Cornyn. Nothing about West.

BUT ... in the post-George Floyd world? West is black and Hegar is not. West has background on racial issues, like the annual traffic stops report cop shops have to make, and the Sandra Bland Act. Hegar has none of this. So, she has to act like her lead is insurmountable. And, that's probably part of what's behind this mass email blast. I saw nothing more from her than from West until within the last few weeks. And now, the shift could be a game-winner for West. And Cornyn's "Radical Royce" is a laughter. He's a ConservaDem, or more a GrifterDem who's less conservative than Hegar, nothing more.

But, neither is David Bruce Collins.