Is another wave of covid coming for the unvaccinated?

(Originally July 30) It's been predicted that covid would surge. More than once, this didn't happen, and sometimes it did. When Texas dropped its mask mandate, covid was supposed to surge but didn't. Now maybe we're seeing signs that there is somewhat of a surge in Missouri and Arkansas in areas where there is high resistance to getting the vaccine. Health officials in Missouri are alarmed at the rise of covid cases, but they can't get the governor to take it seriously. Because of the partisan divide, and conservatives have to be against vaccines since libs/progs are for them. This is such stupidity.<---I wrote this originally on 7/10. Now we've had nearly three more weeks of the surge, and it's definitely happening. 

Currently the death toll isn't rising, but it has stopped dropping, which indicates that up is the next direction. Cases are up 400% in the US since July 1. Hospitals are filling up with covid patients.

Not only the unvaccinated are affected. An outbreak centered in Provincetown MA included over 800 vaccinated people. The delta variant is known to been more transmissible. It became the dominant variant in the UK, and has becoming dominant in the US too. The CDC is recommending masks again indoors. 

Republicans are split on whether to encourage vaccination or remain defiant. Too bad for them that even reality of overflowing hospitals doesn't open their eyes. 

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So how did this turn out? Big waves of hospitalizations and deaths in southern states. Much less in the midwest, west, northeast and mid-Atlantic. 

For a long time, the 6 states with the highest deaths per capita were: New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Louisiana. These states were hit hard early on before the lockdown and social distancing responses. 

With the high death tolls from July-September '21, (and still substantial in early November), the 12 states with the highest death rates are Mississippi, Alabama, NJ, Louisiana, NY, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, MA, Georgia, RI, Oklahoma. That's such a different geography from before, and all because of low vaccination rates when the delta variant arrived. 

What happened with the Provincetown, MA outbreak? Not much. Massachusetts was affected by delta, too, but it increased death rates from very low into a low range. Many southern states, on the other hand, had their biggest waves yet since delta was more infectious than the earlier variant. Due to the partisan-tinged anti-vax stubbornness, over 100K Americans died who would be alive today. 

And the divide over how to respond to covid remains bitterly ideological. The conservatives are sticking with their anti-vax stance even with the known visible results from the various US states. Doubling-down unto death is happening too often, which demonstrates the bitterness of the divide. 

Image: worldometer

The end of Liz Cheney, a morality tale.

 (Originally May 7) Liz Cheney is soon to be removed from her leadership position in the GOP hierarch in the House. Her unforgivable error was to vote for Trump's impeachment and be vocal about it. She was trying to hold Trump accountable for his part in the failed coup on Jan. 6. 

She survived one vote shortly after the impeachment by over 2-to-1. Now it looks like Kevin McCarthy has thrown her under the bus and will let others run her over repeatedly. 

Why the change? I don't know. Maybe it's jockeying in the deep GOP circles, as people have to swear loyalty to Trump (and his lies) or they get dumped. I can believe Trump-support is that strong in some places. However, in general I think Trump will get weaker and he'll continue to get weaker. He doesn't have much of podium, and his program of whining about the election will look more and more immature as time goes on. I think this will shrink the GOP because a lot of people in the US are smarter than that, and will want some results instead of just resentment whines 24/7. 

But with people who remain in the Republican party, Trump may be a post you latch on to. Rally around him.... in the absence of actual policy and issues. This should cost the GOP in the midterms, but that's not a certainly at all. It depends on what the Dems are doing. Are they have their own crazy moments, or is sanity holding sway?

It looks like Cheney will be replace by another token woman, Elise Stefanik from upstate New York. She's been a good GOP barbie, repeating all the requisite lies. I doubt she'll be able to lead in anything other than continuing to sell out and cash in. Liz Cheney cashed in on being a GOP woman in Congress, so why not someone else. It's not like Cheney got the position because she was well known for her scruples. 

Image: glitternight.com

Extras. Mitt Romney was booed at a convention in Utah. When he came to the podium to speak, there was lots of clapping and warm response, but the boos were in that background and didn't stop until a party leader admonished the crowd. Not good Mormon behavior folks. 

Update 6/30/22. Liz Cheney is getting some very thorough revenge. She's doing great in the hearings about Jan. 6. Very poised and on-point, without grandstanding. June 28 was particularly devastating with a top aide of Mark Meadows spilling a lot of stories not heard before. GOPers wanted to relegate Cheney to the ash heap, but she's not going there. 

Links, for the few other things happening

This is many months of links, perhaps since the election in November 2020. 

The GOP decides no post-mortem needed on the election. Let's trade farfetched theories instead. Dems are worried at the gains Republicans made. And, naturally, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote again. Not exactly pro-republic values. 

The Kansas City Star newspaper apologized for decades of racist and biased coverage of black folks. Yes, of course it happened. If this is seen as white guilt or pandering, I want to shoot someone. 

Texas had a deep cold snap that devastated its power grid and its water pipes (in houses and the mains). A lot of conservatives were blaming green energy (because they want them as a scapegoat), but the governor placed blame on the failure of their regulations. 

Witty column about CPAC, the conservative convention. This year it's 99.99% Trump fealty. 

Cuomo's sexual harassment, teasing, and pressure is similar to what is still found in many companies. 

Racial discrimination against black tribal members in American Indian nations.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Qanon nutcase who won a House seat, may not have much of role in current events within a few months. However, she is getting a lot of attention now for some of her bizarre beliefs, prior statements, and current political antics. 

How big an impact did slavery have on the US economic system? Are claims by black Americans that they built the US true? I hope to find out more about this important question. It's certainly possible because cottom made up (by dollar) more than half of US exports during some periods in US history. 

Big Pharma is trying to get closer to Dems because they looked like they would win the lion's share of power in the 2020 election. 

Voting rights and Texas.

Russian hackers. Maybe the Biden administration will make some progress. 

China. Xi Jinping and his consolidation of power. 

The condo collapse in Florida. It's being carefully investigated, but there were known structural problems, but the condo board wasn't able to raise the money for the repairs. 

Image: geology.com

Is covid natural or engineered? Plus other covid topics.

This question is a political football, but it shouldn't be since it's a question about fact and any answer will be based on scientific information. 

As a layman, I'm not going to be able to contribute much to resolving this question. I'm not doing any of the first-hand research. I don't know what kind of equipment is involved in such research. I might be able to understand of the evidence and reasoning, but some of it might be outside the scope of my knowledge. 

So if I decide on this question, it will be based on me reading what biology experts have to say, and they don't always agree. 

Some here are three articles about the question of the origin of covid-19. Robert Redfield, former head of the CDC, opined that the virus escaped from the virology lab in Wuhan. However he said it was just his opinion. Their opinions are supposed to be based on scientist fact and extensive knowledge and experience. By not citing his reasons, Redfield reduces his opinion to the worth of a layman's opinion, which is nothing.  That's a big cop-out for a scientist, and it isn't at all clear why he does that. 

This article states that certain aspects of covid show that it wasn't engineered. I don't find it particularly clear or convincing. Something about the backbone and some change to a protein. There was some huge article in Nature or one of the premiere medical journals that was (I infer) categorical about a natural origin for covid. 

Others aren't so sure. Some report that dissent on the origin has been quashed. Wait, that isn't supposed to happen in the sciences, but it probably does. Then there is a piece of cyberpunk happening with the melding of genetics scientists with computer researchers and hackers. 

From what I've gleaned, there are three major theories about the origin of covid:

1. It started with bats in a different province. Spread to one or more humans or an intermediate animal. Got to Wuhan where it could spread much more. It also become more optimized to humans somewhere along the way. 
2. It was a naturally occurring virus and was sampled and set to the Wuhan virology lab, where it possibly changed, and accidentally escaped.
3. It was experimented on in the Wuhan virology lab to improve its capabilities, perhaps as a bioweapon. Probably escaped. 
4. (Nutty) It was made in the US and transferred secretly so that the whole world would blame China. 

The claims it couldn't be engineered are (my attempt at interpretation) that the backbone isn't one a virologist would choose. Nor would they make the changes in the spike protein because virologists are better at copying nature than making successful wild guesses at what might work. 

I'll repeat that I don't know. The natural origin narrative sounds somewhat stronger because of the number of bats available in the wild and all the mutations they could support by passing around viruses. Kind of like what humans are doing now, and we are seeing the variants pop up. 

Image: theparisreview.org

Extras. Biden and the Dems passed a covid relief bill in early March without support of Republicans. Repubs look like shit because of it. Keeping a link to a great article about the effectiveness of masks. I hate those stupid anti-maskers. Just wear it, damn it. It won't hurt you and it seems to help. Turf wars between Inspectors General including a covid IG. People leaving the Mormon church because too many Mormons are acting like angry Trumpers and not listening to the church leadership or medical experts who are urging care and compassion. 

India is having a huge outbreak. This video shows what it's like for someone who runs a traditional Hindu crematorium when covid hits. 

I read this on a private site, so no linking. However there was an explanation for why Michigan had a large surge in March: the return of snowbirds. A lot of Michiganders go south for the winter to places like Florida. There they picked up covid, many were asymptomatic, and they brought it back to Michigan to a less-exposed population. And, presto, a surge. 

Image: clickondetroit.com

Update 5/10/21. Covid is causing significant increases in type 1 diabetes. This isn't a complete surprise because viral infections have long been suspected. But it's been noted among practices and now the information is being tracked. 

More updates, mixed. Timeline of revelations about the Wuhan lab. Important related article. And some fact-checking. More focused on gain-of-function.

Update 6/25/21. A scientist has uncovered hints that several covid-like viruses were circulating in Wuhan and were sampled, and some sequences published and then withdrawn. This might indicate a natural evolution. But there's also a detailed discussion of the evidence of poor lab practices in the past and recently and also involving Wuhan that implicates a lab leak. 

Update 7/18/21. Covid and Politics.....and Facebook. The Biden administrator announced or revealed taht it's telling Facebook when it finds disinformation about covid and the vaccines. Outrage meter spins. I guess the government shouldn't be countering disinformation, huh? 

The most important issues from the trial of Derek Chauvin

With my healthcare background, I can observe signs that other people might not notice. I've seen a movie where an actor had a moment of real intense emotion, causing his face to flush and forehead veins to pop. So I used these skills to see what I could observe in the videos of George Floyd's death. But I dearly hoped that the prosecution would bring in experts to do this and explain in detail what was happening in those final minutes. 

Luckily, the prosecution did put an expert on the stand to talk exactly about that. His name is Dr. Martin Tobin. I couldn't place his accent or manner of speaking, with its precision. It turns out that he's Irish, but has worked in the US for decades. (Not enough brogue, sadly.) 

His twin specialties are the physics and physiology of breathing and critical care of critically ill patients. He's observed many dying, and knows very well what it looks like. So he was able to observe and explain so much in the videos of George Floyd. 

First is that there is no doubt that Floyd died from not getting enough oxygen due to the police restraint on him. Chauvin was responsible for most of that fatal restraint. Floyd was pinned between the pavement and the knees for two officers. His arms were twisted behind his back, His neck was compressed. His left side was compressed. He was trying to draw breath through his compressed throat/trachea into his chest. Basically, he was constrained to breathing with his right lung and little power to expand it except on his right side. And drawing breath through his compressed neck. 

His intake of fentanyl wasn't a factor. He showed none of the signs of opiate overdose, that gradual slide into unconsciousness with reduced respiration rate. His respiration rate (breaths per minute) remained normal until his heart stopped. It's possible to see his last breath in this video at 17:22. 

With my background I was able to follow just about everything that Dr. Tobin talked about. Here is video of his testimony: part 1, part 2. 

A use-of-force expert testified for the defense, and tried to make a good case. However, the prosecutors managed to slice up some of his testimony because officers are required to reevaluate moment-to-moment and provide care as needed to those in custody. The prosecutors were well-prepared and discussed the placement of Chauvin's knees (using stills from the videos) and showing how the crowd wasn't vocal except for one person, nor was it advancing on the police. The video here. 

Image: news.sky.com

Extras. Another expert concurs with Dr. Tobin. The official autopsy report. What professional journalists report, in contrast to my idiosyncratic view. A key defense witness, an expert on restraint. The prosecution cross-examination, especially at 1:17:18, is masterful. Another key defense witness, a pathologist, is cross-examined with asphyxia being a major topic. 

Snopes fact-checks Floyd's criminal history. The jury instructions, directly from the judge, directly to the jury. 

A couple of links to body cam footage of George Floyd's arrest and death. Lane. Keung. Thao. 

Belated impeachment roundup

The House impeached Trump for a second time. This time the trial was held after he already left office. However it was still reasonable to impeach him because the impeachable action took place so late in his term, and it was a highly provocation act that deserved an impeachment declaration and trial. 

The trial occurred in early February. This article lays out very simply why the trial was needed: 

The opening words of the House prosecutors’ brief underscore the gravity of the offense: "This trial arises from President Donald J. Trump’s incitement of insurrection against the Republic he swore to protect..."

This was a more somber proceeding than the last one. It as simple, straightforward, and it let the shock of the events fill the space. Representative Jamie Raskin led the impeachment managers and set the tone. I'm having some trouble describing it, perhaps because I was a witness too, and what I saw and how I felt when witnessing it are so much more powerful than mere words. The people in the House and Senate experienced that invasion and insurrection, and they don't need people to explain what it was, the gravity of it, the fears, the enormity. 

A major point is that actions leading to the riot didn't start on Jan. 6, but were brewing and encouraged well before then. So you can't just look at what happened that day, but also what led to the actions on the that day, and all that Trump did before then to foster it. 

The defense was a mishmash of justification and umbrage at the proceeding. They even spliced together snippets of Democratic leaders exhorting supporters to fight as though to say 'everybody did it.' Most politicians may use the word 'fight' but they also give signs of what they mean by that, and Trump did too. We got to see the outcome. 

Neither the prosecution nor the defense ran on too long, so the trial lasted only four days. 

The acquittal verdict wasn't in any doubt. However, 7 GOP senators voted to convict, which is a testament to the horror of what happened for those who have a remnant of their souls left. 

Mitch McConnell blasted Trump for his actions, but a few weeks later was telling the country that he'd support Trump in 2024 if he was the GOP nominee. So easily are principles shredded. 

Image: nytimes.com

Extras. All the evidence presented. 

Background of the Capitol HIll insurrection

This article is particularly good at laying out the violent rhetoric and actions that preceded the insurrection and set the tone for it. This includes invasions of statehouses in Michigan, Oregon, and Kentucky. Also the incident when Trump supporters boxed in a Biden campaign bus in Texas. 

There was some disarray in the Capitol police in the run-up. They didn't stay informed on the trends and missed the signs to be better prepared. Timeline and issues. Did some members of Congress help rioters in the run-up? 

Groups were saying that they'd storm the Capitol (a particularly good article, also here). Alt-right groups are taking advantage of the opportunity to radicalize Trump supporters. The groups are in the military and law enforcement, and disinformation is rife. The scope of planning within the groups and between the groups isn't clear yet. The Proud Boys appear to have spearheaded some actions (excellent video), but the Oathkeepers and 3-percenters are well-represented too. More will be emerging as investigations continue. Here's NYT covering Proud Boys' chat prior to the riot. 

Also, what roles did Roger Stone and Alex Jones play? Here's Roger Stone raising money in the run-up. Here's an article by Rod Dreher on the religious groups prior to Jan. 6.

It was perhaps sheer luck that more people weren't killed. Most of the rioters were pro-police and not in favor of injuring police just to get to the members of Congress. The more radical groups perhaps didn't see enough support for more violent action and therefore didn't go that route. 

Tucker Carlson says it was just good Americans yearning to be heard by a callous, uncaring, overbearing government. Wow, talk about propaganda. 

A huge article about the work done by non-partisan groups to prevent a huge mess in the election and the aftermath. Election systems were strengthened, sometimes with donated money. Business groups didn't want chaos, but they saw it coming if they did nothing. 

A transcript of the speech given by Trump on Jan. 6. Search for 'fight' and search for 'peace' to get a sense of how much peaceful protest wasn't emphasized. 

Two articles about the belated response of the military to requests for help. Shorter, possibly clearer. Longer with a detailed timeline. There appeared to be almost an hour delay in getting the OK from top military to send in national guard units. The guards weren't able to go directly to help--they had to stop at armories to get the proper gear first. But at least they had partially mustered, or it would have taken even longer. 

Image: brandeis.edu

And more aftermath. 

A Republican Congressman (and Nazi youth look-alike) Madison Cawthorn has a moment of regret, but did it last? Minority leader McCarthy says that everyone bears responsibility. That's a convenient smearing/spreading of the blame. A pundit trying to minimize the importance of the riot. Mostly, things weren't that bad and democracy wasn't overturned, so it's not that bad. 

A watchdog of Parler found a 'patriot' calling for much more violence next time. Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are, he writes. 

In Michigan, the head of the state senate goes along with the line from the true believers, and then apologizes, somewhat. This is such a standard  problem of standard cowardice. 

In Pennsylvania, there's a civil war between Trump supporters and those who support Toomey and a level of independence. We'll see in 2022 who is nominated to the open Senate seat and who wins. 

The Capitol Hill police force deals with group (and individual) PTSD. 

The nutty pillow guy is making 'documentaries' about the election theft. Here is a review: Absolute  Proof is as bad as you'd expect. 

Facebook has its own 'supreme court' and they were called on to rule and/or advise on the permanent suspension of Trump's account. Here's the pithy version of what they decided, including the phrase 'replete with falsehoods' about Trump's statement. Here is a more detailed version. 

'Daddy told us to come to DC.'

Trump supporters aren't that different from the Proud Boys or other right-wing fight groups. 

The saga of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot while crossing a barricade in the Capitol.  

More about OathKeepers, Three Percenters,  and other militias. 

Trump tried to get the DOJ to overturn the election.

The New York Times made a somewhat short video (40 minutes) about the Jan. 6 riot, using pieced-together video of the events. 

Whither Qanon now?

[Originally published 2/22/21. It was removed in a sweep of Qanon material but 'reinstated.' That's OK because bots are required to handle chores on the internet.]

I've been casually observing Qanon adherents for maybe 7 months now. I hadn't noticed that they were overly nuts. Some, maybe the ones held up as examples in Twitter, seemed like regular folks with good hearts. I'm reevaluating that impression now. 

It's one thing to care about children and worry that there might be pedophile rings. It's another to think that most high-ranking Democrats and intelligence folks are part of those rings. And to think that others would allow that to continue until they could all be arrested in one huge operation spearheaded by Donald Trump and JFK Jr. who is actually still alive. Not only is that idea nutty, it's rather nasty too because the Q folks have decided that one group (Dems) contains all these vile people. That's scapegoating and prejudice and an extremely harsh judgment based on the creepiest kind of evidence. 

I was somewhat worried about Q, but hadn't seen that any had committed much violence except for one wacko murder in NY. I have to reevaluate that too because it seems like Q folks were heavily involved in the mob action on the Capitol on Jan. 6. The woman shot by a police officer: a Q believer. The woman crushed in a crowd: a Q believer. A guy arrested in the Upper East Side: a Q believer. Few of them identified themselves in the crowd, but it seems that they were there. I'll be watching for the reports.

But what will Q do now? 

Q himself is supposedly not dropped a message since sometime in November. One of the people pretending to be Q, Someone Watkins who runs 8kun, is telling people to move on to something else, but thanks for these wonderful times we've had and the friends we made. Some Q folks are waking up to the likelihood that they fell hard for a hoax. A few hardcore ones are trying to hang on. Maybe some grifters will help them do it and will fake some drops. The latest is that Trump will be inaugurated on March 4 (the old date for inaugurations) and the military will round up those perfidious Dem pedophiles. Then on March 5 they'll move the goalposts again. 

Image: The San Diego Union-Tribune

Extras. Unsorted good articles on Q. An excellent analysis of the game aspects of Qanon and why it's addictive. The Hill. Washington Post. A man fingered as Q who has a feel for how dangerous it is. Qanon is the conspiracy to eat all other conspiracies. A hilarious video interview of four Qanons revealing a variety of their beliefs and also some mutual doubts. Why is Qanon popular among evangelical Christians? Distrust of news sources and faith in a divine plan. 

Update 3/3/21. An article about deprogrammers who work with Qanons. One method is getting them to remember how they started being sucked. The person is led to connect the dots of how they were sucked in, and it helps them evaluate the process more clearly. 

Update 3/4/21. The reinguration of Trump was supposed to happen today. DC didn't want to be caught off-guard again, so there was a strong National Guard contingent. Very few Qanons showed up. I've heard of 4. It looks like Qanon is dead. Now is time for the former Qanons to forget they ever believed that trash.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Qanon and rightwing nutscase, was elected to the House. A search of her social media turned up her upvoting calls for violence against other members of Congress, who weren't too pleased with their new colleague. She was promptly voted off committees. Is this a harbinger of increased partisanship to come? 

Was I prepared for what happened at the Capitol?

I knew Jan. 6 was going to be a big day. As with the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the fans were planning to turn out. This wasn't going to be a flop. It was going to be major. 

I wrote to a friend that I was going to make a shopping run in the evening unless things went 'batshit crazy.' That's what I wrote Tuesday, Jan. 5. 

By Jan. 7 or later, I was trying to recapture what my expectations were. Here's what I've been able to reconstruct.

Background on rallies

There had been a very large Trump rally on Nov. 14 that was overwhelmingly peaceful. It could have been like that, but I didn't think it would stay that calm. After all, Trump had been gearing up the rhetoric, and appeared to be getting more reckless instead of more resigned. The prior Saturday, Trump called the Secretary of State of Georgia to pressure him to find 17,800 votes and give the election to Trump. This was nuts for a number of reasons. 

1. The Secretary of State had been vocal about the issues, how he had investigated them, and how very little fraud was found. This included a hand recount and a second machine recount.
2. It was too late. The vote results had been certified by all the powers in Georgia, so it was official.
3. The Electors had already met and voted. 
4. There wasn't any time for reversing the certification and having a new certification giving the votes to Trump. 

Getting desperate?

So it was clear that Trump wasn't bowing to the inevitable. On Monday, Jan. 4, he floated the idea that Mike Pence would do the right thing and throw out Biden votes. Again, Trump ignored the evidence that Mike Pence would do no such thing. The idea had already been floated, and Pence was clearly not embracing it. 

So Wednesday was the day that Congress would certify the votes from the Electors, and Joe Biden would officially be the next president. 

Trump seemed to hope that he had a way to prevent that, but was there a legal route left to do that? All legal routes, except a very farfetched one, had been exhausted. The farfetched legal route was that Electoral College votes would be challenged in Congress, the challenges debated, both houses of Congress would throw out enough votes so that Biden didn't meet the 270 vote threshold, and then both houses of Congress would vote to declare Trump the winner. 

Did Trump really believe he and his mass rally of supporters could influence Congress to that degree? Maybe Trump believed, maybe he didn't. 

Maybe Trump didn't care about whether the route was legal or not. Maybe he would have been happy to have his mob take hostages and demand that Congress award the presidency to Trump. Certainly some of the mob were planning to do that. It's ironic because they also claimed to be fighting for the Constitution at the same time they were clearly using force and violence to exert their will upon Congress. That's not very constitutional. 

So what did I really expect? 

I expected Trump supporters to surround Capitol Hill. I expected a lot of shouting and grandstanding. I didn't expect that they would break in and have mobs roaming through the Capitol. But my definition of 'batshit crazy' was mobs holding hostages and demanding that Congress declare Trump president. Also possibly kidnapping members of Congress from their homes, on the way to the Capitol, or family members of Congress people. I didn't think it was likely to go that far, but it was on my radar. 

And Trump's mobs got 80% of the way there. However, they didn't take hostages, and they didn't get to make demands based on holding hostages. They probably would have done this, but the Capitol police weren't going to allow them to do that. The police would shoot to kill before they would allow hostages to be taken. So it was the strength of the police, and their willingness to use deadly force, that prevented the worst batshit scenario. 

But not just the police. The mobs weren't armed for the most part, and they weren't planning to use deadly force. The use of force by the police drew a line that the mob wasn't willing to cross. The next time there's a mob like this, they will most likely know in advance that they are have to cross that line. 

Cyborg with zipties for distinguished members of Congress

Image: cbsnews.com

Trump tries to overthrow Congress

[Under construction. Published unfinished to get it in the timeline.]

 As much as I fucking hate Trump, I'm not sure I saw this coming, but I should have. 

Trump has been spinning lies about his huge victory for months, winding his supporters up with false tales of illegal ballots on a huge scale. It shouldn't be surprising that they exploded. 

The definitive accounts of what happened haven't been written yet. In a nutshell, Trump called for his supporters to come to Washington DC on the day that Congress was due to certify Joe Biden as the next president. Many heeded that call. I haven't seen estimates but it was more than 20,000 but not have a million. They came wound up and ready to spring. Many already planned to storm the Capitol and force Congress to certify another term for Trump. 

After a morning of speeches near the White House, Trump sent his supporters to the US Capitol to "fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

Some of his supporters were already there, but when the huge contingent arrived, they broke through a series of makeshift barriers of moveable metal bike racks and chicken wire. They continued to push, fighting with the greatly outnumbered Capitol police. The mobs got to many sides of the Capitol, and proceeded to break in through doors and windows wherever police didn't put up extremely stiff resistance. 

The weaponry for each side. For the police: some with almost no weapons or shielding, not even helmets. Some with riot gear, shields, gas masks, batons, tear gas, pepper spray, flashbangs and rubber bullets. For the rioters, some with almost no weapons or shielding, not even helmets. Some with riot gear, shields, gas masks, batons, pepper spray, bats, flag poles, sharpened flag poles, fire extinguishers, and anything at hand that could be thrown. 

The capitol police were outnumbered by such an extent that breaches were bound to happen, and they did. The number of rioters who gained access isn't clear yet. I've seen estimates of 200, but I think it was many more than that. The mobs went looking particularly for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. Some planned only to make their case verbally, others planned to kill and enforce their will that Trump should be given a second term. 

With the level of violence and lack of respect for the law, this has to be called an insurrection and/or an attempted coup. 

Luckily it failed. Security was strong enough to escort the members of Congress to safe areas, presumably in the basement. No one in Congress, on the staff, or among the police were taken as hostage or prisoner. Had some rioter been able to take hostages, the outcome might have been different. 

As it was, about three hours after the assault started, reinforcements arrived and started clearing out the Capitol, driving the rioters out, then away from the doors on all sides, then away from the Capitol and out of the city. One rioter (a woman veteran) was shot dead inside the Capitol. One police officer died from his injuries the next day. One woman rioter was crushed in the crowds. Two other rioters died from medical issues on the grounds. 

That evening, even before all the rioters were driven out of the city, Congress resumed its session. From 8:00pm until 3:45am roughly, they debated per their rules of order and finished the largely ceremonial task of certifying the next president. So all the violence and mayhem was in vain. 

Not completely in vain. It was opened the eyes of a lot of people. The level of importance is hard to gauge right now. Two days later, when Trump continued to claim the election was stolen, he was permanently thrown off of Twitter, which had been his prime mode of communication and his podium for bullying. He was also suspended from youtube. Though he hasn't lost all his means of communication, he was so curtailed that he couldn't fight anymore. He ended up leaving his term in near silence and isolation. And disgrace. Posts about impeachment to come. 

Image: rferl.org

Extras. One former GOP senator saw this coming and said the GOP must separate from Trump and form a new party. Video here, print here. Tom Cotton, a very conservative GOP senator, called out his colleagues for going too far and serving up lies. 

Mitch McConnell played along for way too long. So he allowed the authoritarianism to flourish. 

Texts urging Trump to stop the madness on Jan. 6. Brief and very telling.

Antifa did it. Retired General McInerney, who lied about the server farm in Frankfurt where votes were manipulated, lies again about Antifa spearheading violence at the Capitol. The guy hasn't met a lie he won't speak. More important evidence that it was Antifa! Some patriots dispute it was Antifa because it was them and it was glorious. Senator Ron Johnson thinks it was FBI agents/provocateurs. 

Trump wanted a big send-off for himself from his fans. Since he doesn't have many fans in government anymore, that means the usual rally sort of thing. The military is apparently declining to give him the usual send-off. (He didn't get it. White House aides, staff, and family saw him off in small contingents at the White House and the military base. The base also supplied a podium and a band, but not ranks of troops to see him off.)

Moving testimony from a Capitol police officer who was crushed and assaulted during the riot. That wasn't all that happened to him that day. 

How many national guards were sent into Washington to quell the coup attempt? 340 guards were already working around DC before the riot at the Capitol. 1100 were called up that day. 6200 were mobilized that evening to help with tasks in the next days up through the inauguration--in case there was another coup attempt. These are numbers from the National Guard website. 

The plans to keep Trump in the White House

(Sorry, catching up with backlog.)

This isn't easy because Trump didn't win enough states to win the Electoral College. So there have been other schemes. Lots of lawsuits trying to change the election results in states where the vote was close. Appeals to states where the GOP is the majority of the legislature to stop the usual procedures for appointing electors and substituting Trump-loyal electors instead. Trump calling the governor of Arizona as he's signing the certification (to threaten or plead????). Telling the governor of one state to call a special session of the legislature. States suing other states for how they ran their elections. Other states, Trump, and over 100 members of Congress signing on to the suit ( ...which was denied by the Supreme Court). Oh, did I forget to say disenfranchisement on a colossal scale? Some rallies, but not that many or anything really huge. 

Since it's after Dec. 14, the electors of the Electoral College have met and given Biden 306 votes versus 232 to Trump. The attempt to get Trump-loyal electors in place, or prevent Biden electors from being certified failed. Biden made it to 270. 

The last chance is an objection to the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. If a member of the House and Senate both object, each chamber has to listen to the objection and vote whether or not to accept the objection. Some loyal folks think this will work and Trump is pushing on senators to get in line. In preparation for some states being overturned one way or another, self-appointed electors for Trump have formed delegations. Is martial law being considered? There are numerous reports of it, and Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are pushing it. But there are also denials. Trump himself isn't keeping a cool head, but is turning on everyone. 

And there's yet another legal-route attempt, this time by Louie Gohmert and others. He opines that the VP (as president of the Senare) has the power to dismiss electors and choose other electors. Really? That sounds very dictatorial to me. I don't think that was the intention of any of the laws. Mike Pence didn't sign on to this thinking either, even though Gohmert gave him the opportunity. 

Image: nbcnewyork.com

Extras. Trump gave his 'most important speech ever' trying to tell how the election was stolen. Too bad the same claims didn't work in court. But for his followers, he's a beacon of hope and ....truth. That's sad. 

Most embarrassing document ever created by a White House staffer. The article also has some good stats on the election. And another superlative: the dumbest lawsuit filed about the election. 

Ron Johnson, senator from Wisconsin, had a somewhat heated but very ineffective hearing about election fraud. Claims of fraud just don't seem to have any traction after they've been rejected by a dozen judges. They need something fresh, new, powerful, and true, but none of that is happening. Too bad Johnson didn't have this GOP leader from PA testify. She said that her house would be bombed if she publicly refused to do Trump's bidding, so she's keeping it quiet rather than pointing out how unconstitutional his demands are. 

Trump is so busy trying to overturn the election that he didn't pay attention to the looming government shutdown if spending bills weren't passed. Same with any covid relief bill. The House and Senate finally managed to do it, and Trump belittles it. What was he doing all that time? Then he ended up signing the bill after days of acting like he wasn't going to. 

Trump tried a hail-Mary pass at strong-arming the Secretary of State of Georgia. It didn't work, but it was recorded and leaked. A couple days later, a top GA elections official debunked many of Trump's claims of fraud. 

Column on the big picture. The details about Trump are ludicrous or chilling. But the big picture is of a person who should never have been president, but was. Even more reported: Trump tried to get DOJ officials to declare the election 'corrupt,' and then Trump would execute some unnamed maneuver. 

There are examples of people taking responsibility. Here's one--the official in charge of vaccine distribution incorrectly interpreted the amount of vaccine that would be available for use, and had to tell the states that were getting less. 

Covid enters its winter season

I had a post where I was gathering all the links about reopening. Now the issues with covid are different. Reopening isn't the main issue anymore. Now the main issue is the surges in cases, so I need a new post focusing on that. 

Many charts comparing economics to covid deaths. There's no clear pattern that lockdowns work or don't work. Geography is the biggest contributor.

WOW. A COVID TREATMENT PROTOCOL. Lots of info here. 

Use this tool to calculate your covid risk. Mine is low. Hooray!!!

Hospitalizations have surged in California, especially the southern half. It's reported that there are no unused ICU beds. The cause of the surge isn't known since the rules in CA have been rather strict. Perhaps folks are breaking rules frequently, but not being caught at it. Perhaps there is a mutation with a higher transmission rate. This article points to the possibility of capacity cheating at malls. 

Image: wbur.org

Update 2/21/21. Catching up on some articles about reopening schools. These are tough trade-offs. I prefer caution but not everyone agrees. 

An investigation in Wuhan shows that the virus circulated for a while before being noticed. That's what happened elsewhere too. 

Reopening schools is still hard. 

The politics and culture war around masks. I think the conservatives decided to make it partisan.