Author: Pogo

Kudos to John Hyatt for writing one of my favorite song lyrics. From Ridin’ With the King”

He's on a mission of mercy to the new frontier,
He's gonna check us all on out of here.
Up to that mansion on a hill
Where you can get your prescription filled.

John can write.

OK, so Coke and Delta try to do some backfilling. WaPo:

Some of Georgia’s biggest companies — including Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines — and Atlanta sports teams the Falcons and the Hawks came out strongly against the state’s new voting law Wednesday amid growing backlash against the business world for failing to do enough to stop the measure from becoming law.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian condemned the legislation as “unacceptable” and contrary to the company’s values.

“Last week, the Georgia legislature passed a sweeping voting reform act that could make it harder for many Georgians, particularly those in our Black and Brown communities, to exercise their right to vote,” Bastian said in a Wednesday memo to employees.

“The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.”

* * *

James Quincey, the CEO of Coca-Cola, a Georgia corporate stalwart, said the legislation was “wrong” and “a step backward.” He said on CNBC: “Let me be crystal clear and unequivocal. This legislation is unacceptable. It is a step backward and it does not promote principles we have stood for in Georgia around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity.”

The strong statements Wednesday come after Black Voters Matter, a national community-organizing group that advocates on behalf of Black voters, held demonstrations and called on Delta and Coca-Cola as well as four other Georgia-based companies — UPS, Home Depot, Southern Company and Aflac — to speak out more strongly against the law.

(Continues)

So how does Kemp’s statement:

“At no point did Delta share any opposition to expanding early voting, strengthening voter ID measures, increasing the use of secure drop boxes statewide, and making it easier for local election officials to administer elections — which is exactly what this bill does.”

Square with:

The bill will expand early-voting hours, curtail the use of drop boxes for absentee voters, require additional identification for mail-in voting, criminalize third-party groups passing out food and water to voters standing in line outside polling stations, allow electors to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters and require counties to hold hearings on those challenges within 10 days, block the use of mobile voting vans, and prevent local governments from accepting private-sector grants. It would also strip the secretary of state’s voting power as a member of the State Elections Board and give lawmakers the power to start taking over local election boards.

Are there 2 Georgia voting bills?  The One Kemp refers to is nothing like the bill I’ve read about.

Oh, what to believe…? I can say with out reservation I DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD KEMP SAYS.

Joe Manchin, effective swing vote in the Senate, is taking a lot of shit over his refusal to approve all of Joe’s opening appointments like Neera Tanden for head of OMB. 

Well, I happen to know Joe. He ain’t perfect, and some could (do) argue that he’s not even a Democrat. I’m not sure that I would disagree with that at this point. However, he voted twice to convict Trump of the charges brought against him in impeachment. And of what I know about him, he tends to do what he believes is in the best interest of West Virginia. That may not always be simpatico with the policies being pushed by the administration or the Democrats and the Senate. Doesn’t help the administration with Democratic Senate, but Joe’s not a bad guy, but he’s not a Republican. I cut him a break.

Ex president in exile in Florida, Donald what’s his name, refuses to testify in what his spokesman Jason Miller terms as the the unconstitutional impeachment trial against him in the Senate. Heck, he could at least come in and plead the fifth.

“The President will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.

The statement from Miller came shortly after Trump’s defense team responded to a call from Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) for the former president to testify and accused Democrats of waging a “public relations stunt.”

“As you certainly know, there is no such thing as a negative interference in this unconstitutional proceeding,” Trump lawyers Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen said in a letter to Raskin. “Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations against the 45th President of the United States, who is now a private citizen.”

While Castor and Schoen did not explicitly say in their letter that Trump will not testify, they were dismissive of Democrats’ efforts.

“The use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games,” they said.

Coulda been a good show.

How many times have we heard the current occupant of the White House claim that we’ve rounded the corner in our battle with Covid-19?  Hundreds?  Thousands?  I don’t know – I sort of tune it out anymore.  What I do, though, is look at the case and death statistics daily as reported in the Washington Post Covid-19 tracker.  Well, a review of those statistics Monday morning suggests that yes, we have turned the corner – but it appears we’ve turned the corner in the wrong direction.

There are a couple of days each week that tend to be standouts in the data – Mondays tend to be the lowest (or one of the 2 lowest) days with respect to reported deaths and Wednesdays tend to be the highest (or one of the 2 highest) days with respect to reported deaths.  So I thought I’d look at Mondays and Wednesdays beginning on Nov. 2 (first Monday in November) to see what’s happening as we go forward.  Chose that date because we were told (hundreds of time?) by the current occupant of the White House that we would not hear anything about Covid-19 after Nov. 3 – Election Day.  That clearly has not been the case, but it serves as an appropriate starting point.  So here’s the reported death numbers on each Monday and Wednesday in November and December, plus the 7 day average on Wednesday each week:

Dates               Monday           Wednesday     7 Day Average

11/2, 4                 450                    112                  927

11/9, 11               582                   1549                1074

11/16, 18             622                   1849                1220

11/23, 25             871                   2279                1663

11/30, 12/2        1033                 2798                1600

12/7, 9                1324                 3140                2276

The only “bright” spot is that the 7 day average following the Thanksgiving Holiday was down a scosh – a result of reduced reportings during the 4 day weekend.

Yep, corner turned – toward greater numbers of dead Americans. Thanks, “President” Trump. Now, YOU LOST.  GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR WHITE HOUSE.