Embedded below, Sen. Ron Johnson’s nine minutes, thirty-three seconds of lunacy on Sunday’s Meet the Press. A full transcript is available at NBC News.
Previously: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson: Ambitious, Compromised, or Crackpot?, National Reporting on Sen. Ron Johnson, and Ron Johnson’s 12.16.20 Senate Hearing on Election Security.
During every Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, exceptional soloists receive an Outstanding Soloist award. In this special video premiere, to commemorate our 25th Anniversary, we’ll revisit some of the greatest student solos. Many have gone on to be some of the finest jazz musicians in the world today.
To learn more about Jazz at Lincoln Center, visit us at http://www.jazz.org
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of thirty-one. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:35 PM, for 9h 09m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 2004, Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars.
Recommended for reading in full —
All 10 living former defense secretaries write Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory:
American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy. With one singular and tragic exception that cost the lives of more Americans than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an unbroken record of such transitions since 1789, including in times of partisan strife, war, epidemics and economic depression. This year should be no exception.
Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.
As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.
Steve Schmidt describes The Seven Aspects of Trumpism [three excerpted below]:
Trumpism is an American autocratic movement with fascistic markers. There are seven specific parts that comprise its core.
1. THE LEADER: Donald Trump is the unquestioned leader of this movement. It is a cult of personality, and there are no serious challengers against his leadership.
2. THUGS: The Proud Boys are but one example in a toxic stew of heavily-armed militias, white nationalists and other right-wing extremists. As is always the case, their ranks are filled with people on the fringes of society; the lonely, dispossessed, aggrieved and resentful. Not so long ago, there would have been a near-societal consensus around describing these people as losers. These people bring the menace of violence to politics and are akin to the same thuggish rabble that were wearing brown and black shirts 100 years ago.
4. PROPAGANDISTS: Autocratic movements are built on and sustained by lies. Political lying and conspiracy theories have become billion-dollar businesses. Fox News, Newsmax, One America News Network, social media, talk-radio dividers, Infowars, and others have poisoned the American polity and created the conditions for Trump to create an alternate reality that is now a lethal threat to American liberty.
Bali’s famous beaches covered in plastic garbage:
more >>Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of twenty-eight. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:34 PM, for 9h 08m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 80% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1777, the Continental Army defeats the British at the Battle of Princeton.
Recommended for reading in full —
E. Tammy Kim writes This Is Why Nursing Homes Failed So Badly (‘The first coronavirus outbreak in the United States happened in a nursing home in February. Since then, it’s only gotten worse’):
The first coronavirus outbreak in the United States occurred in a nursing home near Seattle, in late February. Since then, the country has endlessly revised its hot spot map. Yet the situation in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities has only gotten worse: More than 120,000 workers and residents have died, and residents are now dying at three times the rate they did in July.
Long-term care continues to be understaffed, poorly regulated and vulnerable to predation by for-profit conglomerates and private-equity firms. The nursing aides who provide the bulk of bedside assistance still earn poverty wages, and lockdown policies have forced patients into dangerous solitude.
A few weeks ago, nursing home workers and residents began to receive vaccinations for the coronavirus, but even full immunization will not allay the tragedy that has unfolded in long-term care — not just the deaths, but also the isolation and neglect.
Lori Smetanka, the executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy nonprofit, told me stories of nursing home residents who’ve gone weeks without being showered or having their teeth brushed. Residents with dementia have suffered terribly from a lack of human contact, leading to depression and loss of weight, mobility and speech.
The Associated Press reports British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s father reportedly seeks French citizenship:
CALAIS, France — France’s government cast a favorable light Friday on a reported bid by the father of Britain’s prime minister to take up French nationality, saying it shows how attached Britons are to the European Union that they’re no longer part of.
Reports that Stanley Johnson, the father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is seeking to keep a foot in Europe by taking up French citizenship made headlines just as his son led Britain’s split Thursday from the EU. Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time on New Year’s Eve.
Visiting Calais on Friday to inspect how the French port is adjusting post-Brexit, France’s minister for European affairs, Clément Beaune, described the citizenship application as emblematic of enduring British sentiment for Europe.
“If Mr. Johnson’s father has a right to French nationality, wants to remain a European citizen and become a French citizen, then we will examine that,” he said. “To me, this is a wink, or a sign, that lots of British people, in different ways, still love Europe.
….
French nationality would give the elder Johnson the automatic rights that other Britons have lost, including being able to travel and live freely in all of the 27 EU countries.
Boston Dynamics Robots Dance to Do You Love Me?:
more >> Problems of small-town planning are not from lack of plans, they’re from lack of judgment and foresight. Even the smallest towns have plans, regulations, task forces, etc. Problems come from planners (both professionals and residents on committees) who lack the judgment to distinguish between big and small matters (and so waste time on the small). They may also lack foresight (and so cannot distinguish between likely and unlikely outcomes).
Attention to detail is only useful if one can sort details by immediate and future significance.
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of twenty-seven. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:33 PM, for 9h 07m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1777, American forces under the command of Gen. Washington repulse a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
Recommended for reading in full —
David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth, and Julian E. Barnes report As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm:
On Election Day, General Paul M. Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes and exposed the other side’s online weapons, tools and tradecraft.
“We’ve broadened our operations and feel very good where we’re at right now,” he told journalists.
Eight weeks later, General Nakasone and other American officials responsible for cybersecurity are now consumed by what they missed for at least nine months: a hacking, now believed to have affected upward of 250 federal agencies and businesses, that Russia aimed not at the election system but at the rest of the United States government and many large American corporations.
Three weeks after the intrusion came to light, American officials are still trying to understand whether what the Russians pulled off was simply an espionage operation inside the systems of the American bureaucracy or something more sinister, inserting “backdoor” access into government agencies, major corporations, the electric grid and laboratories developing and transporting new generations of nuclear weapons.
At a minimum it has set off alarms about the vulnerability of government and private sector networks in the United States to attack and raised questions about how and why the nation’s cyberdefenses failed so spectacularly.
Andrew Fazekas writes of 10 spectacular stargazing events to watch in 2021:
MARCH 9 AND 10: QUADRUPLE FORMATION
An impressive cosmic huddle will greet sky-watchers around the globe as four worlds cluster in the southeast morning sky. Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn will all appear in near-perfect alignment, while the nearby crescent moon will frame the trio of planets. Each planet will appear as a brilliant dot, with Mercury being the faintest and Jupiter the brightest—all easily visible to the naked eye.
Through binoculars, stargazers will be able to spot Jupiter’s four largest moons, while a small telescope will reveal Saturn’s rings. Because of Earth’s position relative to Mercury and the sun, only half of the innermost planet’s disk will appear illuminated to us. As a result, Mercury will look like a miniature version of the quarter moon through the telescope.
….
AUGUST 12 AND 13: PERSEID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS
Every mid-August, Earth travels through a cloud of debris shed by the comet Swift–Tuttle, producing a flurry of shooting stars in the skies as small meteors burn up in the upper atmosphere. This is the Perseid meteor shower, and it can produce up to 60 shooting stars an hour in a typical year.
This year promises to be particularly good for the Perseids, since the shower’s peak will coincide with a dark, moonless sky. A thin crescent moon will set during the early evening, ushering in excellent viewing conditions later in the night. The Northern Hemisphere is favored since the meteors always appear to radiate from their namesake constellation Perseus, which lies close to the horizon this time of year for those in far southern latitudes.
To get the best view of this celestial fireworks show, scout out a viewing spot with as little light pollution as possible. Even from a suburban backyard or park, dozens of shooting stars should be visible each hour under clear skies.
Lawmakers Evacuate as Earthquake Shakes Slovenian National Assembly:
more >>People lie about the dumbest things. Here is Republican @ScottWalker (who has been caught lying before) posting a photo of his "great pizza tonight." Next to it is the uncropped version of the same pizza, in a photo he posted last year. pic.twitter.com/LvDkw0I5H7
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) December 27, 2020
For Whitewater – and other places – the pandemic hasn’t changed contemporary politics or culture, it has revealed plainly the character of contemporary politics and culture: divided, debilitated. Whitewater’s meaningful changes began years ago, with the Great Recession (2007-2009). For small towns like Whitewater, that recession never ended. It’s as if a man with poor circulation was improperly treated as he began to suffer strokes, first slight, then more pronounced. The wrong treatment would only assure that with each transient episode, the successive toll would become worse.
An easier path to recovery was years ago; it will be a rougher course now.
Inverse has an article on The science behind catnip’s potent powers:
Catnip’s pungent odor comes from a chemical called nepetalactone. It helps the plant repel insects.
But this research takes us further into the evolution of nepetalactone using genetic analysis. According to study co-author Benjamin Lichman, a plant biologist at the University of York, his team discovered “a suite of unusual enzymes” were responsible for nepetalactone’s kitty arousing properties.
“These enzymes are not found in any related plant species and have evolved uniquely in catmint,” Lichman says.
Nepetalactone uses a double-whammy — literally — to stupefy cats. Lichman and his colleagues discovered that while other types of mint form chemicals using only one enzyme, nepetalactone instead activates one enzyme, which sets off a chain reaction to activate a second enzyme.
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with some snow this evening, and a high of thirty-two. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:32 PM, for 9h 07m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 93.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
Recommended for reading in full —
Simon Tisdall writes Trump fed our worst instincts. His global legacy is toxic and immoral:
How much damage did Donald Trump do around the world, can it be repaired, and did he accomplish anything of lasting significance? Assessing the international legacy of the 45th US president is not so much a conventional survey of achievement and failure. It’s more like tracking the rampages of a cantankerous rogue elephant that leaves a trail of random destruction and shattered shibboleths in its wake. Last week’s wild pardoning spree is a case in point.
First, the big picture. Trump’s confrontational manner, combined with his “America First” agenda, seriously undermined transatlantic relations and US global leadership. Joe Biden promises to set this right, but it will not be easy.
….
Trump encouraged authoritarian “strongman” leaders such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s dictator Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and hooligans such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. He coddled autocrats such as Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and Russia’s Putin. Worse, his lies eroded trust in democracy and the rule of law, at home and abroad. Yet even as, properly and electorally vanquished, he slowly departs, he continues to antagonise and divide – and to be lionised by the right.
Maybe it’s not that hard to see why. Trump’s personal brand of viciousness appealed to every worst human instinct, justified every vile prejudice, excused every mean and unkind thought. His is a blind ignorance that resonates with those who will not or cannot see. Falsehood is always easier than truth. For these reasons, Trump’s global legacy is Trumpism. It will live on – toxic, immoral, ubiquitous and ever-threatening.
Melanie D.G. Kaplan writes John Steinbeck’s classic travelogue showcases man’s best road trip buddy:
Fourteen years ago, I decided to drive across the United States. This came after a childhood of cross-country rides in the back seat of my parents’ car, visiting my grandparents in Southern California. But in 2007, when I was a full-fledged grown-up, my grandmother worried about this trip well before my departure. My mother wanted to know where I would sleep. My sister said she couldn’t imagine driving all those miles by myself.
“Don’t you wish you had someone there to share it with?” she asked.
Reminding them about my four-legged travel buddy did nothing to quell their unease. “I’m not alone,” I said, time and again. “Darwin will be with me.”
Perhaps I carried an extra air of confidence when I reiterated that statement about my co-pilot and explained that this trip was wholly different from a solo adventure. I had just read John Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley: In Search of America,” and it spoke to me. Loudly.
“I took one companion on my journey — an old French gentleman poodle known as Charley,” Steinbeck wrote. He described Charley as a born diplomat, expert sniffer and poor fighter. He was an early bird, a good watchdog and friend who “would rather travel about than anything he can imagine.” The pair set off on their journey in September 1960.
Darwin was also a good friend — a sassy, independent beagle, occasional growler and regular howler who loved road trips second only to eating. In 2007, we traveled 8,800 miles in 30 days.
Maniacal Squirrels Declare War Against New York:
more >>Tim Miller – who is always worth reading, writes of 2020 as The Worst. But Not Just That. These paragraphs resonate:
Most importantly, 2020 will always be the year that we joined together and toppled the greatest threat that our fragile union has faced in many decades. Turning out more people to vote against the president-strongman than had ever voted against anyone in American history. Turning out large enough numbers to ensure the victory was clear, to thwart his—and his party’s—attempt to overturn our democracy.
2020 will always be loss. But it will always be that victory, too. Don’t ever let the wannabe sophisticates retcon the last four years to make it seem like the happy ending was inevitable or that there was never any real danger. Because it wasn’t. And there was. Even now, those careerists hold their manhoods cheap for not taking the field to save our republic.
We achieved something important and lasting, something that will reverberate through the decades during a year that was otherwise The Worst.
The White House promised that 20M Americans would be vaccinated by the New Year. With 2 days left until that deadline, how’s that going?
Answer: Not so well. pic.twitter.com/gDdZvUujKc
— The Recount (@therecount) December 29, 2020
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of twenty-five. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:31 PM, for 9h 06m 10s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1967, the Packers defeat the Cowboys (21-17) in the 1967 NFL Championship (the ‘Ice Bowl’).
Recommended for reading in full —
Rebecca Robbins reports U.S. Officials Say Covid-19 Vaccination Effort Has Lagged:
As of Wednesday, more than 14 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had been sent out across the United States, up from 11.4 million doses on Monday morning. But just 2.1 million people had received their first dose as of Monday morning, according to a dashboard maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
….
The 2.1 million administered doses reported by the C.D.C. is an underestimate of the true number because of lags in reporting. And a C.D.C. official said in a separate news conference on Wednesday that 2.6 million people had received their first dose. Whatever the number, it falls far short of the goal that federal officials put forward as recently as this month to have 20 million people vaccinated by the end of this year.
Steven Benen writes Trump takes aim at Georgia official’s non-existent brother:
In the weeks since his defeat, Trump’s fury toward the Georgia official [Brad Raffensperger, Republican secretary of state in Georgia] has intensified, leading to a pair of tweets published around midnight, starting with this gem.
“I love the Great State of Georgia, but the people who run it, from the Governor, [Brian Kemp], to the Secretary of State, are a complete disaster and don’t have a clue, or worse. Nobody can be this stupid. Just allow us to find the crime, and turn the state Republican.”
First, “Just allow us to find the crime” is an amazing thing for anyone to write, and a reminder that the president and his team are still searching desperately for evidence that doesn’t exist. Second, “Nobody can be this stupid” is one of those phrases I’m going to brush right past without comment.
But it was the other late-night tweet that included a new accusation of particular interest.
“Now it turns out that Brad R’s brother works for China, and they definitely don’t want ‘Trump’. So disgusting!”
Among the many problems with Trump’s accusation is that Brad Raffensperger’s brother does not work for China. We can say this with great certainly because Brad Raffensperger does not have a brother.
Michael Kranish reports Sen. David Perdue became wealthy outsourcing work to Asia. Now the former CEO stands with Trump, who wants to ‘end our reliance on China’:
When Republican David Perdue ran for the Senate six years ago, he spoke proudly of his years as a corporate executive in Asia. He made no apologies for having said that he “spent most of my career” relying on the outsourcing of jobs. He fended off attacks that he had enriched himself as companies he led relied on offshore production, and he won the Georgia seat.
But as Perdue seeks reelection, in a contest that will determine which party controls the Senate, he has sought to shift the focus away from such work as he allies himself with President Trump, who has blasted corporate executives who move jobs overseas.
The disconnect between Trump’s rhetoric about returning manufacturing jobs from China and the experience of Perdue was evident at an October rally in Macon with Trump. Perdue did not mention specifics about his career, telling the crowd, “I’m just a dumb business guy from right over that hill.”
Times Square Crystal Ball Gets Final Test Run Before New Year’s Eve Celebration:
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