Katherine J Wu/Atlantic:
It’s important because there are plenty of folk who have been infected but not vaccinated. And not all of them know their status, nor is there a foolproof way to find out. Some other countries accept prior infection as counting. The US does not. In any case, a good review here of what we do and do not know.
NY Times:
Tom Nichols/Atlantic:
Jackie Calmes/LA Times:
Justine Coleman/The Hill:
David Rothkopf/Twitter:
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
Steven Rosenfeld/National Memo:
Sorry, a Coronavirus Infection Might Not Be Enough to Protect You
Anyone who’d rather have COVID-19 than get vaccinated is taking two gambles: that immunity will stick around, and that symptoms won’t.
Some of these differences might help explain the results of a recent, buzzy study out of Israel, in which researchers reported that previously infected individuals were better protected than people who had been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer shots, including against severe cases of COVID-19. “As soon as that paper came out,” Fauci told me, “we obviously discussed the inevitable issue”—whether infection should be enough to exempt someone from a shot.
It’s important because there are plenty of folk who have been infected but not vaccinated. And not all of them know their status, nor is there a foolproof way to find out. Some other countries accept prior infection as counting. The US does not. In any case, a good review here of what we do and do not know.
Old enough to remember when Afghanistan was going to dominate the midterms, end Biden's presidency, etc. https://t.co/8YHnVyBiS0 pic.twitter.com/4eSVGoHiHs
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) September 17, 2021
NY Times:
Ohio House Republican, Calling Trump ‘a Cancer,’ Bows Out of 2022
Representative Anthony Gonzalez, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, is the first of the group to retire rather than face a stiff primary challenge.
The congressman, who has two young children, emphasized that he was leaving in large part because of family considerations and the difficulties that come with living between two cities. But he made clear that the strain had only grown worse since his impeachment vote, after which he was deluged with threats and feared for the safety of his wife and children.
Mr. Gonzalez said that quality-of-life issues had been paramount in his decision. He recounted an “eye-opening” moment this year: when he and his family were greeted at the Cleveland airport by two uniformed police officers, part of extra security precautions taken after the impeachment vote.
One of the most important stories in America is the threat of violence against GOP politicians who cross Trump and his movement (i.e., the whole party). That story is not nearly well enough known. Read about Anthony Gonzalez. Put yourself in his shoes. https://t.co/v4RQ02fAJW
— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) September 17, 2021
Tom Nichols/Atlantic:
Trump Put Milley in an Impossible Position
The general stayed inside the lines—barely. The real problem is that he was in that situation at all.
Milley’s conversations with [Chinese General Li Zuocheng] are a concern not because they were unprecedented or a betrayal (as his critics claim) but because Milley felt the need to have them at all. Senior military-to-military contacts are normal and are an important part of building trust between nations, especially between adversaries. In the late 1990s, I had students from Russia in my Naval War College seminars. We valued their presence enough that when the Kremlin pulled them out after the war in Kosovo, I was sent to Moscow in hopes of creating more joint programs with the Russians that might include bringing those officers back. (I do not, of course, in any way represent the views of the Defense Department or the U.S. government.)
“People would get vaccinated if it weren’t mandated” is such an audaciously ridiculous lie that you almost have to admire it.
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) September 17, 2021
Jackie Calmes/LA Times:
Gen. Mark Milley deserves commendation in the face of Deranged Trump Syndrome
MAGA disciples talk of Trump Derangement Syndrome to dismiss the former president’s critics — the majority of Americans — as simply unhinged.
What we actually suffer from is Deranged Trump Syndrome — the sense that Donald Trump was and is capable of just about any noxious act…
We need more information about Milley’s thinking, and he’s sure to be asked to provide it when he testifies later this month before senators about the flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan. But based on what’s been leaked from a book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post, to be released next week, Milley mostly deserves our commendation
That email lady nailed it years ago. Deplorables, the whole basket of em. https://t.co/ZLlDlstMAM
— Tim Fournier (@pepinosuave) September 17, 2021
Justine Coleman/The Hill:
Pandemic frustrations zero in on unvaccinated Americans
The growing frustration with the ongoing pandemic is boiling over, with all eyes turned to the unvaccinated as the key to getting through the COVID-19 crisis.
As cases approach winter levels, the U.S. has been left to decide how to deal with and treat the millions who still haven’t received their shots, months after they became widely available.
In response, some have resorted to mocking and joking about the unvaccinated, an approach public health and psychology experts say is unlikely to change the minds of both hard-line activists or the vaccine hesitant.
Police unions are getting bolder and going public with their affinity for far-right militia groups. Not a great sign. https://t.co/aRy2lOTbjR
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) September 16, 2021
David Rothkopf/Twitter:
With every passing day, it looks less like we have one nation divided by differing political beliefs and more like we have two warring countries battling each other within shared borders. One side represents and seeks to preserve the United States. The other seeks to destroy it.
If the goal of the GOP is, at it appears to be, gut our democracy, to disenfranchise massive portions of our population, to impose the views of the minority on the majority, to attack principles like tolerance, that no individual is above the law, and equity...
...to literally reject reality and demonstrable facts and embrace an alternative reality founded in lies and dangerous to the health of the nation, our environment, our ideals and our standing in the world, then we have left the realm of political debate.
"You’re going to jeopardize any faith in the legal institutions," he said, blaming us for his votes in Bush v Gore, DC v Heller, Citizens United, Connick v Thompson, Concepcion, Shelby County, Hobby Lobby, Vance v Ball State, the eviction moratorium, the Texas abortion law... https://t.co/laU70Ne1d9
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) September 16, 2021
Greg Sargent/WaPo:
The right-wing media is helping Trump destroy democracy. A new poll shows how.
When future historians seek to explain the United States’ perilous slide toward authoritarianism in the 21st century, they will grapple with the role played in all these events by Fox News and the right-wing media. Simply put, those actors are helping Donald Trump and his movement threaten democracy, in a way that will likely continue getting worse.
A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute demonstrates in a fresh way just how responsible those bad-faith media actors are for what we’re seeing right now. And this raises anew the question of how much damage they will do over the long haul.
The poll’s big finding is that people who rely heavily on Fox News and other right-wing media are overwhelmingly more likely to believe the election was stolen from Trump — and are overwhelmingly less likely to blame Trump for the insurrection — than those who do not.
In one sense, that’s a no-brainer. But taken together, those views add up to something truly toxic: The “belief” that the election was stolen, and the simultaneous refusal to assign accountability for an effort to violently overthrow our constitutional order, suggest right-wing propaganda may be softening the ground for a more concerted abandonment of democracy going forward.
From the NYT https://t.co/7lAPwvY0Fx pic.twitter.com/EoOhdPP4gH
— Daniel Hurst (@danielhurstbne) September 18, 2021
Steven Rosenfeld/National Memo:
“Arizona ‘Audit’ Report Likely To Concede That Biden Won In 2020”
The team of Arizona Republican state senators, legislative staff, and advisers finalizing the Cyber Ninjas' report on the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County is preparing to say that Joe Biden legitimately won the election, according to the largest funder of the Senate's mostly privatized election review, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
"The way some of these political RINOs [Republicans In Name Only] are doing this is they're trying to argue that the [election] report should only be allowed to go and address the original construct of the report, the original assignment of the audit, and leave out other things that have been found," Byrne told Creative Destruction Media's L. Todd Wood.
"The political class is going to try to come in and water this down," Byrne said. "The Republican political class, the RINOs, the nobodies… They are going to try to water this down. I am sure they all have been promised federal judgeships or sacks of cash under a streetlight if they can get this killed at this late date or watered down. And I think the public of Arizona should go ballistic."
…
Sources in Arizona have said that the state Senate review team was spooked by the possible losses of law licenses looming over Trump's attorneys, as well as stern warnings from the U.S. Department of Justice for possibly using investigative methods that could violate voter intimidation laws. As a result, they have been editing the report drafted by the Senate's lead contractor, Cyber Ninjas, and excising claims and narratives that are speculative rather than factual. This has delayed the report's release until the week of September 20, sources indicated.
from @jameshamblin "Everyone may need boosters eventually. But not yet. Until then, we have to grapple with the fundamental conundrum that has beset humanity since day one: Some things are good for some people but not for others." https://t.co/3Txz7BdE2Q
— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) September 18, 2021