Getting a new appliance installed – Facemask wearing and social distancing mitigate but do not eliminate – The impeachment progress begins – Giuliani suffers collateral damage – Paul Gosar and his siblings – Kim Jong Un and his sibling – A second unfortunate Iranian wrestler – Evening statistics
I could not get out much today, having had to wait to get a dishwasher installed. It has taken me a while, but now when I’m getting installation or repairs done, I put on a facemask automatically after I receive a notification that he is on the way to the house. In that way I don’t have to make a mad dash for a mask just before I answer the knock on the door. I was a bit concerned about the installation, because yesterday the dishwasher started to fill up (very gradually) with water. This usually means that the drain hose is incorrectly positioned or has developed a kink, but it could be the sign of the need for a more serious repair. But the installer took a look and said that it was not an issue for him – and sure enough, he set the hose right and completed the installation very efficiently.
After boasting about the low probability of my getting the virus I came across an article today by a member of a household whose members are considerably younger than me (two parents with young children) and who have been more cautious than I have: wearing masks at all times even out of doors taking exercise, obtaining groceries via curbside pickup, limiting contacts outside of the household to a single relative whom they always met out of doors – and yet they all came down with COVID-19. The cases were mild ones, and they have recovered now, but it is sobering to be reminded that the preventative measures can only mitigate the risk of getting infected, not eliminate it altogether. Their condition during the aftermath of the illness underscores how severe even a so-called “mild” case can be; although the children have no further symptoms, both parents have not yet recovered their senses of smell and taste, and are still afflicted with headaches, runny noses, coughs, intermittent muscle soreness, and fatigue.
The impeachment articles have been officially introduced in the House. Democrats will probably bring up on the 25th Amendment resolution tomorrow; if nothing comes of it (as is likely), the House could vote on the impeachment articles the following day. Impeaching a President within the last week of his term of office may seem a futile gesture, but there are some practical considerations to recommend it: it will set a precedent to deter presidents in a situation similar to Trump’s from inciting an insurrection, as he did; it will damage Trump’s prospects for running for office again in 2024, and possibly squelch them altogether; and (depending on how the voting goes) it may spare the Government the cost of paying him a pension. Furthermore, anything that diverts his attention from encouraging yet more violence (which he almost certainly is contemplating, although how far he is willing to go he probably doesn’t even know himself) is to be encouraged.
Rudy Giuliani may also pay a severe penalty for associating himself so closely with Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. The New York State Bar Association is considering a motion to have him disbarred. He would be given a chance to defend himself from the charges if so, but he will have an uphill task. Not only did he support the riots last week in Washington, but the ludicrous behavior that was recorded in “Borat 2,” his Four Seasons press conference, and his interviews on Fox News and CNN will all undoubtedly be used against him. It is a sad conclusion after a long and distinguished record of public service, but it is warranted. One comment in particular that he made during the rioting shows the extent to which he has been tainted by associating with our would-be dictator: “If we’re wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we’re right a lot of them will go to jail. Let’s have trial by combat.”
In one of the more bizarre developments in the aftermath of the raid on the Capitol, three siblings of Paul Gosar, a Repubican Representative from Arizona, have sent a letter to Raúl Grijalva, a Democratic Representative from the same state, urging him to have their brother expelled from Congress. Grijalva said that he is more concerned with muzzling Trump than with taking up a feud with a Congressman from the same state, although he has not entirely ruled the possibility out. Congress has expelled only 20 members in the course of its entire history, so unless Gosar is shown to have been more blatant in supporting the rioters than, for example, Josh Hawley or Louie Gohmert, it is unlikely that this request will be followed up. But Gosar must be the only Representative in history who has had family members request that he be thrown out of Congress.
Another case of tension among siblings threatens to have more significant political impact. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, was rumored just a few months earlier to be ready to take over the country when her brother became ill. It is still unclear, by the way, as to how long this illness was, how long it lasted, and its degree of severity. At any rate, Kim Jong Un seems to have heard these rumors and has given his younger sister a reminder that he is still in charge: she has been excluded from a North Korean list for the ruling Workers’ Party Politburo today. It is not exactly a fall from grace. She has not been officially penalized or censured, and this omission does not rule out some sort of promotion later on. But it is a clear warning that she is not to exceed certain bounds and must not attempt to steal the spotlight from him. Kim Jong Un is very anxious to be the central figure in the public eye at all times, just like another national leader I could name.
Iran is set to execute another decorated wrestler, after having executed one in September. Navid Afkari was executed for fatally stabbing a security guard in the back. People who protested on his behalf said that his confession to the killing was obtained from him under torture and that he was actually being eliminated because he participated in an anti-government protest. That certainly is possible, but his defenders from various international sports groups damaged their case considerably by emphasizing his athletic prowess instead of focusing on the question of whether he was guilty or not. They implied that even if he did commit murder he should be pardoned on account of his status as an internationally-known athlete – in which case, the outrage of the response from the Iranian government was amply justified. Mehdi Ali Hosseini, the second wrestler, was arrested in 2015 and charged with pre-meditated murder, supposedly committed during a group brawl. Again, his confession may have been extorted from him by means of torture. Hosseini’s case is certainly more doubtful than Afkari’s, for it is difficult to see how a death in a brawl could have been “pre-meditated.” It sounds more like a case of manslaughter than anything else.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 91,301,079; # of deaths worldwide: 1,952,164; # of cases U.S.: 23,139,491; # of deaths; U.S.: 385,260. The death toll has gone done significantly in the past few days, so possibly we are seeing the end of the upsurge of the virus from the aftermath of the Christmas and New Year’s festivities. On the other hand, the riot of this past Wednesday has the potential of being another super-spreader event; hardly any of the rioters wore masks.