Obtaining service from Verizon – Scott Lively’s views on women and face masks – Mary Trump’s new book – Jeff Sessions’ defeat – The inhumanity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – Cruz’s transition from Trump’s opponent to supporter – The spinelessness of Trump’s associates – Evening statistics
My router, which is several years old, gave out today and had to be replaced. In order to obtain the new router I had to undergo the barrage of voice menus and automated systems that Verizon insists upon interposing before one can speak with a living person. Why they continue to do this, when they must know how much customers detest it, is something of a mystery. I do not object to being placed on hold when attempting to speak to a representative. It is quite natural that the company cannot attend to every telephone call at once; and especially now, when the constraints imposed by the virus must translate into a reduced staff online. In any case, one always has the option of leaving one’s number in the call record so that they will call back whenever an agent becomes available. But these preliminaries of going through menu after menu full of options, with continual urgings to log into their automated system, serve no useful purpose. Once I was able to connect with someone, the service was excellent; the new router was ordered within a few minutes and I was able to pick it up at a store in Woodbridge less than two hours after I had ordered it. But the delays I experienced in getting connected to a non-automated voice was, to say the least, extremely vexatious.
Scott Lively, the Conservative Christian spokesman who allegedly was one of the architects of the anti-gay legislation in Uganda (it sounds odd that anyone in Uganda would take advice from a foreigner, and from an American at that, about their own legislation , but the Lord moves in mysterious ways, etc., etc.) – Scott Lively, I say, has recently made some contributions to our national debate that have been . . . lively, for want of a better word. In a radio interview this past Sunday he stated that “this is going to be very controversial, but the women’s right to vote—the 19th Amendment—was actually a product of the Soviet Bolshevik revolution that was transported here to the United States in the 1920s”; which is actually rather amusing, if unhistorical. In 1869, long before Bolsheviks were even heard of, women received the right to vote in Wyoming, and several other states followed suit well before 1917. Lively has also said that he would rather be beheaded than forced to wear a face mask; one can only hope that someone will act on the suggestion and accord him that martyrdom to the faith that he so evidently desires.
Mary Trump’s book about her uncle has been officially published, but it cannot be said that any of her revelations are particularly surprising. Indeed, many of them are insignificant: accounts of petty quarrels among Trump and his brothers when they were children that are the natural result of sibling rivalry and that would be of little consequence to anyone except a speaker of fluent psycho-babble. It would appear that triviality is something of a family trait. More to the point is the question of why so many people fall into the nets of such an obvious charlatan.
Jeff Sessions, for instance, typifies the career arc of many who pin their fortunes to Donald Trump’s. He was the first Senator to endorse Trump in the 2016 election, long before anyone else took him seriously as a presidential candidate, and consistently endorsed him throughout the campaign, which eventually resulted in the appointment of Sessions as Attorney General. But his association with Trump did him little good in the long run. After he recused himself from an investigation about foreign influences on Trump’s campaign – which he was obligated to do, since he himself had been personally involved in the campaign and could not undertake to review it impartially – Trump did not rest until Sessions was deprived of his position and assailed him with numerous verbal assaults in the process. Trump retains grudges for a long time and appears to regard acting ethically, as Sessions did on this occasion, as a personal affront. During the recent primary for the Alabama Senate seat, Sessions lost out to his opponent, and Trump played a significant role in his defeat, taking every opportunity he found to excoriate his former ally. He expects unquestioning loyalty from all of his associates, but he gives them nothing in return. Why do they all submit so tamely?
Part of the reason, no doubt, is that they wish to present a united front against Trump’s opponents, several of whom are every bit as unsavory as he is. I have already commented on the rigidity and dogmatism of many of our so-called liberals. One example is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, hardened, callous, and bloodthirsty, who has sought to whitewash the perpetrators responsible for the numerous spate of crimes in New York that occurred after the police there were muzzled – pretending that these were confined to abstracting goods from stores on account of hunger, and by implication deliberately excusing the shootings and stabbings that have resulted in the deaths of many, including several young children.
But that is not the entire story. The Republicans should have realized long before now that Trump is an extremely poor representative of the values they profess to espouse. Yet they cave in to him without question. Sessions is far from unique. Ted Cruz, for instance, was a rival candidate during the 2016 primary, and during that event he and Trump attacked each other’s wives, citizenship, and integrity with unabashed ferocity. They even threatened to sue one another, accusing each of lying and financial skullduggery. Trump abused Cruz’s wife for her appearance and spread the rumor that Cruz’s father participated in the assassination of President Kennedy. When Trump was finally nominated, Cruz refused to endorse him. But he gave in eventually, and now is one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters. For a while he showed a bit of backbone, but once Trump’s presidency was an accomplished fact Cruz has striven his utmost to bolster the regime. And for what? What does he gain from it?
So it is with Michael Flynn; so it is with James Comey; so it is with Reince Priebus; so it is with Sean Spicer; so it is with Rex Tillotson – the history of Trump’s administration is littered with stories of men and women who have displayed whole-hearted support for Trump and have come belatedly to rue their Faustian bargain. In his first year of office, 34% of his original staff were fired, forced to resign, or reassigned. By July, 2018 – a bare 17 months into his administration – over 61% of his senior aides had left office, many of them against their will. But it is useless to continue in this vein; most of what I have related is familiar to nearly everyone and must appear sadly commonplace by now.
And so I move on, by a natural segue, to the daily statistics, since our President is a major factor in the scale that they have assumed.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 13,671,188; # of deaths worldwide: 585,929; # of cases U.S.: 3,615,344 # of deaths U.S.: 140,091. The increases are similar to yesterday, except that our country’s case increase is over 70,000. Of these, over 10,000 have occurred in Florida and over 11,000 in Texas. Florida’s case count is over 300,000 – about 1.4% of the state population or about 1 in every 70 per capita. Americans now account for over 36% of the cases still active. South Africa has become a new epicenter; it has overtaken Spain’s case count and is poised to overtake Mexico’s by tomorrow. Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are all increasing at the rate of over 2,000 a day; but it will be a while before their absolute case counts move into the top ten nations. There is a very slight decrease in mortality rate; ours is currently at about 3.8%.