You're right. So I called him up.

Dave, a college friend o' mine and Deadhead extraordinaire, pointed out I missed a rather obvious one. The last fade-out line is downright prophetic, in fact.

New Speedway Boogie

Please don't dominate the rap, Jack
If you've got nothing new to say
If you please, don't back up the track
This train's got to run today

I spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Heard some say, "better run away"
Others say, "better stand still"

Now I don't know, but I been told
It's hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand I have heard it said
It's just as hard with the weight of lead

Who can deny? Who can deny?
It's not just a change in style
One step done and another begun
And I wonder how many miles?

I spent a little time on the mountain
Spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we don't understand
But I think in time we will

Now I don't know, but I was told
In the heat of the sun a man died of cold
Keep on coming or stand and wait
With the sun so dark and the hour so late

You can overlook the lack, Jack
Of any other highway to ride
It's got no signs or dividing lines
And very few rules to guide

I spent a little time on the mountain
I spent a little time on the hill
I saw things getting out of hand
I guess they always will

Now I don't know, but I been told
If the horse don't pull you got to carry the load
I don't know whose back's that strong
Maybe find out before too long

One way or another, one way or another
One way or another, this darkness got to give
One way or another, one way or another
One way or another, this darkness got to give
One way or another, one way or another
One way or another, this darkness got to give

-CW

That Michael Caputo
@MichaelRCaputo

@jeffsessions this is on you. You failed everyone, but especially @realDonaldTrump and his most loyal soldiers.

*

I found it notable enough to post about it:

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2019/11/14/28-29/#comment-149343

If Mikey C. (not to be confused with Mikey Cohen) hadn't "hit delete" when he was hired by Trump at HHS in order to eff with the CDC data/science, you could still view all those incriminating tweets of his, but alas they are now "gone" (but, of course, tweets are never really gone and still archived for all posterity).

You will notice that Dr. Ryan didn't include masking in his prescription for what will reduce transmission. The point is that if the public health architecture for case identification, isolation, treatment, tracing of contacts and quarantining of contacts is not in place, then masks alone will not be the answer.

A rational strategy for the effective and equitable distribution of vaccines has been developed by the WHO. I don't believe Biden mentioned this in his address and Q&A today. He also didn't mention that this strategy needs to be a global partnership. No one will be safe until everyone is safe.

This patently false.

Until the US gets its act together on the primary public health measures and activities that will actually reduce transmission of this virus, it will be dealing with its epidemic for a very, very long time and Americans will continue losing their lives and livelihoods.

He has a special way of framing an issue that gets to the heart of the mattter!

(This is a quick transcription of mine and I'll use quotes just so anyone reading it will know they are Dr Ryan's words, almost in their entirety )

"It is time for countries to make some serious decisions and two principles must be sustained - protecting older and vulnerable individuals from death; the importance, above all else, of educating our children.

"We have to sustain pressure on the virus. We have to reduce transmission at the community level in order to lower the risk to older and vulnerable people and to maintain an environment in which children can continue to attend school.

"How do we do this? Adults must separate themselves enough to drive transmission downwards. So, what is most important? Our children back at school or the nightclubs and bars open?

"These are the decisions we need to make coming into the winter months. There are tradeoffs that must be made. There are no rosy answers. The time for decision-making is coming and the risk management approach is the only way to go - sustained surveillance, test and trace, quick results, cluster investigation, isolation of cases, quarantine of contacts.

"There are no alternatives. This is what we must do. It's not easy. It's hard to sustain and everyone is exhausted. But, if we are to serve our children and those older and vulnerable people in our population who might otherwise die this winter then we must sustain these public health activities and these cannot be sustained without government commitment to do this or without societal commitment to participate and be part of this.

"This conversation needs to be had in many countries right now. There are no magic bullets and we need to stop looking for unicorns!

"Our frontline health workers were the heroes in the first five or six months of this pandemic and they remain our heroes. But, teachers, school administrators, school/parent committees have worked so hard to do everything they can to get children back in school and they're our heroes now, too!

"Government needs to support them in these efforts. We as the adult community need to support them. The best thing we can do to support getting our children back in school is to reduce our risk of being exposed and reducing our chance of exposing others. What are we prepared to do in the adult community to ensure that we neither expose ourselves nor expose others to this virus? If we do that, then our children can stay in school."

Your pick for treasury is every bit as unlikely as mine. :)

I forgot to mention that I would put Senator Warren at the head of the CFPB, if it's still around.

Heh.

Mark McKinnon said that whoever took that call should have said, "No hablo ingles. Lo siento. Adios!"

Oh, well ...

I'm a Bernie Bro and while I'm sure Joe will be a good President Bernie woulda beaten Trump in 2016 and this election too if he won the nomination.

Really? How so?

You nailed it. So did Zevon. Perfect fit to the Trump Regime and Classic Zevon themes:

Inflated sense of entitlement....

Risky behavior.....

Somebody else' s fault....

Why me? When it all blows up.

Yo Mopshell I agree with

Personally I believe Democrats chose the only viable candidate they had, the one of which Trump is most afraid and for good reason. The difference between the two is Grand Canyon-sized. Trump is steeped in sin, incompetent and inadequate. Biden has every virtue of the good man and then some.

I disagree with Sanders as any kind of treacherous bad guy. I'm a Bernie Bro and while I'm sure Joe will be a good President Bernie woulda beaten Trump in 2016 and this election too if he won the nomination. And Bernie has yanked the Overton Window decidedly leftward. And that's nothing but good news.

Kerry Sec. of State
Elizabeth Warren Treasury
Cory Booker HHS
Leon Panetta Defense, if he wants an encore. He's still alive, right.
If you have a better slot for Kerry I could definitely deal with Hillary back at State. I thought she did well and sooo many Repugs would be simply appoplectic, hee hee.

I nominate Dr. Michael Ryan for the position - if Biden could persuade him to leave his Executive Directorship of Health Emergencies at the WHO. I'd also be happy with Bill Gates.

I know, I know ... that last one ain't gonna happen. But, it gives me no small amount of pleasure just thinking about the non-existent possibility of it. :) Seriously, after his second tour of duty, the Republican cult of economic failure would be obliterated, once and for all.

Who would YOU like to see in a Biden cabinet, Mopshell?

I want him to tell us why Trump's campaign is pulling ads and rallies from swing states because it really looks like they're broke. You could be forgiven for thinking the Trump campaign's most recent ad was really an ad for Biden - only the ad's very poor quality tells us it wasn't done by any of the pro-Biden groups because they have been consistently hitting extremely high standards all year.

If Trump loses re-election, will Michale ever turn up again? I guess he will, in order to tell us how terrible Biden is, once the initial shock and misery wear off.

Meantime, is there anyone here saying Biden could lose because [insert reason]. I can't imagine what reason anyone could give at this point except the obvious - the republicans will cheat to steal the election because they are desperate to hold onto power. That could happen, especially as Americans seem to think it's unpatriotic to question the integrity of their elections in spite of the evidence.

Has Sanders been lauded for pouring shit on Biden with less than two months to go to E-Day? I keep wondering how low he has to go before losing his sainthood. His most ardent fans are keeping him up there so far and refusing to vote for any Democrat including Biden.

All very predictable yet there are still folks who insist on referring to the treacherous Sanders as a Democrat, no matter how much he declares he isn't or how often he expresses his disgust and dislike of the party in one way or another. The timing of his criticism shows he's obviously out to punish Democrats for failing to make him their nominee. If he helps Trump get another 4 years he doesn't care. That just gives him a chance to say how he would've beaten Trump if Democrats weren't so blind and stupid.

Personally I believe Democrats chose the only viable candidate they had, the one of which Trump is most afraid and for good reason. The difference between the two is Grand Canyon-sized. Trump is steeped in sin, incompetent and inadequate. Biden has every virtue of the good man and then some.

I'm looking forward to Elizabeth's choices for Biden's cabinet picks - or have I missed it? I hope not. I have two or three I'd like to see in there too. Delighted with Harris as his running mate!

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
The shit has hit the fan

[...]

The bottles stand as empty now, as they were filled before.
Time there was and plenty, but from that cup no more.
Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few
"Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools"

Ship of Fools, on a cruel sea.
Ship of Fools, sail away from me.
It was later than I thought when I first believed you
But now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools.