Avoid it like the plague

Another look at the COVID data in Michigan. The peak for the number of new cases per day for the week of June 27 was revised upward to 212. For the week of July 4 it was revised upward to 254. In the past week the numbers for three consecutive days were 214, 208, and 219. This isn’t over yet. In the last three weeks the deaths per day has been in the single digits except one day at 12 deaths. In the last ten days one day had 4 deaths and the other days the number is lower. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported that as long as the nasty guy occupied the Oval Office the Republican Party was generally in favor of the COVID vaccine. They cheered how fast it became available and his Operation Warp Speed (which really didn’t have much to do with vaccine development). The equation was:

There were vaccines. And Trump had funded vaccines. So vaccines … yah!

Of course, vaccine refusal by Republican voters had been high from the beginning. The nasty guy was booted and Joe Biden took over, making vaccines in arms an actual thing. But now that Biden in in charge a lot of Republicans have changed their tune so completely that vaccine hesitancy has turned into vaccine hostility. In another report Sumner added the number of new cases in America is rising again. This time in all fifty states. The nation has gone from a low of 12K cases per day to 28K per day (in January it was 250K a day). Los Angeles County is forcing a mask mandate again. Missouri, where McDonald County has vaccinated only 14% of the population and the governor is now trying to stop any vaccination program, is now a top hot spot. Florida is another. Too many states have prioritized “getting back to normal” over “keeping citizens healthy.” And the vaccine, at this level if use, isn’t enough. Matt Blaze tweeted:

I guess we should retire the expression “avoid it like the plague”, given how little effort people seem to be willing to go to to avoid plagues. My notifications are full of “it’s ok because only weak people die”-type comments by people who get very offended if you compare them with Nazis. Also, a large number of “Covid isn’t literally the same as the bubonic plague therefore you’re stupid”. It’s almost like there’s a list of official pro-virus talking points. ... The people saying “Covid only kills weak and old people who are going to die soon anyway” would go absolutely apoplectic if you said the same thing about businesses that fail during lockdowns.

Sumner reported on the latest from the Maricopa County, Arizona fraudit. Cyber Ninjas, the company conducting the fraudit, though they had no prior experience in handling ballots, tweeted three weeks ago they were done counting ballots. But they can’t issue a report yet because ... well, because somebody isn’t giving them something they desperately need. So they’re accusing people of not “cooperating.” So what do they need? Not sure there’s an answer to that. Sumner wrote they did find 182 ballots that needed further review. That’s out of over two million cast and compared to 10,218 votes in Biden’s margin of victory. That number of questionable ballots is normal in an election. Out of 182 there were four cases of voter fraud, two each for GOP and Dems. Sumner wrote:

Not only do the 182 cases show that large scale vote fraud is non-existent, they show just how good the system is at stopping even small-scale cheaters. People who tried to vote in multiple districts were stopped. People who tried to vote remotely as well as in-person got just one vote. People who tried to cast mail-in ballots for dead relatives were caught. Even cases that were unclear—like the voter who could have potentially voted in another state—were flagged and investigated. ... The actual review by actual officials showed that the two things most cited by Trump supporters—false mail in ballots and votes “from dead people”—are rare, easily detected, and mostly stopped before they could have even a tiny effect on Election Day results.

Because the Ninja’s didn’t get that mysterious something they need because someone somewhere didn’t cooperate, someone in the GOP can forever complain they are victims.

In the end, it’s clear the Maricopa “audit” won’t have an end. It is designed never to end. Which is fine. Because it was never about finding any evidence of real fraud. It was only ever about giving Trump justification for his claims, and eternal victimhood suits that purpose perfectly. So the Arizona audit will just remain open eternally, acting as a north star that will unfailing attract Trump’s orange finger when he’s pointing out “campaign fraud.”

Marissa Higgins of Kos reported more than 150 (the title of the post says 166) companies sent a letter to Congress urging them to pass voting rights laws. Part of the letter reads:

The business community is proud of our role in encouraging our employees, customers, and communities to exercise their right to vote and have a say in our government. ... Despite decades of progress, impediments to exercising the right to vote persist in many states, especially for communities of color. We need federal protections to safeguard this fundamental right for all Americans.