Like many of you, I have been on edge for days. I don't know what is going to happen. No one does. Watching Donald Trump's rallies this weekend, with lie after lie on everything from COVID to the economy to why minorities should love him, and watching them mindlessly cheer him, leaves me little hope.

And there's Biden, with no charisma at all. Only die hard Democrats and Trump haters will come out for him.

I do believe one of them will win decisively and we will have a winner in short order, although perhaps not on Tuesday night.

And a special Bronx cheer for the idiot son of Donald Trump who said on Fox on Thursday that Covid-deaths have been declining to almost nothing. The very day he said that, more than 1,000 Americans died.

The horrendous storm created by Donald Trump in all his infamy better end soon. The toll to the United States if he is not dethroned decisively is unimaginable.

My current prediction: Trump will lose in a landslide. But that will only matter to him if the popular vote difference is huge. So no matter where you live, even if it's in a blue state, please VOTE against Donald Trump. Any popularily shown to Trump will be taken as a sign by his undeserving children that they are heirs to his current position.

I am busy all afternoon -- time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The Washington Post has a new report analyzing expense money Donald Trump directed be paid to his properties since he got his desk in the oval office. Saying it is the tip of the iceberg, it has tracked at least $2.5 million in taxpayer funds, and $5.5 million from his campaign and fundraising committee to his properties.

Since his first month in office, Trump has used his power to direct millions from U.S. taxpayers — and from his political supporters — into his own businesses. The Washington Post has sought to compile examples of this spending through open records requests and a lawsuit.

In all, he has received at least $8.1 million from these two sources since he took office, those documents and publicly available records show.

He’s visited his hotels and clubs more than 280 times now, making them a familiar backdrop for his presidency. And in doing so, he has turned those properties into magnets for GOP events, including glitzy fundraisers for his own reelection campaign, where big donors go to see and be seen.

Some examples [More....]

With the fast Senate approval of Amy Coney Barrett, Unpresident Donald Trump has accomplished what conservatives have only dreamed of since the 1930's -- created a true conservative majority on the Supreme Court. (WSJ, paywall).

Like Justice Scalia, Justice Barrett is known as an originalist and a textualist—that is, she applies the Constitution according to her understanding of what its language meant when adopted, and when interpreting statutes she zeroes in on the text of legislation rather than the purpose lawmakers were trying to achieve.

Another sobering thought:

In the last 40 years, more Supreme Court justices have served after age 80 than in the previous 190 years combined.

We get the government we elect. Please vote and help deny Donald Trump another undeserved opportunity to sit at a desk in the oval office.

Mark Meadows, Donald Trump's Chief of Staff, made quite the admission Sunday when he said during an interview that the U.S. can't control the coronavirus.

The numbers are getting grimmer by the day: Yesterday, the total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit 8,575,000. Deaths now exceed 224,000.

Several states are running out of hospital rooms. More than 41,000 people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19.

Donald Trump has run this country into the ground with his ineffectiveness and lack of ability to prepare for and meet emergencies. If he is re-elected, Americans have only themselves to blame.

We get the government we elect. VOTE!

I can't wait until Donald Trump is no longer headline news. I'd also like to believe that there will come a day when those over 65 are released from COVID-19 house arrest.

Here is a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Personally, I would have kept the 2016 deposition transcript of Ghislaine Maxwell sealed. The appeals court decided differently and released the transcript today. Ms. Maxwell is facing criminal charges and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The only effect of the unsealing will be to further pollute the possible jury pool with the salacious questions asked by the accuser's lawyer (virtually all of which Maxwell denied.)

Deposition transcripts in federal civil cases are not routinely filed with the court, they remain with the lawyers for the parties. It is usually excerpts rather than entire depositions that are admitted at hearings and trial.

The defamation case that was the genesis of this deposition is over. Why should the deposition transcripts be released now as opposed to a year from now? I think they should have remained sealed until after Ms. Maxwell's trial.

The transcript is available here.

Update 5:48 pm MT: I think I will watch after all. I heard CNN on the car radio today and some official said that the mute button is only for the first two minute segments when they each get a chance to talk. (Shouldn't it be for all questions if the one not asked the question butts in and hogs the other candidate's time?) I think they should go further and block out the offender's face and mute his statements and have a chyron that says "Stand by. We will be back momentarily".

Does anyone need another debate to decide between voting for Trump or Biden? I doubt it. Does anyone need a final debate to decide whether to vote at all? Perhaps. [More...]

This was on the playlist of the Peloton class I took this morning. It's hard to find a clear video of all of the Byrds performing it live (as opposed to a lip synced version from an old 60's TV show or an out of focus 1970's reunion show), but it's still a great song and it made me think of Trump as I pedaled today:

"And I'll probably feel a whole lot better when you're gone"

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

95% of the time I think the election will be a slam-dunk for Biden and a decisive rejection of Donald Trump. But then, I think of all the millionaires and billionaires exercising their clout for Trump, and the unknown faction -- the number of marginalized, unhappy, under-informed lost souls out there somewhere in rural America, and I wonder, could they bring the election home for Trump?

The Wall St. Journal today has a "path to victory" chart in which you can move the battleground states into either candidate's column to see how they can reach 270 electoral votes. (Note: Paywall, but I think the NY Times had a similar feature a few weeks ago).

Biden starts way ahead of Trump with 226 electoral votes to Trump's 165. But, Florida is big, with 29 E.V. and Texas has 38. PA, Ohio and MI are next with 20, 18, and 16. Personally, I think Biden will take Florida, but even if he does, Trump could still win. For example, if the only undecideds Biden takes are FL, IA and NV.

Biden has the edge, and I hope he trounces Trump in a landslide, so Trump can never claim his legacy is anything but the failure that it is. [More...]

The Lancet has an article about a 25 year old man in Nevada who tested positive for COVID-19 in April and recovered but then at the end of May, he was infected again. He did not have any serious underlying conditions and there were no indications his immune system was compromised. But on May 28, he felt sick and on May 31 he got tested, and his test was positive. hThis time his symptoms were more severe.

We present, to our knowledge, the first North American case of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2. A 25-year-old man, who was a resident of Washoe County in the US state of Nevada, had laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in April, 2020, followed by secondary infection within a period of around 6 weeks, in June, 2020. The second infection was symptomatically more severe than the first. Genomic analysis showed the two viral agents were genetically distinct. The patient's immune reaction in vitro was not assessed and, thus, conclusions cannot be made about the duration or degree of immunity.

The Lancet reports that at least 4 people have been reinfected. Does this man immunity Herd does not exist or individual immunity is not be a sure thing (unless you are a contestant on Survivor)? [More...]

Donald Trump wanted to return to the campaign trail (pun intended, as he trails his opponent be several points) today. but he is now planning on heading out on Monday. His doctor says:

White House physician Sean Conley said in a memo released on Thursday that Trump had completed his course of therapy for COVID-19, remained stable since returning home from the Walter Reed medical facility on Monday and could resume public engagements on Saturday.

“There are medical tests underway that will ensure that when the president is back out he will not be able to transmit the virus,” McEnany said, adding Conley would lay out the details later. “He won’t be out there if he can transmit the virus.”

[More....]