Happy November! So, Jen Psaki has tested positive for Covid-19. Sheâs the highest-ranking White House official to have contracted the disease. She last saw the president on Tuesday, reports say. Outdoors. Six feet apart. Wearing masks. Speaking of Covid: The Washington Post reports today that the pandemic is âwinding down.â New cases are below 75,000 a day, which still sounds like a lot to me, but the Post says thatâs less than half the figure from the summer. Maybe thereâs hope on the horizon, especially with younger kids about to get vaccinated. Academic freedom watch: The New York Times reported over the weekend that three University of Florida professors have been barred from testifying in a lawsuit on behalf of voting rights and against the position of Governor Ron DeSantis. A spokeswoman for the university: âThe university did not deny the First Amendment rights or academic freedomâ of the professors. âRather, the university denied requests of these full-time employees to undertake outside paid work that is adverse to the universityâs interests as a state of Florida institution.â Right. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. Michael Flynn is back in the news and trending on Twitter. Salon reports that a GOP Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Everett Stern, held a press conference Saturday to announce that Flynn approached him earlier this year to ask that Sternâs business, a private intelligence firm, collect dirt on two Keystone State Republicans to pressure them into supporting Trumpy election âaudits.â âCuz Trump really won. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. Oh, Congress. Nancy Pelosi wanted the House to vote on both Biden bills Tuesday, but now, naturally, thatâs not happening. The main holdup appears to be prescription drugs, which is actually good news in the sense that price negotiation was once dead, killed by three members in hock to the Pharma lobby; now itâs back on the table, although the question is in what form and how tough will it be. Punchbowl News and PoliticoHuddle, the morning wires still seem to expect votes this week. And then thereâs Glasgow. The Post accentuates the positive. The Times has a more dour take. A senior administration official coins an interesting neologism in this on-background sentence: âOur allies believe that we have to lock in progress as much as possible while there is a president who is a deeply committed transatlanticist in office.â And finally thereâs Virginia. FiveThirtyEight has Glenn Youngkin ahead of Terry McAuliffe by 0.6 percent. But two polls from late last week that the site rates A+ have McAuliffe up, one by four points. One can only hope that Youngkin may have peaked a week early and that Black voters have been paying attention to this Toni Morrison madness and are motivated to vote. Op-ed of the day: Jane Coaston in the Times on how passionately she hates Michigan State. She had a miserable Saturday. Today at NewRepublic.com, start with my own explanation of why Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema behave the way they do. Then check out Osita Nwanevuâs essay on âpopularism.â And go to Molly Osbergâs report on the consequences of taking paid family leave out of the budget bill. Get ready to vote if you live in Virginia, Michael Tomasky, editor |
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