"Joe Biden tested negative for the coronavirus for the third time since he was potentially exposed at Tuesday’s presidential debate, his campaign said Sunday night."

"The Democratic nominee is not yet in the clear, however, because most people incubate the virus for two to 14 days before testing positive or showing symptoms," WaPo reports. "President Trump, meanwhile, could be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday, his doctors said."

"It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about covid. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't the let's-read-the-book school. And I get it. And I understand it. And it's a very interesting thing."

pic.twitter.com/0Bm9W2u1x7

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020

President Trump, wearing a mask, rides by his supporters outside Walter Reed while in the back of a Suburban. pic.twitter.com/nsCJyYXHdK

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 4, 2020

Goldenrod in the dawn light.

This morning at 7:13.

Flipping the pride.

The complete takeover of the #ProudBoys hashtag is the greatest thing on Twitter right now. https://t.co/SqxiaFTZku

— Kim Wexler's Ponytail (@MadisonKittay) October 4, 2020

"President Trump’s doctors said his condition was improving and he could be discharged from the hospital as soon as Monday..."

"... but also acknowledged that his oxygen levels have dropped twice, most recently on Saturday. After days of contradictory information from doctors and advisers, the president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, again briefed reporters Sunday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, saying his condition 'continues to improves.'.... Asked why he didn’t offer the more serious details about the president’s condition at a briefing Saturday, Dr. Conley said: 'I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, that the president, through this course of illness, has had. I didn’t want to give any information that would steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.'"

The Wall Street Journal reports, without raising my level of enlightenment. Wasn’t necessarily true?! At least Conley's forthright about not being forthright, but how can I believe anything he says? Conley talks about Trump the way Trump talks about the virus. He wants to keep it "upbeat."

It's the old "Power of Positive Thinking" — the Norman Vincent Peale self-help that Trump has long embraced:

Psychologist Martin Seligman, former APA president and founder of positive psychology... writes that, “positive thinking often involves trying to believe upbeat statements such as 'Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,' in the absence of evidence, or even in the face of contrary evidence.”... Similarly, Donald Meyer, in his book The Positive Thinkers, critiques the effectiveness of Peale's techniques saying that Peale always “reacted to the image of harshness with flight rather than competitive fight.” Meyer later quotes Peale as saying, “No man, however resourceful or pugnacious, is a match for so great an adversary as a hostile world. He is at best a puny and impotent creature quite at the mercy of the cosmic and social forces in the midst of which he dwells." Meyer argues that positive thinking is disempowering to the individual; for, Peale presents individuals as weak compared to the “hostile world” with only the help of his techniques to overcome negative circumstances....

"Caramelizing the karma."

That's the new podcast — the reading of this morning's posts (with extra commentary). You can listen here, but you might want to subscribe at iTunes (or wherever you get your podcasts).

"Until we see how Trump’s condition progresses, it’s impossible to say where the election campaign will go from here."

"The possibilities range from Trump making a rapid recovery and resuming his campaign, perhaps virtually at the start, to him becoming incapacitated and having to transfer power, at least on a temporary basis, to Vice-President Mike Pence, who so far has tested negative for the virus. In a worst-case scenario, Trump could be forced to withdraw from the race. The Republican National Committee, which is made up of officials from across the country, would then have to select a new candidate—presumably Pence. Given the calendar, things could get complicated...."

From "Trump’s Hospitalization Is Another Challenge for Democratic Norms" by John Cassidy (The New Yorker). Go to the link or elsewhere for details on the complications of swapping in Pence for Trump at this late date. Assuming it can be done, are you hoping to see this swap?

All the attacks have been focused on Trump, the man, and we can see in the polls that Trump is way behind. Make the candidate Pence and suddenly nearly all the arguments that Biden has used disappear. Biden would have to refocus, this late in the game, on Mike Pence, about whom one might say: He's articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy — that's a storybook, man.

What do you think of swapping in Mike Pence for Trump? (You can pick multiple answers.)

It's too complicated procedurally.

It's not fair to the Democrats, who've focused their attack on Trump.

It's too disrespectful to Trump, who deserves special sympathy now.

Clever, but maybe too clever. It might feel wrong to people.

It would demonstrate wisdom and flexibility on the part of the GOP.

Mike Pence isn't that good. People want Trump.

It depends almost entirely on how much Trump declines.

If Pence does well enough in the VP debate, then it will become a good idea.

I'm offended by this poll. We should be concentrating on praying for Trump's speedy recovery.

 

pollcode.com free polls

Fake news comes around after going around.

I can't decide what's funnier: having the president sign a blank piece of paper with a giant Sharpie like a child, or sending the photos with the EXIF data that shows they were staged and taken 10 minutes apart: https://t.co/RROmRqBUZs

— Caitlin Murray (@caitlinmurr) October 4, 2020

AND:

The difference in Trump's complexion between Tuesday (left) and Saturday (right) is jarring pic.twitter.com/qNdKORSspt

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 3, 2020

Yes, now we — finally! — know the orange is makeup, not tanning or fake tan.

"The Gun Incident (as it lives in my brain) has become a metaphor for what’s transpired for all of us this past year—since we’ve been threatened with death and disruption brought on by the coronavirus?"

"Lately, I have asked myself this question: Could I have moved forward from that moment without any assistance with my mental health and state of well-being?... We’ve sequestered ourselves for months.... [H]ow do we step out into this new world—emotionally? What about the mental health costs of the underlying anxiety of the times?... [T]he administration has overlooked a dire need—and that decision is a reflection of our values and priorities in this country.... We need the loud, culturally relevant presence of an expert in mental health.... A psychologist general at the forefront of mental health research and delivery would send a strong message that psychological well-being is prized on a par with physical health—a message in keeping with the phrase 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'"... And someone whom we trust. Someone who might become so familiar to us that she or he would turn into a regular character depicted on Saturday Night Live.... [A]ll we’re left with are fictional characters from television—paging Dr. Frasier Crane (Frasier), Dr. Jennifer Melfi (The Sopranos), Dr. Noelle Akopian (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Charlie Brown’s pal Lucy, and, of course, all of Larry David’s therapists on Curb. In all seriousness, this speaks to a significant imbalance in our society."

From "The Forgotten F-Word in the Pandemic/Monica Lewinsky wonders if these times demand a prominent mental health czar" by Monica Lewinsky (Vanity Fair). The "The Forgotten F-Word" is feelings. "The Gun Incident" is that time in 2011 when she was stopped in her car and "someone... wearing a widely striped, bright turquoise and gray sweatshirt... gripping a gun, brandished [it] at his waist" in such a way that she was somehow "looking straight down the barrel of A Gun." The car was mightier than the gun, and she was able to "jam my Prius into drive, gun the accelerator, and move forward... [t]ires squealing." I didn't know you could jam and gun a Prius and get its tires to squeal, but Lewinsky deploys action verbs. I love that it's a Prius and that we're not told the color of the "someone" though we're told the color of his sweatshirt — bright turquoise! The point is, she had a traumatic experience in 2011, and she sought psychiatric care, which puts her in a position to recommend mental health care for those going through trauma, and since 2020 is so traumatic for all of us, the nation should have a Psychologist General, and it ought to be someone with such cultural prominence that she/he would get impersonated on "SNL." Instead we only have fictional characters as our centrally prominent psychologist, which is too bad.

That has me remember when the nation did have one most-famous psychologist, and it was somebody that got joked about and impersonated. Do you remember? It was Dr. Joyce Brothers!

"You can trust me. Because I believe in science. And karma. Now, just imagine if science... and karma... could somehow... team up... to send us all a message about how dangerous this virus can be. I'm not sayin' I want it to happen. But just imagine."

Said Jim Carrey as Joe Biden in the debate spoof on "Saturday Night Live" last night:



Science and karma. A good comic concept, delivered well by Carrey.

But let's actually think about it... beyond comedy. Science and karma. My first reaction is you show you don't really believe in science if you also believe in karma. But I see there has been some serious examination of the science of karma. I'll just select one thing I found googling the 2 words: "The Scientific Explanation for Karma" by David Amerland (Medium). Excerpt:

The general consensus about behaving in a Karma-aware way (let’s call it Karma-friendly) requires that we engage in actions that are not considered socially bad and have no adverse consequences for others. So, really, when we talk about Karma we talk about engaging in pro-social behavior.

Social and behavioral psychologists define pro-social behavior as behavior that involves a cost for those who engage in it and a benefit for others.... Our actions, in other words, create the primary layer of data that generates culture which then affects the secondary layer of data that is internalized in order for us to create our values, morals, identity, purpose, goals and mission in life....

The brain... is wired to preserve energy in order for us to survive long term. Energy, therefore, is primarily used when there is an accumulation of discomfort that is experienced at a physical level.... In order to engage in an action that will require a considerable amount of energy to be used up it has to change the way it activates itself and establish some efficiencies in its operation. To do this it strengthens the connections between neurons creating pathways that require significantly less energy to transmit information along their pathways....

You see where that's going. Science and karma don't need to "team up." Karma is in the perception of what has happened, and science can explain it all.

At the Sunrise Café...

... you can write about whatever you like.

"Poetic Justice."

That's the title of the podcast about today's posts, which you can listen to here or wherever you get your podcasts.

With GOP Senators testing positive for covid, "Will the Senate Have a Quorum to Confirm Judge Barrett?"

Asks Jonathan Adler (at Reason):

There are 53 Republican Senators. As of this morning, three Republican Senators (Tillis, Lee, and Johnson) have tested positive. This means there are only 50 Republican Senators who can attend Senate proceedings. (The Vice President does not count for these purposes.) So if Senate Democrats boycott proceedings, they might be able to grind Senate business to a fault....

To a fault? I'm guessing he meant to say "to a halt." Anyway... Adler observes the Judiciary Committee has been allowing members to participate remotely, so it can reach its quorum that way. And someone needs to be present to raise the quorum issue, and that person — one of the Democrats — would be the 51st Senator. So there's a quorum without Tillis, Lee, and Johnson. Also, under Article I, section 5, the Senate can ask the sergeant-of-arms to go get missing Senators and drag them to the floor.* Lastly, they could try to authorize remote attendance for the full Senate and include the quarantined Senators that way (but that has its own procedural difficulties, described at the link). Adler also notes that 2 of the covid-positive Senators seem to have caught the disease at the ceremony announcing the Barrett nomination.

That is the literary device known as poetic justice.

Notably, poetic justice does not merely require that vice be punished and virtue rewarded, but also that logic triumph. If, for example, a character is dominated by greed for most of a romance or drama, they cannot become generous. The action of a play, poem, or fiction must obey the rules of logic as well as morality. During the late 17th century, critics pursuing a neo-classical standard would criticize William Shakespeare in favor of Ben Jonson precisely on the grounds that Shakespeare's characters change during the course of the play. When Restoration comedy, in particular, flouted poetic justice by rewarding libertines and punishing dull-witted moralists, there was a backlash in favor of drama, in particular, of more strict moral correspondence.

 _________________

*In 1988, Republican Senator Bob Packwood was arrested and carried into the Senate chamber:

"The man whose father told him there are only killers and zeros, the man who cruelly castigated others as losers, the man who was taught to fear losing above all else..."

"... has been doing some very public losing of his own. Upsetting as it is to see the president and first lady facing a mortal threat — and the glee and memes from some on the left were vulgar — it was undeniable that reality was crashing in on the former reality star.... Tuesday’s debate pierced another reality that Trump had been hawking on Fox for months — that his opponent was an addled husk who would need performance drugs to stand at the podium, and that Trump would stride in like a colossus and clobber him in a trice. Instead, the ugly reality was there for all to see: Trump was truculent, whiny and nasty, and Joe Biden was fine. Trump was indecent, on everything from white supremacists to Hunter Biden’s addiction, and Biden was decent. And, in the end, the con man in the Oval Office could not con the virus. He was a perverse Pied Piper of contagion, luring crowds to his rallies and events on the White House lawn, even as he mocked the safety measures recommended by his own government, sidelined and undermined Dr. Anthony Fauci, and turned the mask into a symbol of blue-state wimpiness.... It seemed inevitable that Trump would get infected, given his insouciance on the issue of protective measures combined with his age, weight and ambitious travel schedule. He seemed oddly intent on tempting fate...."

That's Maureen Dowd, detailing the narrative arc of tragedy, in "Reality Bursts the Trumpworld Bubble/In a moment that feels biblical, the implacable virus has come to the president’s door" (NYT).

"Department scientists then tried to glue a tracking device to the [murder] hornet, in hopes of following it back to its nest. But the glue didn’t dry fast enough..."

"... and the tracking device slipped off just as they were about to release the hornet. The glue also stuck to the hornet’s wings, rendering it unable to fly....'You do have to be very patient and wait till it dries,' [said Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Sven Spichiger. 'But when you’re handling an Asian giant hornet, obviously, it doesn’t want you handling it.' He said the department had peppered the area with 30 traps baited with orange juice and rice wine in an effort catch and tag another live hornet."

From "Washington State Officials Hunt for Colony of 'Murder Hornets'/The search has taken on particular urgency as the Asian giant hornets are about to enter their 'slaughter phase,' during which they kill bees by decapitating them" (NYT).

Rice wine, presumably, because they're from Asia. From last May in the NYT: "In Japan, the ‘Murder Hornet’ Is Both a Lethal Threat and a Tasty Treat/Long before the insects found their way to American shores, some Japanese prized them for their numbing crunch and the venomous buzz they add to liquor."

The giant hornet, along with other varieties of wasps, has traditionally been considered a delicacy in this rugged part of the country. The grubs are often preserved in jars, pan-fried or steamed with rice to make a savory dish called hebo-gohan. The adults, which can be two inches long, are fried on skewers, stinger and all, until the carapace becomes light and crunchy. They leave a warming, tingling sensation when eaten.

The Japanese know how to do stuff. We're out here trying to glue electronic devices to the little devils, and they are finding sophisticated, elegant ways to savor the carapace. I'd like "Savor the carapace!" to replace "Save the liver!" in a remake of this classic comedy routine....

"BPP. That should be the name of the channel. Big Potential Problems."

I say out loud, overhearing CNN heads yammering after the President's doctor gave his little press briefing. There must be problems. They commentators are urgently, fervently trying to scare up some Orange-Man-Bad news. I hear the phrase "big potential problems" and start writing this post. Before I can get to the end, I hear "potentially disturbing revelations." The word "potential" appears over and over. They're so hot to come up with some stories, just brainstorming in front of the cameras. We're laughing.

UPDATE: Now they've reported that Chris Christie — who was involved in Trump's debate prep — has tested positive.

Also on CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta nails the serious anti-Trump theme: "It could have been avoided with basic public health measures." Yes, why wasn't Trump scrupulously protected? I presume he chose not to accept the protection, and that protecting the President from disease is not like protecting him from other kinds of physical threats, where security experts overrule the President's preference.