No Good Will Come, Not Even Some

At 1:03, Bill Maher can be seen remarking on Friday evening "Mr. Potato Head is no longer Mr. Potato Head. I'm not sure why but he's just "Potato Head."... Also, Silly Putty is now 'On the Spectrum Putty." The joke was prompted by the news

Six Dr. Seuss books — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” — will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday.

“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday.

“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families,” it said.

The other books affected are “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company, which was founded by Seuss’ family, told AP.

“Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles,” it said.

As a private outfit, Dr. Seuss Enterprises is entitled to adopt social justice as its new mission.  However, this evolutionary biologist, in wonderful AA BB CC rhyme scheme, explains

My sense is that now they've gone far too far. The offenses they claim have grown just so bizarre.

They say Dr. Seuss wrote books that did harm. That we shouldn't be fooled by his fanciful charm.

But they must assume that we're dumber than dumb. That we'll just take their word and succumb.

Dangerously, Bret Weinstein harbors such liberal values as free expression, public debate free of coercion, tolerance of opposing views, and others currently out of fashion. Most critics of Seuss, including this "former new leftist" with over 83,000 followers, harbor no such notions:

Any American, Democrat or Republican. isn't deeply embarrassed by Biden's book burning, is an asshole.https://t.co/gOwoZEinUb

— David Horowitz (@horowitz39) March 2, 2021

While Horowitz cites "Biden's book burning," Douthat writes a column entitled "Do Liberals Care if Books Disappear?" He laments that he has "seen little liberal concern over the dominant player in the book business playing censor in culture-war debates" and invokes "liberal," "liberals," or "liberalism" sixteen times in the body of his piece.

The number of times Douthat invokes "capital," "profit," or "private": once, and that only in noting a lack "of private doubt from liberal friends." But critically, as neither the thoughtful Douthat nor the ignorant Horowitz acknowledges, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has nothing to do with government or with President Biden.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to end publication of six books based, it maintains, on the report of a panel it convened. The company chose to seek input from this group and chose to act based on its findings. It is a profit-seeking entity, not government, which both initiated the action and chose to follow the advice of consultants.

"What does this say about the condition of liberalism" asks Douthat about this lamentable decision. Probably nothing good, because the left too often tolerates the disappearance of history, thereby preventing its honest assessment in full context.

While conservatives in their self-interest refuse to question the market, liberals/progressives refuse to defend important values because someone, somewhere will be hurt if they do. Therein they themselves ignore the dangerous primacy of markets. "They must assume we're dumber than dumb, that we'll just take their word and succumb," Weinstein states. We're learning more and more that's probably a safe bet.

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Odd But Explainable

There's something happening here; what it is ain't exactly clear. Or at least at first glance.

Shortly before jury selection in the trial of Derek Chauvin for second degree murder for killing George Floyd is to begin, a paradoxical, if not weird survey result has emerged. According to USA reporters Susan Page, Sarah Elbeshbishi, and Mabinty Quarshie, last June  60% of survey respondents "described (George) Floyd's death as murder." Stunningly, a USA Today Ipsos Poll shows that number now is down to 36% as

Nearly two-thirds of Black Americans, 64%, view Floyd's death as murder; fewer than one-third of white people, 28%, feel that way. White Americans are more likely to describe it instead as the police officer's "negligence," 33% compared with 16% of Black respondents.

That comes even prior to Chauvin's trial, in which his attorney will propose mitigating circumstances, putting as positive a spin as possible on his client's actions.  If murder "occurs when one human being unlawfully kills another human being," it's a little difficult to understand why this might not be murder:

Nonetheless, USA Today found

That said, Americans who have heard at least something about Chauvin's trial say 4 to 1, or 60%-15%, that they hope Chauvin is convicted. That included 54% of white Americans and 76% of Black Americans.

While only thirty-six percent of respondents believed Derek Chauvin committed murder, 60% thought he should be convicted. 

The now ex-police officer has been charged with second degree murder. Yet, there is considerable sentiment that an individual who killed someone did not commit murder but should be convicted- and presumably punished- nonetheless. Should he be convicted of assault? shoplifting? offending the deceased?

Among both blacks and whites, "trust to promote justice and equal treatment for people of all races" has fallen toward Black Lives Matter and risen toward "local police and law enforcement." Therefore, there may be an explanation- aside from irrationality or dishonesty- for the finding that many people believe Derek Chauvin did not commit murder but hope that he is convicted.

People- mostly whites but also some blacks- are scared. They fear a resurgence of violence, in Minnesota and elsewhere, if Derek Chauvin is acquitted, even though the protests which followed that incident were overwhelmingly peaceful. However, even before the recent impeachment trial, which featured Republicans promoting a false equivalence between the violent insurrection of 1/6 and last summer's racial justice protests, the GOP had

retreated to the ranks of misinformation, claiming it was Black Lives Matter protesters and far-left groups like antifa who stormed the Capitol — in spite of the pro-Trump flags and QAnon symbology in the crowd. Others have argued that the attack was no worse than the rioting and looting in cities during the Black Lives Matter movement, often exaggerating the unrest last summer while minimizing a mob’s attempt to overturn an election.

People who believe Officer Chauvin committed murder plus those who would welcome conviction of an innocent (as they see it) man equal a majority. Those who recognize that the Chauvin committed a murder do not. It's a little bit of unpleasant reality in the third decade of the 21st century.

 

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Democrat-Bashing

As is widely known now

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) faced criticism Friday afternoon for the way in which she chose to vote against a provision to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour ― with an exaggerated thumbs-down hand gesture.

Seven Democratic senators and one independent ended up joining Republicans in voting down a motion to include the wage hike in the new round of coronavirus relief, saying it didn’t comply with rules on budget legislation.

Although hand gestures are commonplace on the Senate floor, particularly in the coronavirus era, Sinema’s casual body language was disappointing to some who saw the gesture as belittling the fight to end poverty wages.

Sinema’s office responded to a question about the gesture by making the absurd claim that the inquiry is sexist. “Commentary about a female senator’s body language, clothing, or physical demeanor does not belong in a serious media outlet,” Hannah Hurley, a spokesperson for Sinema, told HuffPost.

As is widely known now

If a male Senator had appeared in a flannel shirt- or even dressed without a tie- a whole lot of people would notice. Sinema's outfit wasn't appropriate to the occasion- but that's clothing and as long as she doesn't violate the dress code for members while on the floor, she is entitled to wear whatever she wants.

But physical demeanor and body language? That was the whole point of Sinema's ostentatious display. The Young Turk's Cenk Uygur believes (at 2:50 of the video below)

This is Sinema raising her hand going "I will do anything for corporate donors, anything at all, and I'll have fun doing it...

So that explains the mystery of why kick us when we're down because she's signaling to corporations "I'm the worst of the worst. So make sure you back me for my higher ambitions."

In the unlikely even Krysten Sinema has higher ambitions in the Democratic Party, she will be sorely disappointed. And even Donald Trump apparently has determined that the non-partisan, independent route is a dead end in American politics (unless running for the US Senate from New England). Further, corporate donors have no particular interest in whether an ally has fun. Instead, I'll go with Steve M when he explains

Much of America thinks Democrats are awful. The message is so pervasive that even politicians running as Democrats reinforce it. During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden couldn't stop telling us how many Republicans had endorsed him. Hillary Clinton did this too, as did Barack Obama to a lesser extent in 2008. The message was: I'm a Democrat, but I'm not one of the bad Democrats. See? Even Republicans like me! Which helps explain why down ballot Democrats didn't do as well as Biden. Republicans were trashing their party, and in a subtler way, so was the guy at the top of their own ticket.

Sinema and Manchin are bashing the party. They're saying, See? You can trust me. I'm a Democrat, but I hate Democrats, too. They vote like Democrats reasonably often, but when the spotlight is on them, they need to make a great show of contempt for their party.

As Uygur suggests, yet the Senator's spokesperson implicitly denies, it was a signal. However, it was not meant to be a show of being the worst of the worst but of being independent-minded and refusing to be one of the bad Democrats, who believe living on $14,500 a year as a full-time employee is suboptimal.

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Reading Catholics Out Of Catholicism

Conservatives an obsession with wrapping itself in the cloak of God and accusing Democrats of being anti-religion, anti-God, anti-Christian, or anti-Catholic. They've started in with Joe Biden:

Newsmax host: "There's a strong case against [Joe Biden] that he's not really a Catholic" pic.twitter.com/dz2tcltIl7

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 5, 2021

Nonetheless, probably nobody has been so attacked on those grounds as Nancy Pelosi.

And so it is that Red State's Mike Miller, condemning the Speaker of the House for allegedly being "Catholic in Name Only," quotes Dr. Paul Kangor, a proudly Catholic right-winger:

“The list of outrageous statements by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, a Roman Catholic, is unending. Her statements—and actions—advancing abortion have been nothing short of astounding, and extremely damaging. They are scandalous.

“But her latest comment may be her worst yet.

“Asked why she refuses to support a bill banning late-term abortions, Pelosi said: ‘As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me…. This shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.’

“Her statement speaks for itself. And frankly, I’m grateful she said it. Clearly, this is where Nancy Pelosi’s heart and mind and soul is. And she is speaking for countless other radical ‘abortion rights’ advocates.

“In the past, I’ve gotten nasty responses when I’ve referred to abortion as a ‘holy sacrament’ in the ‘feminist church.’ I was told this was over the top, too harsh, exaggerated. Well, it isn’t.

“For certain extreme liberal feminists, there’s nothing more dear—nothing more sacred—than abortion. Nancy Pelosi has simply publicly reaffirmed the fact.”

In this country alone, tens of millions of Roman Catholics support reproductive freedom.  Further ,the Protestant Christian right has its roots in opposition to the the federal government's effort in the 1970s to deny segregated Christian academies tax-exempt status. 

However, Miller's screed is Catholic-centric and he blasts Pelosi predominately for the hypocrisy he perceives because she cleaves to her Catholic faith while being pro-abortion rights. Nonetheless, if Pelosi can be charged with heresy solely because of her view of abortion rights and "untold numbers of her actions and the causes she supports," Miller should aim a little higher.

For over five years the country was regaled with Donald Trump's personal insults: "Morning Psycho" (Joe Scarborough); "stone cold Crazy" (Adam Schiff); "little Eric Schneiderman"; "weirdo" (Tom Steyer); "dumb as a rock" (Rex Tillerson); "Crazy Bernie Sanders"; "the dumbest man on television" (Don Lemon); with many other targets including, of course, "Crooked Hillary," she of "no strength, no stamina." The list is much, much longer.

From time to time, we all violate Jesus' warning (Matthew 15:11, ESV) "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

But Donald Trump did this as President.  And none of us (except possibly the extremely mentally ill) ever has claimed "I am the Chosen One."  Few of us has been so contemptuous of Jesus Christ's warning "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16).   

And Donald Trump's fruits, culminating - or maybe not- with the riot he instigated on January 6 are clear. By contrast, according to Michael Miller, this is one of Nancy Pelosi's greatest sins:

.@SpeakerPelosi: "Our nation is blessed with Joe Biden as President of the United States. He is an extraordinary president. He knows how to get the job done." pic.twitter.com/0n4HtdMxVs

— The Hill (@thehill) March 4, 2021

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Hit Piece Falls Short

There is no reason Democrats should eat their own when Republicans glorify theirs. Mike Allen of Axios may be auditioning for a stand-up gig when he writes

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be facing explicit calls to resign from President Biden on down, if you apply the standard that Democrats set for similar allegations against Republicans. And it's not a close call.

I don't remember Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking for Donald Trump's resignation.  It's true that the all 26 women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment or assault allege that the misconduct took place before Trump was elected President. It's also true that he ordered payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels/Stephanie Clifford shortly before that election so that he might become President Donald Trump.

Why it matters: The #MeToo moment saw men in power run out of town for exploiting young women. Democrats led the charge. So the silence of so many of them seems more strange — and unacceptable by their own standards — by the hour.

The most notable man "run out of town" for sexual impropriety was Al Franken after charges of sexual impropriety, behavior which would have taken place before he was a US Senator. He was run out of town by Democrats, because that's what Democrats do.

Their only plausible explanation would be to argue that three women are exaggerating or misremembering things. This is precisely what Democrats said was unacceptable in GOP cases.

Democrats didn't say the behavior was unacceptable because they were committed by Republicans. They said it was unacceptable regardless of party. And they were wrong- wrong because each case deserves to be considered on its own merits rather than a blanket "believe women."  Men don't always tell the truth.  Unless women are of a super gender, they, too, are capable of exaggerating, forgetting details, or- occasionally- lying. It's the human condition.

One top New York Democrat told me the reaction has been "disheartening" — an approach by both parties of believing women "except if they accuse a member of your party."

As pointed out by Axios Sneak Peek on Sunday: Democrats hammered Donald Trump after "Access Hollywood," pilloried Brett Kavanaugh over Christine Blasey Ford and defended Joe Biden when he was accused of inappropriate touching.

The reference to Brett Kavanaugh is the most telling in this hit piece. Were Andrew Cuomo to have a sense of humor, he would urge an investigation of the allegations against him similar to the one conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of charges against Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh was not serving in an elected position, had never served in an elective position, and had been nominated for a lifetime appointment. It would be (is) a lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court, to serve alongside a mere eight other individuals to make rulings which are not reviewable.

If ever there needs to be a thorough review by law enforcement of a nominee for any position, it would not be of an individual who was elected to his position and could not continue in the position without again facing the voters.  It would be of someone tapped to serve on the High Court.

Nonetheless, the FBI "investigation" of accusations against Brett Kavanaugh took a mere five days in which neither of the two principals- Kavanaugh and Ford- was interviewed. . One of the accusers, Deborah Ramirez, had been at a drunken dormitory party at Yale when, according to the authors of "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation,"

a freshman named Brett Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her, prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently touch it. Some of the onlookers, who had been passing around a fake penis earlier in the evening, laughed.

Therefore, Ms. Ramirez's legal team

gave the F.B.I. a list of at least 25 individuals who may have had corroborating evidence. But the bureau — in its supplemental background investigation — interviewed none of them, though we learned many of these potential witnesses tried in vain to reach the F.B.I. on their own.

Two F.B.I. agents interviewed Ms. Ramirez, telling her that they found her “credible.” But the Republican-controlled Senate had imposed strict limits on the investigation. “‘We have to wait to get authorization to do anything else,’” Bill Pittard, one of Ms. Ramirez’s lawyers, recalled the agents saying. “It was almost a little apologetic.”

Nonetheless, maybe Donald Trump is a victim, as Jonathan Allen seems to believe.

Trump was a victim who bragged about routinely sexually assaulting women. He then got elected President, tried to pressure a foreign government into investigating his political rival, then obstructed an investigation into his actions, and gained nearly nearly unanimous support from his party's members of Congress. On his way out the door, he incited an insurrection against the United States government, receiving the support of the vast majority of those members of Congress. He now is extended the privileges of all former Presidents:  office space and staffing allowances; travel expenses (up to $1 million in costs annually); health annuities, lifetime Secret Service protection, and the right to burial with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery, next to individuals he has called "losers" and "suckers."

Whatever the future may hold for him, Trump has enjoyed a charmed life- and charmed presidency, thanks to a party whose leaders have found no crime, no grift, and no contempt for Americans unacceptable as long as it's committed by Donald Trump. When the governor of New York gets 5% of the breaks the 45th President has, or 20% what Brett Kavanaugh has, Mike Allen can legitimately accuse Democrats of hypocrisy.

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Not In The Nick Of Time

At 2:18 of the video below, Senator Elizabeth Warren can be seen asking General Gustave F. Perna, Chief Operating Officer, Federal COVID-19 Response For Vaccine, "will D.O.D. commit to procurement transparency on our federal vaccine efforts?" Perna deferred to an aide but justifiably dissatisfied with the answer given, Warren a moment later stated 

The terms of these contracts were bad, too. Public interest groups had to fight OWS to release its contract and when it did it became clear that the Trump Administration had sold out the American public. Key contracts including contracts with Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson excluded critical taxpayer pricing protections.

The Department of Defense has not been the only cabinet-level agency to hide from the public. Only four days after that Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, we would learn from STAT News

The Trump administration quietly took around $10 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and health care providers affected by Covid-19 and used the money to bankroll Operation Warp Speed contracts, four former Trump administration officials told STAT.

The Department of Health and Human Services appears to have used a financial maneuver that allowed officials to spend the money without telling Congress, and the agency got permission from its top lawyer to do so. Now, the Biden administration is refusing to say whether the outlay means there will be less money available for hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, and other providers.

Several provider groups said they had not heard that $10 billion for providers was spent on Warp Speed contracts until STAT’s reporting. Congress set aside that money to help health care providers pay for pandemic-related expenses including staffing, personal protective equipment, care for uninsured patients, and vaccine distribution. One of the top hospital lobbyists in D.C., who also did not know about the outlay, emphasized how much some hospitals still need the funding.

Operation Warp Speed was widely celebrated in the media as one of the great successes of the Trump Administration. On November 13, Reason declared

President Donald Trump stood in the Rose Garden at the White House this afternoon touting the truly amazing progress that Operation Warp Speed has made with respect to developing COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Launched officially on May 15, 2020, the Trump administration deserves much credit for the successes of Operation Warp Speed.

But as the AP observed in a fact check of the President's speech

Pfizer notably did not accept government money to develop, test or expand manufacturing capacity under Trump’s Operation Warp Speed initiative to quickly find a vaccine and treatments for the disease sweeping the country.

In fact, Pfizer partnered with the vaccine’s original developer, Germany’s BioNTech, in March and the following month announced the first human study in Germany. The White House announced Operation Warp Speed in May.

Nonetheless, the propaganda from Reason and other portions of the media would have been politically crucial had Pfizer and BioNTech announced "evidence of efficacy" of its Covid-19 vaccine before a majority of the votes were cast in the last election cycle, rather than on November 9.

It's likely that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense were manipulating levers of government to enhance the possibility of an announcement of a viable vaccine before the presidential election.  Had that ensued, the impact of the propaganda from Reason and elsewhere would have had a much greater impact.

As Senator Warren summarized, the Department of Defense has been opaque.  The Department of Health and Human Services was sneaky, sleazy, and dishonest with the $10 billion they kept from health care providers. Fortunately, their timing was off and, probably as a consequence, we're not now six weeks into a second Trump term.

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Andrew Cuomo Giuliani

Daily Beast reporter has an excellent analogy:

Andrew Cuomo is to Coronavirus what Rudy Giuliani was to 9/11. In a crisis, his authoritarian tendencies get retconned as leadership and their destructive impacts on people forgotten. When it comes time for the next phase of his ambition, there’ll be bewilderment re his behavior. https://t.co/Np6yiAdAoY

— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) April 10, 2020

It was spring and summer of 2020 and Andrew Cuomo, presenting near-daily coronavirus news conferences and deftly showing compassion mixed with a high degree of deference for facts and the scientific method, was praised for his handling of the novel coronavirus.  He even wrote a book entitled "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Once thought by the media to be America's governor, he's now embroiled in twin controversies. His administration allegedly lied to state legislators about the number of elderly individuals who had died from Covid-19. Many of those had been returned, at his urging, from hospitals to nursing homes after testing positive for he coronavirus. Additionally, two women in his administration have accused the governor of sexual harassment. If the latter seems far less serious than the former, you haven't recently noticed the American media and contemporary political messaging.

Rudy Giuliani, following the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, was commonly labeled "America's mayor," with frequent and glowing tributes.  Seven years after the two planes hit the World Trade Center, the New York Times (which should have known better) printed a story by Michael Powell (who, remarkably, is still at the paper), who wrote that the Mayor

was two blocks from the south tower, in an office on Barclay Street, trying to get the vice president on the phone, when his world went dark with smoke. Back at City Hall, Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington waited and wondered and dialed the governor.

“We really didn’t know what had become of the mayor,” he said. “I spoke to Governor Pataki, and we closed the schools and canceled the election.”

Then Mr. Giuliani was led through a basement and out onto Church Street, his head and shoulders dusted white with ash. He walked north into the surreal brightness of that day, comforting a police officer and dragooning reporters.

He would walk north two miles, pausing in the bay of a deserted fire station in Greenwich Village to call a television station and urge calm. Three hours later he stepped into a press conference with Gov. George E. Pataki.

“Today is obviously one of the most difficult days in the history of the city,” he said softly. “The tragedy that we are undergoing right now is something that we’ve had nightmares about. My heart goes out to all the innocent victims of this horrible and vicious act of terrorism. And our focus now has to be to save as many lives as possible.”

Inevitably the question arose: How many lost? The mayor looked up through his glasses, aware that among the viewers of this live broadcast were the mothers, fathers, spouses, lovers and children of those who labored in the smashed towers.

“The number of casualties,” he said, “will be more than any of us can bear ultimately.”

That walk north, the spareness of his words and his passion became the founding stones in the reconstruction of the mayor’s reputation, transforming him from a grouchy pol slip-sliding into irrelevancy to the Republican presidential candidate introduced as America’s mayor. The former mayor has made this day the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, aware that millions of Americans hold that heroic view in their collective mind’s eye.

He was "comforting a police officer and dragooning reporters" so he could "urge calm" with "the spareness of his words and his passion."

Worse, he would "walk two miles," which someone should have noticed was a centerpiece of the public relations spectacle being promoted, especially because the major criterion for placement of the center was that it be within walking distance of city hall.  Four months later, a different NYT reporter would explain

The New York Police Department produced a detailed analysis in 1998 opposing plans by the city to locate its emergency command center at the World Trade Center, but the Giuliani administration overrode those objections. The command center later collapsed from damage in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

“Seven World Trade Center is a poor choice for the site of a crucial command center for the top leadership of the City of New York,” a panel of police experts, which was aided by the Secret Service, concluded in a confidential Police Department memorandum.

Well, no, it was an excellent choice for a mayor whose image was invaluably enhanced by the enduring image of him walking around the city, seemingly sensitive yet strong, portrayed as having a love for his city second only to his love for these United States of America.  Giuliani was catapulted into a leading candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

If the decision to place the emergency command center at arguably the most vulnerable site in New York City didn't directly cost lives, another Giuliani policy did.

The bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 prompted New York city officials, spurred by first responders, to replace inadequate analog radios with new, digital radios.  They were developed after a no-bid deal with Motorola in which the city (according to its comptroller) "willfully violated" contracting rules.

They had not been properly tested and failed in an emergency situation in early 2001. The city returned to its insufficient analog radios, when  

at 9:32 am. on Sept. 11, an FDNY Chief ordered all members in the North Tower to the lobby. Even though he repeated the order, not a single company responded.

At 9:59 the WTC South Tower collapsed; and at 10 am the order to abandon the North Tower was repeated. Inside the North Tower were 121 firefighters who never heard that order. They perished when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 am.

“On 9/11 firefighters went into the North Tower and started ascending the tower, yet they were being called back and they kept going,” said Richard Salem, an attorney who has been representing several of the firefighters’ families who lost loved ones when the North Tower collapsed. “Not one other uniform[ed] officer from any other department [who had functioning radios], perished in that tower other than the FDNY.”

So when various figures in cable news speculate as to where it all went wrong for Giuliani, when America's Mayor was magically transformed into a reactionary, lying hot mess for Donald Trump, recall that the man was in fact a bad mayor.

Opinions differ as to whether Giuliani functioned well or poorly aside from the 9/11/01 catastrophe, but his sterling reputation was founded on the grossly faulty perception of his handling of that crisis. Similarly, Andrew Cuomo was exalted because of the grossly faulty perception of his response to SARS-CoV-2.

Governor Cuomo, if as likely he still harbors a desire for higher office, would do well strategically to take a page from Giuliani's response to questions about 9/11/01. The ex-mayor has never taken any responsibility nor conceded any failure, even denying that a different site for the command center was recommended to him.

Consequently, Andrew Cuomo would be wise- albeit unethical- to deny, deny, deny.  It took nineteen years, abominable behavior followed by an effort to overturn a democratic election, to understand clearly that Rudolph Giuliani is indeed a sub-human creature.

 

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