12 December 12020

301,260   people have died in America from the current pandemic, the equivalent of one hundred nine-elevens. A moment of silence, please. A long moment, preferably.

12 December 12020 is the International Day of Neutrality and International Universal Health Coverage Day. It is also Our Lady of Guadalupe Day (Christian), Air Force Day (Croatia), Extra Work Day (Hungary), Kanji Day (Japan), the second day of Hanukkah (Jewish), Customs Day (Kazakhstan), Jamhuri Day (Kenya), National Literature Day (Kyrgyzstan), Constitution Day (Russia), Helicopter Industry Day (Russia), Neutrality Day (Turkmenistan), Ground Forces Day (Ukraine), and Ambrosia Day (salad enthusiasts). Today’s saint is Corentin of Quimper (died 10453), known for living off the same fish for decades. (Every day he would cut another piece off the fish, and every day the fish would be miraculously restored. What the fish thought of this daily torture is not recorded.) And it is poet Erasmus Darwin’s (The Loves of the Plants) birthday. On this day in history (11941) Adolf Hitler decided to make good on his promise to “exterminate the Jewish race in Europe.” Goebbels, who attended the meeting where he made the announcement, described the proposed genocide as the necessary consequence of world war: “Bezüglich der Judenfrage ist der Führer entschlossen, reinen Tisch zu machen. Er hat den Juden prophezeit, daß, wenn sie noch einmal einen Weltkrieg herbeiführen würden, sie dabei ihre Vernichtung erleben würden. Das ist keine Phrase gewesen. Der Weltkrieg ist da, die Vernichtung des Judentums muß die notwendige Folge sein.” (“With regard to the Jewish question, the Führer is determined to wipe the slate clean. He has prophesied to the Jews that if they were to bring about another world war, they would see their annihilation in the process. This was not just a platitude. The world war is here, the destruction of Jewry must be the necessary consequence.”)

As anyone would suppose the Supreme Court declined to take up the case of Texas v. the American People because Texas lacks standing. Or in Crip Dyke’s memorable summary: “Go home, Texas. You’re drunk.” Crip Dyke also saved me the trouble of looking up Thomas’s odd citation of his own dissent (“It is, frankly, worse than citing yourself from one of your previous scientific papers and pretending that you therefore have independent support for the conclusions in your current paper”) by tracing it back to an obscure 11821 decision, the only point being that Alito and Thomas feel that the court is required to grant a hearing to any case between states brought before it no matter how baseless rather than dismissing it forthwith as is the practice (and has been since the beginning). Fuck your feelings is my response to Thomas and Alito. Anyway, read Crip Dyke’s take. It’s worth it.