The ad then switches to... whatever time Attila the Hun was alive, which Wikipedia helpfully informs me was sometime in the fifth century. Attila grunts at a man who is dutifully translating his grunts:

[Grunt]

“Fight China, got it.”

[Grunt]

“Attack big government, yeah.”

[Grunt]

“Eliminate the liberal scribes.”

What’s happening here? Was Attila the Hun really a fan of small government and low taxes? Is Loeffler recommending that journalists be killed? Isn’t it kind of fucked up to imagine that Attila was only able to communicate through grunting, when I assume he spoke whatever the language the Huns spoke? Can 2020 get any stranger? The answer, I think, is absolutely without a doubt yes, unfortunately.

Hey y’all, guess what? In the midst of a historic pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is going on quite the bender of a power trip. I don’t think this is going to end well!

According to the New York Times, Azar recently “barred the nation’s health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, from signing any new rules regarding the nation’s foods, medicines, medical devices and other products, including vaccines.” In a memo dated September 15, Azar wrote instead that that authority “is reserved to the Secretary,” a.k.a., to him and him alone.

This shift has worried former officials, who think Azar’s move is not only meant to neuter the FDA, but to empower Azar’s boss, Donald Trump. Via the New York Times:

But former senior officials with the F.D.A. and H.H.S. speculated that the intent was to remove rule-making power from Dr. Stephen Hahn, the F.D.A. commissioner and to send a signal to President Trump that no surprises would come from the agency in the weeks before the election.

“I can only conclude that this memorandum shows a lack of trust in the F.D.A. commissioner and other H.H.S. leaders,” said William B. Schultz, a former general counsel with H.H.S. and a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder, a law firm.

In other worrying news related to political meddling in the federal agencies responsible for managing the covid-19 pandemic, on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control abruptly removed new language it had added to its website last Friday on how covid-19 is transmitted, getting rid of text that stated the coronavirus can transmit via aerosolized particles and through the air at distances beyond six feet.

According to Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious disease, the updated language was a mistake. “Unfortunately an early draft of a revision went up without any technical review,” he told the Washington Post.

But given how the work of the CDC has been hamstrung by the Trump administration, it’s easy to believe that this is just another example of a political appointee running interference for Trump.

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s body will lie in repose at the Supreme Court on Wednesday and Thursday and on Friday, will lie in state at the Capitol. [CNN]
• Joe Biden has a lot more cash than Donald Trump. [Politico]
• And in related news, Trump’s reelection staff will now have to pay for the privilege of flying on Air Force One. [Business Insider]
• Portland, New York City, and Seattle are now “anarchist jurisdictions” according to William Barr and the Department of Justice. Sorry, Bill, but I already knew my dog was “ANTIFA” ever since that time she snatched a napkin out of my hand and then ate it in one gulp!!! [USA Today]
• Andrew Weissman, one of Robert Mueller’s investigators, has a new book out, and in an interview, he’s pretty blunt about the mistakes they made! When asked if Mueller “had let the American people down,” here’s what he said: “Absolutely, yep.” He then added, “I wouldn’t phrase it as just Mueller. I would say ‘the office.’ There are a lot of things we did well, and a lot of things we could have done better, to be diplomatic about it.” [The Atlantic]
• Even more Trump investigations are afoot. [New York Times]
• More bad things are afoot in Florida. [WUFT]