We move from the elegiac tone of Cassandra’s post to the sarcastic tone of the New York Daily News front page this morning:
The Kaiser of Chaos wrong? Always.
For those who missed President Biden’s moving speech marking this grim milestone, here it is:
Biden is the best mourner-in-chief since Bill Clinton. Nobody does empathy better than Joe Biden. That’s why it’s his time.
The last word goes to The Beatles:
I was always baffled by articles that claimed that the previous president* was difficult to satirize. Say what? The Impeached Insult Comedian, his corrupt cronies, and awful family were low hanging fruit who often provided their own punch lines. Punditry is much harder when you’re in broad support of an administration. That’s where I find myself right now. To paraphrase the Arlen-Harburg song that gives this post its title, happiness is a thing called Adrastos.
The Biden administration is off to a fast start. With the stroke of a pen, the new president has undone some of the worst things done by his predecessor. That’s the problem with using executive orders, they can be undone rather quickly, which has led conservative pundits to decry Biden’s so-called rule by decree. Funny thing that Trump’s reliance on executive orders never bothered them.
It’s time to praise the new asterisk-free president for dumping so many Trump policies so quickly. Gone are:
They’re gone, gone away:
The devil is in the details on many of these issues, but the White House has gone from being a nest of intrigue to a beehive of activity. Another day, another mixed metaphor.
Joe Biden has only been president for 15 days, but he’s accomplished a great deal. We now have a national COVID strategy. Imagine that. Team Trump had taken us back to the laissez faire days of Herbert Hoover with its stress on a state and local response to the pandemic. That led to chaos. That’s why I call him the Kaiser of Chaos.
The most encouraging signs have been in the president’s dealings with Congress. Many expected him to roll over and seek bipartisanship for its own sake. That was not how I read his stress on unity, which to Senate Republicans means letting them set the agenda with faux compromises.
Biden politely listened to proposals advanced by ten Senate GOPers and just as politely rejected them. This has led to considerable whining on their part about how Biden’s mean old staff won’t let him compromise. Kudos to chief meanie Ron Klain. He was there when Republicans led President Obama down the primrose path of faux compromise before leaving him at the altar with no GOP votes for the ACA. I’m glad they’re not repeating those mistakes.
The media coverage of the budget reconciliation process is driving me crazy. It does not mean that Democrats are going it alone. It means that they’re using reconciliation as a way to avoid a filibuster. Republican senators are free to vote for the COVID relief package, which is popular with voters. If only they would show some gumption and stop marching in lockstep with Mitch McConnell, but we know they won’t. Sycophancy is what they do best.
I’m in broad agreement with the goals of the Biden administration. There will be times when I disagree about means, but they’ve moved quickly to undo the worst excesses of Trumpism. American politics often works in 40-year cycles. Trumpism was the last gasp of Reaganism. The GOP went from a party with an appealing leader selling appalling policies to an appalling leader selling himself as the sole solution to the country’s problems.
It’s Joe Biden’s time to clean up the mess left behind by his predecessor. It won’t be easy but he’s the right man for the job. His age has gone from being a liability to an asset. The older you get the less you care about the conventional wisdom. Joey B. Shark is out of fucks to give and he doesn’t care who knows it.
Happiness truly is a thing called Joe. The last word goes to Ella Fitzgerald:
Hands by Max Ernst.
When I say jab, I don’t mean Jabberwocky, Jabba the Hutt, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or a punch. Jab is what the Brits call a shot in the arm administered by a medical professional. That’s right, this long punny intro leads to a post about our hope to vaccinate our way out of the pandemic.
COVID is the David Bowie of viruses. It keeps morphing and changing like crazy. Scientists are cautiously optimistic that the various vaccines can keep up with the virus, but I have the jab jitters as we move from the Ziggy Stardust phase of the virus to the Thin White Duke phase. The good news is that Bowie lived a long life, the bad news is that we’re stuck by analogy in his most decadent phase: the mid-1970’s.
It’s unclear how well the Bowie analogy holds up but what is clear is that the Trump Regime like its leader was not big on planning. Team Biden is left with a mess that requires their immediate attention. It’s one of many. I think there will be days where President Biden will say to his estimable chief of staff Ron Klain, “Remind me why I wanted this job again.”
The good news is that Joe Biden is not a quitter. In fact, he’s a tougher sumbitch than given credit for. This toughness is epitomized by a man with a serious stutter going into a line of work that requires public speaking. You can still see him struggle with his stutter then overcome it by force of will. This is not a man easily deterred by setbacks. It’s just what the doctor ordered at the end of the Trump error.
The headline on an article by TPM’s Josh Kovensky says it all: How Trump Left The Country With No Real Vaccine Distribution Plan. Make sure you read the whole damn thing. You’ll alternate between moments of schadenfreude and worry about how we’ll get out of this mess. Mercifully, Team Biden is imbued with the can-do spirit that America was known for before wallowing in white Trumper angst for four years.
Under the previous administration, we were neck deep in shit and sinking fast, but help is not only on the way it’s here.
The last word goes to David Bowie with a song that name checks the Thin White Duke:
I have to admit – I’m a 50s horror movie buff. I used to sneak out of bed at midnight, tune in to the distant (distant from Waco, anyway) DFW channel 11, adjust the rabbit ears, and sit in front of the TV for movies like “The Giant Claw” and “The Crawling Eye”.
Another fave was “The Beginning Of The End”, which featured giant grasshoppers (harvested, coincidentally, from the farmland around my Dad’s farm) attacking Chicago as a finale’.
Nope. Not even one giant grasshopper.
.
My beat, of course, is Free Republic, and I’m here to document what was the beginning of the end of all their shit-stupid LARPing fantasies.
Let’s get started, shall we?
How stupid do I/We feel about what happened today??
Nascar Dad ^ | 01/20/2021 | Nascar DadPosted on 1/20/2021, 6:29:44 PM by Nascar Dad
So I have been duped by Conservatives and Q Followers alike. Trump was supposed to be soooooo close to dropping info to prove Biden stole the election. What happened? Biden is now our president. Nothing on Horowitz. Nothing on Durham. Nothing on Declass. Nothing on stolen elections. Trump packed it up, split town and left us with Biden. Brilliant! It feels like I’ve been punched in the gut. I’m sure there are others out there that feel the same way. I listened, and bought into, the BS about saving the world… Yadda Yadda Yadda. I am done. I believed the hype and have nobody to blame but myself. That is all. It was fun while it lasted.
To: Nascar Dad
To: Nascar Dad
To: Nascar DadOnly the Q morons are surprised by what happened today.
The rest of us knew Trump was leaving weeks ago.
Only the tik tok crowd was surprised that the latest declass was a bust.
I think it will be a while before we can really see what worked and what didn’t for the Trump administation.
But one thing I can see:
epic “owns” on twitter are no substitute for getting loyal and competent appointees confirmed.
and insulting the media is not adequate compensation for not passing significant legislation and changes to laws.
31 posted on 1/20/2021, 6:40:16 PM by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
Timing is everything in life. This is Joe Biden’s time.
His inaugural address was excellent but the most important thing that has happened in the last few days was the COVID memorial on Inauguration Eve as seen above. It’s the first time a president has acknowledged the horrors of the pandemic instead of shirking blame. Thank you, Mr. President.
President Biden’s speech was the opposite of triumphalist. He knows that he has a hard row to hoe, but he’s equal to the challenge. He made it clear that the unity he mentions is aspirational. It’s also imperative to end what he accurately called our “uncivil war.”
I’m exasperated with the people who insist on damning Joe Biden with faint praise. It’s unclear if any other Democrat could have defeated Trump. Cross-over votes from suburban women and conservative leaning independents carried the day. I think we should thank the President for coming out of retirement at an advanced age to rescue our imperiled democracy.
A reminder to those who worry that President Biden will relapse into his supposedly centrist ways:
Franklin Roosevelt was regarded as a lightweight when he was elected president. Nobody thought he would be a transformational leader. He rose to the occasion.
Harry Truman desegregated the military and saved Western Europe from starvation and Soviet domination. This from a man who used the N word and made ethnic jokes in private conversation. He rose to the occasion.
Jack Kennedy was all profile and no courage when it came to McCarthyism and its creator. Joe McCarthy was popular with JFK’s Irish Catholic base so JFK pandered to them. As president, he proposed sweeping Civil Rights legislation, which was passed by his successor. He rose to the occasion.
Lyndon Johnson voted against every Civil Rights bill until 1957. As president, he passed Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, and Voting Rights Act. He rose to the occasion.
I believe that Joe Biden will rise to the occasion. He certainly did in his historic selection of Kamala Harris as his vice president.
America also rose to the occasion. Security was tight today but we did not cower and move the ceremony indoors.
Times are tough but hope is back in fashion. Thanks Joe and Kamala.
Finally, I’d like to thank Joe Biden for allowing me to remove the asterisk from the word president. It’s been a long time coming.
The last word goes to Paul Simon:
I may have to take a short break between now and inauguration day.
As much as I enjoy watching the Freeperati strangle as they run out of air, this is getting a bit depressing and hard to watch.
Russell Ramsland: “I think there will be huge evidence coming forward in the next couple of days that will drastically change the playing field. The question is will anyone report on it.” at minute 6:00 in the video link.
Populist Press/Newsmax ^ | 12-18-2020 | NewsMaxPosted on 12/19/2020, 8:57:25 AM by PK1991
Russell Ramsland: “I think there will be huge evidence coming forward in the next couple of days that will drastically change the playing field. The question is will anyone report on it.” at minute 6:00 in the video link.
Ramsland: The courts aren’t going to help us. All the case dismissals are not related to evidence. Not one court has looked at any evidence yet.
Ramsland also talks about his forensic examination of the Antrim county voting machines report.
Ramsland responds to Dominion CEO’s denial that the system can flip votes or uses fractional voting. “He needs to go back and look at his own machines and read paragraph 11.0 of his own user manual.”
Ramsland: In his report the Michigan Secretary of State after asking that the whole report not be released asked that the computer logs that were part of the report be redacted. The Judge ordered the computer logs redacted form the report. Then after it is released they say there is no evidence in the report.
To: PK1991
To: PK1991Lucy/football/us.
5 posted on 12/19/2020, 9:01:50 AM by dynachrome ( “The people have spoken . . . and they must be punished.” Ed Koch)
To: BobLWhy, why, have we not seen any evidence of this????I’m tired of all this “evidence” that is supposed to be boom, huge breaking news, colossal, etc…..and yet…..nothing is ever dropped.
To: 2big2fail
To: ealgeone“I’m tired of all this “evidence” that is supposed to be boom, huge breaking news, colossal, etc…..and yet…..nothing is ever dropped.”
How would Hannity stay in business? After all, each night he opens with wild claims of new “bomb shell” information/proof and then. . . .nothing.
To: crzI doubt they will ever look at any of it.You and me both. From this point forward, it will take bloodshed. And from what I have seen, we are up to that. A few are, but not enough. I only hope that there is enough of us to give a good account of ourselves.
So, Freepers – how did that that Ken Pax-Man Supreme Court lawsuit that was going to save The Darnold even better than a Sidney Powell Kraken work out for ya?
SCOTUS Denies Texas
legalinsurrection.com ^ | 12/11/2020 | StaffPosted on 12/11/2020, 5:37:10 PM by jroehl
Fox news:
155, ORIG. TEXAS V. PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL. The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot. Statement of Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins: In my view, we do not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction. See Arizona v. California, 589 U. S. ___ (Feb. 24, 2020) (Thomas, J., dissenting). I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.
To: jroehl
To: jroehl
To: PghBaldy
To: jroehl
To Hell with these black robed demons. It is time to water the tree of liberty.
24 posted on 12/11/2020, 5:41:33 PM by diplomatic_immunity
To: o2bfree
To: jroehlHow the heck is this even possible?!?!
Um – one state can’t dictate election terms to any other state? I know it’s a shocker….
One thing for certain I will not be voting again, it’s just not worth it!
36 posted on 12/11/2020, 5:42:36 PM by existentially_kuffer
To: jroehl
Lawless country. I want a divorce. Irreconcilable differences.
40 posted on 12/11/2020, 5:42:53 PM by rigelkentaurus
To: jroehlThe Soap BoxThe Ballot Box
The Jury Box
<———you are hereThe Cartridge Box<———you are here – fire at will
To: jroehlActually, I predicted that the matter of standing would block this case from consideration.My fellow Freepers, while I acknowledge the moral righteousness here and also acknowledge that “no standing” is a typical judicial dodge to avoid making controversial rulings, we have to ask ourselves if one state really has standing to sue over how another state runs its business.
Common sense and morality are not necessarily the basis on how The Law works.
To: Mmogamer
To: jroehl
Civil war… the only solution left. Time to mobilize and resist the criminal US Government.
82 posted on 12/11/2020, 5:46:42 PM by DesertRhino (Dog is man’s best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. …. )
To: jroehlOK, well, I don’t know about anyone else, but as for me – I’m going to war.- Mike out.
To: alternatives?
After Joe Biden debated Paul Ryan in 2012, we had a lot of fun with then Veep’s use of figuratively and literally. In this case, it’s both a literal *and* figurative delousing. Who’s a bigger louse than President* Pennywise?
President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team are reportedly already making plans to ensure that the White House, which has been plagued with a series of COVID-19 infections thanks to President Donald Trump’s disregard for protective measures against the virus, is safe enough for the 78-year-old Biden to move in come January 20.
According to Politico, Biden’s transition team will have the White House fully cleaned by General Services Administration (GSA) staffers hours after Trump leaves the building.
A spokesperson for the GSA told Politico that the staffers will “thoroughly clean and disinfect” every area of the East and West Wings that people have touched, including furniture and doorknobs.
A private contractor will also reportedly provide “disinfectant misting services.”
You say disinfect, I say delouse. Let’s call the Trump presidency off.
I hope they plan to tent the place for literal insects and set extra-large rat traps just in case some human vermin linger. I’m speaking figuratively.
Since Joey B Shark is a good Catholic, he should have the house blessed and an exorcism performed if need be. Literally or figuratively.
The last word goes to Father Merrin of The Exorcist. He might be needed in case Ivanka refuses to leave:
For the “cleanest man in America” Donald Trump sure has a lot of lawyers. They keep popping up like kudzu, making extreme statements and preposterous arguments from which they should shy away but Trump’s shysters are unshy. Word Press is convinced that’s not a word but Merriam-Webster begs to differ. I’m not gunshy about using unshy. If Word Press continues to object, I’ll cross that abridge when I get to it. It’s clearly over troubled waters…
Team Trump’s shyster’s arguments have become increasingly unhinged as they continue to lose cases. Even some Trump judicial appointees have expressed outrage over this abuse of the legal process. Judges have the temerity to expect evidence in their court rooms. Evidence? What the hell is that?
I keep waiting for someone to make this pun: they’re flipping their Wigmores over the paucity of proof. Here’s a visual cue to explain that pun:
Rumor has it that John Henry Wigmore had a mighty hammer. I seem to have woken up on the punny side of the bed this morning. Insomnia makes me punchy, what can I tell ya?
The craziest thing said by a Trump shyster was this gem from former US Attorney and Fox News personality, Joe di Genova about Chris Krebs:
The former DHS official, diGenova said, is “a class-A moron” who “should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot.”
Say it ain’t so, Joe. This could get you sued, disbarred, or banned from the baseball hall of fame.
A Joe-less Say It Ain’t So is also the title of a swell Weezer tune:
If you didn’t get the baseball history reference, it’s about this guy:
Where was I? Lost in a field of dreams, puns, and obscure references. Pardon me for that lapse. Perhaps I should ask the Impeached Insult Comedian. He seems to be in a pardoning mood.
Speaking of pardons, the Failing New York Times reported:
President Trump has discussed with advisers whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to his children, to his son-in-law and to his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, and talked with Mr. Giuliani about pardoning him as recently as last week, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Mr. Trump has told others that he is concerned that a Biden Justice Department might seek retribution against the president by targeting the oldest three of his five children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — as well as Ms. Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, a White House senior adviser.
Projection thy name is President* Pennywise. That’s something he would do but not Joe Biden. He’s said repeatedly that he will not involve himself in DOJ business. A lesser man would want vengeance over the endless Hunter Biden smears, but this Joe says it ain’t so. But investigations by other arms of the DOJ seem likely. Come on down, Sovereign District of New York.
The Impeached Insult Comedian does not seem to understand that a pardon is an admission of guilt. If they ever appear in federal court, his chirren and Rudy might be required to allocute as to the nature of their pardonable offenses. That’s a cute way of saying that they can’t take the Fifth. In any event, a presidential* pardon doesn’t cover state crimes and the Manhattan DA’s office is Trump hunting. Stay tuned.
I’m not going to touch the idea of a presidential* self-pardon. I think it would fail a legal test, especially given the “quality” of Trump’s unshy shysters. I still think a resign and pardon scenario is more likely. For the petty Trumpers, it would have the virtue of making Mike Pence the 46th president and mess up all the 46 Joe memes out there:
It’s okay 47 rhymes with heaven. I’m in heaven when I dance cheek to cheek with the promise of the Biden administration.
Finally, the Kaiser of Chaos is so enraged by Bill Barr’s admission that there was no widespread election fraud that he may fire his ass. That would be good news for fans of the Trump-Hitler Barr-Goering analogy. Goering was fired by Hitler as he skulked in his bunker at the end of World War II. I’m too lazy to look into whether there’s a Trump-Barr Downfall video but I have this swell side-by-side picture of Wilhelm und Hermann:
I can’t let those two creeps have the last word. Instead, we should “talk to the lawyer, professional liar” as well as David Lindley and El Rayo-X:
Joe Biden knows who elected him. It was women voters, especially women of color. The latest wave of appointments totals 13 of whom 11 are women; 6 of them are women of color and 2 are lesbians. Of the two men appointed one is a black guy for a grand total of 7 people of color in this wave.
Biden is off to excellent start in keeping his pledge to have an administration that looks like America.
This crisis-tested team will help lift America out of our current economic downturn and build back better—creating an economy that gives every single American a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead. https://t.co/F6JMBHUgVx
— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 30, 2020
President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris today announced new members of the White House staff who will serve in senior communications roles.
For the first time in history, these communications roles will be filled entirely by women.https://t.co/SjWAWJg941
— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 29, 2020
When I first heard Janet Yellen’s name mentioned I had a D’oh moment. What Democratic woman is better qualified that the former Fed head who will be only the second person to hold both jobs? Senator Professor Warren is equally qualified, but her state has a Republican Governor. That’s likely to rule out Senator Bernie Sanders for a cabinet job as well: GOPer Phil Scott is Governor of Vermont. They’re both moderates but unlikely to select a Democrat to replace a Senator appointed to the cabinet. As the old saying goes: you gotta dance with those who brung you.
The most controversial nominee is apt to be Neera Tanden who has enemies on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Her detractors dislike Tanden because of her close ties to Hillary Clinton and her bad ass persona on the tweeter tube. I wasn’t aware that mean tweets were disqualifying. I’m also glad that Biden is willing to nominate someone who will generate heat, not light. There will be many battles to fight in the next 4 years, so a bit of controversy is a good thing.
The best thing about the all-chick comms staff is that it provoked a tirade from Kayleigh McEnany. Anything that pisses her off is fine with me.
I’m tired of writing about Team Trump so I welcome the chance to celebrate Team Biden-Harris’ commitment to diversity. It doesn’t surprise me: Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris proved that he’s serious about having a government that looks like the country.
A final request. I wish people would stop freaking out every time a name they dislike is floated by the media. It’s best to look at the totality of the team not those rumored to join it. Besides, after 4 years of Team Trump, anyone is an improvement. Who could be worse than Ross, Mnuchin, or Miller?
Yeah yeah yeah, vaccines, world peace, whatever. WE’RE GETTING A FIRST CAT, AMERICA.
First it was announced that Champ and Major, the German shepherds belonging to the president-elect and future first lady Jill Biden, would roam the White House. And now, after an absence of more than a decade, a cat is set to also join the ranks of presidential pets, Jane Pauley of “CBS Sunday Morning” reported on Twitter on Friday.
In an interview with Fox 5 in Washington, D.C., Dr. Biden hinted that if her husband won the presidency, she would not mind getting a cat.
“I’d love to get a cat,” she said. “I love having animals around the house.”
The cat’s breed and name were not immediately available. Representatives for Mr. Biden did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Literally one conversation in the car with Kick about who was voting for who and why involved which presidents had what pets, so you have no idea the stir this news created in my household. Even Thing One and Thing Two here approve:
A.
As I listened to the incoming UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, I was proud to be an LSU graduate.
Here are edited highlights of her remarks yesterday:
I learned from my family. Mr. President elect, thank you for those generous words that you said about me. My parents had very little back in Louisiana where I grew up, but they gave me and my siblings everything they had and I know how proud they would be of this day. On this day, I’m also missing my mentor, Ambassador Ed Perkins, who served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations under President George HW Bush and President Clinton. And who was also from Louisiana. He told me constantly, “Linda, don’t undersell yourself.” And he would always do everything possible to lift me up.
He passed away last week, but I know he’s here with us today. And on this day, I’m thinking about the American people, my fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world. I want to say to you, “America is back, multi-lateralism is back. Diplomacy is back.” Mr. President elect, I’ve often heard you say how all politics is personal, and that’s how you build relationships of trust and bridge disagreements and find common ground. And in my 35 years in the foreign service across four continents, I put a Cajun spin on it. I called that gumbo diplomacy.
Wherever I was posted around the world, I’d invite people of different backgrounds and beliefs to help me make a roux and chop onions for the Holy Trinity and make homemade gumbo. It was my way of breaking down barriers, connecting with people, and starting to see each other on a human level. A bit of lagniappe is what we say in Louisiana. That’s the charge in front of us today. The challenges we face, a global pandemic, a global economy, a global climate change crisis, mass migration and extreme poverty, social justice are unrelenting and interconnected, but they’re not unresolvable if America is leading the way. Thank you.
I come from a food-oriented family and live in a food-oriented city, so this was a perfect message for this season. It’s also a refreshing antidote to the nonsense spouted for four years by Team Trump on the foreign policy side. To paraphrase Gordon Ramsey, isolationism can piss off out of my kitchen.
The entire Biden event was a refreshing antidote to the weeks of crazy following the election. The grown-ups are back in charge. Imagine appointing people on the basis of their qualifications, not on how they look. That’s what gave us the Exxon CEO as Secretary of State and he was by no means the worst appointee. He did, however, provide me with Tea for the Tillerson puns so it wasn’t all bad.
Speaking of puns, I’ve heard before that the incoming Secretary of State is a fellow punster. He certainly has a punworthy name: Blinken. I hope he does the pun community proud and doesn’t get in too much trouble with the media for having a sense of humor. It will be a refreshing change from the ponderous pomposity of Pompeo.
The appointment that pleased me the most was that of John Kerry as the climate guy. Appointing someone who’s an equal is a sign that Joe Biden is comfortable in his own skin and that the incoming president is serious about climate change, which is some serious shit.
Team Biden has a mess to clean up but it’s what Democratic presidents do. The magnitude of Team Trump’s corruption and incompetence makes it an even bigger challenge but most of it is reversible. Repeat after me: help is on the way.
Back to Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. She’s from Baker, Louisiana, which is right next to Red Stick, but I won’t hold that against her. I eagerly await the inevitable “she’ll be good for Louisiana” pieces from the Gret Stet punditocracy. In this case, they might be right. She does present a refreshing stylistic contrast to the cornpone shtick of our fake hick junior Senator, John Neely Kennedy.
The last word goes to Little Feat with the number 8 song on my Louisiana Top 50:
God, it’s amazing how small a move this actually is, and how great it is at the same time:
Today, I met with the co-chairs of the transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Dr. David Kessler, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.
They briefed me on the accelerating public health crisis. The facts they presented were alarming. Our country is experiencing surges in reported infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities all over the country, with virtually nowhere getting spared. Our doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are under enormous — and growing — strain. This week’s news on progress toward a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is positive, but it will be many months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.
This crisis demands a robust and immediate federal response, which has been woefully lacking.
Here in Illinois we’re on the brink of another total shutdown, and all our extracurricular activities got axed this weekend, closing the park district fieldhouses and all the programs that were keeping us sane. I am pricing out ice rinks for our backyard, but somehow I’m still less panicked than I was back in March, because: in 8 weeks this will be run by adults and not a bunch of idiot reptiles.
Adults we may give a hard time to, adults we yell at lot, adults who might not do everything right the first time around but goddamn, adults we can trust to return a phone call and give a shit when somebody — millions of somebodies — is sick and dying.
I mean, read that over, above, and keep telling me both parties are the same. One has … scientists, that they’re listening to, and a plan to get things under control that will actually be carried out without constant drama. Another has Marjorie Taylor-Greene out here screaming about the tyranny of closing down Crossfit, what the actual fuck, government shutdowns are not causing these problems, A QUARTER OF A MILLION DEAD PEOPLE AND TEN MILLION CASES of a preventable disease are causing these problems.
And if I read one more op-ed citing “personal responsibility” and “local control” for a disease that cannot be prevented by either one, that crosses state lines and doesn’t care who your fucking mayor is, I’m going to lose my mind in several languages. There are things that are so big we can’t do them alone, people. That’s what a system of government is for.
We’ve spent the past four years in an experiment that says we don’t need a federal government. We’ve spent the past four years without one, actually, without any national leadership on anything at all. It’s not just that that leadership has been dumb and bad; that we’ve seen before. It’s that we’ve taken the GOP at its word, that government is useless, and we’ve erased it entirely.
It’s very clear now that there are times we DO need to be one country. When we do need to give California and North Dakota the same thing, which is a rule to wear masks and money to keep people home and out of the shopping mall hacking germs all over each other. When we ARE all affected equally by the actions of others, and there is no reason to pretend help has to stop at the state border when the problems don’t.
No one state can do this without closing its state borders. We almost did that last spring, and had we kept it up I doubt Illinois would be as big a trash fire as it is, thanks a lot Indiana and Wisconsin, but this is the point. We CAN’T close ourselves off from one another or the world. We have to be responsible for Indiana and Wisconsin even as they’re led by absolute nuclear-grade jackwagons. Our fate is your fate. There’s no other way to do this. We don’t have any other choice.
And in eight weeks we’ll have leadership that understands that, that fills jobs that need filling, that can distribute any vaccine in a coordinated, reasonable, scientific manner. And yes, the screaming Trumper morons we’ll always have with us, but remember the way you feel whenever a new announcement comes out of the Biden team. Read that statement up there. Think of what it will be like when the loudest voices in the room aren’t the morons anymore.
Hold fast, help one another when you can, and whatever you do, hold on. We’re almost there.
A.
My latest 13th Ward Rambler column is up at the Bayou Brief. I’m proud of this one. It’s something only I could have written. Who else would have brought Mel Ott and Leo Durocher into a discussion of the 2020 election? Whether that’s a good thing is up to my readers.
Peter Athas on the 2020 election, Steve Kornacki, baseball history, and why Joe Biden is like nice guy Mel Ott and Donald Trump is like Leo “The Lip” Durocher.
The last word goes to Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly:
Actually, I feel a bit like Brak : Pretty much burned out from watching too much news lately.
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(If you missed Saturday’s Bonus “Obsession”, please click here for the fun and schaudenthingy.)
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Good Monday morning, all! Remember Mittens’ loss to Barack Obama in 2012? The despair and hysteria among the Freeperati at the thought of being forced to have health insurance, and the realization that they had lost?
Go to the link above, if you will, and look at the quick progression along the Five Stages to Acceptance when Obama won.
It’s different this time.
Really different.
Weirdly different.
The cult has backed itself into a corner that has no exit. The Darnold said that he really won, and that Joe Biden cheated.
That Biden managed to fabricate 75 million votes, because of course he did.
Dr. Carrie Barron wrote, in Psychology Today:
“You might hear a tale of woe, and just have the feeling that the teller is not all that woeful. Maybe there is a need to blame or malign for secondary gain: attention, fame, money, importance or drama. Maybe the person is not in touch with reality and is retaliating against an imagined transgression. Some seemingly intact people can have paranoid fears at the core. In order to “defend” themselves, they act against others. Maybe the goal is to take someone else down for competitive, regressed, or even unconscious reasons. They just want what the other one has.”
And if someone you praise and support denies the cheating?
STFU, Bibi !
Netanyahu congratulates Biden
Arutz Sheva ^ | 8/11/20
Posted on 11/8/2020, 2:03:45 AM by Eleutheria5
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning congratulated Joe Biden after US news outlets declared him the winner of the election.
“Congratulations Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel,” he tweeted.
Netanyahu also thanked Trump for his friendship and actions taken during his presidency.
“Thank you Donald Trump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights.”
********************
Outcome of election is still very much contested. So STFU, Bibi.
To: Eleutheria5Effing ingrate. No US President has EVER beeon(sic) a better friend to Israel. And this buttplug can’t wait to slide the knife in Trump’s ribs.
Lowlife move.
4 posted on 11/8/2020, 2:07:14 AM by DesertRhino (Dog is man’s best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ….)
To: Tommy RevoltsWTF? After Trump saved his ass! This won’t age well.Trump saved Bibi’s fat ass multiple times.
All Netanyahu had to do was say nothing. What a schmuck.
To: Eleutheria5
To: Eleutheria5Effing piece of SH*T
50 posted on 11/8/2020, 4:05:19 AM by toddausauras (How far will the left go in terms of destroying our personal freedoms?)
RedState sells out The Fop Posted on 11/7/2020, 2:55:04 PM by The Fop
After HotAir went over to the dark side over the past 4 years, I started reading RedState again and was pleased to see that Erick Erickson was no longer associated with them.
But ever since Wednesday morning, I’ve been keeping an eye on the tone of Conservative blogs.
RedState seemss(sic) quite calm and unperturbed by the steal. Yes, they’ve done some stories about alleged voter fraud, but their heart doesn’t seem to be very into it.
So far they have no stories about Giuliani’s press conference today. But they did have a story sticking up for Dan Crenshaw in his Twitter spat with new GOP congresswoman, who criticised his lack of fight.
Free Republic is for the people by the people. Nobody here trying to make a living in journalism. At this point, I don’t trust anybody in the political class, and that includes many blogger’s(sic) too.
The presidential election hasn’t even been definitively called and the circular firing squad is already forming. One could call it 1984 and 1988 in reverse. After those defeats, moderate and conservative Democrats turned on Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis for being too liberal.
In 2020, some are turning on Joe Biden for being too moderate. A reminder that Team Biden worked closely with the Sanders and Warren people to produce the most progressive platform in party history. I, too, am disappointed in the result but there was a big turnout, which theoretically should have resulted in a blue tsunami instead of a close presidential race and disappointment down the ballot. As I said yesterday, we’re a Fifty-Fifty Nation.
I’m convinced that COVID is the primary reason for our electoral issues. Not using it as a club to beat the Impeached Insult Comedian with, that was the right thing to do. I’m referring to the severe impact the pandemic has had on the country and how we vote. Two of COVID’S effects are to the Democrats credit and one was out of our control.
We’ll do the sub-header thing today.
Canvassing: Since Democrats believe that COVID is real and easily transmissible, our GOTV efforts focused on early voting and mail-in ballots. In 2008 and 2012, waves of Democratic canvassers hit the streets in the last week before the election. That didn’t happen this year because of COVID. That’s to the Democrats’ credit: we don’t want people spreading or catching the virus via canvassing.
Republicans were not similarly inhibited in their canvassing or campaigning. President* Pennywise held a series of super-spreader rallies and GOP door knockers hit the streets. This is to their discredit, but it helped them at the polls. Freedom, man.
COVID Denialism: The central theme of the closing days of the Trump campaign was COVID denialism. Since *everyone* is tired of the pandemic, it was an easy sell with the science-hating GOP base. Freedom, man.
Joe Biden told the painful truth about the pandemic. That was the only responsible course of action but it probably cost the Democrats votes. I’d rather lose votes than lives.
The Count: States with long experience of mail-in ballots obviously handled the count with more aplomb than states new to the process. In Michigan and Pennsylvania, Democrats attempted to pass legislation to allow the sorting and counting of mail-in ballots on election day. Under the influence of Team Trump, Republican leges rebuffed these sensible attempts. Once again, this is to their discredit.
It’s hardly an original observation to say that 2020 was a weird election. America has held presidential elections during wartime in 1864, 1916, 1944, 1968, and 2004. The 2020 election posed a more immediate problem: voting safely because of a public health menace. Most of us did the best we could with a terrible situation. The Republicans chose to pretend it was no big deal whereas Democrats acknowledged how bad the situation was as records were set on the COVID front nearly every day before and after the election.
Democrats have gotten used to cleaning up Republican messes. The post-Trump mess is the biggest by far. It’s complicated by the likelihood that the GOP will continue to hold the senate. The Senate elections were both disappointing and weird: some excellent candidates were recruited but lost close races. They were swamped by the enthusiasm on both sides this time around. That’s a rare occurrence.
Here’s the deal: Democrats have done the right thing regarding the pandemic. It may have cost us at the ballot box, but our candidates told the truth instead of peddling lies and fantasies like Republicans. This is an explanation, not an excuse.
It’s extremely difficult to defeat an incumbent president for re-election. It’s only happened four time since 1912. It’s slowly happening as I write this. While many chased white whales, Team Biden focused on rebuilding the blue wall. The 2020 campaign has also transformed Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina into battleground states. It’s time to break up with Florida and Ohio. The former will always be close but it’s a heartbreaker for Democrats.
Democrats should hold our heads up high and celebrate the fact that Donald Trump’s shitshow presidency* is about to become a sideshow, not the main event. That’s a tremendous accomplishment. We should follow Johnny Mercer’s sage advice and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive. Mister In-Between can go fuck himself.
The last word goes to the late Johnny Mercer from the new swing state of Georgia:
Let’s get this over with: I was wrong on Monday when I compared this election to 1980. I was in good company: the cautious veteran analyst Charlie Cook thought so too. I did, however, add a hedge: “I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again.”
What’s going on today is not about me but about the country. We’re not on the cusp of a new era but back to the sort of street fighting politics we’ve been engaged in throughout the 21st Century. It’s the deadliest kind of combat as our opponents are homegrown Fascists who disdain democracy and the rule of law. It’s why we have to keep at it and not give the bastards an inch.
For what it’s worth, I still think Joe Biden will win the electoral college along with the popular vote. The Impeached Insult Comedian got on his hind legs last night and declared himself the winner. Whatever, dude.
Was anyone surprised that Trump told another whopper? He even said “the voting should stop” when he meant the counting should stop. In a typically Trumpy move, he wanted the counting to continue in Arizona and stop elsewhere. They say that patience is a virtue, which implies one must be somewhat virtuous to be patient. It’s not in Trump’s DNA.
Michael Beschloss pointed out that this sort of delay in vote counting and election calling is not unusual:
We did not know Presidential winner for certain before midnight on election nights in 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2016. No one should pretend there would be anything historically unusual if that happens again in 2020.
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) November 1, 2020
The important thing is that all the votes be counted. If they are, I think Biden will be the winner but there will be a long slog through the courts. Even though Trump’s claims aren’t legally meritorious, it’s hard to have any confidence in the Supreme Court. They threw the election to Bush in 2000 and the current lineup is much worse than that group. That’s why we wanted a clear winner.
I think Josh Marshall nailed it this morning:
Biden looks on track to have a popular vote margin of maybe 4 to 5 percentage points. We can’t ignore the fact that close to half the country saw the civic carnage of the last twelve months and asked for more. That is an ominous harbinger. But with all that said, if Joe Biden is sworn into office in January that will be a great civic victory and service to our democracy which has been battered and assaulted over four long years. A win is a win is a win – if it turns out to be a win. And it probably will.
Athenae is right to tell us not to give into fear and keep on fighting both last night and this morning. One of the hardest things about life is bouncing back after a setback, which is what this is. It’s a setback, not a defeat although the Senate results are much worse than the presidential results. In a word: UGH. If that’s not a word, it should be: ARGH too.
I’m posting this venerable Kern-Fields song as something of a pick-me-up on this bleak morning:
This election points out the downside of being part of the reality-based community. As a pundit and a person, I try to be guided by logic, facts, and evidence, not passion. Trumpism is an irrational phenomenon featuring Donnie from Queens and Manhattan as the avatar of rural America. Like many New Yorkers, he regards them with contempt as hicks and yokels. This disdain seems not to matter to his base.
I’ve never understood people who vote based strictly on what’s in it for them. It’s not as if there are direct benefits from any election. But some people are selfish, and they’ve found their apotheosis in President* Pennywise and his empty ism.
Our former colleague Doc wrote about what he called the “Fuck You” Nation multiple times. They said fuck you to the rest of us last night. I hoped that selfishness was not *this* contagious but it’s more widespread than expected. In a rational world, last night’s results should have been a repudiation of the Kaiser of Chaos. I guess we should all say fuck you to the “Fuck You” Nation.
We live in a Fifty-Fifty Nation politically. I had hoped that era of squeakers was over but other than 2008, all our presidential elections this century have been tighter than a tick. And 2008 was down to an extraordinary candidate who captured the moment as well as anyone on our history. In 2020, we had a good candidate who ran a good campaign, which makes this mess even harder to take.
The last word goes to Frank Zappa and the Mothers:
It’s been a long time since I posted something other than Odds & Sods on Saturday. A combination of hurricane agita and post-Zeta exhaustion made me less prolific this week. Hence this post.
I remain cautiously optimistic about a Democratic sweep on Tuesday. A more competent group of ratfuckers might do more damage than Team Trump but the solution to ratfucking is TURNOUT, TURNOUT, TURNOUT.
Early voting has been amazing. Texas is suddenly a swing state, not a white whale because of it. They have easily exceeded their ENTIRE 2016 vote total thereby pleasing me and my liberal friends and relations in the Lone Star state. Once again, this proves that the cure for ratfucking is TURNOUT, TURNOUT, TURNOUT.
It’s time for our first musical interlude:
I know that’s not a political song it’s from Rosanne’s I Broke Up With Rodney album, but the title works so don’t scoff at me.
President* Pennywise’s behavior on the stump hasn’t surprised me but it’s still shocking. The Omaha rally mishigas is a perfect metaphor for his presidency*. He stranded his supporters in the cold and didn’t give a shit about it whatsoever. It sounds as if they stiffed the bus company or some such shit.
A reminder that the Omaha rally was held to hang on to one electoral vote because Nebraska apportions them by district. They know they’re losing.
It’s time for our second musical interlude:
Who knew that the short-lived Bay Area band Moby Grape would be relevant in 2020? The only things I know about Omaha is that Jack Nicholson’s last great film About Schmidt was set there, and that Bob Gibson and my friends the Homans are from Omaha. Moby Grape was not.
The Trump super-spreader rallies are for him, not for his supporters. He’s so needy that he needs the adoration of strangers in red hats that he sold them. Trumpers are the perfect marks. Fortunately, not everyone who voted for him in 2016 is a mark and many have rebelled.
There was a bizarre incident at a Trump rally in Tampa Florida. It was so hot in the crowd of unmasked marks that the fire department misted the crowd with fire hoses. The Impeached Insult Comedian once again showed that he has no idea of how anything works. He saw it happening and said: “Friend or foe? If they’re foes, we’ll take care of those sons of bitches.”
Nice, Donald. The biggest SOB at that rally bestrode the stage. Sorry for using such a big word but I don’t speak only Jerkish.
Let’s move from foes to friends. Team Biden has run a superb campaign. Whoever came up with the idea for Drive-In rallies is a genius.
Using former president Obama as an attack dog was also a swell idea: it lets Joey B Shark take the high road. Obama has been on the trail needling Trump and Fox News. It’s a reminder of what a funny man Barack Obama is. And the Kaiser of Chaos hates being mocked. Humor is the best medicine against him.
Team Biden also gets high marks for listening to the locals. In 2016, Team Clinton ignored warnings from Michigan and Wisconsin that electoral trouble was brewing. In 2020, the Biden campaign is working closely with swing state campaigns. In fact, Mark Kelly is running such a good senate race in Arizona that he’s likely to pull the national ticket to victory on his coattails.
In other 2020 is not 2016 news, Joe Biden’s personal favorability ratings have gone up. Trump’s attacks have been ludicrous. Who believes Biden will abolish God and air-conditioning? Not even President* Pennywise.
A quick note about the Georgia senate race between David (Not The Chicken Man) Perdue and challenger Jon Ossoff. They had a debate and Ossoff gutted the incumbent:
I’d like to report a murder. Jon Ossoff slays GOP opponent Perdue in Georgia US Senate debate. pic.twitter.com/RL2CrTPSMJ
— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️🌈 (@aravosis) October 29, 2020
Perdue cancelled the last debate so he could attend one of President* Pennywise’s COVIDY rallies.
David Perdue is a pussy. He should grab himself.
I’ll have more on Monday about the election and which past election this feels like. Hint: it’s not 2016. It was not the only election in our history, y’all.
The last word goes to Badfinger:
Rick — thank you for sharing your talent with me. I was so blown away by your art that I asked my team to add it to our online store: https://t.co/dVYZJVceoq pic.twitter.com/lh3keVBoSB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 24, 2020
I know it seems like I’m desperate, right, like all I want in this job now is a MAMMAL and I’m flexible, like if we can rig up some lights for the iguana maybe that could work, but Joey B. Shark represents the forlorn recollection of a time when we had a president who didn’t treat people like shit:
Yet, far more telling is Joe Biden’s history of support for transgender and non-binary people, something that has surprised even the occasional seasoned political reporter when I’ve briefed them. A week before the election in 2012, Biden told the mother of a transgender child that discrimination against trans people is “the civil rights issue of our time,” in that moment the most assertive public statement of support by any national leader specifically addressing trans rights.
In 2017, he endorsed Danica Roem, the first openly trans person to be elected to a state legislature in U.S. history. Del. Roem — who has won rave reviews for her laser-like focus on constituent concerns like transportation — received a phone call from Biden the night she won and made history, captured in a photo that went viral. Two years prior, Roem had met Biden after the death of his son Beau Biden, and she wrote movingly of his empathy in that moment.
Sarah McBride, the first openly-trans person to speak at a national convention and currently in a bid to become the first openly-trans state senator in the United States, has spoken numerous times of the Biden family’s insistent public support for trans rights, specifically the vice president, who wrote the foreword to her memoir released in 2018.
It would be so nice to have someone in office who doesn’t kick kindergarteners. It really would.
A.
I used the North By Northwest image because I wanted to flee the debate. Any time spent listening to Donnie from Queens’ nasal whine take a lot out of me. He is quite simply the most annoying public figure of my lifetime. I’m cautiously optimistic that this will be his last debate as a presidential candidate. Repeat after me: Donald Trump is an asshole, misogynist, racist, and mentally ill criminal.
It’s hard for me to judge these debates because I detest President* Pennywise and his every utterance. He was not as unhinged or feral as in the first debate. I’d give him 7 out of 10 on the Trump awfulness meter whereas he scored a perfect 10 last time.
Trump’s task was to convince alienated Republicans and Republican leaning independents to give him another chance. He failed. The “Biden corruption” segment was only comprehensible to political junkies and those who live in the right-wing media bubble. Most people think that Joey B Shark is an honest man, and that Trump is not. Repeat after me: Nobody cares about Hunter Biden.
Unlike many in the Crack Van, I thought Kristen Welker did a good job. It’s impossible to stop Trump from going on and on but she did a better job of containing his verbiage than Chris Wallace did in the first debate. It’s all you can do with this rude, mouthy motherfucker.
Biden was not quite as good as in the first debate, but he did what he had to do. He scored points, especially in the COVID, race, and “babies in cages” segments. Trump was appalling on all those issues. One thing I know for sure is that the guy who says they’re the “least racist person” in a given room is actually the most racist.
Trump’s most horrifying moment was when he showed no compassion for the migrant children who have been separated from their parents. President* Pennywise kept claiming that they’re well-treated and they were brought to America by “coyotes” not their parents.
Trump unleashed a blizzard of bullshit and an avalanche of lies during the debate. I’m glad I don’t have the fact check the lying bastard. Daniel Dale is a freaking saint.
A reminder that every time the Kaiser of Chaos opens his mouth, he loses votes. Here’s why: he only cares and talks about himself. Period. Case closed.
The stakes were lower for Biden. I thought that he won the debate. He’ll keep his lead and, hopefully, become the 46th president. I look forward to removing the asterisk, which will remain permanently attached to his opponent like Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter.
People are tired of the Impeached Insult Comedian shooting off his big fat bazoo. It’s time for him to go. Make it so, America, make it so.
